For thousand years almost since the beginning of civilization gold emerged as the monetary system even when those people never met each other because gold has special properties such as being permanent, divisible, non corrosive, etc and it is rare.
Yet this all happened in a time before anybody with any net worth had a computer then multiple computers in their possession, first in the form of PCs then smartphones and now watches, thermostats, cars, tvs.
Now I agree that if this was not the case that gold would still probably emerge once again as the best store of value but if you subscribe to the idea that all those computers are not just going to be here but will keep getting better and getting more of them then you must conclude that dematerialization is where bitcoin gets a lot of its value from, making it the next evolution.
Old people do not understand this and cite 5,000 years of history as why they like gold, and good for them. When they die and you break into their vault and find gold bars nobody knew they ever had this is in your best interest for them to like but for the living who do the same with bitcoin that value gets distributed back into the system benefiting all owners of bitcoin unless they find the private keys or modern day cryptography gets cracked (and nobody realises it, plans for it and executes that plan beforehand) by hardware completely forgetting or fixating on the hardware factor and not the fact that it is software getting updated constantly.
Another common argument is the technological sophistication if bitcoin is too much vs gold but again just look at the technology around you and you see people using far more sophisticated devices such as cars, phones, uber and it did not take 5,000 years of testing different database technologies or materials before they were deemed safe.
How about reliance on government controlled networks? Maybe they get so good at snooping and ban cryptocurrencies killing your ability to participate. Well if you need to leave in a hurry because of your government, maybe they want all your money in the form of tax or you are in a guilty til proven innocent situation, with gold you have the options of risking where you put it (dig a hole, give it to a trusted friend) vs remembering 12 words or applying your own version of cryptography onto a tattoo or email or evernote or unpublish blog, whatever you think gives you less risk than some stranger or greedy friend can take from you.
Tax authorities seem to be a real threat, if you spend bitcoin you might be subject to tax, the same with gold but bitcoin is easier to which the answer of the old timers is “you can’t prove it with gold but you can with bitcoin” but they forget about security cameras, cell phone towers, and things being used that they will probably hear about long after they are being used.
Insurance against theft, it’s easier to crack you than it is to crack your private key so holding you in duress is the easiest way to get your value from bitcoin instead of going through fiduciaries who check for these things. If you believe this is enough then you are putting a lot of faith in the system that bitcoin effectively replaces and this is really a personal choice. If you want to get the best of both worlds (or the worst) maybe you should stamp your key phrases onto a gold bar then have the gold people hold them for you?
Ask yourself if gold is the north star because it has been for the past 5,000 or is it horses which humans also rode for 5,000 years?
