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The problem is climate change. https://medium.com/humanizing-the-singularity/can-the-world-computer-save-the-world-part-3-building-an-economy-with-a-future-5d4

The problem is climate change. https://medium.com/humanizing-the-singularity/can-the-world-computer-save-the-world-part-3-building-an-economy-with-a-future-5d4156f06a04 https://medium.com/humanizing-the-singularity/can-the-world-... Smart contracts are the best shot we have of doing carbon, methane etc. tracking, managing offsetting payments and everything else required to start getting a grip on the CO2 emissions of the consumer economy.

namdnay 5y ago
I’ve got to admire the Chutzpah of claiming that crypto is the solution to climate change… and seriously, why on earth would this sort of tracking need smart contracts rather than say a database managed by a certification organization? Or even the UN?
- er4hn 5y ago
  In case Justin Trudeau's war on truckers prevents you from helping them buy electric cybertrucks. Or you need to do some cap and trade with Russia. You've got to take the internationalist view here.
jmyeet 5y ago
This may well be a troll. I really want to believe that it is because the alternative is too depressing. I have a sinking feeling it isn't a troll however. I see so many Crypto Andys who argue for crypto out of unadulterated gross naivete about how anything outside of a very narrow slice of crypto works. The obvious problem is that crypto is hugely energy inefficient. Bitcoin in particular consumes a ton of energy with PoW (proof-of-work aka proof-of-waste). Defenders will then point to PoS (proof-of-stake) but that creates a different set of problems (eg the computing power for PoW is part of what keeps the network robust whereas PoS is more like a democracy where you get one vote for every $1 you have). Carbon trading is never going to happen. It's an idea that's been around for at least 30 years. The only people who are interested in it are those who are invested in it. The only thing that will reduce carbon emissions is the alternatives being cheaper. That's it. Absolutely no one is going to even mildly inconvenience themselves otherwise. And again, any such ideas suffer from the same problem all crypto does: interfacing with the real world. Like how do you agree on the value of something releasing (or potentially sequestering) carbon (or methane or whatever)? It's up for debate. How do you make sure what someone emits is what they claimed to have? It's a bit like the ivory traders of Hong Kong who magically have never run out of ivory even though the trade was banned and they're only meant to sell existing stocks.
- TrapLord_Rhodo 5y ago
  >whereas PoS is more like a democracy where you get one vote for every $1 you have Less like this and more of how a company is run in real life. Investor, founder, codebase contributor and early coin buyers have alot of the say in the network... Which actually is exactly how it should be. If you were involved in the creation of the network, you should have a say in it's path forward... So am i missing something or does POS completely invalidate your arguments? >And again, any such ideas suffer from the same problem all crypto does interfacing with the real world. Like how do you agree on the value of something releasing (or potentially sequestering) carbon (or methane or whatever)? It's up for debate. How do you make sure what someone emits is what they claimed to have? Same way we do it now... Outside validation. The only thing it would do is make it more resistant to fraud is you can have multiple oracles in an open contract that eveeryone will cry foul over if it. Additionally, some of those oracles can be IOT objects controlling and reporting emissions. These are all solved problems that you are bringing up, the only thing new here is that smart contracts would allow a number of novel things to be done with carbon credits like swapping them for various assets, more controlled reporting with a fixed standard, greater visibility across the supply chain, etc. etc. I get he didn't explain himself, but there are smart contracts on !Ink which is POS and eth is trying to transition to POS if they can convince individuals to bet on the concensus change.
avip 5y ago
cryptocurrency saving us from climate crisis! no one saw that one coming

namdnay 5y ago

I’ve got to admire the Chutzpah of claiming that crypto is the solution to climate change… and seriously, why on earth would this sort of tracking need smart contracts rather than say a database managed by a certification organization? Or even the UN?

er4hn 5y ago
In case Justin Trudeau's war on truckers prevents you from helping them buy electric cybertrucks. Or you need to do some cap and trade with Russia. You've got to take the internationalist view here.

jmyeet 5y ago

This may well be a troll. I really want to believe that it is because the alternative is too depressing. I have a sinking feeling it isn't a troll however. I see so many Crypto Andys who argue for crypto out of unadulterated gross naivete about how anything outside of a very narrow slice of crypto works. The obvious problem is that crypto is hugely energy inefficient. Bitcoin in particular consumes a ton of energy with PoW (proof-of-work aka proof-of-waste). Defenders will then point to PoS (proof-of-stake) but that creates a different set of problems (eg the computing power for PoW is part of what keeps the network robust whereas PoS is more like a democracy where you get one vote for every $1 you have). Carbon trading is never going to happen. It's an idea that's been around for at least 30 years. The only people who are interested in it are those who are invested in it. The only thing that will reduce carbon emissions is the alternatives being cheaper. That's it. Absolutely no one is going to even mildly inconvenience themselves otherwise. And again, any such ideas suffer from the same problem all crypto does: interfacing with the real world. Like how do you agree on the value of something releasing (or potentially sequestering) carbon (or methane or whatever)? It's up for debate. How do you make sure what someone emits is what they claimed to have? It's a bit like the ivory traders of Hong Kong who magically have never run out of ivory even though the trade was banned and they're only meant to sell existing stocks.

TrapLord_Rhodo 5y ago
>whereas PoS is more like a democracy where you get one vote for every $1 you have Less like this and more of how a company is run in real life. Investor, founder, codebase contributor and early coin buyers have alot of the say in the network... Which actually is exactly how it should be. If you were involved in the creation of the network, you should have a say in it's path forward... So am i missing something or does POS completely invalidate your arguments? >And again, any such ideas suffer from the same problem all crypto does interfacing with the real world. Like how do you agree on the value of something releasing (or potentially sequestering) carbon (or methane or whatever)? It's up for debate. How do you make sure what someone emits is what they claimed to have? Same way we do it now... Outside validation. The only thing it would do is make it more resistant to fraud is you can have multiple oracles in an open contract that eveeryone will cry foul over if it. Additionally, some of those oracles can be IOT objects controlling and reporting emissions. These are all solved problems that you are bringing up, the only thing new here is that smart contracts would allow a number of novel things to be done with carbon credits like swapping them for various assets, more controlled reporting with a fixed standard, greater visibility across the supply chain, etc. etc. I get he didn't explain himself, but there are smart contracts on !Ink which is POS and eth is trying to transition to POS if they can convince individuals to bet on the concensus change.

avip 5y ago

cryptocurrency saving us from climate crisis! no one saw that one coming