If Bitcoin fails..

[raze]

Even if it fails (which I don't think it will), I'll still be able to walk away with some very basic knowledge economics, trading and cryptography.

What have you learned from Bitcoin?

[viboracecata]

I learned greed is basic characteristic of social people.

[freedomno1]

That money does not need to grow on trees in the future 

[raze]

In addition, I've thoroughly enjoyed seeing everyone's views on different areas of society such as education as well as how an economy is tied together.

[Razick]

Even if it fails (which I don't think it will), I'll still be able to walk away with some very basic knowledge economics, trading and cryptography.

What have you learned from Bitcoin?

If it fails, I'd say back to the drawing board. Now that we know the few things that make Bitcoin unappealing (mostly marketing related) and have some experience with how the system fairs in the real world, I think the next iteration (in the unlikely event of a failure) could be much improved.

[raze]

Even if it fails (which I don't think it will), I'll still be able to walk away with some very basic knowledge economics, trading and cryptography.

What have you learned from Bitcoin?

If it fails, I'd say back to the drawing board. Now that we know the few things that make Bitcoin unappealing (mostly marketing related) and have some experience with how the system fairs in the real world, I think the next iteration (in the unlikely event of a failure) could be much improved.

Very true, and after all it was just an experiment. I'd say it's been pretty successful so far.

[mprep]

I learnt that those couple of dollars can become a hundred a year later 

[Zangelbert Bingledack]

If Bitcoin fails catastrophically but there is a small fix that can make it work perfectly again in like a month with the same private keys controlling the same amounts of coins, the new Bitcoin would probably be adopted by 100,000 people in a snap.

[lexxus]

Bitcoin boosted my interest in cryptography and p2p

[DeathAndTaxes]

A lessons learned list to make a technically superior bitcoin.  The reason for Bitcoin's potential future failure can be added to that list too.

[leemar]

However brilliant the idea the practical usage off something on a wide scale needs substantial infrastructure.  And unless it is for illegal purposes serious compliance issues need to be resolve, in the developed world at least.

[BitcoinAshley]

If Bitcoin fails, another cryptocoin will take its marketshare in 2 seconds.

What, do you seriously think people are going to put the shackles back on (return to fiat) after catching a glimpse of the light at the end of the tunnel?

Moses led his people out of slavery in Egypt, the underground railroad led the African people out of slavery in America, and Bitcoin will lead its people out of financial fiat/debt slavery all throughout Planet Earth 

There's no such thing as Bitcoin "failing." It could fork, or there could be a protocol bug that certain alt-coins are immune to, which can then take marketshare and development would resume either on the new fork or the new coin reference implementation. But the idea of bitcoin is forever, just like bittorrent.

As was said by a very smart man - releasing technology on the internet is like taking a dump. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to get it all back in, but you will get very dirty trying.

[teknohog]

What have you learned from Bitcoin?

FPGA design

[No 1]

Bitcoin fails? Blasphemy!

[ThatDGuy]

As was said by a very smart man - releasing technology on the internet is like taking a dump. No matter how hard you try, you won't be able to get it all back in, but you will get very dirty trying.

Woah.  I'm going to stick with inability-to-put-the-genie-back-in-the-bottle analogy!

[high110]

There needs to be a market place with reduced middle men =/

It's hard as hell to get your hand on a coin without mining or paying someone a fee.

[CurbsideProphet]

If Bitcoin fails, I will be glad to have been part of an amazing technology and community that had a noticeable impact on the world.  Whether or not Bitcoin or some new incarnation down the road is the ultimate mass adopter, we are part of something transformative.

[wopwop]

if bitcoin fails i'll consider killing myself

i believe this is our salvation, btc must succeed

[johnniewalker]

When to be bearish, when to be bullish, never put all your eggs in one basket (economics), elementary cryptography and plenty of gold and silver!

[bg002h]

There have been many attempts in the past at making digital currencies. Bitcoin has a very different validation/double spending prevention/redemption model than anything before it. While I don't think Bitcoin will fail, I do think future modifications to the protocol will determine how likely it is to be widely adopted.