zlacker

$42 million of real people’s money was lost. That’s a net negative to society whether or not it shows up on a balance sheet.

>>okwubo+(OP)
Sure but as long as they (the VC) are shielded from liability, it's not their problem. Society is something other folk can worry about. And if things get really bad, then a quick essay on lessons learnt, we should all move on, etc.

>>okwubo+(OP)
It wasn’t lost, it went from one crypto idiot to another crypto idiot.

>>monkey+C
> Society is something other folk can worry about.

The main problem with capitalism in one handy sentence.

>>okwubo+(OP)
The money changed hands... from people gambling on financial instruments to other people who are probably also gambling on financial instruments. Significant real value was only destroyed forever if the underlying tech for this is based on proof of work. Mining bitcoin destroys an enormous amount of ~real value, and nobody who cares about the advancement of society should touch it. Proof of work crypto mining is something we can and should just ban as a society the same way we ban watering lawns with drinking water in the middle of a drought.

>>drewm1+f2
It's a great analogy because:

Banning watering gardens is exactly as dumb as banning proof of work. The vast majority of water wastage occurs irrigating farms supporting crops that are unsuitable for that area.

A solar panel connected to a coin miner is only doing good in the world. Where is the negative? You sure it's the mining that is the bad thing and not the dirty energy?

>>onetho+K4
> Where is the negative?

For one, you are wasting a solar panel that could be offsetting more positive energy usage. And building both the solar panel and the miner is far from emission-free.

>>sylvin+e7
Wasting a solar panel? Do you think a beach is a waste of silicon?

Building a solar panel and a gpu (say) is not emission free? Because they require energy to refine and manufacture. So we are still back to the fact the issue is with the energy generation. Right?

>>onetho+K4
The problem is that you need an entire supply chain and manufacturing to provide you with your solar panel and gpu.

We are mobilizing all these resources and manufacturing capacity to do what? Run infinite loops on a useless program?

Meanwhile at my lab that works on bio simulations they could not find gpus to do their research.

>>whatev+49
I really don’t understand this line of thinking.

Are gamers just running useless programs too?

We mobilise resources for whatever people want to pay for… “why” they want to spend their money on that has never been an issue.

Is Gucci wasting leather that could otherwise be used to make school shoes? Ban Gucci!

>>onetho+va
If gamers were swarming overnight* everything on the market like consumer, professional, server grade gpus then yes it would be problematic for the society.

* and also dumping them all together overnight

>>ramraj+M
Arguably the second one is not an idiot. Or at least not as much.

>>monkey+C
yeh I doing think most of these people believe in something called society

>>okwubo+(OP)
So?

>>drewm1+f2
> Significant real value was only destroyed forever if the underlying tech for this is based on proof of work.

Terra is a proof-of-stake blockchain

>>ramraj+M
No, it's even worse, it went from one idiot to a scam artist that will use the money to build more scams.