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That fact says nothing about the efficiency. What it says is that market forces will decide what level of energy they want to dedicate to the security of the ne

by shawnz 6y ago

That fact says nothing about the efficiency. What it says is that market forces will decide what level of energy they want to dedicate to the security of the network. Whatever the market is willing to pay, it will be 100% efficiently spent on outcompeting attackers on the network. > that sounds like a bad solution and I think you know that lol I don't think it's a good or bad solution. It is basically just the same as how market forces control the values of fiat currencies which in turn affects how much energy is required to secure them.

arcticbull 6y ago
Through a proof of waste of limited resources system. Just spell it out and I’ll agree. [edit: this isn't about the army. this is about currency. stay on track, stay on topic - both of those things can be bad and having two of them can be additively much worse; having a debate with you is like trying to grab a fistful of jello, absolutely impossible]
- shawnz 6y ago
  Exactly, just like how with fiat currencies, the military serves as a proof-of-waste system which does nothing productive except to compete with other militaries. They compete by intentionally burning their limited resources (young individuals' lives) so as to make an enemy attack cost-prohibitive, thus securing the network. > The army is to defend the country and its people, and would not be reduced in a bitcoin powered world. Yes, they also defend other things besides the country's financial interests. So you'd expect them to cost a little more than Bitcoin, which only defends holders' financial interests. I am simply pointing out how they use the same proof-of-work system to accomplish it. If the widespread adoption of Bitcoin led to a devaluation of existing fiat currencies, then you would expect military spending to go down (in terms of bitcoins). But I don't think that Bitcoin's adoption will decrease the use of fiat currencies (by any significant amount). > both of those things can be bad and having two of them can be additively much worse It's not clear why they would be additively worse. Creating a new place to store wealth doesn't increase the overall amount of wealth. I agree that it is not a good thing that proof-of-work systems are wasteful, but perhaps it's the only way of solving the problem. Proof-of-stake systems look promising but there are still some open questions about how it should be implemented and what the implications are for network security, and it will be at least a few years before they become battle-tested enough to have the same level of trust as Bitcoin.
  - arcticbull 6y ago
    > I agree that it is not a good thing that proof-of-work systems are wasteful, but perhaps it's the only way of solving the problem. Obviously not, the other solution is by fiat, which has been working for milennia, and it's not about to stop.
    - shawnz 6y ago
      Yes, but I just explained how fiat is secured by a system almost the same as proof-of-work (which you dismissed as "off-topic").
      - arcticbull 6y ago
        It's completely off topic, because the existing financial system is an emergent property of the state. It's a free-loader. Very limited energy is expended specifically to maintain the financial system. The bulk of it is to maintain the state which you have to do whether the financial system is shells, legos, gold or bitcoin. It's an irrelevant point, a red herring, nothing more. After all far be it from replacing Visa and Mastercard, Visa and Mastercard have simply added crypto so you actually have to remove them from your energy savings estimates. Further I disproved the energy utilization point in the original conjecture as impossible. If you have something to add add it and show you work. Sorry man, you're just not right on this one. Number go up, we get it. That doesn't make it a fundamentally good, useful or interesting technology. All this flailing/pointing at everything that moves with no calculation, no evidence, is just to distract from the fundamental fact that it's a wasteful, borderline useless casino. Show. Your. Work.
        shawnz 6y ago
        > the existing financial system is an emergent property of the state. It's a free-loader. Very limited energy is expended specifically to maintain the financial system. The bulk of it is to maintain the state It isn't a matter of how much the financial system consumes. It is a matter of how much the state consumes to protect the wealth of its citizens (of which fiat is just an emergent property like you say). > Further I disproved the energy utilization point in the original conjecture as impossible. If you have something to add add it and show you work. You will have to clarify what point you mean or what work you want me to show. > Number go up, we get it. Please don't talk to me so disrespectfully. I have no interest in speculating on the price of cryptocurrencies.

by shawnz 6y ago

arcticbull 6y ago

Through a proof of waste of limited resources system. Just spell it out and I’ll agree. [edit: this isn't about the army. this is about currency. stay on track, stay on topic - both of those things can be bad and having two of them can be additively much worse; having a debate with you is like trying to grab a fistful of jello, absolutely impossible]

shawnz 6y ago
Exactly, just like how with fiat currencies, the military serves as a proof-of-waste system which does nothing productive except to compete with other militaries. They compete by intentionally burning their limited resources (young individuals' lives) so as to make an enemy attack cost-prohibitive, thus securing the network. > The army is to defend the country and its people, and would not be reduced in a bitcoin powered world. Yes, they also defend other things besides the country's financial interests. So you'd expect them to cost a little more than Bitcoin, which only defends holders' financial interests. I am simply pointing out how they use the same proof-of-work system to accomplish it. If the widespread adoption of Bitcoin led to a devaluation of existing fiat currencies, then you would expect military spending to go down (in terms of bitcoins). But I don't think that Bitcoin's adoption will decrease the use of fiat currencies (by any significant amount). > both of those things can be bad and having two of them can be additively much worse It's not clear why they would be additively worse. Creating a new place to store wealth doesn't increase the overall amount of wealth. I agree that it is not a good thing that proof-of-work systems are wasteful, but perhaps it's the only way of solving the problem. Proof-of-stake systems look promising but there are still some open questions about how it should be implemented and what the implications are for network security, and it will be at least a few years before they become battle-tested enough to have the same level of trust as Bitcoin.
- arcticbull 6y ago
  > I agree that it is not a good thing that proof-of-work systems are wasteful, but perhaps it's the only way of solving the problem. Obviously not, the other solution is by fiat, which has been working for milennia, and it's not about to stop.
  - shawnz 6y ago
    Yes, but I just explained how fiat is secured by a system almost the same as proof-of-work (which you dismissed as "off-topic").
    - arcticbull 6y ago
      It's completely off topic, because the existing financial system is an emergent property of the state. It's a free-loader. Very limited energy is expended specifically to maintain the financial system. The bulk of it is to maintain the state which you have to do whether the financial system is shells, legos, gold or bitcoin. It's an irrelevant point, a red herring, nothing more. After all far be it from replacing Visa and Mastercard, Visa and Mastercard have simply added crypto so you actually have to remove them from your energy savings estimates. Further I disproved the energy utilization point in the original conjecture as impossible. If you have something to add add it and show you work. Sorry man, you're just not right on this one. Number go up, we get it. That doesn't make it a fundamentally good, useful or interesting technology. All this flailing/pointing at everything that moves with no calculation, no evidence, is just to distract from the fundamental fact that it's a wasteful, borderline useless casino. Show. Your. Work.
      - shawnz 6y ago
        > the existing financial system is an emergent property of the state. It's a free-loader. Very limited energy is expended specifically to maintain the financial system. The bulk of it is to maintain the state It isn't a matter of how much the financial system consumes. It is a matter of how much the state consumes to protect the wealth of its citizens (of which fiat is just an emergent property like you say). > Further I disproved the energy utilization point in the original conjecture as impossible. If you have something to add add it and show you work. You will have to clarify what point you mean or what work you want me to show. > Number go up, we get it. Please don't talk to me so disrespectfully. I have no interest in speculating on the price of cryptocurrencies.