yeah as ars mentions, it's already happened... plus there is litecoin, buttcoin, etc etc

When people compare to internet & DNS & things like that I get kinda pissed off. Those are standard protocol that we agree to because it helps ensure successful communication. Bitcoin is not anything like this stuff, it falls more into the category of "some code that runs on the internet".

Think of it more like a website (Facebook) instead of providing the false analogy that its like the internet itself. If Facebook were an open-source trading platform and it started looking askew, what do you think people would do? (hint: open-source)

Bitcoin is a (peer-to-peer) protocol. It runs on port 8333/TCP. It "helps ensure" transactions are recorded successfully and permanently.

Very much fits the analogy with Internet or the web.

Actually there is no buttcoin (other than the website), which is the proof that you are a troll.

if making a mild semantic error regarding the universe whose fundamental premises i believe are flawed makes me a troll, troll i am

ad hominem is bad enough dont bring in semantics please. in bitcoin there are 3 types of people -- hypemongerSpeculators, techDesigners, nonBelievers. The hypemongers call all the nonbelievers trolls, the trolls talk trash to the hypemongers for blindly defending a greedpile, and the techDesigners (who are supposedly the enlightened HN readers) generally don't care.

The only reason I even bring these arguments here is cuz all the HN headlines are hypemonger trash. I'm readying myself to accept this model of Bitcoin forums and move on, lol

The chain has already forked before. The community so far has managed to agree on which to follow. That might not be the case if a government like China interferes with the protocol, splitting it into two very active forks.