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I saw that argument on twitter when talking about the energy reduction for ETH mining. Someone commented that it won't change because they will just focus their
by giarc 4y ago
I saw that argument on twitter when talking about the energy reduction for ETH mining. Someone commented that it won't change because they will just focus their GPUs on some other coin.
- apeace 4y agoTFA is pointing out that other GPU-based POW chains have become unprofitable. Partly because of the massive influx of GPUs increasing the difficulty of those chains, and partly because those coins are just not worth as much as ETH. If that's true, then lots of miners are going to be shutting down their GPUs and selling them.
- latchkey 4y agoPower companies are incentivized to sell power. They will just find other buyers.
- elil17 4y agoPerhaps you are right about power companies wanting to sell more power (although it seems like that is not the case for the marginal kWh given all that power companies do to incentive energy efficiency for their customers). But even so, at least that power would go to something useful (keeping buildings comfortable, purifying water, who knows what) rather than being burned in the crypto-pit.
- latchkey 4y agoI'm getting downvoted on my original comment, sigh HN. > Perhaps you are right about power companies wanting to sell more power (although it seems like that is not the case for the marginal kWh given all that power companies do to incentive energy efficiency for their customers). It is literally called a power company. They offer special rates for large customers. That alone creates a marketplace. > But even so, at least that power would go to something useful (keeping buildings comfortable, purifying water, who knows what) rather than being burned in the crypto-pit. Did you have a choice in where that power went to begin with? No. "No one has the moral authority to tell you what is a good or bad use of energy (ex: watching the Kardashians)" -- https://twitter.com/danheld/status/1479135584685854729?lang=en https://twitter.com/danheld/status/1479135584685854729?lang=...
- simondotau 4y agoThe parent to your post never asserted “moral authority” around how power is used, only that they think this shift is a good thing in their view.
- latchkey 4y ago> at least that power would go to something useful I consider that a moral opinion.
- simondotau 4y agoUltimately it wasn’t the grandparent that asserted that proof-of-work Etherium mining wasn’t useful, it was the Etherium blockchain community themselves — which is why they have stopped doing it. It’s not a “moral opinion” to accept someone else’s assessment of the utility of their own actions. Is it a “moral opinion” to state a preference that crude oil is more useful when refined and injected into an ICE vehicle than if it’s burned on site in an oil well fire?
- latchkey 4y agoMy point is that it is not your (or my) right to tell anyone what a good use of power is or is not. Simply because we all consume power one way or another. Expressing an opinion is fine... we can all have one of those, but we should be considerate of pot/kettle there.
- samatman 4y agoYou have this backward actually, the fact that Ethereum went to great lengths to design a more power-efficient replacement for PoW (rather than, say, doing something else with their lives) shows that PoW was useful to begin with.
- simondotau 4y agoThe fact that Ethereum went to great lengths to design a more power-efficient replacement for PoW shows that the developers of Etherium derive personal value from an engagement with a technical challenge. It does suggest but doesn't prove that any permutation of the project was/is actually useful.
- simondotau 4y agoThe only way for them to find other buyers is to lower prices, which benefits everyone.
- latchkey 4y agoI don't think that's the only way. There are other factors that go into choosing a power source. For example, they could offer cleaner power or the quantity of power available can also be factors.
- kortilla 4y agoCopper companies are incentivized to sell as well, but they don’t get to pick the price. Once the price falls enough some copper mines go out of business. The same thing happens with power companies and we get a net reduction in generation.