[yc1010]

The arguments we hear about bitcoin are in similar vein as what was said about the WWW in 90s

"By 2005 or so, it will become clear that the Internet's impact on the economy has been no greater than the fax machine's." - Paul Krugman

I remember the days when people said email wasn't better than a fax, that websites are not better than paper catalogues for shopping and that only nurds use computers to socialise...

[mpyne]

> The arguments we hear about bitcoin are in similar vein as what was said about the WWW in 90s

Is that supposed to mean something? You're posting on HN, surely you're smart enough to understand the difference between correlation and causation.

For instance if someone had been pointing out flaws in bubble sort with a similar analogy they'd have been right: bubble sort is crap and outclassed by a host of superior sorting algorithms.

Bitcoin was born outclassed in many important ways. People put up with it because of other perceived advantages, but now seem unwilling to drop their support once those advantages were destroyed.

Instead people keep trying to pile hacks upon hacks onto the Platonic epicycles of the Bitcoin blockchain, when what people need to be doing is to quit thinking that the blockchain is the center of the universe.

[Eleutheria]

Non-sequitur.

Cryptocurrencies are a great invention and have a great future, they will change the world in unimaginable ways. But there are shortcomings right now that need to be addressed.

Ignoring them is like netscape or altavista ignoring the elephant in the room.

[yellowapple]

> But there are shortcomings right now that need to be addressed.

And there were (and still are, decades later) shortcomings of the Internet and the World Wide Web that need to be addressed.

Whether Bitcoin ends up being the HTTP or the Gopher of this metaphor is yet to be seen, but seeing the overwhelming benefits of cryptographic blockchains in general for a lot of different uses, cryptocurrency is most likely here to stay.