I think if we didn't have bitcoin, then the end of the Fiat experiment, as obviously flawed as it was, would take us all the way down to apocolyptic near-extinction. Maybe full extinction if combined with nuclear war.

With bitcoin we have a real chance of a "soft landing." Family by family, or even individual by individual, we will all have a point where we feel the money we're told to use fails us and bitcoin is a _useful_ alternative. 

Multiply that by 8 Billion people and you've completely ended state's control over the money supply and no major event happens like an economic collapse... There would be an equal and opposite Economy growing at the same time and eventually everyone will be in it. (Yes, even Krugman & Schiff)