I don't even view it as a flaw. Which is probably what _makes_ me not a nice person.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not cruel--I don't intend to hurt people. I just don't really mind if people feel stepped on because someone said something they didn't like.
I mean, I'm laughing that drivebyacc thinks his hands are any less mud-covered than mine. But I also look at that mud-slinging bit and think--well, I pushed him into revealing that he's playing at being an investment banker with Bitcoin, which is exactly what prevents Bitcoin from being a suitable replacement for the money we already have.
And I emphasized the gloating bit because it's a little true and I'm not angry and it gave that guy a bit of a shove. I think the emotion I feel about Bitcoin is similar to this XKCD: http://xkcd.com/194/
Bitcoins.
They don't work.
Now can we, as a technical culture, move on to something that will?
He gives me a hex string, "1LnLfnc3nU3fYAY3DfuPsmqJqFAuRb4p9U".
Presuming, that Bitcoins are trading at $40 USD/ i type at the linux prompt, "bc sendtoaddress 1LnLfnc3nU3fYAY3DfuPsmqJqFAuRb4p9U 50"
15 minutes later, after three confirmations, he sells those 50 bitcoins at his exchange, and he now has $USD 2000.
That's the way it's been working just fine for the last 18+ months, until the recent couple weeks of increased volatility.
I don't see anything inherent in the currency that suggests we will have 10+% volatility every 15 minutes for the for seeable future. Doubling every month, of halving every month is fine, users of the currency can adjust for 2%/day volatility.
That's about the only problem I see with BitCoin as a currency right now. Let's check back in six months and see if we're still seeing the +/- 10% swings per day.
"Take no pride in your confession that you too are biased; do not glory in your self-awareness of your flaws. This is akin to the principle of not taking pride in confessing your ignorance; for if your ignorance is a source of pride to you, you may become loathe to relinquish your ignorance when evidence comes knocking. Likewise with our flaws—we should not gloat over how self-aware we are for confessing them; the occasion for rejoicing is when we have a little less to confess."
- http://lesswrong.com/lw/h8/tsuyoku_naritai_i_want_to_become_...