Is Cryptocurrency the Information Age's Ponzi Scheme?

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There's been people trying to get money off of other people for as long as money exist. In the industrial age, "Ponzi Scheme" came about to do just that and today it seems to have taken a new form namely: Cryptocurrency.

Is Cryptocurrency the information age's version of a Ponzi Scheme?

It's important note that not all door to door salesman are part of a Ponzi Scheme. It's very likely that not all cryptocurrencies are frauds however it does look like it's easy for it to be a fraud as people don't understand them enough. 

With FTX, one of the biggest cryptocurrencies exchange platform, going bankrupt after being found to be a fraud ... it's difficult to trust any of them. If one of the biggest one turned out to be a fraud then how likely are we to find other ones to be frauds?

The idea behind cryptocurrency is relatively simple: scarcity creates value. The value of these coins comes from them being limited. The key here, however, is that people must buy into it - if there's no trust there's no value. For Cryptocurrency NOT to be a fraud, it must exist for the right reason and not for the purpose of defrauding someone.

Is Cryptocurrency the information age's version of a Ponzi Scheme?

Ponzi Scheme was created in the industrial age for the purpose of defrauding people. Cryptocurrency was created in the information age but the purpose depends on the creator. Some turn out to be FTX while others are Bitcoins... some salesmen represent Ponzi Schemes while others don't.

The Inspiration Dilima

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Many so call artists will wait until inspiration strikes prior to creating anything. The problem with this approach is that inspiration doesn't come easy - it's sporadic. 

I love writing stories on my free time and one of them I've only really worked on when I had the inspiration for it. In a year, I may of gotten 2 pages in... If my goal was to be a published author then I, obviously, cannot use this approach as it would take me decades to complete it. 

For some other stories, I've forced myself to write a little bit in it every second day. I've not only gotten more content in but I would argue that it's actually better than the story I only been writing when inspiration struck.

The lesson here is that if we want to create anything then we need to create it regardless if we're inspired or not. Inspiration often comes when you force it a little bit.

Death of the Experts?

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We've designed the internet to spread misinformation as we've prioritized "views" over "facts". The lifeblood of an influencer is in "views" which means that they may not necessarily fact-check everything they promote. They are likely to make decisions based on views more so than anything else.

Experts are people that have acquired expertise via credible sources while influencers are people that exert an expertise they may not have. Influencers builds trust with their audiences which allows them to be more believable in their message than an unknown expert.

"Why would I believe you, an expert that I don't know, when mamajojo on youtube, whom I've watched for years, is saying something different?"

We need to fix this problem on multiple fronts:

• We need a change in the internet algorithm to minimize the spread of misinformation.
• While free speech doesn't allow us to censor misinformation, do we really need to put it on the front page?
• We need influencers to fact-check their messages.
• We need viewers to understand that what they see online isn't necessarily true and may just exist for the sake of generating views.
• We need everyone to prioritize facts over sensationalism. 

Misinformation isn't an easy problem to fix as facts tend to be boring. When a journalist writes something, he'll put things in his work to shock the audience as this is what generates money. We need to find a balance and right now it feels like the scale is too much on the side of misinformation.

How Dating Change With Age

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Dating changes as we get older. The biggest of these changes is perhaps the willingness to present our real self from the start rather than who we think the other person will like. We do this because we come to realize that life is finite and our window of opportunity in finding a suitable mate is closing - finding a quality, rather than quantity, partner becomes increasingly important the older that we get.

While being physically attracted to a partner remains important, especially for men, we do come to realize that physical appearance is fleeting and will degrade with age. We know this because we see the degradation in ourselves. Life is slowly eating away at our youthfulness leaving behind gray hair and dry skin.

Some qualities we may come to value more, in our partner, as we age are:

• Kindness - Being kind is more difficult than being mean. Kindness shows that the person wishes to make good in the world and will likely add value to your life.
• Financial Stability/Discipline - Having a stable financial situation is better for relationships than not having a stable financial situation. The relationship is more likely to be peaceful if there's no needless debts.
• Sensitive to One's Own Health - Physical/mental health is an important part of the human experience. If you're dating someone that fail to see its importance then chances are high that you will need to deal with some form of negativity caused by it.
• Eternal Student - Nobody has all the answers. The student of life is someone that understands that learning doesn't end when high school ends - it ends when the student is dead. The person that is willing to learn will be more opened to learning/fixing relationship issues rather than push the blame.

In case you haven't noticed, the common theme of these qualities is peace. Whether it be intentional or not, peace is what we ultimately want as its the birthplace of happiness.

No Energy for Enemies

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My mother has told me "not to befriend anyone from family X" multiple times, over the past 30 years, because they've stolen things from her in the past. While I can certainly understand the frustration, it seems like a lot of energy was spent reminiscing about the pain this person inflicted over all this time.

Don't hold grudges for that long...

What I mean is don't carry the pain someone did to you over an extended period of time. There's other, more important, things that you need to be focusing on. While you don't necessarily need to befriend your enemies, don't spend time thinking about the pain they've inflicted to you. Learn to live with it and move on.

Nobody's perfect, people make mistakes and people can change. If you got hurt by someone 30 years ago, they're not necessarily the same person anymore. Again, you don't need to befriend them but you do need to get them out of your head - they certainly don't deserve all the attention you've continuously allowed them to have.