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Bitcoiners argue that you need to count the cost of the US military in that calculation, as the force which ultimately secures the value of the US dollar. You c

• jcranmer 3y ago
  And people who make that argument are idiots--it necessarily implies that if everyone were to magically switch to Bitcoin overnight, then every military in the world would be abolished at the same time as unnecessary. It makes no sense to allocate anything larger than exactly 0% of the military's emissions to the "cost" of currency, because that is how much effort the military spends on enforcing its value. (You'd actually have a stronger argument trying to allocate a portion of the police budget to it, as it's the police forces who would enforce payment of debts in government specie, not military, and in the US at least, the military is prohibited from acting in a police capacity.)
  • psychlops 3y ago
    > And people who make that argument are idiots Name calling people isn't a great way to "win" your discussion. And that isn't the implication at all, military exist for many other reasons one of which is to secure the wealth and economy of its citizens. "Printing" bitcoin would take almost no energy at all, the ongoing electrical use is to ensure the network is working and secure.