There is one thing that i'm asking myself.

Why would we need NEM ?

It is absolutely blowing my mind , that there are people who think NEM will be their Bitcoin Rocketstart into wealth.

Why ? Because this time there a new people as Stakeholders ? Because the System is new , developed from the ground up and with another chance for catastrophic bugs or failures ? Is there really a need for another POS Coin ?

Baffles me and makes absolutely no sense in my mind...

(I'm also asking myself why we need NXT, but that is another story for another day.)

there's only one thing missing on this list - twerking?

so how many nems have you twerked today?

Technical wise, NEM could be a competitor to Bitcoin because:

1. an improvement in a core functionality: Proof of Importance instead of Proof of Work and traditional POS algorithm.
2. improvements in features: Bitcoin has been and always be very conservative when coming to new features. There are spaces open if users move beyond the simple currency functionality and want something else with blockchain.
3. Difference in design

I think you are very smart guy but many smart guys in tech do not fully grasp the dynamics of free market and competition. This article can help

http://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2013/12/how-and-why-bitcoin-will-plummet-in-price.html

in short, if you are bullish about Bitcoin (to the point of world domination), you should also very bullish about its genuine competitors like NEM.

And meanwhile...it's been 45 minutes since the last Btc block. The Model T was great but wouldn't you rather have a Ferrari?

in one word - progress

NEM started as an idea to improve what has already been on the cryptocurrencies market. If you look at BTC - it is greatly outdated crypto from many perspectives: distribution, PoW (seriously, why does a global system for payments needs daily electricity like London? - and totally useless except for BTC), slow etc, but it is "established", proven, familiar, first. Challengers are stepping up. Will it be NXT? maybe. Will it be NEM? who knows now, but that certainly doesn't exclude trying and improving.

Have you tried using NXT? I get cringes when thinking of running the Armory for my btc to be sent. Don't you see how important AE (Asset exchange) is? what it offers? it is like asking why do we need computers(NXT) when pen and paper(BTC) work already. and NEM has a potential to be even better than NXT.

It baffles me that people don't understand progress. Don't you have some drive to improve something, make something faster, more efficient, better adopted, more fair, nicer, easier etc?

Alpha client for NEM is going to be as good if not even better than what NXT offers now. That is a great accomplishment. Try getting your siblings to use NXT from scratch or BTC. It is not easy. There is much what can be improved. NEM is trying to accomplish that.

NEM is far away from another me-too coin, or some other coin that is just a clone with something little different (NHZ).

NEM is totally new code, new people, new community, new goals etc. It is exciting, sexy and very popular so far! :-)

completely agree with this. that article especially; it expresses my view spot on.

Another reason im not hopeful about bitcoin is the PoW model. Anyone who thinks the bitcoin gravy train can continue on a PoW model is just kidding themselves. same for any PoW coin.

in fact, it wouldnt surprise me if bitcoins current valuation is artificial anyway. the fact that bitcoin is not only horded by a minority, but also its hashing power is too, just demonstrates how "centralized" it is and, if anything, makes it just as bad - if not worse - then FIAT, as these parties are far more anonymous to begin with.

Good point.

There are a few more stakeholders than that, the most conservative number is at least 1000 unique users i think (even with all the sock-puppet controversy). Read the population statistics. The theory is that after the initial distribution, new users can continuously come in via exchanges and multipool. It is actually very similar to POW cost-wise but without the waste energy.