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Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

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Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#251

Post by SuoDuanDao »

coolestguy wrote: post #101
willbudd wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Proof-of-work =/= cryptocurrency. There are cryptocurrencies that work without proof-of-work, and those that quantitatively rely on it to a far lesser degree. Honestly, it continues to surprise me how clueless most of HN commenters are on this topic.

It really is pretty bewildering how many top comments here show almost 0 understanding of the technology. How many other topics that get posted here have the same thing happening??

I have a theory that Hacker News is sufficiently influenced by the investor class that anything disrupting their business model gets special treatment quite outside the site's usual techno-optimist repertoire.

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#252

Post by notjtrig »

edgefield0 wrote: post #59

The fact that bitcoin mining on its own is now consuming as much electricity as the country of Argentina with no end in sight, as we are accelerating toward a climate change cliff, is sickening. Given this fact alone it's hard to see cryptocurrency as anything but a selfish crackpot scheme to generate a few dollars at the expense of humanity and our planet.

The USD is backed by military might and risk of invasion, this is known as the petrodollar it currently requires a US military that uses the equivalent resources as 140 countries.

If you consider 98 million barrels per year used by the military to protect 1.5 trillion USD, every million in the bank uses 65.5 gallons of oil per year.

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#253

Post by read_if_gay_ »

sailingparrot wrote: post #152
ssss11 wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To give you the other side: It also uses less than all idle devices plugged in, in the US. Either Argentina doesnt use as much as you’d think or the US wastes a whole lot of power doing nothing. I’d argue thats way worse than mining bitcoin! Anyway its a sensationalist statistic designed to arouse your response. I’d expect theres heaps of things more wasteful.. office building services running 24/7 comes to mind

Ah yes the good old "but something worse already exists therefore it is ok" argument. Always very effective.

GP didn’t conclude “therefore it is ok”.

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#254

Post by doggosphere »

edgefield0 wrote: post #59

The fact that bitcoin mining on its own is now consuming as much electricity as the country of Argentina with no end in sight, as we are accelerating toward a climate change cliff, is sickening. Given this fact alone it's hard to see cryptocurrency as anything but a selfish crackpot scheme to generate a few dollars at the expense of humanity and our planet.

73% of mining is renewable energy

https://pd.coinshares.com/EN-Mining-Whitepaper-December-2019

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#256

Post by cableshaft »

IntFee588 wrote: post #188
edgefield0 wrote: post #59

The fact that bitcoin mining on its own is now consuming as much electricity as the country of Argentina with no end in sight, as we are accelerating toward a climate change cliff, is sickening. Given this fact alone it's hard to see cryptocurrency as anything but a selfish crackpot scheme to generate a few dollars at the expense of humanity and our planet.

This is precisely why Ethereum and its new proof-of-stake mechanism will take over as the dominant currency in the next few years. I wouldn't expect crypto to disappear. The market is currently worth $1.5 trillion, people will fight for its adoption to keep their investment.

It very well might. Bitcoin has first mover, an easier and better name, and more awareness behind it, but ETH might eventually take over. I'm rooting for both (and for bitcoin to eventually find a better solution to its power issues).

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#257

Post by cableshaft »

throwaway3699 wrote: post #107
edgefield0 wrote: post #59

The fact that bitcoin mining on its own is now consuming as much electricity as the country of Argentina with no end in sight, as we are accelerating toward a climate change cliff, is sickening. Given this fact alone it's hard to see cryptocurrency as anything but a selfish crackpot scheme to generate a few dollars at the expense of humanity and our planet.

Power consumption is irrelevant if we're using green technologies for mining. The fact that the green lobby is staunchly anti-nuclear makes it very hard for me to care, though.

Yep, nuclear really should be part of the discussion for clean energy.

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#258

Post by opinologo »

edgefield0 wrote: post #59

The fact that bitcoin mining on its own is now consuming as much electricity as the country of Argentina with no end in sight, as we are accelerating toward a climate change cliff, is sickening. Given this fact alone it's hard to see cryptocurrency as anything but a selfish crackpot scheme to generate a few dollars at the expense of humanity and our planet.

You know what else consumes heaps of electricty? Your computer, your data centre, your AWS account the bank services you consume, your appliances and a large etcetera.

Bitcoin is the first financial break-through in a long, long time. Is designed to move control away from the few back into the hands of the people. In Argentina people love investing in Bitcoin because their currency is awful. It loses value because the government can print more. Just like in the US. No government can print more Bitcoin so the value keeps growing.

Bitcoin alternatives like Bitcoin cash (or regular Bitcoin but with a bigger block size) can be used across the border without censorship. Remember MasterCard banning donations to Wikileaks? Bitcoin cannot be banned.

Back to your comment. Now we have solar, we have wind power. All clean sources of energy. They are cheaper than coal and can power everything. Including Bitcoin.

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#259

Post by louloulou »

edgefield0 wrote: post #59

The fact that bitcoin mining on its own is now consuming as much electricity as the country of Argentina with no end in sight, as we are accelerating toward a climate change cliff, is sickening. Given this fact alone it's hard to see cryptocurrency as anything but a selfish crackpot scheme to generate a few dollars at the expense of humanity and our planet.

Then there should be a global tax on carbon emissions. This is not a Bitcoin issue it's an issue with atmospheric carbon emissions not being priced correctly.

Re: Mining Bitcoin with pencil and paper: 0.67 hashes per day (2014)

#260

Post by kleer001 »

waynesonfire wrote: post #2

You spent two days generating a hash? What a waste of resources. EDIT: harsh crowd today. I could care less how the author spends their time. Am I the only one that saw all the articles talking about how bad BTC is for the environment recently?

> I could care less how

You couldn't care less?

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