So we did stop calling it an experiment, did we not?

randy8777

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Quote from: Amph on March 12, 2015, 12:06:41 PM

it's experimental until it remain in beta phase, to many things to correct, from many point of view(ecnomic, software ecc...)

which basically means that it can take another five or so years before we can say it's not beta anymore.
i think most people agree on the fact that we consider bitcoin still experimental. atleast from the economic point of view.

Amph

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it's experimental until it remain in beta phase, to many things to correct, from many point of view(ecnomic, software ecc...)

gentlemand

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Welt Am Draht

Maybe prototype is a better term than experiment. I think it's still in that phase. Once it can scale properly it'll be ready to move forward.

Perhaps it'll never stop being an experiment in the eyes of many.

Ron~Popeil

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I think it depends on how you define it. As a software it is indeed a new paradigm and hugely successful. As an economic vehicle it has a ways to go. The massive frauds perpetrated over the last few years have damaged it terribly from an economic stand point.

I would say from a software standpoint it is no longer an experiment. From an economic standpoint it very much still is.

btcxyzzz

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Monero - secure, private and untraceable currency.

Bitcoin is far from experiment, it's fully functional thing, even for several years now.

GingerAle

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i think it really depends on the hypothesis.

Hypothesis 1: A trustless peer-to-peer system can be used for transactions
Hypothesis 2: These transaction units can be used as currency
Hypothesis 3: Using this system as currency can reduce our dependency on centralized banking and monetary systems.

turvarya

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I think, it depends on how you use your Bitcoin.
I often meet people that seems to be only interested in the speculative side, and for this people I call it an experiment with a lot of uncertainty, hoping that will prevent them from gambling too much with it.
For other people, I just try to show the practical use. In Austria, that is mostly using purse.io, which really brings a clear advantage, even if you are not an Bitcoin-Enthusiast. Using purse.io is not experimental, it works quite well.
Bitcoin stopping to be an experiment, doesn't mean, there is no more improvement to be made.

adworker

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I still see Bitcoin in experiment phase, the scalability to go over 1MB blocks and really allow to be used by much more peoples might be necessary before Bitcoin Core stops calling itselves beta

allthingsluxury

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I believe its still in the experimental phase, although it isn't just guess work anymore, it has proven itself, now it's only a matter of what it will truly become.

Dr. Pepper

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Interesting question and I think it all depends on your own individual mindset or opinion. The fact that you can buy things with it should indicate it's a success, but you can't buy everything or anything with it yet. I think people may see it as an uncertain currency until it levels out in value a bit but the prospect for profit due to the fluctuations is still attractive to speculators.

Mr Crabs

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Quote from: muddyheights2 on March 12, 2015, 08:34:34 AM

The experiment will end when it fails.
The experiment will end when it reaches mainstream use.

This is what I was thinking. If it 'fails' then I think people will see it as an experiment (a failed one). Though if adoption becomes widespread and you can spend it in your local shop or at various places around the world then it will have become a 'sucess'.

ChuckBuck

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better everyday ♥

I still call it an experiment, since we're largely in the "testing" phase. Unfortunately(fortunately?), we're all the test dummies or lab rats. It could pay off big much later, but there's still alot of things brewing in the lab.

The best technical phrase to call Bitcoin at the moment is probably "Beta", since that's exactly what you'd categorize the software right now. We're still going through different versions and iterations of Core, Gavin's going to fork Bitcoin once again in June, and we still haven't reached 1.0 production release.

OnkelPaul

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Quote from: C. Bergmann on March 12, 2015, 04:21:10 AM

Edit: about your question: yes, it's still an experiment. It may have left this stage in a technological perspective (it works secure), but it's still an experiment in a economic-political perspective.

That's exactly my point of view. The experimental part of the technology is mostly over (I'm fairly sure that we will manage the block size / transaction frequency problem and other technical issues) but the economical part of the experiment is just in its beginning stage. Currently, a huge part of the bitcoin economy is revolving around exchanges and speculation against other currencies. I'd call this economic masturbation, it's not very productive even if it's sometimes fun. Bitcoin economy will become much more interesting when the focus actually moves towards goods and services.
However, I don't see bitcoin as a global future currency or as a replacement for existing national currencies. When people have a choice of currency they can use (not like the decreed switch from european national currencies to euro,) they will prefer the currency that is most versatile, with a big preference for whatever they are already used to.

Onkel Paul

RodeoX

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The revolution will be monetized!

I think it's an experiment still. We don't know where any of this is going or what role BTC will occupy in the future. We don't know if it will work out at all, and we aren't even at version 1.0.

muddyheights2

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The experiment will end when it fails.
The experiment will end when it reaches mainstream use.

C. Bergmann

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very good point.

I called bitcoin an experiment when I startet to blog for bitcoin.de to make sure I don't promise anything to people buying bitcoin. This was in summer 2013.

I'd say it's still an experiment to use cryptographic technology to establish a decentralized, private, digital currency, something that never has been in the world before. I wonder too why I forgot to write about that.

Maybe it's because all that venture capital on the one side and all that negative press during last years price decrease on the other side turned the narrative from a futuristic chance to get free money into a dichotomy: Either it is the definite money of the future, or it is a failed drug-money. And maybe the pressure to choose between this poles made you to stop calling it an experiment, because this would be a contribution to the other side.

Edit: about your question: yes, it's still an experiment. It may have left this stage in a technological perspective (it works secure), but it's still an experiment in a economic-political perspective.

King Karma

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Quote from: joecooin on March 11, 2015, 09:10:51 PM

edit: the question is:
_Is Bitcoin still an experiment or is it already the new paradigm?_

I think it's still an experiment. It still seems like experimental technology to me, though I can see why people would think it has moved past that. I guess because of the unstable price people are still uncertain of it but that may change over time. Maybe then it will be seen as breaking free of it's 'experimental' stages.

futureofbitcoin

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Depends on your definition, obviously. I don't see bitcoin as an "experiment", but if you did, I think one good way to determine whether bitcoin still is an "experiment" or not, is to see if there a number of people who exclusively use bitcoins.

And I don't mean a person attempting to challenge themselves by living off bitcoins for a day or a week, but rather a whole ecosystem that uses bitcoins, so that if they were in a closed system and did not interact with people using fiat, they could all still live, work and trade exclusively in bitcoin.

The number of people doesn't really matter, as long as every point in the production and consumption chain there are people who uses bitcoins.

kulme

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Bitcoin stopped being an experiment back in the end of 2012 when the price went up, people realized the success and the potential of it.

Possum577

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Loose lips sink sigs!

An Experiment is a test under controlled conditions that is done to demonstrate a known truth.

We're certainly beyond the "test under controlled conditions" part. Maybe we've enter the "Project" phase. It implies that provides a fix or solution to a problem and keeps the fact that it could end as a possibility.

The Technology Adoption Lifecycle (how do I insert a picture) has the following phases: Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority, Laggards. I'd say we're nearing the end of the Early Adopters phase, which would indicate that experiment was successful.

Here's one final idea...is it too soon to call it a revolution?

Topic: So we did stop calling it an experiment, did we not? (Read 1651 times)