Tulip mania?

in #bitcoin7 years ago

Is Bitcoin different, or is it just another tulip mania?
Well, Bitcoin is the result of the solution to the Byzantine Generals problem. The solution allows reaching consensus over unsecured communication channels as long as most of the participants are honest.
But every tulip mania is a result of significant technological breakthrough, right?
Or maybe, just perhaps, Bitcoin is different? Because this is the first time in history you can have decentralized consensus without third parties? First time in history when the technology allows creating self-issued loans (ICOs)? Or Autonomous organizations? Or, who knows what - we will have to see what will this technology allow.
Everybody waited for a new technology to drastically increase productivity and save the bankrupt pension funds. When this technology arrives - they call it Ponzi. Because everybody thought that the saving technology will be AI/Robotics/Graphene/3D Printing...
Surprise, it is Bitcoin. Yes, no one could predict it - but in retrospective, it looks obvious. A digital gold. Something like gold - but digital.