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I've seen some time ago comparison of popularity of passing fads and useful inventions.

Useful invention graph looked like this http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2IAWpIwOiOc/SuvD_xiOfTI/AAAAAAAAAD... (example was IT) and graph for the passing fad dropped down to almost zero after initial peak (example was Macarena dance, if you remember that you are old ;-) ).

So far bitcoin seems like useful invention.

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AKA: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hype_cycle (And for your curiosity: http://bitcoincharts.com/charts/mtgoxUSD#tgMzm1g10zm2g25zv is where the chart in the article comes from.)

I'm old enough to have thought at the time of the Macarena that it was a fad.

No one here has attended a wedding or bar mitzvah? That silly dance is far from dead, which is not all that important depending on your social set but does give some doubt on the analysis.

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