As an old timer I have the privilege to know how we got here. And that comes with a duty. The duty of sharing my view of the world.
This post will be about (un)healthy relationships, personal and community development and conflict as a necessary state of mind to advance things. It's also an invitation to make use of our full potential as human beings. It's a reminder that we grow when we challenge ourselves with people who have more knowledge/wisdom or adversarial/controversial perspectives.
Looking at what happened within BTC after all seems like a very natural process. Everything (group) that involves more than one individual (religion, politics, national states, marriages...) is prone to splits, divorce or however you may call it. In that regard Bitcoin is just as normal as anything else. Expecting something different in Bitcoin "because it's ruled by math" is part of the delusion early and naive investors fell for. It's highly likely that lack in life experience and a harsh misunderstanding of what Bitcoin actually displayed had a big roll in such a blatant misinterpretation. We later saw in BTC that misunderstandings (or are they disagreements?) were plenty within the community.
Disagreement as a prerequisite for healthy conflict is engraved in our lives. Our separate bodies literally force us to look at "the" world with different pairs of eyes. Unity is therefore (at best) time bound and a mere matter of a certain abstraction level. The bigger the scale/theme the more unity (integration) you'll find. The devil/devide lies in the detail.
All Bitcoin "tribes" will claim to work and fight for a sounder money system. Besides that you'll find disagreement in almost anything.
Now fast forward to today.
Observation of conflict (as a measure of vitality) tells us that BCH is more alive than BTC. The perception of value made BSV split from BCH and not from BTC. This means the Bitcoin center of gravity already moved from BTC to BCH. Investment seems to be a lacking indicator to knowledge transfer, just as mining is a lacking indicator to investment.
Where I see potential for improvement is in a more distanced view on unity (as a goal) and or divorce as something to
Adult minds will decide one way or another (not knowing what is potentially best). They face the consequences of their actions and move on with more important (vital) things. Bickering ex-partners or bitter still-partners are a sign of unhealthy divorce/unity and point to unresolved trauma.
Where most things fall apart is that we seek convenience and easy going situations over hard work relationships. Most long term marriages work because of dissociation and not because of continuous improvement and development of both partners.
Polarity is needed to advance. If polarity can not be managed it will lead to a split. Those new subsystems will need some new sort of polarity in order to survive. Such polarity will grow over time and either be managed or it'll lead to another split.
Think of breathing: While inhaling is certainly important. Exhaling maximalists might call "inhalists" out for not getting rid of the high levels of CO2 and vice versa. That's also why tribalism is a narrowed down perspective of the world. Black and white. Good or bad. It helps us find our identity. But in the end both inhalists as well as exhalists will die if they don't accept to see the fruits in someone else work that is in complete opposition to ones own world view.
Adult minds are capable of handling difficult situations differently on a case by case basis. They don't fear the consequence but take full responsibility for their actions.
Tribalism is a necessary early stage development phase in human development. It's not the "highest" state from which we can take action, though. Whenever you see people reducing complex situations and ongoing discussion to a state of tribal black against white, rich against poor, young against old, men against women, be careful. It might reduce your capability of thinking in much more complex terms you are normally capable of.
Creating global money goes hand in hand with becoming powerful self-aware and self-sovereign individuals. What most people in this space underestimate is the amount of necessary development in order to make it successful in various fields - not just code. Such development and advancement at the edges of society includes code, economic theory, community development and last but not least personal development (which means creating and maintaining healthy conflict in complex situations that best represent real live situations).
In the end I think the coin that can "hold" the most conflicting parties under one roof will win the prize for global money.
In that regard I currently see BCH (and XMR) as the best contender for global money, as both BTC as well as BSV only keep their power because they are (currently) ideologically aligned and avoid internal conflict using various techniques. The next real conflict will make them an easy target for a divide et impera (or more likely an extinguish) scheme.
Learn to hold conflicting opinions. Learn to respect others conflicting opinions. Anonymity can help here. It helps separating the person from the ideas and to some degree the belief system you and the other person operate in. It's more a hack of your own brain to overcome your early judgement based on the person you perceive and conceive through your own filters!
Learn how both BTC as well as BSV play a vital part in the (external) development of BCH. Appreciate their efforts in proving BCH wrong. They are exploring the safety margins at the edges. They are criticizing BCH for "not being bold enough" (BSV) or already being "much to extreme" (BTC). It's them who give BCH healthy (external) criticism and vital feedback. It's them who make BCH stronger.
The same applies for the developer teams within BCH. Development is only as good as the surrounding environment that encourages new ideas and makes the good ones spread far and wide. It's healthy competition resulting from healthy conflict that makes this community more powerful than BTC and BSV despite their corporate funding.
One last word. Tribalism is not per se bad. But in the process of human development it is an early stage development that uses only a minor part of the capability we can make use of today. It seems we have to rework such stages in the digital world (like in the real world) before we can advance to some "higher" states of interaction.
There is some great work on human development psychology in individuals and groups I strongly recommend anybody to know about:
http://www.clarewgraves.com/theory.html
Cowen and Beck have advanced the theory under the name: Spiral Dynamics.
Bitcoin provides us withe the technology to transcend tribalism. As an investor I don't need to choose "my" tribe anymore as I naturally hold equal amounts and power in each tribe. It's an act of exercised freedom to give up this position of power in order to guide future development and through divesting and reinvesting shape our complex reality.
Keep in mind that it is not necessarily the case that one individual has all the information needed to decide what's best for all community members. If you sell your stake and turn full ideologue you are likely acting from a point of selfishness (disguised as wise guardian) rather being the provider of safe guidance we need so much in this space.
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