Topic: Is bitcoin the most important technological achievement of our lifetime? (Read 3392 times)

No, the internet is the most important (existing) technological achievement of our lifetime. (I know the internet was technically invented before many of us were born, but it didn't become available for most people until 1996-ish.)

I view Bitcoin as a natural extension of the internet. Bitcoin is what money WOULD have looked like if the internet existed when money was invented. A lot of other internet-enabled disruptive technology follows the same pattern.

If you include future technology though, the coming AI will kick everything else into the dust and I, for one, welcome our new silicon-based overlords

Yes, a 3d printer is not the same thing as a replicator.

I would rather say that the existing financial system is the greatest technological failure of our lifetime.

Bitcoin is a very clever idea in maths, of the kind that doesn't come around very often. it deserves study.

I think 3D printing for the end user is being hyped too much.
It is MUCH more feasible that you'll have custom printing and front-porch delivery of items than everyone having a 3D printer that can sinter metals or create complex structures out of multiple materials.
Unless of course we have a major break through in nano assemblers.

As to the actual question of what would be the most important technological achievement:

It is hard to tell because historically people have been incredibly bad at predicting new technological advances accurately.
I love old documentaries about how the future could look like.

In my eyes global interconnection and information exchange, cyberspace if you will, is the most significant achievement.
We tend to underestimate technologies that have a profound sociological impact.

but you will need materials right? what kind of materials would you need for, lets say a potato?

No, it will be in the top 5 tho, but Bitcoin is decentralised just like the 3d printer. Yes the 3d printer, i believe that machine will be in oure homes within 10 years. Think about it; you are able to download just almost everything and print it, even food and organs, printing entire homes is in testing stage, it will all be possible.( good for long space flights to settle on Mars) A high quality 3-d printer will change the world big time.

Bitcoin,robots, 3-d printers will all be part of the next industrial revolution; enjoy the ride!  Ohh wait, they are all decentralised 

I agree but there would be no doctors or medics without money

obviously the fiat money we have now are gonna collapse sooner or later and the us dollar 2.0 won't be the solution

I agree with the OP, since the start of the digital revolution our society has changed completely.
Telecommunications is much easier, the world is more accessible.
Digitalizing our monetary system will be an important step in the entire digital revolution.
There is space for crypto-currencies in society.
But just like it needed some time to evolve from the first email clients to Skype video conversations we need more infrastructure and research, ups&downs that push the technology to it's rightful place within society.

I have the feeling a lot of people think in a very short term and believe the bitcoin community will always stay the same.
We should stop seeing it as an investment and start using it as everyday money. 

example:
Bought something online in China, payed person-to-person within seconds, seconds after i bought my burger at Mcdo's.

and not

Bough/mined a bunch and sitting on them like a chicken till they hatch profit.
or
Bought/mined a bunch and parked them on a website till they hatch prof....shit went offline,...fuck bitcoin
or
Bought/mined a big bunch and only using them to buy/sell USD.

We can talk and speculate all we want, the strength of a currency is it's amount of liquidity and spread.

Knowledge > Power

Happiness > Wealth

Hadron Collider > Bitcoin

Rome wasn't built in a day..... the market cap needs to grow much larger before it can make an impact. is it not growing fast enough for you?

A tree is known by its fruit.  If bitcoin fulfills its potential to end the slavery of billions of people, it will be the greatest technological invention of the human mind in all of history.  The probability of that is nearly zero, but it is real enough so that it is worth fighting for, because it is the only non-zero possibility extant.  Any chance is better than no chance.

You're missing my point.

Napster didn't matter. It was all about peer-to-peer networking.

Napster may have died (after making Shawn Fanning rich) but P2P survived, became decentralized, and has since become secured with cryptography and kept honest through proof-of-work.

Bitcoin is just the thin edge of the wedge.

and look how well that turned out.

I guess you thought the big deal with Napster was all about free music.

It'd work out something like this: one country starts using it, say china. Then all the other countries cannot afford not to adopt the technology and compete.

I take it as a bullish indicator when a system of digital "tokens" used by nerds online to gamble and speculate is considered the greatest achievement of our lifetimes.

