[kwlug-disc] Peak crypto?

[Chris Frey]

On Wed, Jan 19, 2022 at 04:52:11PM -0500, Khalid Baheyeldin wrote:
> Here is a coal plant that is just for Bitcoin, running on natural gas
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFrFsAAzRYg
> 
> And here are a couple of videos about Bitcoin's "energy use is benign" meme
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq96L30SK6I
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNGwQhXfB88

Thanks for the links.

On one hand, the apparent "waste" does bother me.  Bitcoin looks like waste
to me, and somehow it doesn't sit right.  I don't know why.  I've
tried to figure out why, but I mostly just end up with a sense of unease
and distrust, although that distrust slowly fades the more years that
Bitcoin survives.  It's because of this unease that I haven't participated
in Bitcoin.  I see it as a partially baked solution.

On the other hand, videos by naysayers also bother me.  It looks a lot
like people on the sidelines pointing at problems and expecting other
people to fix them.  The problems they see are actually opportunities,
but they aren't doing anything with those opportunities.  The Bitcoin
people are taking action to solve the problems they see as real,
which earns my respect, even though they may be misguided.

On the third hand (ha) I start to wonder why there is a growing
condemnation of Bitcoin's power usage in particular, especially when
governments are exploring their own digital currencies.  Perhaps
official digital coins will solve the power problems, but will they
solve the original problems Bitcoin set out to fix?  I have my doubts.

Perhaps it doesn't matter, with centralized web2 solutions built on top
of it all, leaving only the dedicated, technical few to benefit from
Bitcoin's decentralization.

- Chris