Nice Analogy!
Definetely helpfull
Topic: Using metaphor to help ordinary folks understand bitcoin - page 2. (Read 6973 times)
I explained it to my mother-in-law as coupons that you can spend at any store (she's a coupon clipper). I asked her what the largest coupon she ever redeemed was. She told me $50. Then I told her to imagine that you could buy that coupon in any value you needed, spend it on any product you want, at many different stores, and even use it at stores in other countries. She asked why you wouldn't just use dollars with a credit card instead of buying the coupon first. I told her because it's trendy, edgy, all the cool people use it so STFU and go get me a beer.
but remember so called "hybrid wallets" can have faked up send addresses, if you send money through their service it all goes to a different address to the one you thought is was going through
Thats a pretty good detailed explanation. For simple explanations I like comparing it to things like torrents (decentralized) and a digital form of cash (irreversible bearer bond).
Using metaphor and analogy to help people who don't understand what bitcoin is
I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people what bitcoin is, how it works, why it works, and why they should care. Sometimes I try to explain it to children; sometimes I try to explain it to very old folks, sometimes I try to explain it to simple-minded people, sometimes I try to explain it to somebody who doesn't speak English very well.
Often it's very difficult, frustrating, and fruitless. It's so easy to get bogged down answering questions, since so many of the questions have complex answers.
The analogy I lay out below will only be addressing certain aspects of Bitcoin; but used together with other metaphors and also with more direct, non-metaphorical explanation, it has helped me to get the idea across.
This one was partially prompted by a question "How do you check your balance?" which led me to use this analogy to explain that anybody can check the balance of any account, provided that they have the account number, using a block explorer such as the one on blockchain.info.
"Imagine there are a bunch of safes lined up in a giant room somewhere. Each safe has a number on it identifying it, and each safe has a slot that allows people to drop money into it. The safes are all made of bulletproof glass, so anybody can see how much is in any given safe, and anybody can put money in any safe. When you open a bitcoin account, you are given an empty safe and the key to that safe. You take note of which number is on your safe, and when somebody wants to send you money, you tell them which safe is yours, and they can go drop money in the slot."
The "safe" analogy can also be used to explain other aspects.
"If you open another account, and get the keys to another safe, but you never tell anybody the identifying number on that safe and you're very careful to not let anybody see you putting money in it or taking money out, everybody can see that safe and see how much money is in it but nobody knows who owns it. That way, if you want everybody to know which safe is yours so they can send you money, but you don't want anybody to know how much money you have, you can secretly move the money to your second safe and never tell anybody which number is on that one." [I realize that all transactions are public and this doesn't really explain that aspect but it seems like the easiest way to express how you can have some privacy even though all the safes are see-through.]
"If you don't trust yourself to keep track of your key, or you're afraid somebody will steal it from you, you can have Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet or some other fellow hold your key for you. He'll let you pick a secret pasword, and he'll open your safe for you if you tell him the password. Make sure if you're letting some fellow hold your key that you trust him; you have to trust him both to keep your key safe, and to let you use it whenever you want, not let some government tell him that he can't give you back your key until you fax him copies of your passport and social security card."
This bit I'm not sure about but it represents my understanding of the hybrid wallet offered by blockchain.info. If I'm misunderstanding the concept, please help me learn [I realize that this example completely oversimplifies the concept of encryption, but I'm not trying to explain to people the mechanics of how it works, rather just the end result on their experience].
"If you don't want to trust Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet or any of those other fellows, and you want to hold onto your own key, but you're holding a lot of money in your safe, you might hide your key really really well to make sure nobody can steal it. But if it's hidden so well, it might be really inconvenient to go get it (maybe you buried it in the woods somewhere!) every time you want to take money out of your safe. So Mr. Hybrid-wallet gives you another option. You can take your key and make a copy of it, hide one securely buried off in the woods or wherever you like, and then take the other one and cut it into two pieces. You keep one piece and give the other one to Mr. Hybrid-wallet. He gives you a secret password, too. Then when you want to take some money out of your account, instead of digging in the woods for your key, you can just go to Mr. Hybrid-wallet and give him your piece of the key, and tell him your secret password, and he'll put the key back together and open your safe for you. When you've taken out the money you want, you lock it back up and give him his piece of the key. That way if anybody ever steals your piece of the key, they still can't get in the safe because they don't have the password; and if anybody steals Mr. Hybrid-wallet's piece of the key, he still can't get in the safe because he doesn't have the whole key. This is much better than Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet because if the government decides Mr. Hybrid-wallet is breaking the law by providing this key-service and tells him he can't let anybody into their safes anymore, you can go dig up your other copy of the key and get your money out of your safe. With Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet, they have the only copy of your key, so if the government tells them they're not allowed to open the safes anymore, or somebody steals all their keys, there's no way to get in the safes anymore. That's why using a hybrid wallet like the one on Blockchain.info is the best."
I have other analogies I use sometimes as well but it's late and I'm tired.
The purpose of this thread is to encourage people to share simplifications, analogies, metaphors, perhaps even comic strips or little cartoon drawings, that may be helpful in explaining bitcoin.
I'd specifically love to see things that are aimed at helping people get the idea of how to use it, and what it is, without getting too technical about how it works. If it would help an 8 year old to understand bitcoin, post it here. If it would help me explain bitcoin to somebody who barely speaks english and has no background in cryptography, math, or computers, post it here. If it would help me explain bitcoin to my 80-something year old grandfather, post it here.
