FWIW I tried explaining bitcoins to a bank manager in Malaysia yesterday. All was going well until I told her what the current price was and you could tell she had lost interest. If BTC/XBT hits $1K then human psychology is going to kick in as a barrier to acceptance for the average Joe and Jane.
The satoshi idea is nice... but:
people keep on buying Berkshire Hathaway stock at around $100k a share
1 BTC becoming more and more expensive will turn it into a diamond like asset
keep BTC unique and let it flourish.
well, the problem is that people don't really "spend" diamonds; they just store it away. if that were to happen to BTC, it would be a predominantly speculative currency/commodity.