Are most people just ignorant or is it just old people?

[turvarya]

Today happened a funny story at work:
Yesterday I tried out http://www.watchmybit.com/. What really amazed me about it(I haven't used Bitcoins very much to purchase things) is the speed about the transaction. I hit the send button on my phone and the video started nearly instantly(which means the transaction was registered).
Today I told a colleague at work about it. He is in his 50's but a programmer for many years.
I gave him a brief description, and his response was just: "Yeah, that's interesting, if you are interested in Bitcoins" (so, basically he is not interested).

The funny thing happened shortly afterwards:
We were drinking coffee with a client and he(the colleague) started rambling, about Nordic countries where you can't pay with cash any more in certain shops, and how that will lead to us, not having any use for cash any more, so we have to put the money into a bank account, so we can use it and when that happens, we will pay negative interest rates for it(since there is a bank in Germany which already has negative interest rates for High amounts of money in the bank account).
I think his whole conspiracy theory is too far fetched, but he obviously sees something emerging, that can be easily solved by using Bitcoin, still he refuses to take any interest in Bitcoin. He knows enough about Bitcoin, since I explained it to him, he even said him self, that they are obviously challenging Banks. So, he is not just uneducated about the subject.
He also told me, that he is storing some cash, in case there is a problem with Banks.

I understand that a lot of people(non-techies) just don't get it, since it all seems so complicated. But a techie person understanding the concept, seeing problems with banks and still he doesn't care about something like Bitcoin. I can find a better word, than just describing that, as a huge pile of ignorance.
I am wondering if he is a special case or if he is part of a majority

[Soros Shorts]

Ignorance or apathy?

[Elwar]

Look at the amount of people that voted for Obama.

Look at who they chose in the primary for the past 10-20 Republican/Democrat primaries.

A lot of ignorant people in the US.

[Welsh]

Look at the amount of people that voted for Obama.

Look at who they chose in the primary for the past 10-20 Republican/Democrat primaries.

A lot of ignorant people in the US.

Not limited to the US either, unfortunately. Ignorance is quite widespread.

[turvarya]

Look at the amount of people that voted for Obama.

Look at who they chose in the primary for the past 10-20 Republican/Democrat primaries.

A lot of ignorant people in the US.

Not limited to the US either, unfortunately. Ignorance is quite widespread.

I am from Austria

Regarding politics, I don't get the Obama Bashing, his (Republican) opponents wouldn't have been a better choice.
Most democracies are just broken, because there are no good choices in most elections. But I don't really want to get into a political discussion(again) here.

[neoneros]

Look at the amount of people that voted for Obama.

Look at who they chose in the primary for the past 10-20 Republican/Democrat primaries.

A lot of ignorant people in the US.

Not limited to the US either, unfortunately. Ignorance is quite widespread.

Not limited to age either, I think you'll find that over 90% is ignorant, or chooses to be unless it gets mainstream and accepted by pushing it down their throats.

[Elwar]

Regarding politics, I don't get the Obama Bashing, his (Republican) opponents wouldn't have been a better choice.

Hence why I brought up the Republican primary.

Sheep gonna be sheep.

[amaclin]

I understand that a lot of people(non-techies) just don't get it, since it all seems so complicated.

And another mass of people knows that bitcoin is ponzi and its value (to dollar, to goods) will fall lower and lower down to no value at all.
Yes. This is not a mistake. I say "knows". I do not say "thinks"

[bornil267645]

It's bit of both actually.. People don't quite ignore it and at the same time don't admit they are old.

[Q7]

Just a classic case of ignorance. Being an IT guy means he knows quite well the tech behind it. Or....Maybe he still likes something tangible which he can hold onto like for instance a pile of paper. Then you will need to tell him in different approach and giving him example that if the house burns down the paper money is lost for good. 

