Damn. That's a lot of people. If there was a way to find out, you might be pleasantly surprised.

There are currently almost 25 million people in a 100 mile radius around me and I don't know if any single one of them is a Bitcoiner. But the humanitarian in me hopes for them that they are.

optimism

Exactly. What really struck me this night was how many serious bitcoiners there are within a hundred miles of my home. And these are just the ones who attend meetups. The whole experience made me very optimistic.