I'm not sure that analogy plays out well for hackers in the long term. Ultimately, the wild west was not won by cowboys with some horses and guns, but large-scale ranchers with title to hundreds of thousands of acres. The cowboys may still have movies made about them, but the likes of King Ranch came out on top economically.
I believe it is more correct to think of cowboys along the terms of freelancers and lifestyle business folks... people who don't need massive success, just freedom from having to be at a highly structured job from 9-5.
Or at least that is the idea that I get from the many I know or have met.
In that sense, the larger market "winners" like the king ranch aren't really a factor, except as their presence begins to foment regulations that must apply to every single person and begin to restructure the world into one where it is increasingly difficult to live outside of a corporate structure.... ie. they fence off formerly commonly held land.
Yeah, there are some fairly lawless places on Earth today and you don't see many people (other than rdl) moving there to make their fortune. People subconsciously prefer the rule of law but it's cool to romanticize Bitcoin data havens and whatnot.
