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Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

hookrace.net

191–200 of 239 posts

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them? I personally don't have time to run an energy audit of the entire financial industry, but I can tell you theres a lot more infrastructure required. factor in the engery required to: - construct giant buildings for financial offices - maintain financial offices - commute to…

>Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them? I don't like this argument. It's garbage. Bitcoin does not replace the functions of the entire financial system. I can't take out a loan using the blockchain. Banks do far more then act as a ledger. Bitcoin's utility today is a little more than P2P value transfer. A centra…

> A centralized solution - something like Transferwise - does not use as much energy as Bitcoin.

Then your choice comes down to this: Use a centralized system for less energy consuming transaction but greater centralization of wealth -- or -- Use a distributed system that requires more energy but distributes wealth amongst network participants. Personally, I would choose the system that distributes wealth at the expense of additional energy cost. Ideally, I would choose the system that distribute wealth and has the least environmental impact.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#192
post #184

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure I understand. Proof of Work is not the only game in town anymore. It shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes to find that out. Look at the state of bitcoin, it's dying and the alts are finally seeing the light of day (Over the past two months).

Please name one of the alternatives which is secure as the "Proof of work", needs less energy for mining and doesn't have high transaction costs.

Sure, take a look at Raiblocks, NEO, Lisk.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#193
post #187
post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's why I love Raiblocks, decentralized, distributed to third world countries initially, no marketing, feeless, fast. It most likely has the lowest gini coefficient of any coin in the top 100.

The first result of a search reveals a bot to automate Raiblock captcha style PoW. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3YR8eebMTF0 8,254 views It sounds like Raiblock production/minting/distribution is finalized? How could you measure the Gini coefficient of Raiblocks, how do we know it's not worse especially considering even smaller window of time where people were allowed to participate in the minting and distribution…

I would take a look at the distribution in the top 10k wallets for Raiblocks versus other crypto to get this data. Mine is anecdotal, but I always take a look at this distribution when investing in a new coin and was surprised to find my small investment was on the list.

I believe they changed the captcha as well during this phase to prevent automation. It was a big source of annoyance for people without time lol.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#194
post #6

I just accepted a generous blockchain job offer with a fortune 500 company. But they are not interested in building a new blockchain implementation, but rather exploring smart contracts and their possible relevance to their business.

Ethereum or another blockchain?

I told them it will have to be Ethereum for now

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#195
post #119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wasinformed recently that there's something similar behind most of the speed cameras in the UK - if you see one (other than on a motorway) it means that somebody died there, probably more than one somebody. There's a debate to be had about whether they are the most effective means of slowing down traffic, but it changed my view a little.

Sounds plausible, given that it's speeding that's one of the biggest cause of traffic deaths.

Speeding, or unexpected stops?

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them? I personally don't have time to run an energy audit of the entire financial industry, but I can tell you theres a lot more infrastructure required. factor in the engery required to: - construct giant buildings for financial offices - maintain financial offices - commute to…

You are comparing oranges and apples. But let us assume that all those thousands of financial institutions and their associated infrastructure are just there to handle transactions. Bitcoin is doing about 20 tx/s and Bitcoin mining uses as much energy as the nation of Denmark. Visa is doing about 1700 tx/s. > Renewables! Almost free, unlimited energy! Oh man, I should have been reading your last sentence a bit better…

> Bitcoin is doing about 20 tx/s > Visa is doing about 1700 tx/s

combine the tx/s of all the cryptocurrencies out there right now and I assure you it exceeds Visa's 1700 tx/s. NOT ALL TRANSACTIONS HAVE TO HAPPEN ON THE BITCOIN NETWORK! There are thousands of coins!

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#197

While turning down the job is just fine, here's what happened instead: - Someone else with similar capabilities as OP's probably took the job. - This person will make significantly more money than what OP will be making (as OP points out) - This person will have learned way more about the implication of the technology, whether it actually is as bad as what mainstream media says or if those are all coming from ignoran…

Bitcoin mining uses as much energy as the nation of Denmark. Each transaction confirmation uses as much energy as nine American households do in an entire day. What “deep knowledge” am I lacking here?

Thats because the bitcoin network is over relied on and the cyptocurrency space is still infantile and not decentralized enough. Once people realize that bitcoin isn't the only cryptocurrency out there, they will switch to other, less expensive coins and the pressure on bitcoin will, hopefully, be relieved some. Thats the beauty of this space! There can be so many coins and all with unique and improved attributes!

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Have you factored in the energy costs of running the thousands of financial institutions and associated infrastructure required to maintain them? I personally don't have time to run an energy audit of the entire financial industry, but I can tell you theres a lot more infrastructure required. factor in the engery required to: - construct giant buildings for financial offices - maintain financial offices - commute to…

Everyone is pretty equally incentivized to migrate to the cheapest possible energy source, I would think. The problem is that the CapEx cost of migrating is nonzero, and usually prohibitive unless you have high confidence you can make it up in lower OpEx over a long period of time. I can say pretty confidently that banks and financial institutions are much more likely to stick around long enough to realize the full f…

How easy is it for a financial institution, who probably doesn't even control their own datacenter or buildings, to opt into using renewable energy sources? Seems like a big decision for an institution to make and a lot of beurocracy and political obstacles. For an individual who wishes to mine, they have a simple choice to make based on electricity prices. Is it profitable or not based on their current rate. Most miners will naturally exist where energy is cheap, renewable, and abundant. I'm making a hell of a lot of assumptions, though.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#199

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds plausible, given that it's speeding that's one of the biggest cause of traffic deaths.

Speeding, or unexpected stops?

Unexpected stops are, by definition, leading cause of all traffic accidents. The question is, what leads to those unexpected stops.

Re: Turning Down a Blockchain Job Offer

#200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Huh? It's a trustless timestamping service. That's a thing that some protocols benefit from. Digital notaries, for instance. That surely justifies a valuation around a few cents per bitcoin.

Lets say we agree that this timestampting service is trustless (I don't, but for the sake of the argument lets say I do). Care to explain how you go from that to "few cents per bitcoin"? I'm asking for an actual calculation.

You're asking for "an actual calculation" to back up a Fermi estimate of the true value of an irrationally-priced good?

Of course there isn't one. It's a Fermi estimate. The main points were that the value is greater than 0 but the use is exceptionally niche. Pick any other Fermi estimate you feel is appropriate for those conditions. It doesn't change my point.

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