Chia is basically taking a cryptographic proof that would normally take a long time to run, and running them in advance and storing them in a sort of a backward

Chia is basically taking a cryptographic proof that would normally take a long time to run, and running them in advance and storing them in a sort of a backwards space/time tradeoff. The farmers keep collections of millions or billions of these in hope that they'll have a few winning lottery tickets over time. If you accept the premise of cryptocurrencies at all, it's not as stupid as the pure proof-of-works, which essentially require endless scaling to eat any improved capability and efficiency. Big if there though.