Catch/capture lightning in a bottle
idiom
: to succeed in a way that is very lucky or unlikely
I know what I have done to get to where I am on this blockchain so far. And "where I am" is on the same blockchain as everyone else. But a lot of people look at making it on Hive from the perspective of earnings, or engagement, or some other numerical figure that is meant to represent an account. And while there is merit in those things, what is harder to quantify is what led to making those numbers in the first place. Sure, there are all the transactions recorded on the chain that provide all kinds of interesting bits of information, but a lot of it isn't recorded immutably in zero and ones.
Maybe it is just luck.
I was reading a story from Australia about the owner of a resort and how he hires and promotes his staff. Essentially, it comes down to one metric.
"Would I have a beer with them?"
Yes, they have to have the qualifications as well, but this very simple heuristic, which sounds a lot like nepotism, is actually a pretty good practice in my opinion. Because, what this guy is doing is hiring and promoting people who have personality and are likable, which means that if they do their job, they will also have a positive impact on customers as individuals also. They are the type of people who are remembered, long after the trip has ended.
I find it interesting in a world where people want to be treated as uniquely special, that the majority don't stop and consider what actually makes them unique and special. They make an assumption that for some reason and somehow, they have some kind of "it" factor that denotes them as worthy of special treatment. But believing you are special, doesn't make it true.
Sure, we are all technically different at the molecular level in some way, but at that resolution, the differences are meaningless at the human level. So, we have to go the other way in order to find difference, but the fact are is that we are ALL average. All of us. Even the most singularly brilliant person you know or have heard of, is average, like the rest of us. It is just that they might be really, really good at one or two things - but they too are average at the majority of life.
No matter how high they can jump, or how much money they can make.
Yet, because we are all so very boringly average, we over emphasise the things that make us different and place value on it. Back a few hundred years ago when healthcare was poor and food was scarce, the attraction premium went to being overweight. Fast forward to today where the majority of people are overweight, the attraction premium is paid to those who are fit. Obviously, that is a big generalisation, but fashion floods the masses because the new look seem scarce.
But purchasable.
The things that are actually valuable though, money can't buy. Money can't buy love for example, but it can buy the illusion of it perhaps. And, money can't buy a personality - but similarly, it can buy people who will pretend that the personality is attractive, when al they are doing is getting close to the money. Money can buy power though, and power is attractive and will very often outperform looks - as many Russian oligarchs could attest to.
But what you will find on Hive is that the people who tend to do well consistently, do so because they have character. Often, they are the kinds of people you could have a beer with, and I have had a beer with quite a few of them. However, it isn't only positive character, there can be negative traits that do well here too, but they tend not to last too long.
If I have a point to this, it is that I am often asked how to ear more on Hive, or attract votes, or build engagement. Essentially, people want to know how to get attention on themselves on the blockchain. Some realise that the easiest way is to create drama, but they don't last. The hardest way is to well, be the kind of person who people want to have a beer with.
This doesn't mean that you have to suck up to everyone, because suckers and doormats aren't good beer material personalities - they are as boring as fuck. Which is a saying I have never really understood, because fucking is anything but boring. Unless, you are doing it wrong.
Like the English.
I write about many topics and have arguments about many topics with many people, but I like to think that even so, the same people who argue with me would also like to have that argument over a beer and some chips. The argument about topics isn't to score points against the other, it is to discuss the topic at hand. And it is not that I always want to argue, but it does get lonely at times always being right.
Believing I am right, doesn't make me right.
(But I usually am.)
And the reason people can have a beer with me and I with them, is because we have personalities that are engaging. This doesn't mean necessarily likeable. Just engaging. I have had some great conversations with people who don't like me, and not being liked is okay for me, because I live by a simple rule.
One third of people will like me. One third will not like me. One third will not care either way.
And this is the internet, which means that it is a collection of random people pulled together and not directly from my circle of friends. So, I assume that two-thirds of people here don't care, or dislike me. That is fine. And, this doesn't stop them from being part of a conversation around my work that interests them, if they choose. If we only engage with people we like, we are going to miss a lot of good information and potential to learn.
So, maybe "getting successful" on Hive is just down to stupid luck. But, I think there is more to it than that, because luck doesn't factor into long-term engagement. It is like how anyone with enough strength can shoot a three pointer in basketball - but Stephen Curry does that all day long, under pressure. It isn't luck, it is practice.
Similarly, I wonder how much of people's success or non-success (it isn't a failure) comes down to who they are, or at least, appear to be. Do they have a personality, or are they obviously just churning thoughtless content out in hope that someone votes on it?
Where can you buy a personality?
I already told you, you can't. Sure, you can use some AI program to create some piece of content that is probably far better than you can create yourself - but that doesn't mean that you now have a personality to go with it. Maybe you could prompt the AI to have the personality too. Maybe. I don't know, because I don't think that qualifies as valuable content at all. I want to engage with real people, not just topics and content that is interesting. The world is full of interesting bits of information, but it is mostly meaningless to me to consume unless there are interesting people attached to that information.
In the near future, the movies will all be made of AI actors and avatars of real actors and the movies will all look amazing. But, will they be interesting? Will they be talked about, or just viewed to waste another couple hours? I think a lot of the appeal of the actors in movies isn't the movie, but the private life, or at least, the imagination of their private life. The divorces, the scandals, the sex, drugs and rock 'n roll. But an AI character doesn't go home after work and snort blow off the ass of an escort then walk their pet tiger down the street - because, it is nothing.
There is no substance.
Which is why capturing lightning in a bottle is so fucking hard.
Taraz
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