I consider myself as a bitcoin skeptic, but this is just gross overgeneralization.
Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
701–710 of 862 posts
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#702There are so many better crypto-currencies. Better for the environment because they use proof-of-stake, and not proof-of-work. Better for users because transactions are confirmed in seconds, not hours, and without the ridiculous fees that Bitcoin has. I think this shows how truly powerful the network effect, and being first to market is. Because without those things, Bitcoin would be nothing.
You know what actually bothers me the most about all crypto-currencies? None of them are actually money, like in the paper-or-gold-coin sense. They're all ledgers. The thing about money is that I can hand it to someone . Possession of the money is possession of the money and third parties don't need to get involved in every transaction. I can hand someone dollars and take a sandwich and walk away, transaction done. T…
You should look into Nano, it covers a lot of this.
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#703Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Possession of the money is possession of the money and third parties don't need to get involved in every transaction. That's only true if you discount the US government as the third party (at least for USD$) who are involved in every transaction, by virtue of them needing to exist for the $ to have any value or for the seller to accept the $ in the first place i.e for them to know it will still be worth something in…
Eh, it's arguable how much the US Government is determining the worth of dollars rather than cultural consensus. I can guarantee that in the event of a zombie apocalypse where the government falls, USD would be used for a long time after.
A zombie apocalypse would lead to a collapse in production and thus eliminate the ability to exchange USD for physical goods and services. Currency is just a points system used to allocate resources. It's a necessary evil. If we could allocate resources in a more effective way we would do it.
What resources does Bitcoin allocate? Isn't Bitcoin merely glorifying the concept of currencies but without anything to justify its existence? Since when did we ever talk about the USD (or any other currency) as being an end in itself rather than a means to an end?
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#704Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is repeatedly cited delusional conclusion. The reality is that consensus only requires people to agree on something. It does not require burning tons of energy or military action. Prisoner's dilemma is only a thing if you consider finite games, ie. played for your immediate benefit. If you consider an infinite game (for example the good and survival of humanity in perpetuity), it can be clearly shown that there…
People will ALWAYS cheat others given the chance, and especially when facing very little online repercussions. I am not sure who you were replying to here. I do live in a small community, I have relied on a few others for survival, and I have been both stolen from, and price gouged due to others who would try to make skin off my back. I assume you've got less real life experience in these matters. I live on the basis…
This is called projection. You assume people cannot be trusted because you cannot.
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#705Bitcoin itself is not bad for the Planet. The current implementation differs somewhat from the Satoshi vision and has not scaled well in terms of fossil-fuel based electricity consumption. Solar or wind powered Bitcoin would have little impact, and in the right areas be cheaper for the miners. This is a trend I expect to see take off. Also, I suspect Bitcoin at some point will migrate to Proof of Stake once aspects o…
Wow, this got a negative reaction. As far as I know nothing I said is inaccurate. The solar/wind bitcoin not being bad is conjecture. I hope someone will help me out by pointing out why my comment was low quality, so I know what not to do next time.
Welcome to Hacker News, where anything critical of Silicon Valley's religions (climate activism and veganism), no matter how well-reasoned and factual, gets downvoted to death.
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#706Earlier quoted context omitted.
> but it's hard to argue that Bitcoin isn't the best on many of those measures Seems pretty easy to me. What is Bitcoin best at apart from having the largest market cap?
* Longest running network. * Largest network by nodes. * Largest network hashrate / Most energy consumed. * Simple Satoshi Codebase. * Most accessible - blockchain delivered via satellite! * One can run a node on a RPi. Requires 351G storage for full chain. Eth is TB's (and growing), requires SSD, fast CPU, etc. You are not running ETH nodes at home. * Most decentralized * Most reliable
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Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#707Earlier quoted context omitted.
What defines a currency being "better" than another? Is it number of transactions? Is it acceptance among merchants? Is it low fees? Is it stability in purchasing power? Is it likelihood that there will be a fatal flaw in the system that causes financial loss? Every project has its own strengths and weaknesses, but it's hard to argue that Bitcoin isn't the best on many of those measures. It's all about which of them…
> but it's hard to argue that Bitcoin isn't the best on many of those measures Seems pretty easy to me. What is Bitcoin best at apart from having the largest market cap?
* THE HARDEST TO CHANGE
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#708I feel like it's a matter of time until the central banks release a coin (gold backed?) and kick Bitcoin and all other crypto's out. Keeps them in power, uses the advantages of crypto.
I know this is controversial to some, but IMO if it keeps them in power and is backed by a physical asset, it's just an overengineered database, and not a true cryptocurrency because it misses the point which is about control.
And yes, I'm well aware of many such meaningless """cryptocurrencies""".
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#709Earlier quoted context omitted.
The real power imbalance is the Central Bank's power to confiscate wealth by inflating it away aka money printing, and not to forget the confiscation of physical gold by the US in 1933 (thanks FDR). There is a reason why countries decoupled from the gold standard to fund WW1. They got near infinite access to the nation's wealth. The loser of WW1 ie Germany eventually suffered hyperinflation, as have countries like Zi…
And what stops the bitcoin miners from collectively deciding that their current bitcoin reward is too puny and changing the code to give them 1M bitcoin per block?
Competition between cryptos?
If BTC miners band together to cause inflation, then people migrate to ETH or . BTC loses value, and them miners have 1. not gained value even with the extra 1M BTC per block, and 2. lost value because their mining rigs generate less value per energy unit.
Re: Bill Gates Says that Bitcoin is bad For the Planet
#710What'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…
In other words: You disagree with what your government is doing. Instead of convincing your fellow citizens that it needs to do less, you take matters into your own hands like a wannabe dictator.