Bitcoin Is Time • Hacker News Board

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#71

Post by gt565k » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:00 PM UTC

Dzugaru wrote: post #11

Good read. Is there a similar take on how proof-of-stake can work (for example current sketch of Ethereum Casper protocol)?

Check out Cardano's papers. Its PoS protocol has been live on mainnet for a while. Native token support just rolled out to mainnet yesterday and smart contracts are coming in Q2 this year.

It was founded by ETH co-founder Charles, who formed an academia network of CS PhD researchers to deal with 3rd gen blockchain problems and solutions.

It is 3rd gen blockchain built to handle the problems of ethereum and other blockchains that came prior.

https://docs.cardano.org/en/latest/explore-cardano/relevant-...

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#72

Post by ksm1717 » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

Nursie wrote: post #48

zapdrive wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sorry you didn't buy when it was cheaper.

That's right, all criticism of bitcoin or cryptocurrencies is necessarily down to jealousy, and therefore can be safely dismissed.

Some kind of projection, shows that making others jealous or at least trying to avoid being jealous is what drives some to invest

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#73

Post by SideburnsOfDoom » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

chmod600 wrote: post #58

ARandumGuy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know we have a limited amount of green energy production right now, right? It's not exactly green if your bitcoin mining is using wind energy, while a bunch of other stuff is stuck with coal.

The theory is that it provides demand for green energy, which will drive investment, technology, and expertise that can be used everywhere.

We know that is "the theory"

We also know that this theory is really, really stupid: The kind of self-justifying idiocy that people don't come up with unless they're already deeply committed to a point of view come what may, logic and fact need not apply.

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#74

Post by tromp » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:02 PM UTC

joosters wrote: post #53

joosters wrote: post #8

Time is money. Bitcoin is wasted time. And wasted money. And wasted energy.

To be less glib, I think the article makes it clear just how inordinately difficult blockchains make their lives when they have to build, from scratch, a reliable definition of time. If you could have a trusted time source, you could at a stroke get rid of one of the most egregious flaws in bitcoin, its vast wastage of energy, because of its 'proof of work' mining. Bitcoin miners are running at full pelt 24/7, pickin…

> The total energy usage would be reduced 600-fold!

It wouldn't. If X$ worth of bitcoin is handed out every block, then miners competing for that prize are willing to collectively spend up to X$ per block on average.

If they could only mine for part of the time, then they'd simply acquire more hardware and mine at a higher hashrate during the shorter time.

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#75

Post by snicky » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:02 PM UTC

chmod600 wrote: post #58

ARandumGuy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know we have a limited amount of green energy production right now, right? It's not exactly green if your bitcoin mining is using wind energy, while a bunch of other stuff is stuck with coal.

The theory is that it provides demand for green energy, which will drive investment, technology, and expertise that can be used everywhere.

So more demand for energy means more green energy? I don't quite get the logic.

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#76

Post by kozak » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:02 PM UTC

If you liked this article, you will probably also enjoy "Mysteries of Modern Physics: Time" by Sean Carroll (I listened to it as an audiobook, I don't know what other formats it is available in).

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#77

Post by whatever1 » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:02 PM UTC

seibelj wrote: post #52

whatever1 wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which is by design, to encourage investments elsewhere. The rise of Bitcoin and the stock market are probably an indication that the policy worked. People indeed are willing to burn their money in crypto rather than keeping them in savings/bonds

I keep reading about how we need to discourage consumerism, wastefulness, mindless consumption. Recycle and reuse. Yet fiat enthusiasts keep parroting that the linear and intentional destruction of value through inflation, in order to encourage further mindless consumption, is a good thing? What is so bad about a currency that maintains its value throughout time? This would allow someone to actually save, rather than…

Every currency’s goal is to be stable in terms of value. The mechanics of achieving so are complicated though since you will need to exactly calibrate the supply of new money to match your economic activity. We are at the point where we don’t even agree what economic activity is lol.

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#78

Post by ksm1717 » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

gt565k wrote: post #66

Why are we still talking about bitcoin and first gen blockchain tech. Yes it's old, yes it's slow, yes it wastes resources. It is legacy software after all. PoS solves the problem of mining and wasted energy. Cardano's Ouroboros is a provable and secure Proof-of-Stake blockchain protocol. https://docs.cardano.org/en/latest/explore-cardano/relevant-...

I wonder the same thing about people that still talk about cars. Electric cars solve all the problems with cars. Why do we even bother to talk about cars?

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#79

Post by user-the-name » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:03 PM UTC

chmod600 wrote: post #58

ARandumGuy wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You know we have a limited amount of green energy production right now, right? It's not exactly green if your bitcoin mining is using wind energy, while a bunch of other stuff is stuck with coal.

The theory is that it provides demand for green energy, which will drive investment, technology, and expertise that can be used everywhere.

Are you really going to claim that there isn't a demand for green energy already?

Re: Bitcoin Is Time

#80

Post by SideburnsOfDoom » Tue, Mar 02, 2021, 4:04 PM UTC

snicky wrote: post #75

chmod600 wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The theory is that it provides demand for green energy, which will drive investment, technology, and expertise that can be used everywhere.

So more demand for energy means more green energy? I don't quite get the logic.

It's not actual logic, it's more of a rationalisation of the indefensible.