This is an interesting topic, too much of anything regardless of its short term benefits, is a bad thing that can lead a larger collapse.

The concept of central banking as it was originally proposed was not a bad idea. Central banking was never suppose to reach the massive level of control it wields today. It was suppose to help smooth contractions by providing a very limited bridge. The problem is it is centralized and the people in control use the printing press tool more and more and more, until everything and everyone is reliant on central banking constantly expanding the balance sheet. Now when the system inevitably crashes, the crash is worse than anything that could ever have happened on a gold or similar standard.

Penicilin similarly is a saver for humanity, provided it is used only when needed. But instead we decide to use it for everything, which both makes germs resistant and stronger and humans weaker. At some point a disease is introduced that causes a larger scale epidemic than could have ever happened if penicilin was never introduced.

What I like about bitcoin from a monetary perspective is, since there is no bailout entity banks and other firms who take risks and crash are wiped out as they should be (including their investors and customers), instead of constantly growing due to central banking interventions. In this manner no entity becomes large enough to have a disastrous system wide effect. There may be multiple smaller downturns, but no massive blow up.

While this would be an EPIC innovation as well, if the majority of the human population cannot afford and/or enjoy it because of financial oppression, then it would be secondary. However, I am not certain if we're seeing THAT level of financial oppression or not. Come to think of it, the concept of open source may proove to be important as well. Inventions may be supressed, but its hard to supress a viral open source technology of an idea that is suddenly released and then becomes demanded by the people.... If I ever stubled upon a clean energy tech, I'd be tempted to release it in this manner so I wouldn't find myself bought off or killed to prevent it from reaching market.

But I digress, I admit have a bit of a tin foil hat, but I don't know just how deep the rabbit hole goes. LOL 

Well, that makes you like most people. God, I wish people would talk to me at parties, but no one will!

Anyway, While all the things you said above are important innovations, and while I can't say that bitcoin itself beats the idea of free speech it's an important step, not to be underestimated. (Was free speech invented in our lifetime, btw? I think not, obviously) This is less about "bitcoin" and more about the idea of decenterlized store of value/medium of exchange free of government and on a global scale. It's the first "global" medium of exchange, and if this idea takes off, it can make a massive difference in the world, especially the less develeoped world where the people and their wealth (or lack thereof) are subject to the whims of a short term and corrupt government. If bitcoin were to take hold in these locations, we might see a dramtic change that could equal lives saved (from starvation, fewer wealth based wars, etc). We shall see what the future holds, but don't underestimate the important of this innovation on a conceptual level.

Fusion could be the answer to a large proportion of  the worlds problems.

You don't need a tin foil hat to see that our fiat system is one big Ponzi scheme. No conspiracy theories needed, people don't need to have secret meetings somewhere and decide how they're going to take over the world from there. The system itself carries all the right incentives for everyone to bring the right ingredients together for this entire scam to work, without anyone even being conscious of it, including the bankers/elite. We're like ants just doing our thing without being aware we're building massive ant hills that almost behave like separate conscious entities themselves.

Penicilin is a bad thing when used too much. Which many would argue we do. The more it's used the more resistant diseases become to it, and it spreads throughout the population so it's not just limited to the person in question. We use it to treat zits, for fucks sake. It could, in theory, become a leading cause of a future epidemic.

And that's not even touching on the detrimental effects of removing natural selection from us as a specie. But that's for another thread.

Where was (your) god when millions of people including countless children died needlessly because we had not yet discovered penicillin?

I don't trust big corporations to do the right thing no matter in what sector they operate.

But replacing science with belief is not the way to go.
You should not just believe in bitcoin but base your trust in it because you can look at the code and analyze the algorithms and form your own oppinion.

I'm not up to date on the developments there, but a breakthrough in energy extraction efficiency is just about the only thing I can imagine to be of bigger import that the breakthrough of decentralizing finance.

As others have pointed out, the current financial system is at the root of lots of problems, many of them of deadly consequence - like war, poverty and destruction of the biosphere.

Bitcoin is second most important after cold fusion. Ok, I can hear the laughing. 

