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US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

theguardian.com

41–50 of 92 posts

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#41
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stability and security of energy generation in the US is in fact the DOE's business.

If I opened a laundromat I doubt I’d need to fill out something for the DOE. I think this is nothing more than another agency using the DOE for a conduit to get that information for them.

If thousands of people cooperate to create a global money laundering operation that directly affects the power grid it makes sense to request some information from them.

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#42
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because that's the point of government: To govern. Edit: We don't always let people pay "market price" for whatever they want. There's plenty of precedent for rationing: IE, In CA, it doesn't matter how rich you are, you can't water your lawn in a drought. During the 1970s oil embargo, it didn't matter how rich you were, you still had to ration gasoline. In this case, cryptocurrency is both increasing the cost of ele…

Good governance doesn't always mean doing something instead of nothing.

But bad governance does often mean not doing anything instead of something.

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#43
post #4

[flagged]

Electricity is a utility, and utilities are a common good with regulated monopolies and oligopolies. Collecting data about utilities is necessary to manage this effectively.

excellent in theory - yet California PG&E repeatedly and over decades refused to release documentation that was required by law, and also other documentation that was not required by law. PG&E was later convicted of Murder One for negligance in a directly related incident.

Secondly, coal powered electricity in the central Atlantic States is a bastion of insider politics linked to law enforcement. They have their national leader in U.S. Joe Senator Manchin.

Where exactly does this "good governance" theory lead when government is captured like this over decades? There is no new perfect government available to run this setup. Government can collect information and then what?

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#44

It's weird that people are acting like commodities are under some sort of license when they are purchased. As far as I know they aren't. A world that tries to regulate this scares me more than one where people participate in futile hashing.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable thing to begin considering. It's clear that the markets by themselves are not capable of addressing various concerns about our planet's limited resources. If we want our society to remain viable long term, we need to start being smart with how much of any given commodity is committed to how much of any given effort. A new one, to be sure, and worth scrutinizing as we begin. But the…

I think the market has shown that growth is the solution rather than rationing. Lots of the humanitarian improvements of the 20th century (such as number of people starving) are improved due to market forces innovating on doing more with less. The same will no doubt happen to energy. Consumption is the catalyst.

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Baloney. Any government form I've filled out gives that vibe, sure. And then when you're wrong, you don't get a fucking prison sentence, you get a phone call where someone explains why they think you're wrong and asks you to take a stab at it. Also, every form from the Government I've ever filled out that is binding in terms of accuracy goes out of it's way, where you sign (which this one, to my looking, I don't even…

> I, personally, as a citizen of both the United States and the larger world would very much like to know how much energy is being pissed away on crypto nonsense. I would like to know that too, but I also want my government to adhere to the laws which govern how it can generate paperwork and force me to incur compliance costs. So let's have both, huh?

The "compliance cost" here being a 2 page form that takes a half an hour? Where do you want the check sent?

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#46

It's weird that people are acting like commodities are under some sort of license when they are purchased. As far as I know they aren't. A world that tries to regulate this scares me more than one where people participate in futile hashing.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable thing to begin considering. It's clear that the markets by themselves are not capable of addressing various concerns about our planet's limited resources. If we want our society to remain viable long term, we need to start being smart with how much of any given commodity is committed to how much of any given effort. A new one, to be sure, and worth scrutinizing as we begin. But the…

We have limitless power on Earth from fusion (solar via the Sun) and from fission via Uranium/Thorium.

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable thing to begin considering. It's clear that the markets by themselves are not capable of addressing various concerns about our planet's limited resources. If we want our society to remain viable long term, we need to start being smart with how much of any given commodity is committed to how much of any given effort. A new one, to be sure, and worth scrutinizing as we begin. But the…

I think the market has shown that growth is the solution rather than rationing. Lots of the humanitarian improvements of the 20th century (such as number of people starving) are improved due to market forces innovating on doing more with less. The same will no doubt happen to energy. Consumption is the catalyst.

OK but natural resources are unlikely to grow. Unregulated market forces lead to hell (and of course also is too much regulation)

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another case of something being done for the right reason, but in the wrong way because our legislative branch refuses to lift a finger.

This is really it. A dysfunctional Congress serves to empower the Executive. And the Judicial branch only serves as a check so long as the Executive cares to follow their rulings. This isn't just a problem if we get a malicious Executive either. If judges keep saying the Executive doesn't have some power unless Congress acts, and Congress continues to not act, then the Executive might be put in a position where they…

Govern isn’t a verb in American Federal law severable from Acts of Congress. If Congress doesn’t act, then the President and his subordinates are not lawfully empowered to act the way they think Congress should allow them to act. That’s why they spend a lot of time trying to stretch their interpretation of previous Acts of Congress still in effect to try to justify what they want to do under the law. Sometimes they get away with it, sometimes the courts tell them “Nah, dawg.”

Also willingness to impeach is demonstrably not the problem. The resulting trials is where Congress stuffs it all up.

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a perfectly reasonable thing to begin considering. It's clear that the markets by themselves are not capable of addressing various concerns about our planet's limited resources. If we want our society to remain viable long term, we need to start being smart with how much of any given commodity is committed to how much of any given effort. A new one, to be sure, and worth scrutinizing as we begin. But the…

I think the market has shown that growth is the solution rather than rationing. Lots of the humanitarian improvements of the 20th century (such as number of people starving) are improved due to market forces innovating on doing more with less. The same will no doubt happen to energy. Consumption is the catalyst.

[dead]

Re: US judge halts government effort to monitor crypto mining energy use

#50
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the market has shown that growth is the solution rather than rationing. Lots of the humanitarian improvements of the 20th century (such as number of people starving) are improved due to market forces innovating on doing more with less. The same will no doubt happen to energy. Consumption is the catalyst.

OK but natural resources are unlikely to grow. Unregulated market forces lead to hell (and of course also is too much regulation)

They don't need to grow, efficiency can grow though as very aptly demonstrated in the 20th century.
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