If that person hadn't talked to me about it I wouldn't have really given it thought till the mid 2010's. So in honor and respect of that I'll give a basic discussion to anyone who asks. And if they start arguing about how it USES THE WORLD'S POWER or is a fraud, or HOW ABOUT THIS SHITCOIN I'll just say "sounds like you already know a good bit, nothing I could say can further that" and start talking about hookers and blow or shit like that.
I was speaking to my friend who swapped all the bitcoin I sold him for some useless shitcoin that, of course, went to zero and he now proudly told me after buying some more that he no longer has any bitcoin. Apparently he's all in on eth so at least not completely retarded but still... he also cited the energy thing.
People are being fuelled by greed and getting in on the "next big easy money" and are ending up clutching at straws and rationalizing their shaky choices. If you ask them what their alt-of-the-week brings to the table, you rarely get a satisfactory answer.