sillyargu
Bitcoin's rapid price rise has allowed many people to make money.
This has created a number of evangelists with almost feverish pitch of excitement with claims that Bitcoin and Blockchain will change the world.
With this, it has also created a backlash of people who are against Bitcoin and Blockchain and refuse to believe there is any value whatsoever.
I've seen people on HN embrace all sorts of technology - a lots with very little utility or use cases or actual real-world users. Yet with Bitcoin/Blockchain they argue there is no value whatsoever.
The truth is that if Blockchain didn't come with Bitcoin or the potential to make money (or if Bitcoin was more stable around $1) there wouldn't be this backlash.
People in tech can become cynical easily and a bit mistrustful of new technology claims. This can be a good thing. But this knee jerk reaction to Blockchain and Bitcoin is highly disappointing to see on HN.
The, "Why not use X?" argument seems to be repeated often here.
This is a really silly argument if you are using it to discount blockchain.
With most technology (nodejs, javascript, email on your phone, holographic video conferencing) there are usually alternative ways to achieve the same thing.
When email was added to phones some people said it was silly - their argument was why would anyone want to type emails on their phones when they have laptops already?
No one is saying that blockchain is the only possible way to achieve something.