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The other systems aren't based around grinding CPUs at 100% power utilization for days/weeks/months doing worthless busy work. Unless your power comes from a z

by seiji 13y ago

The other systems aren't based around grinding CPUs at 100% power utilization for days/weeks/months doing worthless busy work. Unless your power comes from a zero-carbon-footprint renewable resource, it's pretty ugly.

hendzen 13y ago
High hardware utilization is a good thing for efficiency because that enables ASICs to be produced that are growing increasingly more efficient. Right now one of the main metrics people use when evaluating the profitability mining hardware is Ghash/Watt, so the market is naturally incentivizing low OpEx and therefore less power usage (per transaction processed not the nominal amount of power used). Also, it's actually more efficient to have a smaller number of machines running at full utilization 24x7 than the typical massive datacenter that averages around 20-30% utilization [0]. That's because modern servers consume nearly as much power at 20-30% utilization as they do at 100%. [0] - http://bnrg.eecs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Courses/CS294.F09/wharehousesizedcomputers.pdf http://bnrg.eecs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Courses/CS294.F09/whare... (page 55)
asciimo 13y ago
The Bitcoin network doesn't require CEOs to burn jet fuel to visit their associates for catered meals; it doesn't require metal to be pressed into little discs, or trees to be pressed into little rectangles, and then distributed via combustion engine; it doesn't require receipts to be printed, duplicated, stored, and finally destroyed; it doesn't require millions of humans to commute to HVAC supported cubes to keep the system running.
- seiji 13y ago
  So we're all back to hoarding money under our mattresses? There will always be central banking infrastructure controlled by billionaires who are more socially important than you. We can't just "go decentralized." An average person is too busy to even remember their password to gmail is "password456" and not "password123."
shawnz 13y ago
It cant be "worthless" and simultaneously have the whole system based around it. If you want to use bitcoin and the "worthless" work is what allows bitcoin to exist, then it has worth.

by seiji 13y ago

hendzen 13y ago

High hardware utilization is a good thing for efficiency because that enables ASICs to be produced that are growing increasingly more efficient. Right now one of the main metrics people use when evaluating the profitability mining hardware is Ghash/Watt, so the market is naturally incentivizing low OpEx and therefore less power usage (per transaction processed not the nominal amount of power used). Also, it's actually more efficient to have a smaller number of machines running at full utilization 24x7 than the typical massive datacenter that averages around 20-30% utilization [0]. That's because modern servers consume nearly as much power at 20-30% utilization as they do at 100%. [0] - http://bnrg.eecs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Courses/CS294.F09/wharehousesizedcomputers.pdf http://bnrg.eecs.berkeley.edu/~randy/Courses/CS294.F09/whare... (page 55)

asciimo 13y ago

The Bitcoin network doesn't require CEOs to burn jet fuel to visit their associates for catered meals; it doesn't require metal to be pressed into little discs, or trees to be pressed into little rectangles, and then distributed via combustion engine; it doesn't require receipts to be printed, duplicated, stored, and finally destroyed; it doesn't require millions of humans to commute to HVAC supported cubes to keep the system running.

seiji 13y ago
So we're all back to hoarding money under our mattresses? There will always be central banking infrastructure controlled by billionaires who are more socially important than you. We can't just "go decentralized." An average person is too busy to even remember their password to gmail is "password456" and not "password123."

shawnz 13y ago

It cant be "worthless" and simultaneously have the whole system based around it. If you want to use bitcoin and the "worthless" work is what allows bitcoin to exist, then it has worth.