MIT is running a cold fusion lecture for second year running.  National Instruments also have an annual conference on cold fusion. And ELFORSK, the Swedish energy peak research body have issued a statement that they have discovered unexplained large power outputs from ECats.

Cheap, clean energy is the most important technological breakthrough.

stop with all that medical advancement bullshit.

you think the only things that can heal you come from profit oriented companies?

go look up rick simpson oil and there you have your medical science.
no need for big pharma, god gave us everything we need.

The current fiat money system* costs us 50% of our incomes as compared with a system where money is not simultaneously someone else's liability. How about counting all the suicides this causes. But worse, that system is set up to facilitate wars (imagine a war that must be financed from running tax revenues).

If you have ever witnessed the workings of the IMF/World Bank/Asia Development Bank in the 3rd world, you'd be absolutely disgusted about how much evil well intentioned people do there which could not happen without the ability to create SDR from thin air.

I'd say a medical advancement that is as important as Bitcoin would have to be something truly fundamental, like reversing ageing.





* A different fiat money system (greenbacks) may even be worse

Yes, I have said so before: I consider Bitcoin (or to be precise - the technology of the Blockchain) to be the most important technological invention of the 21st century so far. The only other thing I consider to have a similar potential impact is 3D printing. Programmable wealth/money and programmable matter. There is a pattern here to watch for

+1

It is the idea instilled in people that virtual goods can have value and be used as a means of exchange that is of importance.

Many people don't trust bitcoin because "it is not backed by anything" without realizing that pretty much our entire global economy already runs on digital bookkeeping with very little more than reassuring words that that what we use as a means of exchange is actually worth something.

Every auction house in an MMO or in app purchases for digital goods are further strengthening this notion.
Sure, bitcoin as a protocol is very elegant and its security provides stronger trust but that is not at the core as can be clearly seen by many
altcoins that are being used without providing formal proofs that their systems are robust to attacks.

The "internet" is about to be monetized in a big way. What this will mean for everyone is yet to be seen

I've posted this before to some place here but if you like to marvel about all the things possible, you probably like this web site.
www.futuretimeline.net

In my lifetime I am afraid both the personal computer and the internet trump bitcoin, as they enable it.

So far Bitcoin is a great technological breakthrough, the biggest of this decade at least.

The internet wins this contest. But it's probably in the top ten.

Edit: Guy above me makes a solid point, so I'll say the third most important invention since the transistor - preceded by the internet which it runs on and the computers that make the net work. All of it powered by electricity of course, which goes beyond the scope of this poll.

Bitcoin itself isn't nearly as important as open-source, cryptography-secured, proof-of-work-based, decentralized, peer-to-peer networking.

Bitcoin's just one implementation of a world-changing disruptive technology with the promise of revolutionizing everything from elections (and democracy in general) to notarizing documents.

It however is merely another step in an evolutionary process that has led us from the vacuum tube and punchcard computers of my youth, through higher-level (than raw machine language) programming languages, inter-computer networking, TCP/IP, the internet, HTML, the WorldWideWeb, centralized P2P, etc, all the way to today's onion routing and cryptographic networking.

I realize I'm older than many here but I'd tend to consider the most important technological achievement of my lifetime to be the development of integrated circuits (or transistors themselves, invented the year I was born), without which all of the advances I listed above wouldn't have been possible. Even all of the wonderful medical advances mentioned in other posts in this thread were made possible by ICs.

TL;DR-

Not BTC, but ICs and the computer technology they led to.

If crowd funding via bitcoins cured cancer, then yes.

Really? You think it outclasses computers and the internet? And the idea of free speech? Maybe space travel? Heart transplants? Machines that BREATHE for people?

Bitcoin is a good thing. However- if you think it's one of the very most important inventions by mankind, you would legitimately be the creep I don't talk to at a party.

I thought Gay marriage was the most important achievement for mankind???

BTW, I heard of some parents that are sex-changing their toddler boy into a girl because he wears dresses. So glad they figured out that he was born a girl instead of a boy, amazing progress.

youre forgetting about internet itself where bitcoin is born and many other things to come. thanks to the power of communication

If its not the most objectively important, its certainly the most interesting, at least to me.

