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I am all for a ban too, if not because of the power waste then because of the semiconductor shortage. Every wafer that doesn't become bitcoin miners can become

I am all for a ban too, if not because of the power waste then because of the semiconductor shortage. Every wafer that doesn't become bitcoin miners can become something else.

Proven 5y ago
Then pay for it to become something else, instead of trying to use the government to steal it for you.
solarman5000 5y ago
"Wahh free market sucks.. Let's bring government in so they can force the market to change for me"
- toraway1234 5y ago
- thehappypm 5y ago
  Government bans people from burning trash, this is pretty similar.
- qalmakka 5y ago
  Without government intervention, a completely free market would quickly cause the world to revert to feudalism. There should be a balance between freedom of enterprise and common sense.
- MomoXenosaga 5y ago
  Does anyone even large scale mine in the EU? I was under the impression most of these cryptocurrency assholes are in corrupt countries where energy prices are either low or its easy to steal electricity.
DickingAround 5y ago
If you worry about the power waste, have a CO2 tax. You don't think some people's use of power is right, but perhaps they don't think your use of power is right. Is that really something you don't want to be a fundamental right, this concept of being able to use electricity as you see fit? The idea of banning something because of a chip shortage is an even more extreme attack on the rights of others. One person makes specialized bitcoin mining chips (they can't be used for anything else), another person buys them. And you want to bring people with guns into it because maybe the person making the chips could be making them for whatever you want? Please, think deeply before asking for force and violence to be involved in a bunch of people peacefully going about their own ways and interests.
- fogihujy 5y ago
  It's not about waste; it's a matter of managing an energy shortage while simultaneously trying to threaten Russia with sanctions and whilst being dependent on Russian gas. A CO2 tax won't help when the issue is that the grids simply can't keep up with demand.
  - mstipetic 5y ago
    But it’s all about personal freedoms. It’s not important there’s a planet wide climate emergency, that there’s a massive decline in wildlife population - all these things don’t matter as long as we’re all free to dick around and do what ever we want without the spooky regulators with guns telling us what to do.
    - fogihujy 5y ago
      Well, to be frank, it's not about the environment, and barely about national security: some places in Europe -- southern Sweden being the most notable example -- has severe energy shortages to such an extent that new businesses have to go elsewhere when they want to expand. Other parts of Europe has a power surplus, but the grid's capacity simply isn't high enough to transfer all of it to the locations where it's needed. As it turned out, the environmentalists' push to kill nuclear power wasn't that great since the plants were in the areas where the power was actually consumed.
Feeble 5y ago
I think we need the government to decide exactly what technical parts should be produced with the production of semiconductors. Maybe they can make a 5 year plan for exactly what parts to produce and who gets them. Then we don't have to worry about any newtech coming in and disruping our current lives! /s
- drekk 5y ago
  You're right, profit is the only ethical concern and government should step back and let the invisible hand of the free market sort itself. If it's economical to use child slaves for chocolate cultivation the government has no business stepping in to regulate business. If we can build faster pollution machines that make even more digital drug money who cares that researchers can't get GPU clusters for cancer research? Might makes right and profit is king. If you want "innovation" you must let JP Morgan Chase Stanley Rockefeller dictate the productive forces and foreign policy of the largest industrial power in the world! /s

I am all for a ban too, if not because of the power waste then because of the semiconductor shortage. Every wafer that doesn't become bitcoin miners can become something else.

Proven 5y ago

Then pay for it to become something else, instead of trying to use the government to steal it for you.

solarman5000 5y ago

"Wahh free market sucks.. Let's bring government in so they can force the market to change for me"

toraway1234 5y ago
thehappypm 5y ago
Government bans people from burning trash, this is pretty similar.
qalmakka 5y ago
Without government intervention, a completely free market would quickly cause the world to revert to feudalism. There should be a balance between freedom of enterprise and common sense.
MomoXenosaga 5y ago
Does anyone even large scale mine in the EU? I was under the impression most of these cryptocurrency assholes are in corrupt countries where energy prices are either low or its easy to steal electricity.

DickingAround 5y ago

If you worry about the power waste, have a CO2 tax. You don't think some people's use of power is right, but perhaps they don't think your use of power is right. Is that really something you don't want to be a fundamental right, this concept of being able to use electricity as you see fit? The idea of banning something because of a chip shortage is an even more extreme attack on the rights of others. One person makes specialized bitcoin mining chips (they can't be used for anything else), another person buys them. And you want to bring people with guns into it because maybe the person making the chips could be making them for whatever you want? Please, think deeply before asking for force and violence to be involved in a bunch of people peacefully going about their own ways and interests.

fogihujy 5y ago
It's not about waste; it's a matter of managing an energy shortage while simultaneously trying to threaten Russia with sanctions and whilst being dependent on Russian gas. A CO2 tax won't help when the issue is that the grids simply can't keep up with demand.
- mstipetic 5y ago
  But it’s all about personal freedoms. It’s not important there’s a planet wide climate emergency, that there’s a massive decline in wildlife population - all these things don’t matter as long as we’re all free to dick around and do what ever we want without the spooky regulators with guns telling us what to do.
  - fogihujy 5y ago
    Well, to be frank, it's not about the environment, and barely about national security: some places in Europe -- southern Sweden being the most notable example -- has severe energy shortages to such an extent that new businesses have to go elsewhere when they want to expand. Other parts of Europe has a power surplus, but the grid's capacity simply isn't high enough to transfer all of it to the locations where it's needed. As it turned out, the environmentalists' push to kill nuclear power wasn't that great since the plants were in the areas where the power was actually consumed.

Feeble 5y ago

I think we need the government to decide exactly what technical parts should be produced with the production of semiconductors. Maybe they can make a 5 year plan for exactly what parts to produce and who gets them. Then we don't have to worry about any newtech coming in and disruping our current lives! /s

drekk 5y ago
You're right, profit is the only ethical concern and government should step back and let the invisible hand of the free market sort itself. If it's economical to use child slaves for chocolate cultivation the government has no business stepping in to regulate business. If we can build faster pollution machines that make even more digital drug money who cares that researchers can't get GPU clusters for cancer research? Might makes right and profit is king. If you want "innovation" you must let JP Morgan Chase Stanley Rockefeller dictate the productive forces and foreign policy of the largest industrial power in the world! /s