Yesterday, I entered that territory. I wrote about cryptocurrency and many believers were not happy. I essentially translated a debate put forward by Prof Nouriel Roubini of the New York University in 2018 Milken Global Conference, an eminent conference.. Today, he is one of the most respected risk experts in the world. He predicted the 2007 market crash. This guy has quality and is a legend. He ran companies before he became a don.
It turns out that crytocurrencies are not decentralized with one company controlling more than 25% mining capacity of one of the most popular ones. The top miners control nearly half of the total mining capacities. If you look at it the other way round, those guys are the ones “printing the money”. I will prefer government to print my money than 3 people controlling a currency I use. I do believe that crypto is a fraud and an illusion. Yes, it is an illusion to think that you can run away from government when you live under government. No African country has the technical capacity to lead the mining. The miners are the new “central banks” and if you trust them, I simply pity you.
https://youtu.be/MMZGQSWD4tU
But I crossed the line. I received emails from young African graduates. They were not happy that I quoted a man from YouTube. He could have made up his statistics. He could be drunk. He was uninformed, uneducated and being a professor does not make you smart.
But I was stunned on one – the guy block me or he blocked himself from me on LinkedIn [see image]. He wrote a parting note “….I cannot forget how you wrote about bitcoin. You attacked my future. “.
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I read previous thread, he had invited me to join his company board [I get that weekly]. But I asked him why he invited me . He did not answer it well. I declined despite his promises of whatever.
LinkedIn is a lab and it gives me insights into the minds of people. There is a huge risk if people cannot have intellectual debate because of fanatical belief.
Education is the liberation of the mind. If a university graduate could behave this way, it means we have a real problem. When the Nigerian minister in charge of education noted that Nigeria needs to have big reforms at the university level by adding an extra year of study, he might have seen data we do not have access to. I mean if a graduate could be this fanatical, we have a serious challenge in the continent.
We need to help them to engage on debates even on things they do not believe. That someone does not agree with you does not mean he is evil. That does not mean he is attacking your future. That does not mean he hates you. Just as you have your rights to believe in whatever you want, the other person does the same. If we cannot liberate the mind, we are not indeed educating these young people. The attitude on bitcoin or whatever is not an isolated case: this is a big problem across many areas.
LINKEDIN COMMENT WE LIKE
“There is a huge risk if people cannot have intellectual debate because of fanatical belief.” This line essentially summed up everything, it’s a common problem in the land, even as people display their countless qualifications and certifications.
Yes, all of us might never had a decent upbringing during those formative years, and some were also unfortunate to receive NO education, but went to school.
In order not to suffer from ethical blindness, the REASON must continuously be PURIFIED, else sentiment and special interest would cloud your sense of judgement.
You can easily become a ‘friend’ or appear ‘nice’ to someone, as long as you agree with him/her; but that ‘friendship’ would be challenged the day you hold a different opinion. I do not expect the educated class to be aggressive and unruly, just because of divergence in opinions. It questions your education and quality of reason therein.
Ordinarily cryptocurrecy debate should be intellectually based and business focused; unfortunately, it has become a cult, religion; where you cannot question anything you don’t understand, else you become a worthless creature, being as daft as a rock!
You cannot accuse one for lacking ‘understanding’, but can’t explain how!
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Prof..I am not surprise at his ignorance,this was how a whole lot of our youth got cajoled into MMM and what is the story today, they invested their future into MMM and they are paying for it today, they are so mentally lazy to do some risk and sustainability analysis of such fraud …so sad people can not think beyond immediate benefit..God help our generation..
I was stunned because he could have failed a class with this attitude. He might have thought that blocking himself on LinkedIn would cause anyone sleep. I am confident our young people are better.
It is appalling that we have graduates that can cram but but cannot “think critically”. When you ask questions that critique their reasoning, you become their enemy. Yes, there are exceptional Nigerian graduates. Sadly, a lot of graduates suffer from mind laziness and lack of reasoning. We must change this attitude to improve our country.
Absolutely – I do not see him blocking himself hurts me. Very unfortunate indeed