4 ms·

While I can't know for sure, I'd be willing to bet that the Bitcoin blockchain consumes less energy then the global State apparatus surrounding fiat currencies

While I can't know for sure, I'd be willing to bet that the Bitcoin blockchain consumes less energy then the global State apparatus surrounding fiat currencies & gold. Think of all the employees, armies, vaults, trucks, printing presses, etc involved in securing the world's government-issued currencies. Don't those waste more and more resources to keep the fiat money system running? And let's not forget the cost of shooting war or currency war.

TeMPOraL 10y ago
> Think of all the employees That's a feature of any financial system beyond trivial complexity. > armies That's a feature of any society. > vaults, trucks, printing presses That's a problem with physical currency, and is orthogonal to cryptocurrencies. You don't need trucks for a bank transfer anymore than for bitcoin. > And let's not forget the cost of shooting war or currency war. That's, again, a "feature" of all societies. Bitcoin is completely orthogonal. I'm open to being convinced that Bitcoin is (and will be), in general, less of a waste than the upkeep we're paying for the current system. Because I don't believe so right now, and the additional problem is that Bitcoin literally feels like taking lots of useful fuel and burning it on the side of the road as an offering to Security Gods.
- clarkmoody 10y ago
  > > armies > That's a feature of any society. > > And let's not forget the cost of shooting war or currency war. > That's, again, a "feature" of all societies. Bitcoin is completely orthogonal. No. War is a feature of the State. Currency war is a feature of State control of money.
  - TeMPOraL 10y ago
    And "the State" of some form is a feature of any society larger than a couple dozen of people. Seriously, human societies self-organize, and for a good reason.
rspeer 10y ago
> I'd be willing to bet that the Bitcoin blockchain consumes less energy then the global State apparatus surrounding fiat currencies & gold. No. Not even close, if you're counting per transaction. And you can't sanely claim that Bitcoin would obsolete things like armies and vaults. The only sense in which Bitcoin consumes less energy than money is that fewer people use Bitcoin.

TeMPOraL 10y ago

> Think of all the employees That's a feature of any financial system beyond trivial complexity. > armies That's a feature of any society. > vaults, trucks, printing presses That's a problem with physical currency, and is orthogonal to cryptocurrencies. You don't need trucks for a bank transfer anymore than for bitcoin. > And let's not forget the cost of shooting war or currency war. That's, again, a "feature" of all societies. Bitcoin is completely orthogonal. I'm open to being convinced that Bitcoin is (and will be), in general, less of a waste than the upkeep we're paying for the current system. Because I don't believe so right now, and the additional problem is that Bitcoin literally feels like taking lots of useful fuel and burning it on the side of the road as an offering to Security Gods.

clarkmoody 10y ago
> > armies > That's a feature of any society. > > And let's not forget the cost of shooting war or currency war. > That's, again, a "feature" of all societies. Bitcoin is completely orthogonal. No. War is a feature of the State. Currency war is a feature of State control of money.
- TeMPOraL 10y ago
  And "the State" of some form is a feature of any society larger than a couple dozen of people. Seriously, human societies self-organize, and for a good reason.

rspeer 10y ago

> I'd be willing to bet that the Bitcoin blockchain consumes less energy then the global State apparatus surrounding fiat currencies & gold. No. Not even close, if you're counting per transaction. And you can't sanely claim that Bitcoin would obsolete things like armies and vaults. The only sense in which Bitcoin consumes less energy than money is that fewer people use Bitcoin.