This has incorrectly led VCs to invest in the "Bitcoin as a protocol" concept. I wrote about it in my recent blog post: http://deepinsand.com/post/70415437372/vcs-are-wrong-about-b...
i really don't like being assigned a bunch of political views just because i recognize how elegant bitcoin is, and have bought an amount in bitcoin that wouldn't concern me if i lost it. this doesn't mean i'm a paranoiac or a libertarian or don't appreciate the need for central banks. i know it is risky but i also think the bitcoin network iteself has long term value and until the point that it is priced at that value i stand to make money from holding it.
this person clearly has a political axe to grind.
The protocol is the same algorithm that has existed for years. Bitcoin adds an economic incentive on top of it, hence my designation as an "economic innovation".
I consider the technological breakthrough to be hash cash. It couldn't have been possible in a P2P network without the economic incentives reaped from Bitcoin mining.
The analogies to Uber and AirBnB are actually pretty strong here. The tech that brought them to bear was the internet/mobile, but the payment/reputation structure is what made the P2P network possible.
The only difference is that Bitcoin literally pays the nodes to act nicely.
I'm not saying bitcoin is on the level of relativity. I just disagree with your assessment of the novelty of bitcoin on a technical level.
You know who has that kind of computing power? States.