Cynic Traps

“Web3 is bullshit” - Some journalist, probably.

A “Cynic trap” is an obvious problem that critics like to point out. However, by pointing out these problems, they attract the attention of more optimistic people who declare “I’m gonna fix that!”

If you’re a designer reading this, hopefully you’re one of them! 🙂

With every new technology, po-faced detractors have sat back, crossed their arms and tutted “that’ll never work…” Meanwhile, determined individuals have gradually worked out the kinks.

The cynics are eventually proved wrong, and the determined individuals make bank (and better technologies).

Web3 has a lot of cynic traps. And to be honest, the critics make a lot of good points. The trick is not to be trapped by them but to actually go solve those problems.

I first heard the term “cynic trap” in Packy McCormick’s newsletter Not Boring.

He deserves the credit for this idea because it’s a good one. So here’s an extended quote from his article:

UX issues, mini-bubbles in categories like DAO tools, high transaction costs, and more – are classic cynic traps. They’re things that critics can point to as glaringly obvious shortcomings, but by pointing at them, they’re only directing the swarm to solve those problems, like those fun dancing tarmac traffic directors.

In fact, that might be the role of cynics in this whole thing: to uncover opportunities for the swarm and yell about them until they’re fixed. So those will be solved. The UX will improve. Hacks will be less frequent. Transactions will cost less, and make the space more approachable.

If you’re looking to work on web3, a good place to start would be listening to the cynics. Not the optimists peaching new paradigms, but the biggest critics voicing legitimate concerns.

If you’re a founder, find a big opportunity and innovate.

If you’re a designer or developer, look at every single issue and see what small improvement you could make immediately. If you can think of any bigger fixes that would be harder and take longer to implement, add them to the backlog and come back to them when you can.

Make notes, ask questions, then calmly and methodically chip away at each of those issues until you’ve made them just slightly better. Then share your results and keep going.