Capitalism in raw essence

[Gary Childress]

Turning carbon fuel into bitcoins. And who is benefitting?

https://thebulletin.org/2023/08/scrap-s ... n_08232023

[Gary Childress]

The Bottom Line
Bitcoin mining is an energy-intensive process with customized mining systems that compete to solve a cryptographic problem. The Bitcoin mining process also confirms transactions on the cryptocurrency's network and makes them trustworthy. As an incentive to participate in the process, bitcoin is rewarded to those that win the competition.
Though individual miners using desktop systems played a role during the cryptocurrency's early days, the Bitcoin mining ecosystem is dominated by large mining companies that run mining pools spread across many geographies. Bitcoin mining is also controversial because it uses astronomical amounts of energy.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bitcoin-mining.asp

The price of greed?

[Gary Childress]

"Astronomical amounts of energy" producing what? Food? Clothing? Shelter? Or just producing calculations for calculation's sake?

[Gary Childress]

If killing people were converted into a monetary figure, and turned into a means of exchange, what would be the going market rate for a dead body? Any guesses? I suppose some genius could start by measuring the wealth and output of the arms industries around the world and put it against the "opportunity cost" of what could have been invested into farming or something and come up with a rough figure of how much investors invest and reap for dead bodies, perhaps? I once asked the dean of the George Mason Economics department (If I recall, Dr. Bloch was his name [pronounced block as in blockhead) what is the value of moral acts alone. He stated that he did not "believe" in morality. Is that not the mantra of "stock markets" when left to their own devices?

[Constantine]

We need to materially learn how to make hard, complex calculations. Running a simulated world- thr kind people debate if we are in a simulation of, requires a high amount of computational power. The engineering doesn't come cheap. I think bitcoin is bullshit, and the market had largely collapsed for it, but if people want to do it, we have potential uses for it. That's the ancestor for the hardware that will allow scans of human neurology to be downloaded and simulate a deceased or brain dead person's consciousness- useful in the emergency room. That's the tech that's the ancestor to deeply detailed simulations of stars exploding, or of advanced biochemistry mapping programs to quickly develop a vaccine to a nasty disease.

It exists in the first place due to fear and paranoia about fiat currency by people not oriented towards precious metals or diamonds or art. So I take it as a therapeutic remedy to populations in countries like China fearful of their state's control of the currency. It's a cheap alternative to martial revolution. If you take too much from a population they can freak out and revolt. I myself won't touch bitcoin as at the end, they are always fake as shit, not of intrinsic value like solid gold that can make a good conductor, nor backed by a national government. Just phantom promises. I'd avoid it short of a short term trade windfall and even then I would be concerned about furthering a mafia's transaction in ignorance. So likely never will touch the shit. But yeah.... the tech has real benefits. Forces engineering solutions in our computer hardware. Good potential.

[Gary Childress]

We need to materially learn how to make hard, complex calculations. Running a simulated world- thr kind people debate if we are in a simulation of, requires a high amount of computational power. The engineering doesn't come cheap. I think bitcoin is bullshit, and the market had largely collapsed for it, but if people want to do it, we have potential uses for it. That's the ancestor for the hardware that will allow scans of human neurology to be downloaded and simulate a deceased or brain dead person's consciousness- useful in the emergency room. That's the tech that's the ancestor to deeply detailed simulations of stars exploding, or of advanced biochemistry mapping programs to quickly develop a vaccine to a nasty disease.

It exists in the first place due to fear and paranoia about fiat currency by people not oriented towards precious metals or diamonds or art. So I take it as a therapeutic remedy to populations in countries like China fearful of their state's control of the currency. It's a cheap alternative to martial revolution. If you take too much from a population they can freak out and revolt. I myself won't touch bitcoin as at the end, they are always fake as shit, not of intrinsic value like solid gold that can make a good conductor, nor backed by a national government. Just phantom promises. I'd avoid it short of a short term trade windfall and even then I would be concerned about furthering a mafia's transaction in ignorance. So likely never will touch the shit. But yeah.... the tech has real benefits. Forces engineering solutions in our computer hardware. Good potential.

