Survey Says Most Americans Want to Ban Bitcoin: Highlighting Need for Education

[foggyb]

Yes maybe nature is more intelligent than just random permutations

 

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[InwardContour]

Just means that the propaganda media has done it's job making BTC look like some evil online drug money.  It's an uphill battle to legitimize it, but in time we'll win.  I did find the part about religious people wanting to ban transactions with it interesting.  Brainwashed people tend to believe anything shoved down their throats

This is not so much propaganda as a lot of bitcoin activity does have to do with nefarious activity.

What needs to happen is more business start to accept bitcoin to associate bitcoin with legitimate commerce.

More propagandas are coming with the beginning of Bitpay sponsoring St. Petersburg Bowl, which is first campaign through TV. More people will be aware with the new technology existence of BTC and dig more infomations about it then find what BTC really is. More companies bring convenient service related BTC to the people, such as Bitpay. More merchants will accept BTC payment, such as overstock, Expedia, DISH network.

This is less propaganda and more advertising. You are however correct to say that companies like bitpay will over time cause bitcoin to become more respected

[bryant.coleman]

This is less propaganda and more advertising. You are however correct to say that companies like bitpay will over time cause bitcoin to become more respected

I don't understand why people call advertising campaigns as propaganda drives. Look at the amount spent on advertising by companies such as Visa and Master. The corresponding figures for Bitpay are no way near those.

[rhino34567]

Just means that the propaganda media has done it's job making BTC look like some evil online drug money.  It's an uphill battle to legitimize it, but in time we'll win.  I did find the part about religious people wanting to ban transactions with it interesting.  Brainwashed people tend to believe anything shoved down their throats

I don't see much of a difference in relation to people's attitudes towards bitcoin based on religion. 8%-13% could have just been a coincidence, as opposed to other clear statistics such as income groups.

[DubFX]

Is this really caused by the media propaganda that bitcoin is only used to order drugs online?
If so then that's sad that people will belive everything that media says, even without researching about it first...

[Jubettarr]

Education or even propaganda (in good sense) of bitcoin is maybe the most important direction of work for BTC community today!

[bananaControl]

Then by all means please enlighten me with your mental superiority.

Nah, I'll decline. You're too closed minded to engage in a rational argument.

Clearly it sounds like you have a better answer to how we ended up with such a diverse display of life than what can be explained by natural selection. Then let's hear it.

You're almost apologetic for believing in evolution. You should be, its a stupid idea. Doesn't stand up to rational thought, violates physical laws, and is immune to the laws of probability.

So you tell me how wrong and stupid I am, and yet will not tell me what you believe created the diversity in life on earth? And then on top you change subject and starts asking the questions, when you fail to answer.  

And for those of you who'll chime in with "yes but billions of years".

Remember this number: 10 to the 150th. This number is known as Dembski’s Universal Probability Bound and represents the maximum number of particulate reactions that could have occurred since the start of the universe. Compare that to 10^650 for haemoglobin.

Does that include an infinite number of multiverses? Infinity is a rather large thing.


I say this from the bottom of my heart and not as an insult, you really should seek some help - you could call Stefan Molyneux on his show. I really mean it.

[eid]

Elderly, religious, poor Americans need educating about technology. Quelle surprise; didn't need to carry out such a huge survey to learn this.

[Chris_Sabian]

It would be really nice to see the exact questions.  Sometimes they are biased to obtain a specific result (e.g. push-polling), so knowing the questions and the context in which they are asked is important.  E.g.

Q 1. "Bitcoins have been used to buy drugs.  Have you heard that?" 

Q 2. "Should bitcoins be banned?"

v.s.

Q 1. "Bitcoins have been used to send money to charities around the world.  Have you heard that?" 

Q 2. "Should bitcoins be banned?"



:-)

Both sets of those questions have heavy bias for or against bitcoin.  A better question would be:

Q 1. Bitcoin is a currency that exists without the backing of a country.  Are you for or against Bitcoin's regulation by the United States Government?

There are entire graduate level courses that focus entirely on asking survey questions without bias.  That way you can gather accurate data.

 

[BADecker]

The human eye evolved in an aquatic environment. As such, it is full of fluid and therefore FAR from ideal in non-aquatic environments, such as ours. Evolution is the only explanation that sensibly explains the human eye.

Evolution sounds pretty rational to me.  How do you think it violates physical laws or probability?
Genetic variance is an observable fact.  Survival of the fittest is quite logical.  

There are fossil records and other empirical evidence.  Evolution is widely accepted as fact in the scientific community.

So if you have some contradictory evidence, please... do share, including the alternative theories. Thx !

Paste from elsewhere:

Haemoglobin (the oxygen carrying truck in your blood), is formed from a protein chain 574 amino acids long. Working from an available proteinaceous alphabet of 20 amino acids, what is the chance that haemoglobin occurred by natural selection acting on random variations according to Darwinian evolution? Zero, because natural selection only selects from beneficial precursors, and anything leading up to haemoglobin won’t be haemoglobin until all the bits are in place and the protein folds, locks and launches.

