3 ms·

the cumulative hash-breaking power of the world would be much, much higher Why would the "cumulative hash-breaking power" grow somehow disproportionally to the

by moe 12y ago

the cumulative hash-breaking power of the world would be much, much higher Why would the "cumulative hash-breaking power" grow somehow disproportionally to the general computing power? how are you powering that multi-core smartwatch? Likely in the same way as your current multi-core smartphone?

XorNot 12y ago
Because the Bitcoin hash function doesn't change, can't change, without effectively wiping out Bitcoin. Which is a bad thing for a currency in general. Which means SHA256 is getting weaker proportional to all power in the world - since confidence in Bitcoin depends on the idea that it can't break - not that "only people using it can't break it". Of course, this is already true anyway - the largest mining pool has been large enough to carry out 51% attacks for a while now, even before it was shown you could do it with much less power. >Likely in the same way as your current multi-core smartphone? Battery technology hasn't gotten appreciably better in a decade. And even if you could get enough power, how do you handle the heat? And even assuming all that...you then run into the problem above. The power of every other computer in the world will be a lot higher.
- grubles 12y ago
  Bitcoin can change, but it's up to the people who use bitcoin to accept or reject said change. From the bitcoin FAQ: "Could miners fundamentally change the nature of Bitcoin? Once again, almost certainly not. Bitcoin is a distributed network, so any changes implemented to the system must be accepted by all users. Someone trying to change the way Bitcoins are generated would have to convince every user to download and use their software – so the only changes that would go through are those that would be equally benefit all users. And thus, it is more or less impossible for anyone to change the function of Bitcoin to their advantage. If users don't like the changes, they won't adopt them, whereas if users do like them, then these will help everyone equally. Of course, one can conceive of a situation where someone manages to get a change pushed through that provides them with an advantage that no one notices, but given that Bitcoin is structurally relatively simple, it is unlikely that any major changes will go through without someone noticing first. The fact that such changes are so difficult to make testifies to the fully distributed nature of Bitcoin. Any centrally controlled currency can be modified by its central agency without the consent of its adherents. Bitcoin has no central authority, so it changes only at the behest of the whole community. Bitcoins development represents a kind of collective evolution; the first of its kind among currencies." https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ
- moe 12y ago
  I'm sorry but everything you wrote is wrong. the Bitcoin hash function doesn't change, can't change Of course it can be changed with a client update, like everything else about bitcoin. SHA256 is getting weaker proportional to all power in the world I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean... the largest mining pool has been large enough to carry out 51% attacks for a while now There is currently no pool anywhere near 51%; https://blockchain.info/pools https://blockchain.info/pools Battery technology hasn't gotten appreciably better in a decade Li-Ion battery capacity has been improved by 20% last year; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#From_commercial_introduction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#From_commer...

by moe 12y ago

XorNot 12y ago

Because the Bitcoin hash function doesn't change, can't change, without effectively wiping out Bitcoin. Which is a bad thing for a currency in general. Which means SHA256 is getting weaker proportional to all power in the world - since confidence in Bitcoin depends on the idea that it can't break - not that "only people using it can't break it". Of course, this is already true anyway - the largest mining pool has been large enough to carry out 51% attacks for a while now, even before it was shown you could do it with much less power. >Likely in the same way as your current multi-core smartphone? Battery technology hasn't gotten appreciably better in a decade. And even if you could get enough power, how do you handle the heat? And even assuming all that...you then run into the problem above. The power of every other computer in the world will be a lot higher.

grubles 12y ago
Bitcoin can change, but it's up to the people who use bitcoin to accept or reject said change. From the bitcoin FAQ: "Could miners fundamentally change the nature of Bitcoin? Once again, almost certainly not. Bitcoin is a distributed network, so any changes implemented to the system must be accepted by all users. Someone trying to change the way Bitcoins are generated would have to convince every user to download and use their software – so the only changes that would go through are those that would be equally benefit all users. And thus, it is more or less impossible for anyone to change the function of Bitcoin to their advantage. If users don't like the changes, they won't adopt them, whereas if users do like them, then these will help everyone equally. Of course, one can conceive of a situation where someone manages to get a change pushed through that provides them with an advantage that no one notices, but given that Bitcoin is structurally relatively simple, it is unlikely that any major changes will go through without someone noticing first. The fact that such changes are so difficult to make testifies to the fully distributed nature of Bitcoin. Any centrally controlled currency can be modified by its central agency without the consent of its adherents. Bitcoin has no central authority, so it changes only at the behest of the whole community. Bitcoins development represents a kind of collective evolution; the first of its kind among currencies." https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/FAQ
moe 12y ago
I'm sorry but everything you wrote is wrong. the Bitcoin hash function doesn't change, can't change Of course it can be changed with a client update, like everything else about bitcoin. SHA256 is getting weaker proportional to all power in the world I'm not even sure what that is supposed to mean... the largest mining pool has been large enough to carry out 51% attacks for a while now There is currently no pool anywhere near 51%; https://blockchain.info/pools https://blockchain.info/pools Battery technology hasn't gotten appreciably better in a decade Li-Ion battery capacity has been improved by 20% last year; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#From_commercial_introduction http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery#From_commer...