[RodeoX]

Consider his life experience. When he was young money was understandable. If something is $5, he hands them a $5 bill. As he grows up he see the rise of electronic payments. People start using credit cards and other systems that start siphoning off percentage points from each transaction and unholy contracts with a million traps to get you into debt. Being an IT guy he sees how little work is being done and how mathematically insidious the fee structure is. This turns him against buying on credit. Which is a logical and a good idea.

Now comes bitcoin another electronic payment that is even harder to understand and more distant from that $5 bill. After so much baggage he is not even willing to look at it. Instead he assumes it is some kind of corporate trick to take a cut of the transactions for Wall Street.

I don't know the guy so this could be totally wrong. My point is the guy could be acting sensibly and not hating on bitcoin. He could just be so skeptical that he does not feel its worth his time to investigate. Bitcoin is so different that many people are confused by it. Perhaps this is more true of people who hold a little knowledge on the subject. Such as an IT tech or a banker. They have per-conceived notions about money and the way it works. That is no advantage in bitcoin. 

[ChuckBuck]

Sheeple man.  Herd mentality.

It's been beaten into all of us, to "trust what works" which is unfortunately is trusting our funds and finances with the old guard:

 

[commandrix]

Most people really are that ignorant, and "senior citizens" (the polite term for old people these days) often don't want to admit that the world has changed around them since they were young'uns. You should try using Bitcoin for your purchases and maybe more people will get curious when you subtly let them see what you're doing.

[Triffin]

For the unwashed masses ..

BTC ( at the moment ) is ..

1) Too hard to use
2) Too easy to lose

Triff ..

[Beliathon]

Sheeple man.  Herd mentality.

It's been beaten into all of us, to "trust what works" which is unfortunately is trusting our funds and finances with the old guard:

 

It's worse than you think. Thanks to mass schooling indoctrination we are still trusting our planet - and by extension the survival of our species - with capitalism.



You know how far the nearest star is besides Sol? We only get one shot at this game.

Even if bitcoin wins, humanity still loses if we don't unfuck this situation with tremendous alacrity.

[QuestionAuthority]

I guess all of the people siding with PoS over PoW are the old people and all siding with PoW over PoS are the young people. Members of this forum can't even form a unified consensus about how secure Bitcoin is and what to do to make it foolproof. It may not be an age thing either. He may not be the sharpest tool in the shed if he can be from Austria and know the local German Mark history then store his money in fiat anyway.

[MakingMoneyHoney]

It's not just old people. Someone on this forum posted a link to a website for gamers with an article on the news that Microsoft will accept Bitcoins, the comments section was crazy. I have a feeling most of the people posting are young.

Here's one comment "Bad, scratch that, horrible decision. There has already been numerous incidents of corruption and hacking of Bitcoins. Either where someone has has theirs stolen through hacks and all their Bitcoins came up missing or where people hacked and got billions of bitcoins illegally. Untill we improve the way we handle digital data I don't think this is a good idea." and "IOUs > Bitcoin" and another "must be great for the 12 people that use bitcoin" and another "Next step, you can now pay for xbox content with monopoly money"

It was pretty sad seeing all the people who hated the idea of being able to pay with another form of currency, simply because they don't understand and/or have never looked into it.

http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/11/you-can-now-pay-for-xbox-and-windows-content-with-bitcoin

[LiteCoinGuy]

Ignorance or apathy?

you hit the nail on the head. but i dont think it has something to do with age.


@turvarya

but you can be happy and proud: you understand bitcoin  

[BombaUcigasa]

Your turn will come. How do you feel about pinterest, snapchat, high-school memes, planking, bronies and tumblerinas? Imagine in 30 years the world has changed so much and people are born in new technology that nobody needs or cares about (nobody being you).

There is hope, if Apple made a 6" iPhone after 10 years of small expensive trinkets, nothing is impossible.

Remember, everyone out there reacts to ONE aspect of Bitcoin. If they're not a fan yet, try another angle, it's impossible to not find something that convinces them.

[Lethn]

People are just fucking ignorant, welcome to life, the politicians in power don't vote themselves in unless it turns out they've covered up election fraud extremely well.