So what are the chances haemoglobin got it right by accident? 1 chance in 10 to the 650th. Out of that staggering number of possible permutations of amino acids, only one is haemoglobin with an error-rate of zero, or you’re dead.


So lets summarize my point: We bitcoiners believe that the chances of a key collision is pretty much zero, with the probability fixed at 2^160. *source

And yet some of the same people accept (or support in ignorance) that a haemoglobin molecule was formed at random, with massively worse odds.

2^160 is a 49 digit number. 10^650 is 651 digits.

And by the way, that’s just haemoglobin! Now you’ve got to account for 33,000 other proteins forming in like fashion, and 2,000-odd enzymes, and then all the fats, vitamins, minerals, hormones and substrates happening by accident for starters.

Needless to say, we haven't even reached a base from which evolution can work yet. We don't have any proteins to form life! No need to even get into the theory of how improbable spontaneous eye formation is. Why go there? Lets start with basic systems first. Like blood circulation. A closed leak-proof blood vessel system complete with a miraculously working pump forming by chance? There's really no debate to be had. Its a fool's game.

Oh, this is SOOOO good. I just got to this topic, but there is the answer to evolution, with Bitcoin thrown in to prove it.

We Bitcoiners trust Bitcoin. Well at least we are hopeful. And our trust is based on the fact that the Bitcoin encryption-breaking odds are way too great for Bitcoin encryption to be broken. And even if the encryption were broken once, it would have to be broken over and over again to make it practical to "steal" bitcoins.

The thing that tickles is that life and existence are encrypted so immeasurably greater than Bitcoin, that there is not even the slightest chance that evolution (as we theorize about it in the general public) could even be a theory, much less have really happened.

This is extremely important because, IT SHOWS THAT EVERYTHING HAPPENED FOR A PURPOSE, rather than simply happening by accident with no real rhyme or reason. Let's look for the purpose. It will take us to God. It will show us that we can't understand how God is "benefited" by our existence. But it will also show us that God IS benefited by our glorifying of HIM.

So let's learn about God, and then do the thing that He created us for, namely, to praise, worship, and glorify HIM!

[Beliathon]

Oh, this is SOOOO good. I just got to this topic, but there is the answer to evolution, with Bitcoin thrown in to prove it.

We Bitcoiners trust Bitcoin. Well at least we are hopeful. And our trust is based on the fact that the Bitcoin encryption-breaking odds are way too great for Bitcoin encryption to be broken. And even if the encryption were broken once, it would have to be broken over and over again to make it practical to "steal" bitcoins.

For me it's not about trust or hope, it's about mathematics and reason. Bitcoin is based on hard, verifiable, observable science. Fiat, by comparison, is largely based on myth, deception, and illusion. The choice is clear, the future is clear. Fiat is obsolete.

The thing that tickles is that life and existence are encrypted so immeasurably greater than Bitcoin, that there is not even the slightest chance that evolution (as we theorize about it in the general public) could even be a theory, much less have really happened.

You really need some chaos theory in your life. Here's a taste.

[QuestionAuthority]

Stuff.

More stuff

Irrelevant stuff.

American insanity.

More Americans Believe in Angels than Global Warming

I’m not sure whether to be amused or frightened by this juxtaposition of polls by Blake Hounshell:
Percentage of Americans who believe in angels: 55
Percentage of Americans who believe in evolution: 39
Percentage of Americans who believe in anthropogenic global warming: 36
Percentage of Americans who believe in ghosts: 34
Percentage of Americans who believe in UFOs: 34


http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/more_americans_believe_in_angels_than_global_warming/

[Beliathon]

I’m not sure whether to be amused or frightened by this juxtaposition of polls by Blake Hounshell:
Percentage of Americans who believe in angels: 55
Percentage of Americans who believe in evolution: 39
Percentage of Americans who believe in anthropogenic global warming: 36
Percentage of Americans who believe in ghosts: 34
Percentage of Americans who believe in UFOs: 34


http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/more_americans_believe_in_angels_than_global_warming/

Don't be so disturbed, what you need to understand is that there are (at least) two Americas. There is the America of the East and West coast cities - the places connected to the world, thought, and technology. Think of them as surfing the wave of "new" knowledge.

And there is the South, the midwest - places far from the hyper-connected coastal cities, with all their icky culture and learnin. Many states in the South still insist on teaching "Christian Science" (lol!) alongside evolution, implying there is some kind of controversy.

The only real controversy is that actual children are allowed anywhere near these "schools" and their "teachers".

[jonald_fyookball]

Obviously things evolve.  Species evolve. (There were dinosaurs and now there ain't)  Some of it may be based on natural selection, some of it may be due to other factors that can't be explained, at least right now.

[JustBetweenUs]

The societies of primitive primates [lol redundant much?] are were also very much controlled by violence.

That is a myth, and is wholly untrue. Hobbes was an idiot who totally misunderstood human nature. Read Sex at Dawn.

If you had to pick one point in all time of history to be alive as a human, you couldn't pick a better time than now...

