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Comment by aeternum | Hacker News Reader

The increased electricity demand may drive research funding resulting in more efficient energy production.

LOL. Sure, but that is only being done because bitcoin gobbled up all the electricity that could have been used doing useful things like running data centers, smelting aluminum, air conditioning homes, etc.

Bitcoin is a drain on the electrical system. You are basically arguing that it is okay to litter because it will create jobs and spawn new anti-litter technology.

Doesn’t work that way, sorry.

I'll shutdown my bitcoin mining operation if you shutdown your AC. I find 21c living to be incredibly wasteful and a luxury only offered to those blessed to be born in the first world.

This type of argument goes nowhere fast.

Of course I can see. People’s sense of entitlement means we are all doomed. Mass extinction is always someone else’s fault, not my problem.

Please turn off your computer. You're wasting watts shaming first world folk. Go convince the 3rd world to stop burning trash and making babies. Oh, right - they'll stop by themselves when they reach your level of wealth.

That electricity could not always have been used to smelt aluminium or whatever else you suggest. Some of that power is hydro based and cannot travel a significant distance. You can move bitcoin mining equipment closer to power sources much more easily than you can move an aluminium furnace and supporting infrastructure.

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