[NetBehaviour] bitcoin power (from Michel Bauwens, G+)

[Alan Sondheim]

And what will happen to the power grid?

This may seem of small consequence, but, say, the foreclosure crisis in 
the U.S. wrecked a huge number of lives, and I keep thinking about the 
South Sea Bubble and Tulip Mania. But those examples might be way off the 
mark. -

On Mon, 27 Nov 2017, Pall Thayer via NetBehaviour wrote:

> That's a good question, Jaka. Rob, how will miners be rewarded once all of
> the coins have been mined?
> 
> On Mon, Nov 27, 2017 at 3:20 AM Jaka ?eleznikar <jaka at jaka.org> wrote:
>
>       I'm not properly acquainted too - how the security of the
>       Bitcoin
>       network will be achieved once all the Bitcoins are "mined"?
>
>       best, Jaka
>
>       On 27. 11. 2017 04:56, Rob Myers wrote:
>       > On 26/11/17 05:06 PM, Alan Sondheim wrote:
>       >> https://powercompare.co.uk/bitcoin/
>       >>
>       >> One question, why does it take so much power?
>       > Security.
>       >
>       > "Miners" are machines that compete to be rewarded in Bitcoin
>       for
>       > securing the Bitcoin network. They do this by gathering up
>       transactions
>       > broadcast to the network every ten minutes or so into blocks,
>       making
>       > sure they all follow the rules of the system, then solving a
>       difficult
>       > mathematical puzzle to prove their good faith.
>       >
>       > The difficulty of that puzzle is set by an algorithm that
>       measures the
>       > average time of the last two weeks worth of blocks, and tries
>       to ensure
>       > that it will average out to ten minutes over the next two.
>       >
>       > Because Bitcoin has value, people compete for the block
>       rewards. Lots of
>       > people. Lots and lots and lots of people. With lots and lots
>       and lots
>       > and lots of ever more specialized computers. This means that
>       the
>       > difficulty algorithm keeps making the puzzle more difficult.
>       And so it
>       > takes more computing power to solve it. Which takes more
>       energy.
>       >
>       > This is the "proof of work" system. It is not a waste of
>       electricity, it
>       > is the cost of securing the network.
>       >
>       > It is possible to try to create proof of work algorithms that
>       are more
>       > energy efficient. Or to use different security systems
>       altogether, for
>       > example "proof of stake", that use much less energy.
>       >
>       > But these are currently less popular than Bitcoin. So if
>       people are
>       > worried about blockchain energy usage they should make sure to
>       use
>       > hydro-electric or solar power for mining. ;-)
>       >
>       >> Excuse my ignorance.
>       > No it's weird. It's an effect of the key technological
>       breakthrough of
>       > Bitcoin: cheating and using economic incentives to solve a
>       computer
>       > science problem.
>       >
>       >> And do you think this will affect future value?
>       > It secures that future value.
>       >
>       > There was a hilarious article that extended the Bitcoin energy
>       > consumption curve to show that in a couple of years it will
>       consume all
>       > the energy on the planet.
>       >
>       > If that happens its value will be absolute for a single moment
>       before
>       > the economy and human society collapses...
>       >
>       > - Rob.
>       > _______________________________________________
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>       > NetBehaviour at lists.netbehaviour.org
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>
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> 
> --
> P Thayer, Artist
> http://pallthayer.dyndns.org
> 
>

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