Interestingly, while search volume for 'fiat' kicks-off at around the same time as bitcoin, media references start ramping up some 2.5 years earlier. Any idea why?

Goldbugs and Ron Paul.

People on the economic right have been arguing against fiat probably for eons, but definitely back to Ayn Rand. Nothing new to bitcoin here.

And fiat definitely is different from "real money" in important ways.

Pray tell what the definition of "real money" is?

This is really the problem that all these discussions boil down to: definition of terms. From an operational perspective, I would claim that the money we have these days is as real as it gets.

Consider, for example, the claim in the article that our current monetary system requires trust. But is that really the case? I claim that the current money of the state is valuable to me and everybody else, no trust required.

Here's a simple line of thought to support this claim: My landlord wants the rent paid in the money of the state. This makes the money of the state valuable to me. I don't need to trust anybody or anything for this to be true.

The reason I put "real money" in scare quotes is because I didn't want to have this discussion.