5 ms·

I'm not trying to incite a flame war, but is crypto really that bad for the planet? Ethereum is moving to Proof of Stake & it's not all ponzi schemes I don't t

I'm not trying to incite a flame war, but is crypto really that bad for the planet? Ethereum is moving to Proof of Stake & it's not all ponzi schemes I don't think. I'm genuinely trying to understand if he's coming from a place of knowledge or if it's more part of the trend to have highly polarized opinions about everything.

hiptobecubic 5y ago
At a minimum, they could refuse to take proof of work currencies.
- duncancarroll 5y ago
  Right, I guess what I'm asking is, is that necessary? i.e. is proof of work accelerating the climate change timetable such that it's more of an existential threat than it already is? Otherwise it feels like just one guilty party among many. I don't know the data so I'm genuinely asking. Even so, if the root problem is clean energy, banning crypto is only going to help until the next energy-burning tech comes along. i.e. we'd just be kicking the can and destroying digital currency in the process.
  - hiptobecubic 5y ago
    I'm not saying that refusing proof of work will solve our environmental crisis, but I see no good reason for accepting them and making it worse.
    - duncancarroll 5y ago
      It just seems arbitrary. I'd prefer we get rid of cows (14.5% global CO2) before we get rid of bitcoin. At least blockchains don't feel pain...
      - lucian1900 5y ago
        Cows are useful.
        hiptobecubic 5y ago
        For just about everyone, including almost certainly everyone reading this, cows are an indulgence that is unethical on many levels. For a relatively few subsistence farmers, cows are also useful.
        Anunayj 5y ago
        and can be used for food, unlike bitcoin which I can't even use to buy food. So much for being a currency.
  - bluecalm 5y ago
    Normally in tech we try to make things more efficient, not inefficient by design. And then there is the whole distributed Ponzi thing and going around financial regulations thing that enables endless crime. It's a really shitty technology used for really shitty things by a lot of shitty people. Not much more to it. Allow other financial firms to play by the same rules and instant transfers around the world will be close to free. POW blockchain just isn't very useful for any real problems we have today other then evading authorities/regulation. It's good to hear more people speaking openly about it. As anyone who tried to argue against MLMs/pyramids and other scams learnt it's a thankless task.
iamevn 5y ago
> Ethereum is moving to Proof of Stake For how many years has this been used a defense of Ethereum? Any time Ethereum has been criticized over proof of work, the transition to proof of stake is brought up and it's always "8 months away" or "next year". Sounds like horseshit to me.
hammyhavoc 5y ago
What about this? https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099 https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099

hiptobecubic 5y ago

At a minimum, they could refuse to take proof of work currencies.

duncancarroll 5y ago
Right, I guess what I'm asking is, is that necessary? i.e. is proof of work accelerating the climate change timetable such that it's more of an existential threat than it already is? Otherwise it feels like just one guilty party among many. I don't know the data so I'm genuinely asking. Even so, if the root problem is clean energy, banning crypto is only going to help until the next energy-burning tech comes along. i.e. we'd just be kicking the can and destroying digital currency in the process.
- hiptobecubic 5y ago
  I'm not saying that refusing proof of work will solve our environmental crisis, but I see no good reason for accepting them and making it worse.
  - duncancarroll 5y ago
    It just seems arbitrary. I'd prefer we get rid of cows (14.5% global CO2) before we get rid of bitcoin. At least blockchains don't feel pain...
    - lucian1900 5y ago
      Cows are useful.
      - hiptobecubic 5y ago
        For just about everyone, including almost certainly everyone reading this, cows are an indulgence that is unethical on many levels. For a relatively few subsistence farmers, cows are also useful.
      - Anunayj 5y ago
        and can be used for food, unlike bitcoin which I can't even use to buy food. So much for being a currency.
- bluecalm 5y ago
  Normally in tech we try to make things more efficient, not inefficient by design. And then there is the whole distributed Ponzi thing and going around financial regulations thing that enables endless crime. It's a really shitty technology used for really shitty things by a lot of shitty people. Not much more to it. Allow other financial firms to play by the same rules and instant transfers around the world will be close to free. POW blockchain just isn't very useful for any real problems we have today other then evading authorities/regulation. It's good to hear more people speaking openly about it. As anyone who tried to argue against MLMs/pyramids and other scams learnt it's a thankless task.

iamevn 5y ago

> Ethereum is moving to Proof of Stake For how many years has this been used a defense of Ethereum? Any time Ethereum has been criticized over proof of work, the transition to proof of stake is brought up and it's always "8 months away" or "next year". Sounds like horseshit to me.

hammyhavoc 5y ago

What about this? https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099 https://twitter.com/davetroy/status/1478017698676228099