The mechanics would be the internal workings, a tamper-proof shared ledger. It's so amazing! Think of all the possibilities!
Then it hits the real world, and suddenly what people actually do with it and its valuation is dependent on how the exchanges operate (are exchanges even mentioned in the original paper?), energy prices in China, media coverage, interactions with alt-coins, etc.
You seem to assume that the greatest feat of Bitcoin is it's price. Yes, sure the price might be affected (somewhat) by how exchanges operate and media covers. However, many people don't care too much about the monetary price, and play the long game. In the long run, the market always adjusts. In in the end, it is the same with any other commodity or currency.
Mr. Bachman, with all due respect, I would argue that the majority of people proclaiming they don't care about the price are bluffing. Perhaps even bluffing themselves. Bitcoin's price increase has far outpaced its adoption or disruption of the financial system.
Everyone who decides whether to keep their dollars instead of spending/investing them (or even to borrow and be short dollars), do care about the future value of one dollar.
In loaves of bread, in liters of milk, in months of rent, gigabytes of internet, square feet of land, kilowatts of electricity; in i7s and shitty steam games and iPhones. I care about the price of 1 dollar in the labor I put in, and the goods I get out.
