Evaluating it next to the dollar is part of the conceptual problem of bitcoin critics.
The US dollar is going to zero in the long term. For someone from 1924, the US Dollar has already essentially gone to zero. For someone today, the USD in 2124, or even 2074, will see a USD (if it hasn’t already collapsed by then) as essentially gone to zero.
Knowing that, and barring some kind of drastic change in global monetary policy away from hyperinflationary fiat currencies, assets of some kind are the only way to preserve your wealth.
Show me a better asset than bitcoin, and I will listen. Show me an asset that costs $0.00 to store and manage. Show me an asset I can pick up with me and carry with me at all times. Show me an asset that is only available via keys that I can store in my head. Show me an asset that could easily survive the collapse of the US and/or global economies. Show me an asset that can’t be seized by anyone, and that I can swap with another asset holder with literally no middleman and no counterparty risk.
There simply isn’t one.
Beyond equipment and an electricity bill? As well as a stable Internet connection? That's not $0.00.
Show me an asset I can pick up with me and carry with me at all times.
Again, if you ever lose access to the Internet, you have no bitcoins to reach for.
Show me an asset that could easily survive the collapse of the US and/or global economies.
It will certainly depend on whether the digital infrastructure will be maintained during said economic collapse.
Show me an asset that can’t be seized by anyone, and that I can swap with another asset holder with literally no middleman and no counterparty risk.
Do the various hacks of exchanges or crypto company collapses not count as a potential risk?