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Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

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Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#471

Post by meowster »

jasonlaramburu wrote: post #427
TameAntelope wrote: post #409

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You're getting a lot of responses, because this is a pretty common complaint about crypto, and it taps into a great "WELL ACTUALLY" moment, because your concern is close enough to the "at least real money is backed by something" misconception (which, tbh, I'm sure you're aware of at this point if you weren't already). Fundamentally, what folks are trying to get to with crypto is a trust-less system, one that can oper…

Crypto is 'backed' by the sunk cost of the energy used to mine it.

That sounds like the Sunk Cost Fallacy. Just because something valuable was already wasted, doesn't make the result valuable.

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#473

Post by rcrisan »

mancerayder wrote: post #438
kitcar wrote: post #11

Bitcoin is an almost perfect exploitation of humanities fatal flaws (greed, unwillingness to acknowledge externalities - i.e. selfishness). It's that old SF-trope that the cause of many of humanity's biggest problems is humans.

Not a bitcoin fanboy, but that's a bit strong a statement. What is "greed" versus motivation for innovation? Is innovation rewarded with (taxed, regulated) wealth greed, and if so, is that "bad"? And if it creates Teslas and rockets that land, and robots on Mars that last a year or more analyzing samples, is it a fatal flaw? Some more questions... So let's say BTC is greed - the many financial instruments out there,…

Do you think it's true that bitcoin is the solution to a couple of problems that don't exist?

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#474

Post by mmww »

commiebob wrote: post #355
zionic wrote: post #339

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is nothing stopping you from signing a crypto transaction by hand using your private key from memory and handing someone an envelope.

Except that's like giving someone your ATM card and PIN code instead of handing them $5 for said sandwich.

no its not, sign a TX and let the new owner broadcast it whenever he wants to (if ever)

Alice has never given Bob her bank account, more like created another account just for Bob

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#475

Post by adolph »

nmz wrote: post #371
ckosidows wrote: post #341

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Was it? I know a couple books[1] that suggest life prior to the agricultural revolution wasn't nearly as famine-stricken as we tend to think it was. These books claim hunter gatherers were quite proficient at finding enough sustenance. Obviously starvation was still possible and likely, but was it the primary cause of death? Is there some more evidence that humans were suffering from starvation before agriculture? Wo…

"Thin out" is this another word for dying?

If you have lived a good life, is dying a problem?

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#476

Post by jokoon »

That's funny how so many criticized the existence of the federal reserve, but bitcoin being an answer to this criticism, made everybody realize that money is trust, and that institutions are required to guarantee this trust, cryptography cannot solve everything.

Money is just a medium, it's an accounting tool. Civilization doesn't work without regulation or when things are too volatile. Society requires stability.

The answer to the banking crisis is not more liberalism and anarchic technologies (that allows hackers to launder money), it's regulating the banks.

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#477

Post by 01100011 »

asenna wrote: post #470

At a larger scale of things given what Bitcoin just made possible and what it's trying to disrupt (decentralized, uncensored), Bitcoin is literally just 12 years old and I feel these judgements are too harsh and too soon for something which is still yet to be adopted or even understood by 95% of the population. The benefits of Bitcoin can truly be appreciated or judged once the tech has been adopted in a relatively l…

> surprised I don't see enough discussion and threads on HN

The fanboys ruined it. I think we all got sick of posts claiming blockchains will change everything. Blockchains and the things built on top of them are somewhat interesting, but unless there is something truly innovative in that space no one is going to want to repeat the same arguments we've been having here for like a decade.

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#478

Post by klingon78 »

Cookingboy wrote: post #454
mancerayder wrote: post #438

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a bitcoin fanboy, but that's a bit strong a statement. What is "greed" versus motivation for innovation? Is innovation rewarded with (taxed, regulated) wealth greed, and if so, is that "bad"? And if it creates Teslas and rockets that land, and robots on Mars that last a year or more analyzing samples, is it a fatal flaw? Some more questions... So let's say BTC is greed - the many financial instruments out there,…

>What is "greed" versus motivation for innovation? I don't have exact data, but my gut feeling tells me that 99.99% of the people buying cryptocurrencies today are driven by greed instead of innovation. > and you drew the line at BTC? Not really, if you look at the perspective that we already have enough instruments for financial manipulation and greed, why introduce another one that consumes so much energy? >Fitting…

> 99.99% of the people buying cryptocurrencies today are driven by greed instead of innovation.

Greed or fear. More fear than greed at this point.

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#479

Post by johndevor »

asenna wrote: post #470

At a larger scale of things given what Bitcoin just made possible and what it's trying to disrupt (decentralized, uncensored), Bitcoin is literally just 12 years old and I feel these judgements are too harsh and too soon for something which is still yet to be adopted or even understood by 95% of the population. The benefits of Bitcoin can truly be appreciated or judged once the tech has been adopted in a relatively l…

Curious to know if any work on PoS is being done for Bitcoin.

Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet

#480

Post by w0de0 »

silentsea90 wrote: post #420

What's bad for the planet is how decades of individual work output in money can be confiscated (by printing and inflation, not taxation) by the Government under the pretense of doing good. What's bizarre is that the Government is not affected by market forces while the rest of us plebs are forced to be efficient lest we lose to competition. Note: when I say confiscation, I mean money printing and not taxes (which wil…

What of the social contract?

The dystopia I see in your words: government as an efficient service provider providing for and competing for the patronage of the ultra-wealthy holders of cryptocurrency: the monopoly on force is broken because wealth is forever exempt. Socialized, societal wealth of all forms - roads, healthcare, police, defense - discarded. The underclass of every nation left without recourse to the power of government to redistribute wealth, and a global oligarchy is ascendant.

Government's first calling should not be efficiency. That's a misapprehension of its purposes.

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