Skepticism is a healthy attribute. And to be brutally honest, of course Bitcoin is likely to fail - all new things are likely to fail. We're all engaged in a wildly speculative and risky venture, here. Even conservative ventures usually fail, and this is anything but conservative.

However, skeptics seem to be fixated on Bitcoin as it exists in the immediate present and this is severely damaging their objective analysis. They see that Bitcoin is hard to carry in one's pocket. They see that PC-based wallets are vulnerable. They see that one cannot yet buy gasoline and bread with Bitcoins.  And seeing these problems, they then assume such issues will always remain and thus are hesitant to believe in the Bitcoin idea.

And so I don't mean to be rude, or draw silly comparisons, but it seems this is a bit like observing the Wright brothers, and their floppy, ridiculous plane, and then dismissing air travel because of all the problems. "Well, only one person can fly on that craft," "Well, it can't go much faster than a car," "Well, there is a high danger of crashing and dying," "Well, it is much too expensive to build something so useless." "Well, these are way less convenient and reliable than a horse." "Well, this is nothing but a dangerous toy," "Well, man was not meant to fly," etc. As I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum, my great-grandmother's college science textbook assured her that man would never be able to go to space, because there was no air.

Friends, allow the free market to observe these problems and it will tend to solve them. Can't easily reimburse your friends for drinks using Bitcoin? BAM - Brain Armstrong's Android app is released yesterday and looks brilliant. Tired of using only one vulnerable exchange? BAM - a half dozen more have sprung up in the past month. No easy way to accept Bitcoin payments on your website? BAM - Bit-pay.com appears.

A good skeptic should ask, "is the underlying technology/protocol of Bitcoin sound?" If it is, then all those tertiary issues will be solved over time because the marketplace wants to profit from the efficiency of frictionless-money.

There is too much profit to be made from a Bitcoin world for entrepreneurs to ignore such a revolutionary technology merely because they cannot yet purchase gasoline down the street.

As Wayne Gretzky said, "look where the puck is going, not where it is."