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This is where you get accused of whataboutism for asking why we're not comparing and contrasting one morally dubious choice with the alternative choice that hap
by anonporridge 3y ago
This is where you get accused of whataboutism for asking why we're not comparing and contrasting one morally dubious choice with the alternative choice that happens to be the default.
- uoaei 3y agoWell, that's literally the definition of "opportunity cost". So it's expected in any reasonable economic analysis. I'm not defending proof-of-work cryptocurrencies at all. I'm bringing it up because the culture within the field of economics generally seems to have forgotten to compare alternatives, rather than doing analysis based on some idealized vacuum scenario. Once you're aware of this you will see it everywhere.
- psychlops 3y agoDoes that make it a bad argument? Say we accept that Bitcoin causes damage to the environment, do we then ignore the energy expenses of the default because...I'm not sure where you are going with this. While I don't know the incentives of the author's, I suspect a reason they target Bitcoin energy expenditure because it's easy.