Trust and Conviction

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I heard a strange comparison between cryptocurrency and religion the other day.

When we look at the number of people who invest a significant amount of their hard-earned savings into multiple blockchain technology schemes, we sometimes wonder what makes people place so much trust into something so intangible. How many times in the history of man have we seen promises of easy wealth through a yet another newer and more novel way to beat the system? How predictably have the bubble repeatedly burst when people, like rats, followed Piped Piper to the caves?

Even with the knowledge of previous mayhems and follies, with their great reluctance to be detached from their world material wealth, the promise of multiplying their already burgeoning opulence is too much to resist.

There is no central control, hence the lure of concealment. There must be a reason the Blockchain technology is cryptic. Is going to be so mysterious that everything may just go up kaboom into thin air? There is nothing to claim possession, just a series of an algorithm to assert ownership. Right now, the proprietor can just sleep well convincing himself that he may be superrich one day. The day of a real cashless society who would pay for their coffee with Bitcoin is quite remote. It is a promise, no doubt, it may materialise one day, but till then, it is just promises written on water!

What do you know? The premise of religion is not much different from the above. The tenet of most religious practices is based on trust. The conviction that the elders in their faith have discovered a path to protect their interest when their time on Earth is up. That the promise of a figure who would be just out there judging our souls after keeping a tab on our good deeds whilst on Earth.

In both cases, there are no documents to uphold our interests on the day of reckoning. The future rests on mutual trust and blind faith that things will be all alright!

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