The faith of the hodlers will decide the amount of your wealth. You could always pray for god/satoshi, that no old adopter/drug dealer/coin thief will decide to dump 100 000+ coins and decrease your wealth by ten times or more
But I agree, it's a matter of taste. It suits some people to act on blind faith while ignoring the risks. Sometimes it pays off also. If it wouldn't be like that, then we wouldn't have any lottery winners

I love Bitcoin, But its  NOT THE MOST  important achievement, and from it.

Ron Paul once said, "You can't stop an idea whose time has come." His speech during the 2007 US presidential debate began a mass awakening to the dangers of central banking. He was ahead of his time.

Bitcoin (and its digital currency brethren) are all ideas whose times have come thanks to another guy who was ahead of his time. They are competition to dinosaur banking cartels. They have size, but we have speed, agility and youth. I know which side I'm on.

You may control your bitcoins, but the bitcoin market controls your wealth

Yes.

I think it's one of the five biggest technological achievement of human history in its consequences (it's on the same level as stuff like agriculture, alphabet, internal combustion engine. Even computers and Internet are outclassed.)

Anti-pirate laws will be irrelevant for this 3D printer. As it can print car, as well it can print RPG, SAM, missiles, jet fighters etc so forces of the ordinary people and pro-corporate govt will be balanced enough.

This is like calling Microsoft Windows the most important tech achievement of our lifetimes.  It played a role - a cobblestone in the road of progress, nothing more.  To predict whether Bitcoin will beat a competitor 10 years out, or even 1 year out is impossible.  It's not like rolling out a new engine that would take 40 years to completely replace current tech.  Things move so quickly when it's purely code.  Roll the dice if you're feeling lucky.

I've allowed myself the thought to cross my mind.

In our lifetime? Why stop there... it's the most important thing in the history of world. Penicillin and electricity? Nah, Bitcoin! A lot of empirical researches have even found that there was no Big Bang, there was only bitcoin.

Jokes aside, bitcoin is a nice step in the evolution of finance, but keep a cool head if you don't want to look like an Jehovah's Witness

Upsetting the current status quo could have more far reachijg implications than making some greedy nerds happy. This is a disputive technology that does have the potential to make a huge positive impact.

You know, there were people who attended the World's Fair to see the lightbulb unveiled who were also alive to watch the Moon Landing on TV.

There are people who watched the Moon Landing on TV who are alive today and aware of Bitcoin. And don't care.

Just putting that into perspective. Have fun with your tin foil hat.

On of the.

No, not at all, unless you are like 10.

If bitcoin is able to effectively compete with national currencies to the point that the people wake up and dump fiat en masse, then we could be looking at the largest shift in power from government to individuals in history.

so if that happens, then yes.

may be the most impressive bubble of our lifetimes, but technology... no. if it was so incredible, we'd already be doing more with it than just speculating and buying bed sheets online.

Do you have any idea how many lives can be saved if Bitcoin can save us from financial debt slavery and oppression? Especially 3rd world countries could benefit greatly. You have no idea how much of our lives are being controlled and demolished by the tyranny of the ones on top of the current financial pyramid.

 

What you do is buy a 3D printer, and build 100 more. Then you can churn out cars and guns and apparently Yoda heads on a mass scale

i can't wait to download a car just in spite of those anti-piracy ads

lifetime is long so we do not know

the idea behind the protocol for economics - probably yes

I think an universal 3D printer, capable to produce any stuff, will be the most important achievement and have greatest impact on human civilization.
Bitcoin may be put on the second place.

yes

No.

I'm gonna say no.

If within 10 years Bitcoin is the world's sole currency and has made thousands of new millionaires - my answer is still no.

That honor will probably go to something medical... I love the idea behind Bitcoin but come on - most of us are just greedy nerds. Medical science saves lives.

Just listening to Antonopolous - more and more I think we are a part of something absolutely legendary.  Totally apart from bitcoin the currency, I believe bitcoin the protocol will revolutionize the global economy in ways we can't even yet imagine.  The times they are a-changing.


just my 2 bits...