Driving Destiny
Back when I was in college (university for the rest of the world), there was a period of a couple years that I was an English Literature major. Which seems kind of funny given my slight aversion to reading, but it's true. I got to take some really great courses where we dug into quite a number of different genres. One of those just happened to be the works of Sophocles. I mean, if you are going to learn literature, you may as well start at the beginning right? Of course, we did also read the Epic of Gilgamesh and that predates just about everything, but that's not important for this post.
Anyway, back to Sophocles and the story of Oedipus the King. If you have ever wondered where the term Oedipus complex comes from, this is it. It's a Freudian concept that explains a child's "attachment" (to make it SFW) to their opposite sex parent and rivalry with their same sex parent when they are younger.
In case you aren't familiar with the story, I'll give you a breakdown here from Google:
"King Laius is told his son will kill him, so he abandons the infant Oedipus. Raised elsewhere, Oedipus hears the same prophecy, flees his foster home, and in his journey, kills a stranger (his father) and marries the widowed queen (his mother)."
It's actually a lot more in depth than that, and actually a really good read if you have the time, but despite what I might have led you to believe, this post really isn't about literature. In fact, it's more about the idea of self fulfilling prophecies. Oedipus Rex is a prime example of a self fulfilling prophecy. In their attempt to escape their fate, they end up walking right into the destiny that has already been laid out for them.
If literature isn't your thing, the movie Twelve Monkeys is a perfect example of a self fulfilling prophecy. If you are looking for something a little more recent, you should maybe check out "Bodies" on Netflix. That was another example of a self fulfilling prophecy.
Once again though, I am getting a bit off the track.
In case you are still a little in the dark, here is another excerpt from Google to clear things up:
"A self-fulfilling prophecy is a psychological and sociological phenomenon where a person’s belief or expectation—whether positive or negative—about a situation causes them to act in ways that make that belief come true. Initially a false or unproven expectation, the behavior it triggers directly causes the predicted outcome."
I was replying to a comment from @ericvancewalton the other day and we were discussing Bitcoin and crypto in general and it occured to me how much of the current behavior we are seeing in the markets could be likened to a self fulfilling prophecy. FUD has always been a part of cryptocurrency. From the time it first dropped and people started making comments comparing it to tulips, FUD has been front and center.
As I was saying, it occured to me that in trying to legitimize cryptocurrency, all of our actions, and words might be doing the exact opposite. I don't have any proof of this of course, but despite all the positive things that have been happening with crypto over the past eight years, we seem to be digging ourselves into a deeper and deeper hole. While I kind of feel like crypto is more widely accepted by many people, I also feel like it is a bigger joke to many others.
Of course, I know it is all a power play by the big banks and rich folks looking to hold onto their wealth and status via the traditional system, but the philosophical side of me can't but wonder if we are doing a bit of self sabotage on our own and turning BTC and other cryptos into the very thing that the haters always claimed it was.
Take meme coins for example. I think they are the perfect example of something being worthless and people (including myself) walking right into throwing their money away to buy them. Tulips indeed...
Perhaps I am totally off the mark on this one, but these are the types of things that I find myself thinking about when I am left alone with my own thoughts. I don't think you could ever argue that the stuff kicking around in my head is very cohesive, but it is usually somewhat intersting.
What do you think?
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Meme coins havee made a joke of crypto IMO.
FUD? How about TRUST? I trust none of these cryptos or whos's behind them anymore. Hive is the only thing I trust, but fuck me...
I agree. All are a money grab by people wanting a better fiat life.
Yes, it can be quite frustrating. Like I said, I feel like we have turned it into the thing we didn't want it to be.
Meme coins area great way for the creators to make quick money, as well as the early adopters. Then comes the rug pull...
FUD has always been part of investing, only it's become more mainstream with crypto. Self fulfilling prophecies often come from it, and it alone. Crypto will be more widely accepted as the younger generations take hold, they've grown up with it and understand it better than your average retiree.
English lit? Something that I was never deeply into, although through high school mandatory reading I've read most of the classics including Gilgamesh. One thing that literature teaches us is the human mind can be a very dark place and always has had the capability to commit heinous evil. It's in our genetics sadly... One can only hope that we can learn from past stupidity and become better human beings. However, I'm not holding my breathe...
It certainly doesn't seem like we are heading that way. I just always enjoyed the history and romanticism of the classic works like that. I was probably a bit more of a dreamer in my younger days that I am now.
I hope you are right about crypto. Right now if feels like we are taking some major steps backwards.
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Tis weirdly resonates with me based on my own recent post about being, rather than talking. I think in crypto there is a lot of talk, but not much being the economic change needed. As such, we keep on playing the game of the legacy economy, manipulated by the legacy masters.
Yes, that is very true. Sadly, I think the projects that do actually do something suffer from that same FUD and things not happening as quickly as people would like, so they give up on them. HIVE is a perfect example of that. COTI, VET, and CHEX are another few that are actually making change, but people aren't patient enough to handle it.
People want fast fiat, not sustainable economy. Patience is not part of the game, hence the success of memecoins.
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Great topic! The alternating psychological states of FUD and FOMO drove the volatility of the crypto markets prior to 2025. Now that mass adoption has arrived, there's a huge psychological strategy being played by institutional investors (Blackrock and other big entities) to exploit the FUD portion of that equation.
We've discussed how exhausting this past run was, it's made me question a lot. I'm even seeing some long-time crypto influencers on social media beginning to lose hope—especially after the Epstein file release. The feeds are ripe with "Epstein was Satoshi" and/or "Epstein paid early bitcoin developers" stories on social media. The thing is now with ultra short attention spans, shorter news cycles, and lack of critical thinking skills something like this doesn't have to be true for it to resonate and cause serious damage. It merely has to spark fear then go viral.
I'm not afraid that Bitcoin will die because of this but I am afraid that a whole lot of personal investors will freak out, cash in, and lose their financial freedom forever. The stakes have never been higher. I'm a big fan of watching what is done vs what is said and all the big players are buying immense amounts of Bitcoin every time it dips. That tells me all I need to know.