Quote from: gweedo on April 19, 2013, 12:46:15 AM

Quote from: Melonhead on April 19, 2013, 12:44:36 AM

Quote from: AlphaWolf on April 19, 2013, 12:28:46 AM

Gold/fiat do have one advantage over bitcoin... you can still trade with them when the lights go out. Don't get me wrong, I think Bitcoin is superior in many ways... but imagine a world that trades exclusively in Bitcoin, and then imagine an EMP strike anywhere. We are close to this being an issue already with fiat being exchanged almost exclusively electronically, of course. I believe the smart course of action is "diversify".

Beyond excellent point.

If an EMP strike went off, we have more issues then how to get our bitcoin back, but people have worked on this problem. I see one solution, a mesh network that will develop.

Just as valid would be a major blackout, such as the Northeast blackout of 2003 (and also 1965) in the US, or the 2012 India Blackout, or 2003 Italy Blackout... or any of the others on this list:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_major_power_outages#Largest

With fiat, there exists the possibility that you could drive to another city with power, and extract some paper money from a bank. Bitcoin needs an easier way to transact physically, in person, even when the network if offline or inaccessible. Pretty big challenge.. given that the strength of Bitcoin *is* the network.