Crossing the Cognitive Chasm: A Self-Narrative of an Internet Wave Entrepreneur Who Stepped on Air
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Crossing the Cognitive Chasm: A Self-Narrative of an Internet Wave Entrepreneur Who Stepped on Air
Blockchain's success is only a matter of time, and its success will bring a paradigm shift to the global digital economy.
Navigating Web3 tides with focused insightsAuthor: Meng Yan
Ten years ago, around 2013, the concept of "Internet thinking" became wildly popular in China. I haven't studied the origins in depth, but from what I recall, the launch of the video program *Luo Ji Si Wei* (Logic Thinking) at the end of 2012, along with Xiaomi's explosive rise shortly thereafter, played a significant role in fueling this trend. Although Chinese people began going online in the late 1990s, it wasn't until mobile internet achieved widespread success and "Internet thinking" became mainstream that a broad-based belief in the value of the Internet truly took root.
The flip side of the "Internet thinking" craze was frustration and regret. Many may remember Jack Ma’s painful observation about how most people first “fail to see it, look down on it, fail to understand it, and finally realize it’s too late.” In fact, the success of the Internet was a promise publicly declared and eventually fulfilled. As early as the late 1990s, the internet revolution was already being predicted, with a clear blueprint drawn for the digital economy. Economists like Hal Varian even established the field of network economics. During the .COM bubble, use cases such as internet search, social media, e-commerce, digital media, gaming, and streaming video were all envisioned. The direction had been clearly signaled; the logic thoroughly explained; the olive branch extended countless times. It just took over a decade to fulfill the promise. Yet, most people still missed it—no wonder so many felt bitter.
I was one of those who missed it. Back in the late 1990s, I read extensively about the Internet and digital economy. I firmly believed the Internet would transform the world and saw the digital economy as the greatest opportunity of my generation. As early as 2001, I entered the smart mobile device industry, developing Pocket PCs, giving me privileged access to learn and practice in the field of mobile internet. My starting point was exceptionally high—yet I still completely missed both the Internet and mobile internet revolutions. What went wrong?
I’ve reflected deeply on this. I realized my understanding of the Internet followed what I call a "smile curve" of cognition. Specifically, when I was still in school, without practical experience, my knowledge came mostly from books and theory. Looking back, although that understanding was abstract and superficial, because it originated directly from first-principles thinking by leading visionaries, it was actually relatively close to the essence—a high starting point. But as I gained deeper industry exposure and more hands-on experience, my understanding veered off course and declined, plunging into a long cognitive valley. It was in this valley that I began doubting Internet business models, grew numb to technological and commercial progress, and repeatedly ignored the helping hands offered by friends. By the time the Internet fully succeeded and my understanding rebounded, it was too late. I had completely missed the era’s红利 (dividends).
From my observation, this "cognitive smile curve" is extremely common. Most people’s views on emerging technologies follow a three-stage pattern: at first, they think they get it; then, during the middle phase, they believe they were wrong; and finally, upon reflection, they realize their initial intuition was correct after all. At the beginning, while purely theoretical and detached from reality, your insights are often drawn directly from pioneering thinkers, so they tend to be closer to fundamental truths and end-state realities—giving you a relatively high starting point. Then, as you engage with real-world practice, you encounter endless difficulties and begin to doubt. During industry downturns, so-called experts emerge with seemingly compelling arguments explaining why this won’t work or that can’t succeed, easily steering you toward negativity. Only when conditions mature and success is achieved do you realize: your original insight was right all along—it was the middle phase that clouded your vision.
In my case, the biggest detour in understanding occurred during the toughest period after the .COM bubble burst. The glamour of internet companies evaporated, stock prices crashed, and we young enthusiasts who had eagerly awaited the internet revolution needed answers. That’s when certain experts and media stepped in, offering seemingly incisive explanations for why the Internet couldn’t succeed—explanations that shook my theoretical confidence in its future.
Three negative viewpoints influenced me the most at the time.
First, the Internet lacked a healthy business model. No matter how you looked at it, nobody knew how to make money—besides ads or gray-market schemes. It just didn’t seem like a legitimate economic force.
Second, e-commerce was incompatible with China’s national conditions. Chinese society, it was argued, had low moral standards and rampant fraud, making it impossible to establish the trust systems essential for e-commerce.
Third, the Internet could only serve as a supplement or tool for the real economy—it couldn’t possibly give rise to new economic orders or industrial forms.
These three arguments weren’t just logically coherent and well-articulated—they also aligned strongly with my personal experiences at the time. For example, CSDN launched a tech book e-commerce site managed by a close friend, giving me a front-row seat to observe nearly the entire journey: from scratch, through painstaking efforts, gradual formation, then decline due to various challenges, and ultimately fading into oblivion. This exposed me to the myriad seemingly insurmountable problems hidden in the details. One example: cash-on-delivery with physical currency was standard. Couriers delivered goods, collected cash, returned it to their company, which then settled accounts with the e-commerce platform. It’s no exaggeration to say that every week, couriers would disappear with the cash, or entire courier companies would vanish overnight, taking both money and goods. At the time, we genuinely saw no solution. Who could have imagined that within less than a decade, Chinese consumers would confidently buy food, medicine, and financial products online via digital payments?
In short, trapped in the valley of this "smile curve," my understanding of the Internet became severely distorted. I repeatedly turned down opportunities to join the Internet industry. What happened afterward is common knowledge. As the Internet matured and "Internet thinking" rose in popularity, my understanding gradually climbed up the right side of the "smile curve." But by then, I had already missed the boat entirely.
Reflecting on this experience, my purpose isn’t mere historical analysis. Rather, I feel the same development pattern seen with the Internet now seems to be repeating itself with blockchain. Today, the blockchain industry is struggling, and public understanding has sunk into the trough of this very same smile curve. Many people, when they first encountered blockchain, thought the idea was crystal clear: eliminate reconciliation friction through shared ledgers, enforce agreements automatically via smart contracts, and incentivize collaboration through token economies. But after several boom-and-bust cycles, relentless criticism from experts, and countless real-world obstacles, people have gradually become confused, doubting whether it really makes sense. That’s exactly where we stand today.
My persistence in blockchain, in a way, is an attempt to make up for missing the Internet wave. To me, the underlying value logic of blockchain is incredibly clear and solid—already validated in practice. The obstacles blocking its success have been identified and are being systematically addressed. Blockchain’s triumph is merely a matter of time, and when it comes, it will trigger a paradigm shift in the global digital economy. I have no reason not to stay committed to this path, and I believe it won’t be long before we see the light. What matters now is perseverance—pushing through this valley in the cognitive smile curve.
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Yan Meng
