Re: [LINK] Bitcoin and global warming
Tom Worthington wrote: > Yes, I am going to put my "ICT Sustainability" class on to the job of > fixing Bitcoin, next semester at ANU: http://programsandcourses.anu. > edu.au/course/comp7310 There's a bit of a fundamental economic problem there, isn't there? Reducing the energy cost of a bitcoin (or the cost of energy) will result in more bitcoin production. The situation is inherently unstable under most scenarios. While bitcoins can be generated at a cost below their sale price it makes economic sense to devour arbitrary levels of resources to produce bitcoin. (The climate catastrophe scenario.) Two stable situations can exist. One is where the cost of new bitcoin is approximately equal to dollar cost of the energy required to produce bitcoin and a more-or-less classical price/demand curve matches the flow of cash from bitcoin speculators. (Here, the level of harm is dependent on the aggregate minds of the speculators.) The other one is where the dollar value of bitcoin reverts to its natural value ie zero, and bitcoin production stops. (The preferred option from an environmental damage perspective.) I'm expecting the second scenario to prevail sooner or later for basic economic reasons. However, I would be extremely foolish to bet on a cessation of human stupidity on any fixed time frame. It is possible that a hybrid solution might arise for a while, that electric heaters are converted to bitcoin generators. Jim ___ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
Re: [LINK] Bitcoin and global warming
On 13/12/17 15:16, Jim Birch wrote: ... Bitcoin mining requires a truly phenomenal amount of electricity... Yes, I am going to put my "ICT Sustainability" class on to the job of fixing Bitcoin, next semester at ANU: http://programsandcourses.anu.edu.au/course/comp7310 -- Tom Worthington, MEd, FHEA, FACS CP. http://www.tomw.net.au t +61(0)419496150 TomW Communications Pty Ltd. PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia Liability limited by a scheme approved under Prof. Standards Legislation Honorary Senior Lecturer, Computer Science, Australian National University https://cecs.anu.edu.au/research/profile/tom-worthington ___ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
