Aggregate Public Opinion Matters
Whether we like it or not the mob ultimately runs society. Individual property rights mean nothing in a riot. If public opinion turns against something nothing can resist it for long, not even the most oppressive governments. A libertarian utopia is the result of changing public opinion and maintaining public support for universal application of the Golden Principle without exception.
Unfortunately most people do not form their opinion based upon facts and reason, but instead defer to the opinions of others. Each and every day people make decisions based upon what they think other people think. Style, language, morals, religion, politics, and just about everything are heavily influenced by other peoples opinions. When in doubt most people defer to public opinion over their own opinion and this is the heart of democracy.
Billions of dollars are spent every single year in an effort to shape and then measure the aggregate opinion of the entire population on politics alone. There is an entire field of study dedicated to the manipulation of pubic opinion for profit.
Some of the more sophisticated techniques of manipulating opinion is by corrupting the measuring and reporting process. If you can control the major media outlets and continuously show support of a minority opinion over a majority opinion then people will come to believe that the minority opinion is the majority opinion. This can either be subtle or overt.
Perhaps one of the most overt attempts to manipulate public opinion is the corruption of “scientific polling” prior to elections or the elections themselves. As a result of publishing these scientific polls people conclude that some candidates are unelectable while others are extremely popular even if they are not. If you can manipulate an election then you can change the very constitution of a society while facing limited opposition.
No one likes to be a minority that stands out against the majority. They will often publicly support the majority opinion even if they privately object. This creates a self reinforcing cycle that results in the quiet suffering and repression of the majority.
If we are to achieve a libertarian utopia it becomes critical that the market produce an actuate and fully trustworthy measurement of the aggregate opinion. A private, incorruptible, continuous polling of the population would provide a means for people to feel safe communicating their desire to change the way society operates.
Fortunately with the combination of the internet and modern cryptography we now have the tools necessary to produce a nearly incorruptible anonymous polling solution.
I don't like to talk politics, especially when I've had a few drinks... but Bytemaster, this recent comment is spot on!!
I truly believe everyone, outside of this forum, gets wrapped up with their day-to-day shuffle and don't consciously realize, just how much individual freedom is actually being eroded or taken away from them EVERY SINGLE DAY!!
It truly is a soft tyranny that most Governments (like the U.S.) are engaging on the people, through the means of Media control (some could argue through the education system also) by dumbing down the population and/or shielding themselves while throwing meaningless "media" curve balls and blatant misinformation to the public.
By using these tactics they can therefor gradually strip away the rights, opinions, power and ultimately the voice of the individuals.
Which leads me to respond of my thoughts after reading Bytemasters post...
**edit** sorry for the long post
I, myself... can clearly see how beneficial the BitShares platform is,
and will be to everyone around the globe!
I know a lot of us here have the same viewpoint, but in the background it seems to me we're still struggling with the best idea on how to wrap up the BitShare package and present it to the people to adopt. There are so many facets of BitShares in which to work from!!
Do we target people that are...
-Already into Crypto on the other Block chains?
-In the Financial World (Forex/Stock/Commodities Investors)?
-Wanting new ways to spend money or E-Currency?
-Looking to store assets in a decentralized way?
-Looking to transfer assets across country borders (Remittance)?
-In need of financial tools in under developed or oppressive country's?
-etc. etc. etc.
The points I just mentioned almost everyone here is on board with and are aggressively trying to market it those exact demographics mentioned. But is this the best path? Is this how we should be spending 98% of our time and efforts?
For all tense and purposes, BitShares is a Financial and Social consensus tool.
The back bone for the financial side of the software is pretty much ready to go (especially with the coming updates).
The social side of the software (VOTE or it's equivalent) has a new spark and push behind it. I don't know that for a fact, but I'm sure Dan and team are aggressively tweaking and polishing this aspect of the platform for a reason. And I'd like to express my view point to see if it's on par with what Bytemaster and team have already concluded?!