Is it not more pragmatic to produce food, clothing, shelter, and research into environmentally sustainable practices? What is the purpose of preserving peoples' knowledge in a computer if they are no longer alive? what knowledge do those people have that no one else can figure out on their own?

Is this what we're really investing "Astronomical amounts of energy" into producing?

[Constantine]

As far as producing food (or organs and neural networks), we may need advanced carbon based CPUs if we need to not only say, grow a leg of beef or leg of man to replace his lost leg, having the CPUs do the work of a brain.

We may also need that high level of calculation in micro surgery treating traumas like extreme burns, lung cirrhosis or brain surgery. I'm talking millions of nanobots acting under bluetooth or chemical cues to do specifics tasks in small spaces.

Basically I don't want a fucked up future that lacks futuristic miracles all because Amish Gary doesn't understand trains when a horse is good enough. Train lead to cars, telegraphs, planes, phones, movies, etc. The ability to calculate artificially is as innovative as the train in its potential to unleash other techs upon us.

[Gary Childress]

As far as producing food (or organs and neural networks), we may need advanced carbon based CPUs if we need to not only say, grow a leg of beef or leg of man to replace his lost leg, having the CPUs do the work of a brain.

We may also need that high level of calculation in micro surgery treating traumas like extreme burns, lung cirrhosis or brain surgery. I'm talking millions of nanobots acting under bluetooth or chemical cues to do specifics tasks in small spaces.

Basically I don't want a fucked up future that lacks futuristic miracles all because Amish Gary doesn't understand trains when a horse is good enough. Train lead to cars, telegraphs, planes, phones, movies, etc. The ability to calculate artificially is as innovative as the train in its potential to unleash other techs upon us.

Fair enough. Are you suggesting in that case that global climate change is not the result of burning materials that release environmentally lethal substances into the atmoshphere? Are you suggesting that our current practices are environmentally sustainable? Are you suggesting that we are NOT on a tragectory of environmental self destruction?

I suggest that preserving "consciousness" in a machine is not helping any living being on Earth if it comes at the expense of rendering Earth uninhabitable at a faster pace than it would otherwise occur eventually if or when whatever cataclysm perhaps destroys the planet.

[wtf]

"Astronomical amounts of energy" producing what? Food? Clothing? Shelter? Or just producing calculations for calculation's sake?

For sake of conversation, how much energy is consumed running the Visa and MasterCard networks? Those are the real electronic money.

[Gary Childress]

"Astronomical amounts of energy" producing what? Food? Clothing? Shelter? Or just producing calculations for calculation's sake?

For sake of conversation, how much energy is consumed running the Visa and MasterCard networks? Those are the real electronic money.

Valid question. How much energy does it take and is one network more environmentally sustainable than the other. Or is environmental destruction a great lie being foisted on humanity by liars or else misguided people?

[promethean75]

https://www.digitalinformationworld.com ... c.html?m=1

Sure u can wonder if there is a better, cleaner, more efficient way to produce the energy required to run these information systems... but remember these networks are exchange mediums where real, tangible wealth is generated, traded, bought and sold as a result. So they are incredibly productive and u shouldn't want to criticize them... rather the types of energy and the means of energy production should be the issue of concern.

We are not going back to using bouillon cubes as currency, Gary, so get used to cryptocurrency. And we don't want any peace either. We want war. Read Mussolini and get your virtu in order. We leave in the morning.

[Gary Childress]

https://www.digitalinformationworld.com ... c.html?m=1

Sure u can wonder if there is a better, cleaner, more efficient way to produce the energy required to run these information systems... but remember these networks are exchange mediums where real, tangible wealth is generated, traded, bought and sold as a result. So they are incredibly productive and u shouldn't want to criticize them... rather the types of energy and the means of energy production should be the issue of concern.

We are not going back to using bouillon cubes as currency, Gary, so get used to cryptocurrency. And we don't want any peace either. We want war. Read Mussolini and get your virtu in order. We leave in the morning.

Ok.