So, given that there will always be notches and bulges in the growth as it deviates about a long term trend, where does the current super-phase fit? Do we simply have to "wait til we find out"? Can we see past that "event horizon"? I suspect the answer is no, but again, it'd be nice if someone would shine a light on something obvious that I'm missing.
It is my understanding that rpietila and other spend a considerable amount of resources in order to answer this question.
Ultimately, don't see how an answer can be derived before the fact, especially at this stage. It does make sense that at the point of mass appeal as initially met from hyper-accelerated interest, the gravity of 'fair market' price will create a spectacular correction as the subsequent oscillations 'bubble' us around that fair market price line growth.
However, I believe this is assuming the free market is allowed to congregate as governed by a dramatic bell curve of individual interest in joining the collective. There does exist the potential, no idea how probable, that pro-active capital interest dominates the acquisition of coins and inhibits later stage individual acquisition. This is I assume, what most here are hoping for, as there would inevitably be rendered a dramatic price squeeze.
In the case of powerful capital interest staying ahead of and thus creating more demand in the individual collective, the notion of a spectacular correction as described above becomes more confusing. If such service-oriented financial interest attempts to monopolize coin supply in droves, it will surely be to hold and re-distribute through profit-seeking gateways of re-supplying the free market. As such, with a top-heavy organization of coin supply, the natural and organic oscillations of adoption as rendered by a collective of individual interest should be exhumed by said coin control. That's what makes sense to me anyhow.
It appears that this is what is indeed occurring. In this case, it may indeed simply be a matter of acceleration and velocity, utilizing supply and time.
In essence then, perhaps at some critical juncture that may be arriving soon if not already underway, the growth cycle pattern as rendered by the speculative interest of the individual collective will be engulfed and left behind by a possible inflection point, at which point said collective will play catch-up, or simply be on the other side of a threshold whereby said interest is virtually non-existent, and the rest of that potential population has no interest in acquiring for speculative value, and are 'forced' or guided through acquisition as a means to a service-based end.
To add - bitcoin is detached from traditional technology adoption s curves in that it is also a currency, with speculative interest and money velocity as forces in its life-cycle. That is not to say it should not adhere to sigmoid-like growth, but its path is surely more convoluted, with the potential for a novel pathway or at least certain exceptions or even more dramatic support of the phenomena along the way.