521–530 of 1001 posts
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I got the feeling this post is a bit sarcastic, because it references horses, as opposed to automobiles. If you just replace "horses" with "mass public transit", "railroads" and "electrobikes", it suddenly starts to make much more sense.
Horses will work on YOUR schedule, and it's socially distanced during COVID.
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I've been saying the same damn thing about automobiles man, horses already have self driving even! and they don't pollute like cars. Look at the mess we're in now! who's laughing?? Cars pollute and need roads, we had to build so many roads and gas stations. We even had to go to war to make sure we have enough oil.
I guess the difference is cars are useful. What can I do with a bitcoin except hope to sell it for more USD later?
What can you do with USD besides exchanging it for goods and services? (Pay taxes)
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Horses will work on YOUR schedule, and it's socially distanced during COVID.
Same with electrobikes. Also electrobike can use multiple horse powers, instead of just one.
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Transfer funds across borders without dealing with multi-business-day bank delays or capital controls in countries like China. Accept donations or other online transactions without relying on Visa/Mastercard.
Violating Chinese currency controls generally results in spending one's life in a tiny prison cell. As for bank transfers, at my previous company we had to send hundreds of international payments each year and all of the transfers were finished within minutes of initiation. And Paypal and other companies have made it possible to donate to charities without a credit card for almost 2 decades.
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> Bitcoin is technologically obsolete but that doesn't matter. Which just underlines how much of this whole phenomenon is brand and hype.
Says someone who is using 1970s technology called ACH and SWIFT to send money over. At least be aware of what is happening around you before attacking other technologies.
Technology isn't a linear tech tree with newer == better. In some very real ways, Bitcoin is like a a new car design with some interesting new technologies (e.g. a satellite radio receiver) but that doesn't support other technologies like seatbelts.
Dismissing something as " technology" is lazy. You really need to compare explicit pros and cons.
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I agree that cars are a horrible solution to the problem of transporting people and goods. It's only by virtue of history and our willingness to accept massive loss of life and limb every year that cars, driven at 100 kph by sleepy, angry, elderly or distracted people, are still a thing. Not to mention the massive loss of life and limb from climate change spurred by cars. You're making a solid point.
Finally, I'm being recognized for my wisdom. Thank you for your kind words.
Aren't we as technologists always preaching the benefits of technological conservatism, minimalism and simplicity?
Our environment has obviously changed in such a way that it's now difficult to re-introduce equine transportation on a mass scale (where would you park them in a city designed for automobiles?), but we need to think long and hard about the world view that led us to conclude cars were universally superior to horses. I suspect the argument comes down to "productivity", and the axiomatic belief that it should be maximized in all circumstances.
I think your comment actually is wise.
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I've been saying the same damn thing about automobiles man, horses already have self driving even! and they don't pollute like cars. Look at the mess we're in now! who's laughing?? Cars pollute and need roads, we had to build so many roads and gas stations. We even had to go to war to make sure we have enough oil.
One of the motivating factors behind late 19th century horseless carriages was the reduction in pollution. It isn't at all accurate to say that horses don't pollute. In some respects their pollution is worse.
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I've been saying the same damn thing about automobiles man, horses already have self driving even! and they don't pollute like cars. Look at the mess we're in now! who's laughing?? Cars pollute and need roads, we had to build so many roads and gas stations. We even had to go to war to make sure we have enough oil.
Now that people are understanding that horses are better, can I turn your attention to concrete? The manufacture of cement produces about 0.9 pounds of CO2 for every pound of cement. Since cement is only a fraction of the constituents in concrete, manufacturing a cubic yard of concrete (about 3900 lbs) is responsible for emitting about 400 lbs of CO2. We should stop making things out of concrete, it's destroying our…
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>Bitcoin is onto something What if it "was"? The "hate" people express against bitcoin especially here on HN is often towards the implementation. People clearly see the flaw in PoW if they are not emotionally attached to it because they have no money at stake. You should not misinterpret that as hate because they missed the train to richness. Objectively PoW does not scale. Objectively we have DLTs (blockchains) with…
As an engineer with twenty years experience in this space and nearly as long studying the economics of it, I have yet to see a replacement for PoW that solves the problem that PoW solves. Proof of Work is trustless decentralization. Proof of stake is trusting the dudes who premined the coin and sold you a “fix for bitcoins inherent problem” to hype their ICO. If you were right, after 10 years one of those PoS currenc…
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I guess the difference is cars are useful. What can I do with a bitcoin except hope to sell it for more USD later?
Exchange it for goods and services. What can you do with USD besides exchanging it for goods and services? (Pay taxes)