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It's not mental gymnastics to have a legitimate concern about energy usage.

by pradn 6y ago

RGamma 6y ago
Especially when the economic value provided by that consumption is virtually zero (net negative with externalities). I liked the idea of bitcoin when it came out, but as per usual things have just gotten out of hand from there.
gruez 6y ago
Are there similar concerns about the pollution produced by gold mining? eg. "we should ban gold because it's so toxic to mine!"
- tokai 6y ago
  Yes ofc. Nobody thinks mining is a clean industry.
  - gruez 6y ago
    There might be some concerns (eg. "wow gold mining is dirty, we should do something about it"), but I personally haven't seen anything close to "we should ban gold".
    - FrozenSynapse 6y ago
      because gold is useful, bitcoin only has speculative value
      - gruez 6y ago
        This is addressed in a sibling comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26089473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26089473
  - dd36 6y ago
    And gold is useful.
    - gruez 6y ago
      Almost half of the world gold demand is for speculative/investment purposes[1]. If you consider jewelry to be speculative as well (at least partially, since if you only cared about appearance you could just plate it), the vast majority isn't "useful". [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-industry-sector-share/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-in...
      - avh02 6y ago
        > Almost half of the world gold demand is for speculative/investment purposes fair (and I think gold as a "beautiful" metal is dumb), but the other half of the usage (on your claim) is for an array of productive things. I don't see wires, heat reflectors, etc being made out of bitcoin.
        gruez 6y ago
        >but the other half of the usage (on your claim) is for an array of productive things It's far less than that. Only 7.48% is definitely useful (under "technology").
- SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
  There are. They're not super present in the public consciousness because they're drowned out by the concerns about the prevalence of child labor in many countries' gold mines.

It's not mental gymnastics to have a legitimate concern about energy usage.

by pradn 6y ago

It's not mental gymnastics to have a legitimate concern about energy usage.

Especially when the economic value provided by that consumption is virtually zero (net negative with externalities). I liked the idea of bitcoin when it came out, but as per usual things have just gotten out of hand from there.

gruez 6y ago

Are there similar concerns about the pollution produced by gold mining? eg. "we should ban gold because it's so toxic to mine!"

tokai 6y ago
Yes ofc. Nobody thinks mining is a clean industry.
- gruez 6y ago
  There might be some concerns (eg. "wow gold mining is dirty, we should do something about it"), but I personally haven't seen anything close to "we should ban gold".
  - FrozenSynapse 6y ago
    because gold is useful, bitcoin only has speculative value
    - gruez 6y ago
      This is addressed in a sibling comment. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26089473 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26089473
- dd36 6y ago
  And gold is useful.
  - gruez 6y ago
    Almost half of the world gold demand is for speculative/investment purposes[1]. If you consider jewelry to be speculative as well (at least partially, since if you only cared about appearance you could just plate it), the vast majority isn't "useful". [1] https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-industry-sector-share/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/299609/gold-demand-by-in...
    - avh02 6y ago
      > Almost half of the world gold demand is for speculative/investment purposes fair (and I think gold as a "beautiful" metal is dumb), but the other half of the usage (on your claim) is for an array of productive things. I don't see wires, heat reflectors, etc being made out of bitcoin.
      - gruez 6y ago
        >but the other half of the usage (on your claim) is for an array of productive things It's far less than that. Only 7.48% is definitely useful (under "technology").
SpicyLemonZest 6y ago
There are. They're not super present in the public consciousness because they're drowned out by the concerns about the prevalence of child labor in many countries' gold mines.