4 ms·
> And what is there to show for all this waste? The safest safe haven asset: a global currency of fixed supply controlled by computer algorithms. Essentially
by atweiden 6y ago
> And what is there to show for all this waste?
The safest safe haven asset: a global currency of fixed supply controlled by computer algorithms.
Essentially the author posits Earth’s ecosystems don't have room for another Argentina. But they arguably don't even have room for half of the current human population. Particularly a human population that exploits nature to the tune of millions of acres of clearcut forests and billions of animals per year — the latter almost entirely for their value to our taste buds alone.
Perhaps it’s time one of these systems came to an end.
- donclark 6y ago> Perhaps it’s time one of these systems came to an end. You mean the USD?
- donclark 6y agoAnyone have any data on how much waste is associated with Nasdaq, NYSE, credit card transactions, call centers to support credit cards, websites to support credit cards, ads that support credit cards, tv and radio commercials that support credit cards, etc. (for comparison)?
- davidgerard 6y agosure! bitcoin: 0.1% of all electricity, 7 transactions per second THE ENTIRE REST OF CIVILISATION AND EVERYONE IN IT: 99.9% of electricity, a heck of a lot more than 6,993 tps you're welcome! (notice how 0% of coiners who raise this point ever provide a number)
- leereeves 6y agoWhat do Nasdaq and NYSE have to do with this? Are you proposing using Bitcoin to track ownership of companies?
- playingchanges 6y agoI think the point being BTC is only one aspect of a financial system which surely uses more energy than BTC alone.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- leereeves 6y agoMore safe havens for wealth are the last thing a world suffering from vast economic inequality needs. "Safe haven" isn't a positive thing, it's another way in which Bitcoin makes the world worse, along with funding ransomware and other crimes and burning more electricity than Argentina to conduct as many transactions as a small town. And in response to the list of of Bitcoin's negative impacts, the only defense is that it might protect someone's wealth, which only reveals how little its proponents care about anything except their own wealth.
- chordalkeyboard 6y ago> More safe havens for wealth are the last thing a world suffering from vast economic inequality needs. Hard disagree. The problem with inequality is that too many people have too few assets. Increasing the security of property is a powerful way to mitigate this by giving people safe havens in which to store their wealth.
- leereeves 6y agoPeople don't have too few assets because there aren't any secure assets to invest in. There are plenty already. People have too few assets because they aren't paid enough for their labor to be able to save, and another class of wealth won't increase the value of labor. Bitcoin won't make that worse, either, but what it will do is impede democratic efforts to redistribute wealth to the poor, thus "protecting wealth" ... from the people.
- chordalkeyboard 6y ago> People don't have too few assets because there aren't any secure assets to invest in. There are plenty already. People have too few assets because they are constantly forced by society to support parasites. > People have too few assets because they aren't paid enough for their labor to be able to save Yeah, between zero percent interest rates and quantitative easing, the government and the oligarchs keep eating the fat out of their wages and they don’t have any money left over. Of course this is the point of monetary policy so we invented bitcoin to provide those people with a save haven. > and another class of wealth won't increase the value of labor. It makes wealth accessible to labor. > impede democratic efforts to redistribute wealth to the poor, thus "protecting wealth" ... from the people. You misspelled “oligarchs” as “poor” and then again as “people”