Far from all earlier adopters are rich, some certainly are.
Bitcoin is perfect for libertarians who want to make money, since they have at least 2 major reasons to be involved with Bitcoin. For "the masses" appealing to their self-interest is fine, since that is human nature meeting reality.
Please note "appealing to your self-interest" doesn't == "get rich scheme". Bitcoin is good for a hedge against declines in paper money and that will become more obvious as time goes by.
yeah but honestly, self-gain reigns supreme. it seems like most people here are vested into bitcoin because they want to help their own personal wealthy; anything else comes as a byproduct. can't blame people though, this is the world we live in.. everybody must fend for themselves.
It is common to have an ideal of altruism. But there is a problem.
This is a famous article by Susan Wolf about moral saints:
http://philosophyfaculty.ucsd.edu/faculty/rarneson/Courses/susanwolfessay1982.pdfIt is ok to be kind to others, but you can end up destroying yourself. So her conclusion is that you should seek the virtue of unselfishness, but up to a limit. This problem often shows up in practise. You see a friend is being overworked, and unhappy, and you tell him: Take a break, go to a vacation, do something for yourself for a change. Wise people will know that it is neccessary to be somewhat selfish, maybe "steal" some time for themselves or grant themselves some kind of goody now and then without telling others.
So here is the problem: You have a moral (to not be selfish), but you can not follow it, because you destroy yourself. I don't like that, because I want my moral to be consistent. If I have a moral rule that I can not follow, I want to ditch it and replace it with something that I
can use.
That is the rational self interest. It is rational, because it leads to the result you want. It goes like this: You wake up, you choose to wash, dress up and eat. Because it is good. Then you choose to go to school or work. Maybe you would rather stay home, but you choose to go anyway, because you have another goal: Salary, career, respect. Then you want to see a friend. You choose that, because you know that interacting with friends is good for you. You keep your promises, because you want others to trust you. You are peaceful and forcefully protect your rights and the rights of others, because you want them to feel safe when you are around.
Why do you do this? Not for them, for yourself, because you want a good life. So there is this hierarchy of choices, and you make choices for your own good. Basically, when you wake up, you have the choice to live or to die, and you choose to live. That is rational self interest.
tl; dr altruism is good if not overused. Rational self interest is the way to go.
