WeUseCoins: 2nd Video - Content

[MoonShadow]

. . .  I think conservatives will find reasons to hate bitcoin, but liberals might be convinced to love it . . .

If a Jesus-freak like me can love bitcoins, then being conservative is no barrier.

I think that it depends upon the definition of conservative and liberal, which means differnet things to different people.  I would guess that Gavin's intended the term conservative to be a synonym for "luddite" or "too old to understand the interwebs".  It exposes a bias in Gavin, if I am correct, but not a fault per se.  Personally, I don't think that Bitcoin has political connotations beyond what individuals attribute to it.  It neither favors the status quo, or any particular economic system.  It simply is, and it's attributes lend it well to being disruptive of the status quo only because it currently isn't included.  If the 'powers that be' can adapt, Bitcoin will change little beyond the efficiency of p2p exchanges and online commerce.

That said, history has shown that the status quo is usually too deeply entrenched into it's own mythologies to adapt; and usually gets replaced altogether as a result.

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[Stefan Thomas]

In terms of politics - if somebody does a Bitcoin video representing a specific political viewpoint, it should not be financed from a pool everyone contributed to. Bitcoin obviously appeals to people from across the spectrum and if we took sides it would only serve to be divisive and counterproductive. If somebody has a liberal or conservative or libertarian or green or whatever platform and wants to do a video, great, but I feel duty-bound to stay neutral, simply because Bitcoin itself is neutral.

I haven't heard back from [mike] yet, but even if he's not available/interested we might still be able to organize something that's akin to a lecture or lecture series. Would that be preferable to a shorter more graphic video? Or do a lot of you agree with Gavin that we should focus on non-technical questions?

[cypherdoc]

I think there should be a video targeted to merchants at some point.  These would be merchants who perhaps already have a site taking payments with PayPal, credit cards, etc.  The video would address topics like fees, reversibility, exchange and how to get started accepting Bitcoin.

this is spot on.  i, as a potential, but yet still skeptical merchant need more discussion about the topic to make me more comfortable with taking the jump.

[marcus_of_augustus]

I'd rather see more non-technical bitcoin-related videos rather then "this is what the block chain looks like" technical videos.

I'm going to brain dump some half-baked thoughts:

So I watched this talk by Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives and started thinking about how it might apply to more mainstream acceptance of Bitcoin.  If Jonathan is right, then I think conservatives will find reasons to hate bitcoin, but liberals might be convinced to love it.

So what are the videos that liberals love?  Well, there's The Story of Stuff, which I think is wrong-headed but is incredibly popular.

I'd like to see a video targeted towards left-leaning people that argues from their world-view-- why the existing monetary system is unfair and benefits a rich elite at the expense of the working masses.  How Bitcoin can change that and be a People-Powered money, backed not by empty promises from rich bankers but by the strength and trust of the person-to-person Bitcoin Community.  How friends and neighbors using Bitcoin can keep money in local communities.  How using Bitcoin lets you interact with people all over the world, promoting peace and understanding.  How it is better for the environment than gold mining or trucking coins and cash to and from stores and banks.

Of course, early adopter libertarian-leaning bitcoiners will probably HATE it, but they wouldn't be the target audience...

Yes, this is a good idea. Maybe also make it something the left-biased mainstream media outlets would latch onto.

A Bitcoin primer for journos and PR types from a left liberal bias might find its way into a large audience rather rapidly if sound-bites and memes can be easily lifted from it and put into pithy sentences.

Bullet points?

Descriptive still imagery?

[cypherdoc]

I'd like to see a video targeted towards left-leaning people that argues from their world-view-- why the existing monetary system is unfair and benefits a rich elite at the expense of the working masses.  How Bitcoin can change that and be a People-Powered money, backed not by empty promises from rich bankers but by the strength and trust of the person-to-person Bitcoin Community.  How friends and neighbors using Bitcoin can keep money in local communities.  How using Bitcoin lets you interact with people all over the world, promoting peace and understanding.  How it is better for the environment than gold mining or trucking coins and cash to and from stores and banks.

Well, I think that's what someone called "narratives".

We still need a narrative for anonymity, though.

i think the anonymity part of BTC should be downplayed.  sure its a symbol for the geek network as well as the illegal trade folks but won't be for the masses who are the critical part of this acceptance equation.  the best way to think of how BTC will be used in the future is to study M-Pesa in Kenya and why it took off like a rocket shot.  those ppl just needed an easy, inexpensive way to move money around the country w/o physically delivering it like they had been (donkey ride cross country) forced to do b/c of theft.  they don't care that Safaricom/Vodafone knows their identity when sending money; they just want to get the money to family and friends.  most of BTC use will be this way.

[Anth0n]

I'd say the most important thing is to ascertain the safety of Bitcoins to the layman.

[cypherdoc]

I'd like to see a video targeted towards left-leaning people that argues from their world-view-- why the existing monetary system is unfair and benefits a rich elite at the expense of the working masses.  How Bitcoin can change that and be a People-Powered money, backed not by empty promises from rich bankers but by the strength and trust of the person-to-person Bitcoin Community.  How friends and neighbors using Bitcoin can keep money in local communities.  How using Bitcoin lets you interact with people all over the world, promoting peace and understanding.  How it is better for the environment than gold mining or trucking coins and cash to and from stores and banks.

Well, I think that's what someone called "narratives".

