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Everyone wants to ban bitcoin mining, but nobody wants to tax carbon emissions and end industry subsidies.
by scottiebarnes 5y ago
Everyone wants to ban bitcoin mining, but nobody wants to tax carbon emissions and end industry subsidies.
- zbrozek 5y agoIt isn't obvious that mining goes away at any cost. Personally I'm in the "do both" camp. Have a simple carbon tax, but also find some inoffensive way to get rid of the mining. Both sound hard.
- tenuousemphasis 5y agoWhile we're picking and choosing who gets to consume electricity, let's get rid of video gaming, casinos, porn websites, etc.
- Tarsul 5y agono. But please tax luxuries especially wrt their externalities.
- tenuousemphasis 5y agoSo like a carbon tax?
- zbrozek 5y agoThat's why the second task is hard. Probably the right way to do it isn't via the electricity angle, but the securities or commerce angles.
- tenuousemphasis 5y agoIf all electricity is generated by renewables and/or dirty electricity is expensive due to a carbon tax, why do you want to ban bitcoin mining too?
- rsynnott 5y agoWhen was the last time you bought an incandescent lightbulb?
- tenuousemphasis 5y agoIt's been a long time, but I don't understand your point.
- Ekaros 5y agoI don't know why electric vehicles should be allowed either. Why not just ban those too? And force people to walk.
- woodruffw 5y agoI think most people want both. What would make you think otherwise?
- neaanopri 5y agoLet's tax stuff in proportion to the value it provides to society Since crypto is used for crime and pyramid schemes, zero value so infinite tax = ban
- scottiebarnes 5y agoBy that logic, we need to ban peer to peer file sharing, encryption, and the internet at large since they are also platforms that allow for crime and pyramid schemes.
- woodruffw 5y agoYou’ve switched the conditions for taxation here: the GP suggested value to society, not adherence to preexisting laws. One of the standard refrains when justifying internet piracy is that intellectual property is actually a net harm to society, so I don’t think the connection you’ve made follows.
- scottiebarnes 5y agoOkay, what metric are we using to determine "value to society"?
- woodruffw 5y agoI don’t think we have to agree on a single metric to see that running a coal-fired power plant for the sole purpose of cracking hashes has marginal, if any value to society. And that’s before we even factor in the ridiculously negative externalities manifest in digging coal out of the earth and burning it.
- scottiebarnes 5y agoI think a decentralized network that is permissionless to participate in, pseudonymous and censorship resistant is very valuable to society. I think an asset that can be secured, transmitted, and stored in self custody cheaply that allows people to escape hyperinflation is quite valuable to society. I think understanding central banking and monetary policy and history of money are not strong points on HN. Everyone here understands that a memory leak causes your app to crash given enough cycles. Being able to print unlimited currency is a memory leak.
- formvoltron 5y agoLet's do both.
- burkaman 5y agoCarbon taxes are very popular, both in the US and globally. I would guess they are more popular than bitcoin bans in the US.
- endisneigh 5y ago> but nobody wants to tax carbon emissions and end industry subsidies I rarely downvote, but downvoted this because it’s blatantly false. Literally hours ago: https://wsau.com/2022/02/18/singapores-carbon-tax-to-rise-five-fold-in-2024/ https://wsau.com/2022/02/18/singapores-carbon-tax-to-rise-fi... https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-18/singapore-plans-a-steep-rise-in-carbon-tax-on-big-emitters?utm_source=google&utm_medium=bd&cmpId=google https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-18/singapore...