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You have to expend resources to make progress. The alternative to Bitcoin is a bloody worldwide revolution. Most people aren't actually happy living in a world

You have to expend resources to make progress. The alternative to Bitcoin is a bloody worldwide revolution. Most people aren't actually happy living in a world of extreme inequality where only the 0.01% have any say in how our society is run. Getting off state backed currency is a prerequisite to social progress. Bitcoin is doing this in a bloodless, warless manner.

DennisP 6y ago
Actually the alternative is proof-of-stake, which accomplishes the same objectives as Bitcoin with very little energy consumption.
robjan 6y ago
Look at the distribution of Bitcoin. Do you think it's any different? A small number of people (I'm excluding the exchanges here) controll the majority of the bitcoins.
- solosoyokaze 6y ago
  Correct, but the properties of Bitcoin are baked into the protocol and not up for policy debate. The Bitcoin Core people can't get together and cause massive inflation, wiping out everyone's savings and lowering the value of their salaries. Most importantly, no military is needed to secure the value of BTC. The US is in a constant state of warfare to keep its position on the top of the world hierarchy, which is what gives USD the value it has. I'll take a GPU mining in Iceland over a bomb dropped in the Middle East as the backing to my finances any day of the week.
  - titzer 6y ago
    > I'll take a GPU mining in Iceland over a bomb dropped in the Middle East as the backing to my finances any day of the week. This is a false choice, clearly. But regardless, I don't think you're properly accounting for how bad of an externality climate change is, and the (completely unnecessary) CO2 emissions from mining bitcoins is directly linked to a whole future of bad things happening, not just a single bomb.
titzer 6y ago
> Bitcoin is doing this in a bloodless, warless manner. Man, what koolaid. Bitcoin is a speculation market that has done nothing but benefit rich speculators and its computational demand has led to vast negative externalities for the planet. Stop doing that! Maybe you should support a bloodless revolution by volunteering at a soup kitchen.

DennisP 6y ago

Actually the alternative is proof-of-stake, which accomplishes the same objectives as Bitcoin with very little energy consumption.

robjan 6y ago

Look at the distribution of Bitcoin. Do you think it's any different? A small number of people (I'm excluding the exchanges here) controll the majority of the bitcoins.

solosoyokaze 6y ago
Correct, but the properties of Bitcoin are baked into the protocol and not up for policy debate. The Bitcoin Core people can't get together and cause massive inflation, wiping out everyone's savings and lowering the value of their salaries. Most importantly, no military is needed to secure the value of BTC. The US is in a constant state of warfare to keep its position on the top of the world hierarchy, which is what gives USD the value it has. I'll take a GPU mining in Iceland over a bomb dropped in the Middle East as the backing to my finances any day of the week.
- titzer 6y ago
  > I'll take a GPU mining in Iceland over a bomb dropped in the Middle East as the backing to my finances any day of the week. This is a false choice, clearly. But regardless, I don't think you're properly accounting for how bad of an externality climate change is, and the (completely unnecessary) CO2 emissions from mining bitcoins is directly linked to a whole future of bad things happening, not just a single bomb.

titzer 6y ago

> Bitcoin is doing this in a bloodless, warless manner. Man, what koolaid. Bitcoin is a speculation market that has done nothing but benefit rich speculators and its computational demand has led to vast negative externalities for the planet. Stop doing that! Maybe you should support a bloodless revolution by volunteering at a soup kitchen.