The goal for me is to be able to relatively quickly explain what bitcoin is, why you should use it, how to get some, how to safely store them once you have them, how to accept them as payment at your business, how to use them as currency. Optimally in language that a child or technologically illiterate fool could understand.
Thanks for any contributions.
I spend a lot of time trying to explain to people what bitcoin is, how it works, why it works, and why they should care. Sometimes I try to explain it to children; sometimes I try to explain it to very old folks, sometimes I try to explain it to simple-minded people, sometimes I try to explain it to somebody who doesn't speak English very well.
Often it's very difficult, frustrating, and fruitless. It's so easy to get bogged down answering questions, since so many of the questions have complex answers.
The analogy I lay out below will only be addressing certain aspects of Bitcoin; but used together with other metaphors and also with more direct, non-metaphorical explanation, it has helped me to get the idea across.
This one was partially prompted by a question "How do you check your balance?" which led me to use this analogy to explain that anybody can check the balance of any account, provided that they have the account number, using a block explorer such as the one on blockchain.info.
"Imagine there are a bunch of safes lined up in a giant room somewhere. Each safe has a number on it identifying it, and each safe has a slot that allows people to drop money into it. The safes are all made of bulletproof glass, so anybody can see how much is in any given safe, and anybody can put money in any safe. When you open a bitcoin account, you are given an empty safe and the key to that safe. You take note of which number is on your safe, and when somebody wants to send you money, you tell them which safe is yours, and they can go drop money in the slot."
The "safe" analogy can also be used to explain other aspects.
"If you open another account, and get the keys to another safe, but you never tell anybody the identifying number on that safe and you're very careful to not let anybody see you putting money in it or taking money out, everybody can see that safe and see how much money is in it but nobody knows who owns it. That way, if you want everybody to know which safe is yours so they can send you money, but you don't want anybody to know how much money you have, you can secretly move the money to your second safe and never tell anybody which number is on that one." [I realize that all transactions are public and this doesn't really explain that aspect but it seems like the easiest way to express how you can have some privacy even though all the safes are see-through.]
"If you don't trust yourself to keep track of your key, or you're afraid somebody will steal it from you, you can have Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet or some other fellow hold your key for you. He'll let you pick a secret pasword, and he'll open your safe for you if you tell him the password. Make sure if you're letting some fellow hold your key that you trust him; you have to trust him both to keep your key safe, and to let you use it whenever you want, not let some government tell him that he can't give you back your key until you fax him copies of your passport and social security card."
This bit I'm not sure about but it represents my understanding of the hybrid wallet offered by blockchain.info. If I'm misunderstanding the concept, please help me learn [I realize that this example completely oversimplifies the concept of encryption, but I'm not trying to explain to people the mechanics of how it works, rather just the end result on their experience].
"If you don't want to trust Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet or any of those other fellows, and you want to hold onto your own key, but you're holding a lot of money in your safe, you might hide your key really really well to make sure nobody can steal it. But if it's hidden so well, it might be really inconvenient to go get it (maybe you buried it in the woods somewhere!) every time you want to take money out of your safe. So Mr. Hybrid-wallet gives you another option. You can take your key and make a copy of it, hide one securely buried off in the woods or wherever you like, and then take the other one and cut it into two pieces. You keep one piece and give the other one to Mr. Hybrid-wallet. He gives you a secret password, too. Then when you want to take some money out of your account, instead of digging in the woods for your key, you can just go to Mr. Hybrid-wallet and give him your piece of the key, and tell him your secret password, and he'll put the key back together and open your safe for you. When you've taken out the money you want, you lock it back up and give him his piece of the key. That way if anybody ever steals your piece of the key, they still can't get in the safe because they don't have the password; and if anybody steals Mr. Hybrid-wallet's piece of the key, he still can't get in the safe because he doesn't have the whole key. This is much better than Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet because if the government decides Mr. Hybrid-wallet is breaking the law by providing this key-service and tells him he can't let anybody into their safes anymore, you can go dig up your other copy of the key and get your money out of your safe. With Mr. Gox or Mr. Web-wallet, they have the only copy of your key, so if the government tells them they're not allowed to open the safes anymore, or somebody steals all their keys, there's no way to get in the safes anymore. That's why using a hybrid wallet like the one on Blockchain.info is the best."
I have other analogies I use sometimes as well but it's late and I'm tired.
The purpose of this thread is to encourage people to share simplifications, analogies, metaphors, perhaps even comic strips or little cartoon drawings, that may be helpful in explaining bitcoin.
I'd specifically love to see things that are aimed at helping people get the idea of how to use it, and what it is, without getting too technical about how it works. If it would help an 8 year old to understand bitcoin, post it here. If it would help me explain bitcoin to somebody who barely speaks english and has no background in cryptography, math, or computers, post it here. If it would help me explain bitcoin to my 80-something year old grandfather, post it here.
The goal for me is to be able to relatively quickly explain what bitcoin is, why you should use it, how to get some, how to safely store them once you have them, how to accept them as payment at your business, how to use them as currency. Optimally in language that a child or technologically illiterate fool could understand.
Thanks for any contributions.
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