I first heard of bitcoin when the silk road website hit the news. I poked around a bit, thought it sounded interesting, but it was way too soon to make any serious judgement. I meant to keep some tabs on it and see what happened, but it fell off my personal radar.

It was brought back to my attention when the link aggregate website I used made a passing reference to the troubles bitcoin has seen over the last month. Double so when the article it linked referenced pattaya- Where I currently live and work. So I've spent two days running through these forums and other new material. I have a lot of personal opinions, but I'm not looking to start a flamewar.

What I have is a single question- one that in two days, I've only seen one website attempt to address, and even then it was given very perfunctory treatment. Why bitcoin? The bitcoin FAQ assumes I understand this, or skips it.

 I'm Joe Average. I buy things online, predominately off Amazon, occasionally Newegg or Ebay. I have a paypal account, but I rarely use it- Really, only for Ebay. Either way, I have never run into a problem with either my bank, or paypal.

It seems like there is no real discussion- It's assumed that the people who read bitcoin websites understand the need for bitcoin. Or there is just no need to explain to others why bitcoin is superior to using a bank/credit/paypal system. There is a phrase I've seen used in probitcoin comments on articles. "Bitcoin will change the world" What I'm asking here is for clarification. Why/How?

On the wiki, there is a short section devoted to the question of Why bitcoin- but the points made feel.. debatable and a touch hastily done. I'm not sure I see the value in irreversible transactions, for instance. I like the idea that if something goes wrong, I can dispute charges relying on something more then the good nature of whatever person now has my money.

So I'm wondering if anyone here would like to explain the benefits for the average member of the public to use bitcoin rather then actual hard currency, or the current paradigm of credit and debt for online purchases?