I hope everyone realizes this debate will never end. And at some point in the future the community will agree to have even more than 8 decimal places. When BTC is extremely valuable even 1 satoshi will be divided to 8 decimal places.
Regarding intrinsic value... it's in the network and software.
This is the dream that many bears, myself included, hope for. But you have to ask yourself, how likely do you think that scenario is?
When I think about the many things that can go wrong, and the fact that maybe not many people will think this idea is as cool as I do, and I pull out my inner pessimist and make him answer the question, I still feel like there is a 1% chance of bitcoins becoming really, really big. Now the real me, thinks there is closer to a 60% chance. But either way, it is still worth an investment.
It depends what you think really big is. Do I think the US government is going to dump the dollar for Bitcoins? No. Do I think it will be accepted at hookah lounges and hip coffee shops? Likely. It depends how well the younger generation realizes it's potential. A rebellious teenager used to egg houses on Halloween. Now they bring down government websites. There's only a certain subset of the population who will ever find Bitcoin appealing, and that group is growing every day. For those involved in the internet "underground", you know that it is booming. A chart can't tell you that. The truth is somewhere in the middle of the doom and gloom crowd and those dreaming that they'll be buying city blocks with their Bitcoins.
Also, put on your armchair psychologist hat for a second. When people hear about things once, they kind of put it in the back of their mind and it sits latent. Think Facebook and Twitter. When they hear about it a second time, they make a connection and sense a pattern. That's when they say, "Hmm.. maybe I should try this." For most people, the incident a few weeks ago was the first time they heard about it. Next time, we should see wider adoption. (For the record, I heard about Bitcoin once about a year ago. Then I heard it again on CNN a few weeks ago. I'm kicking myself.. My watercooled 5850 and Phenom x6 were just collecting dust.)
A great local business model for a college town or something right now would be start accepting Bitcoins. You'd get free word of mouth advertising, grassroots support, and people are eager to spend them. The market will figure it out soon.