Bitcoins - digital currency

I don't know much about nothing but this seems like a great time to buy Bitcoins.

Every day there are new developments in the consequences of that energy usage.

3-4 weeks ago, Jamaica had hurricane Melissa whose financial damages were equivalent to 40% of its GDP.

Early in the year we had a $70B firestorm in SoCal.

If you think BTC is going to survive being an accessory to that kind of damage ..... you're entitled to your opinion. I came here to encourage people to look at the bigger picture context of BTC's pro's and con's and consider getting out before it potentially gets banned by people who take ownership of planetary chemistry.

Ah yes, I'm sure man-induced climate change will finally be taken seriously by the decision makers of the world, and the energy usage of Bitcoin's network will be their first target.

Or probably not, as world governments and the wealthiest of individuals continue to accumulate BTC.

Nothing compares to the vanity and arrogance of the wealthy. Maybe you should read about what happened to the Russian czars, Marie Antoinette and the slaveholders of the civil war.

Climate change will be taken seriously. Perhaps too late.

And Bitcoin is an easy target ..... if you get rid of it, nothing changes in the world at large. $500B in market cap has disappeared since early October and the world isn't blinking. Another $1.7T and the world will keep humming along. Only 1% - 1.5% of the global population owns any and they obviously have excess money to burn.

The entire global energy consumption of Bitcoin is akin to about 2.5-3 large AI datacenters while encompassing 3 trillion dollars

Do you have math to support that ? Not saying that you're wrong .... but BTC is close to 0.5% of global carbon emissions .... so it feels wrong on the surface.

And it remains to be seen how profitable those data centers will be and whether they will be subject to the same kind of future trimming that I forecast for BTC.

Just let us know once you're finally correct. But we'll all keep living in reality while you live in theory.

I'm sure you can easily Google for the comparison.

But to correct your BTC figure, it's .5% of the world's electricity but around .1% of the global carbon emissions.

It's kinda interesting ...... as a person who adheres to the scientific method ...... I think science is the best informer of reality. History tells us a lot as well.

I think the chemical distribution between Earth atmosphere, waterways and crust and the impact of that distribution is real. I think our success as a civilization has been completely based upon our ability to expand the food supply.

When climate change starts to shrink the supply of food and water and habitable space .... that's my opinion of something real.

What is bitcoin ? It's an idea. Another form of currency in a world awash with different types of currency. Turn off the electricity and it disappears.

You can't eat it. You can't use it to build a house or mine it to build a transistor or a battery. To me, BTC is the epitome of not real and hence of no intrinsic value.

Gold is real ..... you can touch it and make things with it. It hasn't cratered in value.

I don't think any more discussion of this is productive. I have made my point and we will all have the opportunity to see what role BTC plays in the future of human civilization.

Turn off the electricity and my computer becomes worthless as well, but while the electricity is still going I will continue to find value in my computer.

I'm ready to buy more Bitcoin once it gets to $46,500. Not sure if it'll get that low, but if not, that's okay.

A computer is real. It replaced the need for much paper and handwriting. It makes mass distribution of information much easier.

It is a primary vehicle for human communication. It is a wonderful storage device. It has great capacity for calculations.

What did Bitcoin do for the world ?

Napster was so unreal and valueless , billions of dollars (which was a lot at the time) got spend by major corporations to close it for no reasons at all .

Audiogalaxy was miles better, doesn't get the mentions but its true and the lawsuits reflect it. It was more decentralised as well.

So when the world has wealthy bitcoiners, and the US govt decides it hates individuals who have bitcoin, then that will be the end of btc for individuals.

Good luck getting my keys.

All they have to do is make their own fed coin and make owning btc illegal. It probably won’t happen but it certainly could

Could they though?

lol fed coin

Fed coin CA?

I think it’s called Trump coin.

choose 1?

Let me know when you self-publish your fantasy novel; I want to leave a negative review on Amazon.

The stuff I write about isn't fantasy. Paleoclimate reconstruction is mostly about data. Climate science is supported by an abundance of experimental data. The intersection of Earth systems and human systems is highly objective and manifests in data like property insurance rates.

Fantasy is the attribution of value to a phenomena like Bitcoin which exacerbates a tangible threat to human civilization while solving no significant problems. It's a passing fad in which 1% of the global population participates. Part of a much greater speculative orgy.

I suppose it's tough for poker players to come up against nature. An opponent which never bluffs and always has the nuts. There's a recent meme which has become popular .... it's called f*** around and find out. Looks like that's what we're gonna do as a species. Unfortunately, there isn't a Planet B for those of us who want to opt out of the consequences. Nature is gonna punch us all.

Enjoy the orgy.