Saw this link on /r/bitcoin, interesting stuff.
http://meaningness.com/metablog/geeks-mops-sociopaths
http://meaningness.com/metablog/geeks-mops-sociopaths
Completely irrelevent for Bitcoin though, since the entire purpose of a currency is to become a monopoly, a consensus mechanism for exchange. The less of a monopoly it has, the less useful it is. Your link argues popularity weakens the idea, so the article is inverse to how Bitcoin actually works. Don't try and conflate grunge music and economics. People like money to be as boring and predictable as possible, not "cool". Just like when you open your refrigerator, you don't want to have to guess what's edible or not. That's definitely not cool.
I don't think the link argues popularity weakens the idea, it is more subtle about the dynamics. And I think its more about the impact on the creators / fanatics (ie developers) than just the overall network.
For example, in the mop phase, there are these comments:
Quote
Also, the mops also seem increasingly entitled, treating the fanatics as service workers.
Fanatics may be generous, but they signed up to support geeks, not mops. At this point, they may all quit, and the subculture collapses.
Fanatics may be generous, but they signed up to support geeks, not mops. At this point, they may all quit, and the subculture collapses.
It then notes that to avoid this outcome, you need the sociopaths to take it to the next level, monetize the mops, and ultimately take control.
I definitely see parallels to the debate over the blocksize limit. There are clearly developers who are frustrated with what they see as demands from "reddit" that the changes should be made quicker than they are comfortable with.
And I think both extreme sides of the blockchain size debate have their own theories on who the "sociopaths" are that are trying to take control (big blockers and their conspiracy theories about blockstream, and maybe small blockers to a lesser extent when they get frustrated at people like Brian Armstrong demanding bigger blocks while his firm doesn't do much if any core development, or optimize its transaction to limit bloat.)
