201–209 of 209 posts
I'm surprised the rich farmers of India (yes, the kind "protesting" recently) haven't started Bitcoin mining - electricity for agriculture is free in much of India (along with a lot more freebies, and no taxes). I guess it's mostly the intermittent state of the supply that's the problem.
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Making ones own arguments is a great idea. Mocking others is not. Re-read the site rules.
"Rules for thee, but not for me" 1. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26435464 2. "Be kind. Don't be snarky. Have curious conversation; don't cross-examine. Please don't fulminate. Please don't sneer, including at the rest of the community." ( https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html )
We should define something like a "Nakamoto scale" . A Nakamoto Type I civilization would be one that converts all available power of a planet into waste heat and funny numbers, a Nakamoto Type II civilization does that with all the power output of a star and so on... basically the Kardashev scale [0] but with the restriction that useful output SHOULD NOT be produced [1]. Edit: lowered requirement level from MUST NOT…
Can we please start regulating crypto currency mining? This is insane. I think it needs to be global mining regulation. Can the UN do anything else? If we start taking all the energy used to mine a given cryptocurrency it aggregates to more than most countries per cryptocurrency. Not ok. I know this is controversial but we have to at least debate this subject as we face an existential threat from climate change and y…
Are you Kim Stanley Robinson? If you aren't you'll enjoy his latest novel "Ministry for the Future", which follows the line you describe and posits a post-apocalyptic future with less machine labour and more manual labour, abandonment of air travel, no meat consumption by humans, a solar array covering much of India, etc. He then proposes replacing Proof of Work with Proof of Carbon Sequestration.
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Aside: MftF is, to me, an appalling unscientific low effort bit of propaganda (at least for the first 60 chapters) but perhaps there is a way to steelman KSR's theses.
We should define something like a "Nakamoto scale" . A Nakamoto Type I civilization would be one that converts all available power of a planet into waste heat and funny numbers, a Nakamoto Type II civilization does that with all the power output of a star and so on... basically the Kardashev scale [0] but with the restriction that useful output SHOULD NOT be produced [1]. Edit: lowered requirement level from MUST NOT…
Ahah. Someone should write "BTC respects the second law of thermodynamics"
Knut Svanholm: https://medium.com/hackernoon/bitcoin-and-thermodynamics-63f...
Andy Poelstra: https://download.wpsoftware.net/bitcoin/asic-faq.pdf
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The flaw is greed.
Okay but the question is, about the flaw in the argument that Bitcoin will increasingly cause blackouts in third world countries and poor towns?
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Can we please start regulating crypto currency mining? This is insane. I think it needs to be global mining regulation. Can the UN do anything else? If we start taking all the energy used to mine a given cryptocurrency it aggregates to more than most countries per cryptocurrency. Not ok. I know this is controversial but we have to at least debate this subject as we face an existential threat from climate change and y…
I would like to ask you why start with cryptocurrencies, that only account for 0.6% of world energy consumption, when we can dream big and tackle the issue once and for all by banning air travel. BOOM! In a heartbeat you are consuming -20% of world energy. Or why don't we ban actual mining? Another 10% plus reduction of unspeakable crimes perpetrated daily on vulnerable people. Why cryptocurrencies of all the energy…
Please, I know you are all smart, think about this: 2009-2011: it is a stupid internet currency with no value 2012-2015: it is used for drugs and other crimes 2016-2018: it is for tax evaders, money launderers and terrorists 2019-2021: it is bad for the environment I am starting to see a pattern here, don't you?
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Can I be clear you cannot find a clear distinction between a made up currency and places where humans live?
I can, but I'm a human. My point was: Can an outsider discern it? If they can, would they put much meaning to it?