Cliff Stoll was merely expressing his doubts about the feasibility of online shopping and education in the classroom. He was partially right about the classroom part... computers have not replaced teachers in public schools, it's still really just a supplement. He was wrong about the online shopping part, and he's admitted such.

But the fundamental problem that bitcoiners can't get over is... bitcoin is not the Internet.

Cliff played a significant role in developing security best practices during the first couple decades of the Internet's development. He would have told you back in 1995 that the Internet was a significant advancement in technology, even if he had doubts about how it would effect our everyday lives.

But bitcoin is only a de-centralized payment network... and we already have plenty of payment methods. Is the public hungering for decentralization? So far, it certainly doesn't seem like it. And why would they? Their government issued money is working perfectly fine.

The Internet was a suite of protocols connecting computers around the world via switches, routers, and packet switching technologies. Bitcoin is simply one protocol built on top of that. It's delusions of grandeur. Apples and oranges.