This argument is as tired and old as the curmudgeonly people that make it. >With a technology that is extremely damaging to the entire planet for no reason… N

This argument is as tired and old as the curmudgeonly people that make it. >With a technology that is extremely damaging to the entire planet for no reason… Not all blockchains are based on PoW. If you actually read even a brief summary of the basics of crypto you’d know this since it’s mentioned nearly everywhere these days. It seems you are therefore either ignorant on what you speak, or are willfully misleading people to fit your own narrative. >…come away with the opinion that it's junk tech that roasts the planet, both because it's true and because climate change is a very serious problem. You’re stating opinions as facts and being far more intellectually dishonest and misleading than any crypto native I’ve seen on here. > If the end result is that cryptocurrency discourse is effectively run out of HN… You and you alone don’t get to decide or arbiter what HN is used for or who it is used by. This is gate keeping trash that erodes intellectual debate and discourse into an echo chamber of more curmudgeonly people patting each other’s curmudgeonly backs. > Like it or not, HN is an important forum. People with a fair amount of influence come here. HN is an important forum full of important people. On this we agree. My opinion, then, is we should probably be open to discussing new technologies, difficult topics, and unsavory ideas as these are the types of conversation from whence innovation springs. Nobody ever got smarter debating which JavaScript framework is the new hotness on the front page of HN. > …similar to phrenology or eugenics… Eugenics is worth discussing as it will once again become a cultural hotbed debate as we move into an era of designer genetics. I find it mostly amusing that you punctuate your point about quelling curiosity by dismissing away another topic that requires thick skin and intellectual rigor to properly discuss and even lump these in with phrenology. This is kind of like saying “discussions of meteorology, astronomy, and astrology should be banned.” One of these things is not like the other… Based on this comment alone, I’d say you also probably like burning books.