😕 [Analysis] We can't all be friends: crypto and the psychology of mass movements – Tony Sheng

People form tribes and mass movements around projects, people, and theses and beliefs. Oftentimes, individuals are members of multiple, related tribes. Members of these tribes exhibit some curious behaviors:

• Seemingly irrational certitude in their beliefs
• Antagonism towards seemingly uncompetitive crypto tribes
• Frequent switching of tribes

All mass movements generate in their adherents a readiness to die and a proclivity for united action; all of them, irrespective of the doctrine they preach and the program they project, breed fanaticism, enthusiasm, fervent hope, hatred, and intolerance. There are many players in mass movements, including:

• “Men of words,” anti-establishment intellectuals – they sow the seeds for revolution
• “The fanatic leader” – they galvanize the ripe population and push it to a point of no return
• “The devil” to fear and fight – the forces that would prevent the desired change
• “Men of action” to implement the revolution – actors who step in to maintain and legitimize the mass movement

With all the players present, a mass movement begins in these three stages: forebearance, conception, and legitimization:

• Forebearance: “Men of words” sow the seeds of revolution with idealism that alludes to a better world and discredits the current powers
• Conception: “A fanatic leader,” inspired by the words of the intellectuals rallies a ripe population with promises of sudden and substantial change. The promises are vague and grandiose, set against “the devil” to fear and fight.
• Legitimization: Once the movement reaches critical mass, “men of action” do whatever possible to legitimize the mass movement and convince the population that, “the new order [is] the glorious consummation of the hopes and struggles of the early days.”

Mass movements can help us better understand crypto. Its origin stories follow the mass movement playbook. Its followers behave like adherents, attracted by the promise of sudden and spectacular change. Competition and “in-fighting” is fierce. And adherents regularly switch from one movement to another. We are very early in these mass movements–somewhere between Forebearance and Conception. Jostling for narratives can be seen as an evolutionary battle to compose the doctrines most likely to attract the next wave of adherents. As individuals, we should be mindful of the psychology at play. Awareness can check unkind behavior.