[ajflkjasdf777]

"the people who start mining early win out, and the people who join later to speculate on the currency have less and less chances of striking it rich."

The people that were born early win out, and the people who are born later have less and less chances of striking it rich.

So human societies in general.

[kpommerenke]

Not true: the general trend is that later generations are richer than earlier generations. Just compare yourself to the average person in your country 100 years ago.

[ajflkjasdf777]

"less and less chances of striking it rich."

Never said we weren't generally better off. But none of us have a shot at being oil barons, logging millionaires, retail moguls, etc.

Striking it rich now generally means achieving a higher level of knowledge and education first, then you can try to make your mark.

The previous generation hordes vast sums of wealth from endeavors that required less up front preparation and less capital (which was often provided rather no strings attached by the government, a tap which is being shut off (look at IBM's history of being gifted government funded inventions, among others)).