When I first learned about Bitcoin in 2013...it's painfully vivid.
Was on the highway inbetween cities on a drive back home with my family. Mid afternoon, watching the grass fly by me outside of my window.
I can't remember why we were talking about real estate at that time, but nonetheless my father was talking about how he heard of this new technology called the "blockchain" that can "intermediate the payments between real estate brokers and home buyers, without any need for the brokerage!"
Bitcoin wasn't even part of this conversation.
It was vague head nods and a "huh, cool! I wonder how that works."
"I don't know, but apparently you can use it for any payment, not just real estate."
"Hm, the government and banks probably wont allow that though right?"
"Yeah, probably, but it's a cool idea!"
-- and then the conversation drifted elsewhere.
Knowing how life is now...sigh..
Learning how to manage an SN territory. Want to own one soon.
Would love to get this as a smartphone/snartwatch screensaver or widget!
I get this is a theoretical but isn't it the right answer that you NEVER have to accept a change?
You can just keep running the same node and go with whomever else agrees with you and runs that same code.
And ideally (for me, and those running my same code) that's still the longest chain with the most people and value.
I think Bitcoin's privacy is improving. For power users, they can achieve "pretty good privacy" today. But it's far from adequate and is probably all things considered one of its weakest points today.
The main problem is that most Bitcoin users engage with fully KYC'd financial services like exchanges. So even if they do self-custody, their activity is known. Lightning withdrawals and deposits from exchanges is a nice step forward. But while sending privacy in LN is strong, receiving privacy is still not great. So if you withdraw from let's say Kraken they know things about your Lightning activity and ID. Blinded paths, which should be activated in the coming year, will help address this vulnerability.
I'd recommend that Bitcoiners everywhere learn about CoinJoins as well as Lightning but mostly that they learn how to use Bitcoin without KYC. The best way to preserve your privacy is not to link your real-world ID to any Bitcoin in the first place.