You are correct- I am viewing Bitcoins right now as a hobby and for pure entertainment. That way I am not too committed to the system if it fails, and if it becomes popular- I will be ahead of the game.
I wonder whether, in the long term, after breaking all the technological barrier (28nm, etc), then there won't be technological revolutions like steam, electricity, IT, did to the standard economy.
So the advantage from a front-end techno-powered miner will be much lesser than today (200GH vs 200MH), it will all be about efficiency, cooling, power, and SCALE. Like it is for the standard economy today.
So, popular or not, I think it might stagnate at some point, and that we might have reached one of the last techno jump before plateau. Well, for 1-2 further years maybe.
Cheers.