Vitalik and his organization achieved a lot, Gavin deserves a mention as well as the guy who had the math behind ethereum. Nevertheless I don't see any killer apps coming out, so overall, its just another rerun of bitcoin.
A lot of the killer Bitcoin apps (gambling, drugs, etc.) make it too easy for law enforcement or site operators to steal everyone's money due to their centralization. It's a long shot, but if Ethereum gets really big really fast it's going to be much, much harder to shut down these apps.
That is, individuals vote for which outcome is correct in proportion to their balance of 'reputation'. If an individual votes for the correct outcome (as determined by the majority of votes), they gain reputation, otherwise they lose it.
Reputation is valuable because it entitles voters to a share of the platform fees. Therefore there is a strong incentive to play fair in order to grow the platform and the value of one's reputation (similar to miners in Bitcoin).
https://augur.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/208857885-For-Re...
You could do that but the idea is that the hit to your REP value from screwing people over will be greater than any illicit profits you may gain.
Similar to why your drug dealer doesn't just point a gun at you, take your cash, and keep the drugs; he can make more money being an honest long-term dealer to you.
Under one perspective, the root of blockchain technology is a rigorous way to determine consensus reality. Ethereum is then an evolution on top of that - giving a good way to process that consensus reality.
Theoretically, one could begin implementing sensors of actual reality - is it raining today? who won this sportsball event? - within the system.
The TL;DR is that: Yes, but a) that's not a new problem and b) that's why this is all still under development and experimental, and why other people in this discussion only advise entering this market as an enthusiast.