It's not meant to be either. Vitalik is an intellectual. Tyler Cowen says he is one of the more interesting writers that he has come across. That's a big endorsement. But your comment is really not interesting at all and just a general rehash of an old debate.
There are hundreds of other threads on HN that would be appropriate for your comment. It just isn't this one.
Appeal to authority isn't an argument either, I don't really care what Tyler Cowen says about Vitalik.
The whole point of a blockchain like Ethereum is that it's supposed to be immutable, with Vitalik's own actions in his role in the DAO hack, he has proven that it isn't at all.
So what is new about Ethereum except that we know that it really isn't an immutable blockchain. The Merge? Nothing will change even once complete which I would estimate in 2026 for merchants to use. Gas fees? Ethereum will always have this issue even after the merge.
So Ethereum is useless, just like the entire crypto space.
Do your own research. There are plenty of current and hypothetical use cases. A lot of the value derives from shifting your mental models away from traditional views of currency and monetary authority that are, frankly, outdated.
Claim: "There are plenty of current and hypothetical use cases."
Response: "Please list these real world usecases of crypto that the average person can use right now."
Claimant: "Do your own research."
This is the problem that I see with most people who are in the crypto space, "Do your own research" is not a usecase and is in fact a veil to suggest that there is no usecase to begin with.
Such as none? Since you have listed zero real world examples or usecases as usual.