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I'm getting tired already of all this noise around Bitcoin. It's a nice technology, okay, terribly wasteful in terms of resources, but regardless - it won't hel

by kolev 13y ago

I'm getting tired already of all this noise around Bitcoin. It's a nice technology, okay, terribly wasteful in terms of resources, but regardless - it won't help us colonize the space, it won't help us reach Singularity sooner, it won't help extend lifespan and do other meaningful things - it could potentially (although very unlikely) make some lazy hoarders rich and that's it. Bitcoin really turned into a scum of the Earth magnet - just reading the comments under any negative article makes you realize the kind of human waste that's behind the bubble!

olalonde 13y ago
> it won't help us colonize the space, it won't help us reach Singularity sooner, it won't help extend lifespan and do other meaningful things Would you have said the same about Paypal? Because if you did, you'd have been wrong. Plus, among the set of technologies/companies that are discussed on HN, not that many are directly related to the goals you mentioned. Perhaps Bitcoin is wasteful due to its Proof-of-Work system but you have to consider how wasteful the alternative is. How much human capital is wasted in operating the deposit banking and payments industry? How much land and resources are wasted to physically secure cash in bank vaults and move it around? How much efficiency is lost to high transaction fees or lack of access to the banking system? How many services which haven't yet been invented would be enabled by a distributed ledger? I'm not saying Bitcoin would wipe out those industries completely but it could certainly make parts of them obsolete. I think it's wrong to dismiss the technology just because you dislike its community. The web was once a wild west as well.
- kolev 13y ago
  PayPal never had the speculation appeal! PayPal, Venmo, Dwolla, Stripe, Balanced, Ribbon, Square, and others are all great services. They change the world in different ways - I buy with credit cards at Farmers Markets now, Stripe saved endless developer hours simplifying integration, Dwolla offers even lower than Bitcoin cost for accepting payments, etc. Bitcoin fans should learn from Elon Musk - the guy is a genius and, yet, he is a lot more humble than the average satoshi hoarder with a quarter of a Bitcoin waiting for the price to hit $1M apiece! The technology never matters as much as the community! The Internet was created by nerds, not speculators!
  - olalonde 13y ago
    Your comment is obviously emotionally charged. I agree that the satoshi hoarders can be extremely annoying at times but I maintain that you should distance your opinion of the technology from the community. In fact, the Bitcoin community has been dilluting over time as it gains in popularity and it's getting harder and harder to meaningfuly talk of a Bitcoin community.
    - kolev 13y ago
      Ripple is a better piece of technology, but because it lacks the "get rich quick" appeal, it's not nearly as popular. Dogecoin has a much more positive community than Bitcoin!
      - makomk 13y ago
        The other problem with Ripple is that it is set up as a "get rich quick" scheme, but only for the founders. In order to carry out transactions you need XRP, they're the only ones who can sell you more XRP, and they have the ability to change how much XRP every transaction costs at any time.
terranstyler 13y ago
I'm not sure whether it's too far a stretch but don't all your arguments also apply to standard currency? Just consider the costs of running a central bank. IMO, every contribution to economy is a contribution to the future. And (at least up to now) the market has the opinion that your "being wasteful in terms of resources" is still of some economic value, otherwise the price would be far lower (~ zero)
- kolev 13y ago
  Economy and the advancement of the civilization are rarely looking into the same direction. I'm not saying the status quo is more efficient than Bitcoin, but Bitcoin isn't the best solution either. This is a good article that sums things up: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-fated-boom-bust/ http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-fated-boom-bust/
jedunnigan 13y ago
>it won't help extend lifespan and do other meaningful things I think that's taking a short view of things. There is no way to know who or what will be enabled by access to a powerful monetary instrument where financial tools are absent or severely handicapped (heavy inflation).
- kolev 13y ago
  Short view? "Powerful" in terms of wasted CPU cycles? M-Pesa is powerful, Bitcoin is just a bubble.
haakon 13y ago
> it won't help us colonize the space, it won't help us reach Singularity sooner If that's the standard a new technology has to be at in order to interest you, well, forget about it, man.

by kolev 13y ago

olalonde 13y ago

> it won't help us colonize the space, it won't help us reach Singularity sooner, it won't help extend lifespan and do other meaningful things Would you have said the same about Paypal? Because if you did, you'd have been wrong. Plus, among the set of technologies/companies that are discussed on HN, not that many are directly related to the goals you mentioned. Perhaps Bitcoin is wasteful due to its Proof-of-Work system but you have to consider how wasteful the alternative is. How much human capital is wasted in operating the deposit banking and payments industry? How much land and resources are wasted to physically secure cash in bank vaults and move it around? How much efficiency is lost to high transaction fees or lack of access to the banking system? How many services which haven't yet been invented would be enabled by a distributed ledger? I'm not saying Bitcoin would wipe out those industries completely but it could certainly make parts of them obsolete. I think it's wrong to dismiss the technology just because you dislike its community. The web was once a wild west as well.

kolev 13y ago
PayPal never had the speculation appeal! PayPal, Venmo, Dwolla, Stripe, Balanced, Ribbon, Square, and others are all great services. They change the world in different ways - I buy with credit cards at Farmers Markets now, Stripe saved endless developer hours simplifying integration, Dwolla offers even lower than Bitcoin cost for accepting payments, etc. Bitcoin fans should learn from Elon Musk - the guy is a genius and, yet, he is a lot more humble than the average satoshi hoarder with a quarter of a Bitcoin waiting for the price to hit $1M apiece! The technology never matters as much as the community! The Internet was created by nerds, not speculators!
- olalonde 13y ago
  Your comment is obviously emotionally charged. I agree that the satoshi hoarders can be extremely annoying at times but I maintain that you should distance your opinion of the technology from the community. In fact, the Bitcoin community has been dilluting over time as it gains in popularity and it's getting harder and harder to meaningfuly talk of a Bitcoin community.
  - kolev 13y ago
    Ripple is a better piece of technology, but because it lacks the "get rich quick" appeal, it's not nearly as popular. Dogecoin has a much more positive community than Bitcoin!
    - makomk 13y ago
      The other problem with Ripple is that it is set up as a "get rich quick" scheme, but only for the founders. In order to carry out transactions you need XRP, they're the only ones who can sell you more XRP, and they have the ability to change how much XRP every transaction costs at any time.

terranstyler 13y ago

I'm not sure whether it's too far a stretch but don't all your arguments also apply to standard currency? Just consider the costs of running a central bank. IMO, every contribution to economy is a contribution to the future. And (at least up to now) the market has the opinion that your "being wasteful in terms of resources" is still of some economic value, otherwise the price would be far lower (~ zero)

kolev 13y ago
Economy and the advancement of the civilization are rarely looking into the same direction. I'm not saying the status quo is more efficient than Bitcoin, but Bitcoin isn't the best solution either. This is a good article that sums things up: http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-fated-boom-bust/ http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoin-fated-boom-bust/

jedunnigan 13y ago

>it won't help extend lifespan and do other meaningful things I think that's taking a short view of things. There is no way to know who or what will be enabled by access to a powerful monetary instrument where financial tools are absent or severely handicapped (heavy inflation).

kolev 13y ago
Short view? "Powerful" in terms of wasted CPU cycles? M-Pesa is powerful, Bitcoin is just a bubble.

haakon 13y ago

> it won't help us colonize the space, it won't help us reach Singularity sooner If that's the standard a new technology has to be at in order to interest you, well, forget about it, man.