The reality of BTC that too many (and myself) dont want to believe.

[GernMiester]

People think the general public will use bitcoin. Most people cant even understand copy an paste or saving to the network file server and somehow they will understand backing up wallets and recovering transactions. These are the same people who hit print 20 times because their document didn't print.

STOP and look at BTC as a basic computer user would and its overwhelming. One mistake and all you BTC are lost and unrecoverable, it is enough for most to avoid it. The PC as a wallet/bank is also a joke. So many people don't even know their AV has expired YEARS ago and don't install updates because they are to dumb to read the messages about the update on the screen in front of them.

The other choice is to use the system in place now that allows Fraud protections, the recovery of cash through charge backs and FDIC and Europes Deposit Insurance Funds etc.....   

The BTC community is full of techies, crypto folks, programmers and the like. This is why it thrives.
The average joe/jane doesn't get it and doesn't care to becasue he/she is too busy trying to keep his/her house and feed his/her kids..

How many of you would continue if your country made it illegal to create and use BTC and would sieze your assets if you were caught? I bet almost none of you would risk it. I certainly wont.

[1714976989]

1714976989

[1714976989]

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[kiba]

Not sure what's surprising about that. This is something that people in various part of the community are working on.

[paulie_w]

this _will_ get easier. but:

just because groups like apple say that the future of computing is "don't worry, we control everything and it's all super easy", doesn't mean that it is.

people who grew up working with technology can work with technology in more complex ways than you realize. for example, programming skills are probably the new form of literacy.

older people will always struggle with new things, for lack of willingness/time to sit down and learn.

[Traktion]

Those who don't want wallets, apps and so forth can just use bitcoin debit cards and such.

It's as complicated or as simple as people want to make it.

[DeathAndTaxes]

Those who don't want wallets, apps and so forth can just use bitcoin debit cards and such.

It's as complicated or as simple as people want to make it.

Exactly.  Bitcoin is a platform.  GernMiester obviously never played with creative toys as a kid.  It is like saying nobody will ever use the internet.  Do you know how hard it is to manually create TCP/IP packets. 

[Melbustus]

Those who don't want wallets, apps and so forth can just use bitcoin debit cards and such.

It's as complicated or as simple as people want to make it.

Yes, exactly. "Average Joe" folks will use bitcoin banks. Millions of people use online banking. This will be no different. They will probably not even be aware that they can download an open-source client and post transactions to the blockchain, or even what the blockchain is for that matter. They won't need to. All they'll know and need to know is that they can transact with their account balances. It's up to the "techies, crypto folks, programmers and the like" to fully understand the system, build services, and make sure the integrity of the network is maintained.

[Melbustus]

...Do you know how hard it is to manually create TCP/IP packets. 

lol...nice.

[Elwar]

I am sure that many who had the idea of credit cards early on were facing the same question.

Why put so much effort into getting people to put away cash and carry some card with a bunch of numbers on it only to be required to find certain diners clubs that accept that card?

Then you have to sign something saying you agree to the payment. Then you have to later get a bill for the amount you spent that month and then you need to write a check out to that company in order to pay off your "balance".

Far too complicated for the average joe who would much rather just cash his check and pay for things with money.

[conspirosphere.tk]

How many of you would continue if your country made it illegal to create and use BTC and would sieze your assets if you were caught? I bet almost none of you would risk it. I certainly wont.

bet accepted (because prohibitionism works... not)

[TraderTimm]

It comes down to whether you can take the risk of it failing.

I can, but I personally doubt it will.

That's all, either you accept the underlying premise and protocol or you don't. If you don't, more for me. If you do, good for the network.

[Technomage]

All the security in the world, all the insurance in the world, all the protection in the world can be built around Bitcoin. People will need to pay for that, just like now. The difference to now is that with Bitcoin you can choose to not have any of that and take care of your money and your money transfers yourself, and save a lot of money. You can also do this anonymously and without fear of funds getting frozen.

Win.

[dissipate]

All the security in the world, all the insurance in the world, all the protection in the world can be built around Bitcoin. People will need to pay for that, just like now. The difference to now is that with Bitcoin you can choose to not have any of that and take care of your money and your money transfers yourself, and save a lot of money. You can also do this anonymously and without fear of funds getting frozen.