I'm sure the noble families of the feudal age thought the same thing, oblivious to the endless suffering of their peasants. If you're an American or European white person (especially male), you're living in a bubble of privilege. You're clueless to the reality of the lives of most people on Earth.
Life is not so great for the folks who make your clothes in Bangladesh, or the kids who assemble your electronics in Guangzhou, or the wage-slaves who harvest your coffee beans, or the undocumented migrant workers in your own nation. Ask them what they think of capitalism.

Oh wait, you don't care. Far easier to remain blissfully ignorant, apathetic, and tacitly complicit in their suffering, while in utter denial about your own.

Just want to say that I appreciate your posts a lot. Spot on.

[BADecker]

Older folks and the poor (who are often on Social Security or welfare) in the U.S. don't like Bitcoin because it has to do with money. They fear Bitcoin because it might disrupt the money flow from the "system" to them. The little these people understand tells them that the money system is in danger of collapsing as it is. And Bitcoin is only something that might make it happen, or at least make the fall faster.

While it is a fact that Bitcoin would help the money system to crash, if it had the chance to become a little stronger, it won't happen that way. The money system will fall on its own, not because of Bitcoin, but because of the trust people place in untrustworthy bankers and government people. The whole fiat money system is inherently flawed. It simply cannot uphold the weight of its own stupid bulk. At least not the way the money managers are using it.

It's too bad that folks don't use what energy they have to investigate Bitcoin. It just might wind up being our salvation when the money system DOES collapse in the near future. And if they are dependent on the money system, they need all the preparation that they can get before the crash.

[cr1776]

It would be really nice to see the exact questions.  Sometimes they are biased to obtain a specific result (e.g. push-polling), so knowing the questions and the context in which they are asked is important.  E.g.

Q 1. "Bitcoins have been used to buy drugs.  Have you heard that?"  

Q 2. "Should bitcoins be banned?"

v.s.

Q 1. "Bitcoins have been used to send money to charities around the world.  Have you heard that?"  

Q 2. "Should bitcoins be banned?"



:-)

Both sets of those questions have heavy bias for or against bitcoin.  A better question would be:

Q 1. Bitcoin is a currency that exists without the backing of a country.  Are you for or against Bitcoin's regulation by the United States Government?

There are entire graduate level courses that focus entirely on asking survey questions without bias.  That way you can gather accurate data.

 

That was the point.  

Both are biased and if you don't know the poll internals, you don't know which way it is biased or whether it is biased at all.

(and by the way, your sample is heavily biased too - "regulation" is an emotion heavy word, as is the phrase "without backing of a country.")

[jonald_fyookball]

Older folks and the poor (who are often on Social Security or welfare) in the U.S. don't like Bitcoin because it has to do with money. They fear Bitcoin because it might disrupt the money flow from the "system" to them. The little these people understand tells them that the money system is in danger of collapsing as it is. And Bitcoin is only something that might make it happen, or at least make the fall faster.

While it is a fact that Bitcoin would help the money system to crash, if it had the chance to become a little stronger, it won't happen that way. The money system will fall on its own, not because of Bitcoin, but because of the trust people place in untrustworthy bankers and government people. The whole fiat money system is inherently flawed. It simply cannot uphold the weight of its own stupid bulk. At least not the way the money managers are using it.

It's too bad that folks don't use what energy they have to investigate Bitcoin. It just might wind up being our salvation when the money system DOES collapse in the near future. And if they are dependent on the money system, they need all the preparation that they can get before the crash.

I think at some point it will go viral...old folks putting at least a portion of savings into Bitcoin...the idea/meme will catch on...and it will snowball... at least that is my hope.

[BADecker]

Oh, this is SOOOO good. I just got to this topic, but there is the answer to evolution, with Bitcoin thrown in to prove it.

We Bitcoiners trust Bitcoin. Well at least we are hopeful. And our trust is based on the fact that the Bitcoin encryption-breaking odds are way too great for Bitcoin encryption to be broken. And even if the encryption were broken once, it would have to be broken over and over again to make it practical to "steal" bitcoins.

For me it's not about trust or hope, it's about mathematics and reason. Bitcoin is based on hard, verifiable, observable science. Fiat, by comparison, is largely based on myth, deception, and illusion. The choice is clear, the future is clear. Fiat is obsolete.

The thing that tickles is that life and existence are encrypted so immeasurably greater than Bitcoin, that there is not even the slightest chance that evolution (as we theorize about it in the general public) could even be a theory, much less have really happened.

You really need some chaos theory in your life. Here's a taste.

While close-to-home mathematics works very well for practical, everyday life, distant math is still very much unknown. For example, we haven't found a form of mathematics that explains Pi (π). We still don't know for a fact that PI is infinite, although it seems that it is.

Reason suggests that chaos has to do with everything. Yet chaos theory is still only a theory and will probably always be, because, chaos theory suggests that reason doesn't hold the answers.

[rext]

It all depends on the way bitcoin was presented to them.

If bitcoin was presented in a way that would cause fear in their hearts, make them feel skeptical, no way will there be support for bitcoin in their eyes.

Similarly, if bitcoin was presented in a way that benefits them immensely, I'm pretty sure their views will change.