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Since many people including me compare bitcoin to gold in terms of it as an investment that is not based on any real-world usage, how does the environmental imp
by beiller 8y ago
Since many people including me compare bitcoin to gold in terms of it as an investment that is not based on any real-world usage, how does the environmental impact of mining bitcoin compare to the environmental impact of the total amount of gold mined from the earth that is only used for investment purposes?
- rplnt 8y agoIs that a real question? If so, I don't know the answer (I can guess that gold is better per value, worse in total). But phrasing it like this makes it sound like that would be a good excuse to pursue crypto anyway.
- beiller 8y agoIt is a good reason to pursue it anyways. Its environmental impacts compared to actual mining of the earth is little. And we can't just say that energy usage by humanity in Kilowatt hour is inherently evil. Why not power the mining equipment using nuclear power? Humanity in my opinion won't use energy at some status quo into the future. I predict we will use more and more as we venture into the solar system, and we may see energy as following some sort of Moore's law into the future in terms of cost and local environmental impact. Wouldn't that change the situation?