We still need a narrative for anonymity, though.

i think the anonymity part of BTC should be downplayed.  sure its a symbol for the geek network as well as the illegal trade folks but won't be for the masses who are the critical part of this acceptance equation.  the best way to think of how BTC will be used in the future is to study M-Pesa in Kenya and why it took off like a rocket shot.  those ppl just needed an easy, inexpensive way to move money around the country w/o physically delivering it like they had been (donkey ride cross country) forced to do b/c of theft.  they don't care that Safaricom/Vodafone knows their identity when sending money; they just want to get the money to family and friends.  most of BTC use will be this way.

actually i think the words "cryptocurrency" and "anonymous" should be downplayed in the marketing.  both imply BTC users have something to hide.  i for one don't and i think eventually the majority of users won't either.

[eMansipater]

actually i think the words "cryptocurrency" and "anonymous" should be downplayed in the marketing.  both imply BTC users have something to hide.  i for one don't and i think eventually the majority of users won't either.

+1

Big words and "anonymity" aren't selling points for cash--simplicity and ease of use are.  I'm running a registered business, paying taxes on my income, and tying my real-world identity to my BitCoin one.  I couldn't care less about anonymity.  It's the technology people care about--not a niche application.  Take Linux--I support for it both ideological and practical reasons, but the vast majority of people only care about the latter.

[S3052]

+2
This is the only way forward for a sustainable Bitcoin success.

[grondilu]

I agree about the anonimity part.  Bitcoin is not even really fully anonymous anyway.

But I don't see how we could get rid of the word "cryptographic".  Otherwise people will have no clue about how it works.

[Insti]

I agree about the anonimity part.  Bitcoin is not even really fully anonymous anyway.

But I don't see how we could get rid of the word "cryptographic".  Otherwise people will have no clue about how it works.

Most people don't know how an internal combustion engine works either, but they still drive cars..

[cypherdoc]

I agree about the anonimity part.  Bitcoin is not even really fully anonymous anyway.

But I don't see how we could get rid of the word "cryptographic".  Otherwise people will have no clue about how it works.

you'd be surprised about how many won't even care.  they'll try it out a few times and if it works they'll keep using it.  remember, the vast majority of the ppl don't have the capacity to understand the technology anyway.  hell, i'm a highly educated successful professional and do i really know how my browser works?  No.  i've been a heavy internet browser since the beginning and when did i find out about or care to look for something like Tor? one month ago.  am i using Tor right now?  i'd like to but Firefox 4.0 won't support it so i still browse around non anonymously and to sites like this.  when did i start using encrypted email for sensitive topics?  2 wks ago.  believe me, the masses want easability, practicality.

[cypherdoc]

i'll go one step farther and say the words cryptography, anonymous, cryptocurrency should be avoided in all forms of advertising.  OTOH, "decentralized" is a good word since its a play on the negative sentiment of "central" banking.  "distributed" is ok but for the avg person is unclear.  "digital currency" is great, a total play on the move to high tech money.

[marcus_of_augustus]

Just be straight up and answer the questions that are asked to the level that is required ... no need to hide anything.

Oh what a tangled web we weave when at first we seek to deceive.

Bitcoin has got nothing to hide or need make no apologies, it will stand and compete on its own merits.

[fabianhjr]

So, how are you going?

I haven't seen progress in this thing and just wondering if it is in production.

[darbsllim]

My 2 cents:

The target audience should probably be every average lower-middle class first world resident (people who will have money to use bitcoin as a commodity). Average Joes, college kids, stay at home moms, etc in the uk, canada, usa, australia, etc.

The video should touch on what speaks to them. What do people hate? Getting charged fees. People hate getting gauged with debit fees, bank fees, credit card interest charges, etc.

Average people don't know about the problems of federal reserve banking, the corruption of world banking cartels, etc - in fact, in a 10 minute video, if we try to explain that to them, it will most likely turn 80% of the people off.

I would not "go there" for this video, but I'd rather speak to the average person by saying how bitcoin is the evolution of transactions online, how great it is that it can have such low fees, etc etc...focus on mostly good things about bitcoin that will improve the average person's life. Don't focus on what's wrong with the current banking system.


That would be my biggest suggestion!

[Stefan Thomas]

So, how are you going?

I haven't seen progress in this thing and just wondering if it is in production.

It's not in production and won't be for a while. Right now I'm focusing on my main project Webcoin, due to the fact that wallet security is such a prominent and urgent subject at the moment.

I also lost access to the marketing wallet (7000 BTC), despite having three copies (one in a VirtualBox, one on Truecrypt/Dropbox, one somewhere else). Details on the loss are in the #bitcoin-dev chatlogs if you care to search. Anyway, this was extremely frustrating and another reason to focus on better wallet security.

[BitcoinPorn]

Wallet stuff scares me.  Definitely halt production if you have something already being worked on in that department.

BTW, love the original video and have linked many people to it many times

[caveden]

I also lost access to the marketing wallet (7000 BTC), despite having three copies (one in a VirtualBox, one on Truecrypt/Dropbox, one somewhere else). Details on the loss are in the #bitcoin-dev chatlogs if you care to search. Anyway, this was extremely frustrating and another reason to focus on better wallet security.

Seriously? It was stolen?? That's awful! What a pity...

[hugolp]

Which economist?

Whoever we can convince to spend the time. Suggestions and introductions are welcome.

I would recomend Russ Roberts from Econtalk (http://www.econtalk.org/). He did a whole podcast on Bitcoin. He is also the co-author of the videos Hayek vs Keynes (Round 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk, Round 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc)