To assess the trajectory that cryptocurrencies may be on, it’s useful to look back at the arcs that new technologies and ways of thinking have taken in the past. A familiar pattern is that novel tech is regarded as eccentric and essentially pointless, while any potential utility is overlooked.
And, to be fair, new technologies often do, at the outset, appear outlandish, unreliable and even crank-like, attracting enthusiasts who think and talk in unfamiliar ways. Given consideration, though, none of this should come as a surprise.
The newest technologies are, by their nature, unfinished. They will come without professional packaging or money-back guarantees, as they are still in the process of being actualized and improved. Their ultimate purposes may or may not be clearly decided, since, as previously-unseen tools, there might be applications that simply haven’t been imagined yet.
And, as for attracting unconventional people, that too should be expected. In order to work on or adopt unproven products that have no mainstream presence, one must be the type of character who spends time looking beyond the center ground, and also, perhaps, the kind of person who would like to initiate change.
Put simply, the appearance of a tech which is initially, on the face of it, ambiguous baffling and talked up by advocates with unusual points of view, should set off not alarm bells, but wake-up calls, indicating that something important might be starting.
The Early Web and Computer Games
A relevant example of something that made little sense to many observers at the start, but subsequently altered the world, is web technology. Undoubtedly, at first, a nerdish enterprise, but don’t forget that it was also dismissed, sometimes, as being without significant utility.
That we would be able to shop online was acknowledged, but often with a so-what attitude, the prevailing view being that very few people would want or need to shop via a computer rather than in person.
When it came to what we now call social media, the idea of engaging online and at length, and sometimes with strangers, initially came across as deeply anti-social. The view was that socializing online was the preserve of people who were not inclined to interact with others in the real world, and chose to stare at…
