Church of the TigerBeetle: A Look at Tech Evangelism

Posted connected August 3, 2026 by Adam Wespiser

The seats of the Institute of Contemporary Art successful Boston are somewhat comfortable. A plush guidelines you tin almost descend into, but only capable elbow room for you aliases your neighbor, not both. By the extremity of an hour, you’ve explored the afloat abstraction of position adjustments, and person the type of “settle in” emotion I only consciousness connected flights.

The last talk of Systems Distributed 2026, titled Mission-Critical, by Joran Dirk Greef, opened pinch a meaning truthful businesslike it astir circled backmost connected itself: mission-critical software, we were told, is package that performs a captious mission. Got it. That was quick, present we spell dinner! However, the talk continued, and came to TigerStyle, awesome logo and all, pinch the claim, delivered pinch absolute clarity, that this engineering accuracy was what made TigerBeetle possible.

Next came respective claims astir TigerBeetle, among them that a ample stock of the transactions connected a nationalist speech tally connected it, capped pinch a ngo connection astir powering the world’s transactions. The speech number is existent and genuinely impressive; it was the framing astir it, the expansive ngo delivered arsenic an applause line, that gave maine pause. Before I could settee pinch the idea, we were looking astatine the Jepsen report, a testimonial of sorts, highlighting the lines that affirm TigerBeetle made the correct calls.

It was getting to beryllium a lot, particularly pinch the thank-you interlude and the applause for contributors pinch capable societal pressure, aliases genuine admiration, that everyone astir maine clapped.

Then the euphony started, playing complete a TigerBeetle sponsored title car, and my only thought was that this was a singular measurement to thrust each time and extremity up successful the aforesaid place. If I’m not getting thing retired of a talk, I don’t beryllium anyone the societal responsibility of staying (and neither do you). I excused myself from the mediate of a row, and spent the remainder of the talk successful the lobby staring astatine an installation successful amazement.

What I witnessed wasn’t a normal tech talk, it was a sermon from the Church of the TigerBeetle, complete pinch root myth, testimonials, and orchestral music, each leaving you pinch the belief that their measurement was so the best.

It’s tech evangelism, and that scares the crap retired of me.

The problem isn’t that TigerBeetle is making bad decisions pinch their tech, their deterministic testing, viewstamp replication protocol, and usage of money and power for bully causes is impressive. The problem is the claims made connected faith. Claims made without introspection, without proof, presented to you 1 aft different without a infinitesimal successful betwixt to digest and merge them into your existent belief system, and group to affectional inheritance music. Are we gearing up to large wind the Bastille here, aliases are we trying to build package that useful for our extremity users?

The mobility shouldn’t beryllium “Is this statement inspiring?”, but “Can we steelman these claims?” Without that, we’re stepping astir pinch ideas, but not the rigor we request to take sides them. Not to ourselves, not to our teammates, and not to our organizations. That’s a problem. I’m not trying to dunk connected TigerBeetle. What worries maine is the mode of persuasion: the position asked the assemblage to respect and judge earlier it equipped america to evaluate.

If I salary $500 (or my institution paid that to nonstop me), what bully tin I do if I judge the hype but don’t transportation the weight of the evidence? I want to judge that TigerBeetle is great, but religion without receipts is useless successful astir organizational cultures.

The different spot I’ve seen tech evangelism is successful Haskell, specifically the belief that powerfully typed programs are a amended measurement to build software. It’s a declare that tends to beryllium held successful proportionality to your knowledge astir types, but it’s lacking grounds that it works. In each of the 3 companies I worked for, Haskell started arsenic the solution to software, but was yet blamed for the company’s problems. The blasted was not afloat deserved, but the fervent belief successful the connection made discussions of connection tradeoffs difficult erstwhile being a Haskeller was portion of your identity. That’s not to opportunity you shouldn’t get to prime your tools, aliases take wherever you activity based disconnected those tools, conscionable that a purely affinity-based personality is not a solution to method problems, and it often gets successful the way.

Evangelism is considered harmful arsenic an organizational technology. Even if everyone successful that room (except me) is already equipped pinch the evidence, rallying the religious trains group to clasp beliefs by faith, not by reasoning. An org that rallies by religion teaches group to default to religion — truthful erstwhile a genuinely difficult mobility comes up, for illustration “should we enforce a coding standard?”, they scope for condemnation alternatively of evidence: it worked for TigerBeetle, they do X.

Second, evangelism suppresses dissent — and my revulsion for the style is simply a characteristic of it, not a bug. Had I stayed and forced a steelman, the framing itself would person made the mobility onshore for illustration heresy. The room wasn’t built to process disagreement; it was built to dissolve it. And a civilization that dissolves dissent loses the 1 point that lets it announcement it’s wrong.

Finally, faith-based condemnation is brittle erstwhile the facts change. When the world shifts, for illustration a caller problem, a caller constraint, 1 wherever Tiger Style isn’t the answer, a belief held connected religion can’t pivot. The evangelism that rallied you is now what traps you.

I don’t request to beryllium inspired, I already am. When I spell to a conference, the intent is to study things, meet people, perceive astir caller approaches, and summation the accusation aliases resources I request to return those bully ideas and use them to the problems I activity on. The rumor pinch evangelism is that it creates hollow actors: group excited astir the thought but lacking successful substance. Most group successful that room are formidable connected immoderate broadside of a method argument, but I’m greatly dismayed imagining that immoderate of their motivations would beryllium religion alone.

The religion isn’t needed. We request to fto the activity guidelines connected its merits — show the receipts, empower group pinch the facts and reason, and spot them to make the correct calls.

I’m gladsome the convention was successful Boston. It’s a fitting spot to make this argument. This is simply a metropolis built by group who refused to return authority connected faith. People who looked astatine the divine correct of kings and answered pinch reasoned argument, evidence, and the extremist thought that claims should person to warrant themselves. They didn’t large wind thing because they were inspired. They did it because they had thought it through, they could take sides it, and because they had guts. That’s the inheritance I’d alternatively claim. Not a congregation that believes, but a room afloat of group who tin show their work.