Not just bitcoin. Gold and silver too. And yet people are still bashing goldbugs.
All the more reason why education is necessary. There is also the problem where gold enthusiasts deride Bitcoin because it's not "backed by anything". It's not obvious to them that gold is not "backed by anything" either, because gold has been used as a currency for so long. This is an educational problem.
Bitcoin doesn't have to be widely adopted to be efficient. I've said it several times and I repeat it.
What does efficiency have to do with anything? I want to use Bitcoin as my primary unit of exchange. I want to pay for my food with BTC, pay rent in BTC, get paid in BTC. None of that is going to happen (outside of perhaps a small community) unless we are able to convince people that Bitcoin is worth more than fiat currency. Again, this is an educational problem.
If you rely on the smartness of the majority of people, you are screwed.
Not really. Think herd mentality. We just have to convince some significant minority of "regular joes" that Bitcoin is worthwhile. They will convince the rest.