The author is missing the fact that the world has adapted to the requirement for centralised trust. That makes it very hard to see the value of a blockchain system - you automatically think about problems and solutions within another constrained framework. It's similar to e-mail before people used email. It seems laughable now, but it wasn't obvious why e-mail would be useful ("I need to switch on my computer every time to check if I have a message!? A phone is so much easier..."). The value of a blockchain system will become more and more evident over time as we use it to solve problems that are hard to see in our current paradigm.

Comparing the blockchain directly with centralised switching systems is like comparing e-mail with phone calls, and using "ability to speak" as the metric of comparison. E-mail allows you to do something else, but it took us a while to realise that something else is incredibly valuable. The blockchain will be the same. Simple example: we don't even think in terms of individuals or corporations issuing their own currency. It's not a "problem" that we generally acknowledge to exist. We'll certainly see it as one worth solving when companies and rich individuals start using blockchain technology to compete with countries in terms of issuing currency.