The Star Trek Effect
Why we shouldn't preemptively judge new things simply because their most devoted fans are weird, obscene, or crazy.
Have you heard? There’s a new kid on the block. They call him Web3 and he’s been getting a lot of publicity lately. Frauds, NFT’s, scams, and money laundering to name a few. I find myself as skeptical as ever about it. The way I see it, you’ll know Bitcoin is taking off when drug dealers in Baltimore start using it instead of cash (they have every incentive to).
And yet…
All the Web3 criticisms remind me about my experiences with Star Trek.
For context, I never watched Star Trek. I'd read stories about fans and it always struck me as the dorkiest possible show, with unabashed nerdiness making something like the Big Bang Theory look like a sophisticated work of art.
But one day, I listened to a podcast about strength training and a question came up about which Star Trek leader the host liked more: Captain Kirk or Captain Picard. And I was struck by their answer. They took the question seriously. They didn’t mock it. The host thought for a moment. And then, they answered it would be an honor to serve under either one.
Because they were leaders: Competent, skilled, and wise men.
This is not the impression I got listening from rabid Star Trek fans who were at their worst first impressions, at the far end of this spectrum: Childish, emotionally stunted young adults.
So I decided to watch some scenes and to my surprise, it was closer to sci-fi Shakespeare than the Big Bang Theory. These were men of courage and philosophers. Great men to be emulated.
And so this gap between reality and impression stuck with me. How could I be so wrong about something that never existed?
Years have passed now and cryptocurrency’s rabid users rile me up. There's so much abuse and corruption happening in this space, metered with gambling addictions and delusions. I see a sea of addicts riding a high they hope never comes down.
And yet…
The math, software, and incentives are there. It would be hard for me to make a case that inevitably cryptocurrency will fail. There's a wide surface area of financial problems waiting to be solved. And problems we don't even realize that’ll one day be solved by new, abstract structures embedded into software. To be against the whole notion of cryptocurrency feels like being against the notion of progress itself.
Who am I to denounce the whole enterprise? Man cannot see all ends.
So I'm not too keen on stepping too deeply into the cynicism. I'd like to wait without a final judgement on what the future may hold.
I don't want to miss out on who Captain Picard might become.