I guess this headline affects us whose lives have been changed by crypto... and I think we need to use the word crypto here because crypto as a whole has affected many people's lives! Of course, Bitcoin is first and way more popular than others, so we can assume it has changed more lives... and probably we can't imagine a world without crypto and Bitcoin... where would we be!?
But a week ago I saw an old friend... he asked what am I doing ... my answer was still my regular job and into Bitcoins, the same for +5 years! And he asked me surprisingly "Bitcoin?"!? Probably I didn't see him longer than that, but anyway he never heard about Bitcoin... so I believe for him and similar people existence of Bitcoin doesn't mean much! With or without Bitcoin the world is the same for them!
Of course. There are people who are living a normal life without using Bitcoin whatsoever. Fiat is still the dominant form of currency, so living with or without Bitcoin doesn't make you special. Bitcoin is only an alternative to the current monetary system, meaning that it's not something you need in order to survive in the mainstream world. The vast majority of the world's population still hasn't used or heard about Bitcoin before. Even with the rising popularity of the pioneer cryptocurrency, most people are still relying on Fiat for day-to-day payments.
All in all, I believe that a world without Bitcoin would probably be the same one as it is right now. Without Bitcoin, digital payments wouldn't be so popular as they are right now in the mainstream world. We would still be subject to good-old paper money and plastic cards, while paying with your phone or smartwatch would be a distant dream. CBDCs (Central Bank Digital Currencies) wouldn't be a priority for central banks and governments as much as it is right now after Bitcoin's inception. Now that Bitcoin came to life (thanks to Satoshi), the future of money will look a lot different than we've thought before. Who knows if Bitcoin becomes the "new Gold", while CBDCs become the "new Fiat"? Whatever happens in the future, we could say that Bitcoin will last a lifetime thanks to its decentralized and censorship-resistant nature. Just my opinion