Win.

This ^^. Bitcoin is a protocol people. Yes, there is a lot of work to be done to build up 'easy to use' services around that protocol, but it is currently being done.

[mobile4ever]

People think the general public will use bitcoin. Most people cant even understand copy an paste or saving to the network file server and somehow they will understand backing up wallets and recovering transactions. These are the same people who hit print 20 times because their document didn't print.

STOP and look at BTC as a basic computer user would and its overwhelming. One mistake and all you BTC are lost and unrecoverable, it is enough for most to avoid it. The PC as a wallet/bank is also a joke. So many people don't even know their AV has expired YEARS ago and don't install updates because they are to dumb to read the messages about the update on the screen in front of them.

The other choice is to use the system in place now that allows Fraud protections, the recovery of cash through charge backs and FDIC and Europes Deposit Insurance Funds etc.....   

The BTC community is full of techies, crypto folks, programmers and the like. This is why it thrives.
The average joe/jane doesn't get it and doesn't care to becasue he/she is too busy trying to keep his/her house and feed his/her kids..

How many of you would continue if your country made it illegal to create and use BTC and would sieze your assets if you were caught? I bet almost none of you would risk it. I certainly wont.

I believe most of what you are saying. All it takes is around 15 to 20 percent adoption and it takes off. Link ↓

http://www.ted.com/talks/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html


The technical problems are solved by having a "one click" solution. Its really not more complicated than that.

[crazy_rabbit]

How many of you would continue if your country made it illegal to create and use BTC and would sieze your assets if you were caught? I bet almost none of you would risk it. I certainly wont.

bet accepted (because prohibitionism works... not)

Prohibition is an excellent example. Perhaps even more excellent would be copyright infringement. It's illegal to download and share movies,music,computer programs, video games, etc....

By most metrics most people know it's illegal and do it anyway. And these are normal people. So I would say, yes- people would still use it and in great numbers.

[Jan]

Do you know how hard it is to manually create TCP/IP packets. 

You are right, but i simply have to comment on this. Creating TCP/IP packets from scratch including IP fragmentation headers is very complex. This is how I by accident discovered that I could make win95 computers reboot, AKA teardrop attack. Pure luck or let's say bad coding ;-)

[robbonz]

People think the general public will use bitcoin. Most people cant even understand copy an paste or saving to the network file server and somehow they will understand backing up wallets and recovering transactions. These are the same people who hit print 20 times because their document didn't print.

Yep and those people are going to be dead soon. As a computing teacher I have seen how the kids that are introduced to computers earlier (the ones with a bit of a brain) are grasping the concepts much faster than I did. The kids of those kids... and so on.

The guy who said making TCP/IP packets is hard was right, who was using the internet in the first 3 years of its conception?

I remember when the Internet was for nerds and typing to people randomly around the world was exciting.

[tvbcof]

I personally am in no hurry to see the general public use Bitcoin.  In my opinion it would be bad for both the public and for Bitcoin at this point in the existence of both, and there is no particular need on the part of the general public as long as the current monetary solutions are reasonably functional.  I note that in spite of the supposed technical savvy of the current Bitcoin user-base, the magnitude weighted rate of the victimization in our community is notably higher than under more mainstream systems.

If Bitcoin can provide a demonstrably usable alternative to more traditional systems (e.g., fiat or PM's) that is to me one of the bigger wins, and it is on track to do this to a reasonable degree.  So, everything is chipping along just fine at this point as far as I am concerned.

[finkleshnorts]

...Do you know how hard it is to manually create TCP/IP packets. 

This sums up the problem entirely.

The one difference, a rather large one, is that for bitcoin, "packets" are worth a lot of money, and people will always be deceiving others into giving them up.

[Rassah]

That's the same thing they said about the Internet and e-mail, which were a hell of a lot more complicated to use than Bitcoin. Used to be you had to install a modem inside your computer, configure correct AT calls to initialize it, figure out the phone number to dial to connect to a local BBS or university system, then use text-based commands to navigate their system to a text-based web browser. That's why the Internet was just a passing fad, and was going to die out, because no average joe/jane would ever be able to figure it out.

[Draino]

Teenagers love the new hotness and my bet is btc is one youth-aimed marketing campaign away from what we're all excited about