So if the end goal of all this is to get mass adoption (I'm not trying to tout World Domination
) there are some things to consider for the next big push forward.
I believe most people in the modern world today are complacent (for the most part) with the way they conduct, or interact with their current financial institution.
Now granted, everyone understand it's centralized and all that.
But... with the huge amounts of outstanding debt that's been created in the world today; I'd say it's safe to assume that majority of the people (the ones we want to have explore BitShares) are comfortable using their current financial instruments, why?
Well, the current system allows consumers to disconnect their responsibility for any bad actions or wrong doings (money mismanagement) that may have occurred by the consumer, or the institution itself if it had collapsed or had mismanaged the finances. Are burdens (ie Bankruptcy, Credit damage) associate for such actions? Sure, but most people can restart after a certain period of time and wash away their past irresponsibility. And the cycle can begin all over again.
So basically they, the consumer, can blame their faults on someone or something else for their life misfortunes which inevitably leads to a "comfort level" that money mismanagement is OK and still be able to place blame outside of themselves.
Which lends itself to near 0% risk on the consumers part. There are plenty of centralized businesses that will lend money to high credit risk people!
Now let's get into the Cryptocurrency realm, where the consumer is now 100% responsible for any and all of their financial actions!! No and, ifs or buts!
If someone happens to either loose their private keys, or improperly safe guard their computer and get hacked, or the coin they dumped their money into drops in value and dies off; Who can they go after? Who's going to reimburse their losses? Who are they going to blame? They don't want to blame themselves now do they? LOL
So by trying to push this new tech in the financial sense to the masses, is now asking them to leave their current comfort zone with centralized businesses.
Which will be very difficult to do.
There has to be another avenue to get people to interact with crypto without needing to do a whole paradigm shift, or asking them to move out of there current financial comfort zone.
On top of that there's a century's worth of saturated Banking, Credit Card and other established Financial Institutions in today's market to compete against.
With such a saturated financial market, can BitShares compete... ABSOLUTELY!!
But... it's still a
big HUGE task to accomplish this either way you look at it.
Now, I think with BitShares implementing the Voting features, we can now instead pitch that side of the software (especially in light of Lite clients coming out).
Being able to introduce people to crypto through the back door of BitShares, called VOTE, by having them interact in crypto without them even knowing it.
I know Dan along with other team members were in California recently pitching VOTE to government officials along with others participants, but I have to ask, are we trying to go from ground floor to the top in one giant step? Are we biting off more than we can chew by taking that approach? Kinda like trying to kill the Elephant in the room approach?
Yes, it's great that there was strong interest of the protocol and all that BitShares has to offer, but there must be an easier way.
My approach would be this...
Let's take the Social aspect of BitShares (the VOTE functionality) and let's target the mass Social Media outlets with that sublet of the software.
Like Facebook, Google+, Linkedin, MySpace, etc. etc. and get them to see how easy and great it would be to merge the BitShare VOTE function into their platform.
List and name all the benefits and features that the BitShares software could bring to their user base of doing such. The ultimate in real time voter interaction.
Once one of these company's integrate the BitShares decentralized voting, through lite clients, now you get mass user recognition of BitShares along with people wanting to hopefully learn more about decentralization via crypto. You'll be able to put the BitShare name out there, without the consumer (or the masses) having to drastically change their paradigm to be willing to explore more of BitShares. It will seamlessly integrate into their everyday life.
Then when their comfortable with the BitShare name and learn to find out BitShares ALSO includes a robust financial side of the exact same software they've been using...
BOOM!!!! BONUS...and to my knowledge, no other cryptocurrency is able to exploit this avenue to gain mass adoption or recognition!!! Only BitShares has the goods!!!
So long story short. The bridge to mass adoption is through the VOTE features of BitShares as just explained (IMO of course).
Though the Financial aspect of BitShares is nothing to discount either!!
But knowing what we know of Bytemaster... I'm sure he's has already thought of this ions ago!!