The problem I have tearing crypto apart is that I don’t really understand it technically at all detailed level. My objections are all philosophical. It uses up a ton of energy so people can speculate and do arbitrage. How is that worth it? I’ve used it to pay journalists in Afghanistan and appreciate that but I’d rather all this energy be spent ending sanctions. What am I missing?

I’ve been researching ‘data warming’ for years, including blockchains.

Bitcoin’s PoW energy use is rising, while Ethereum’s switch to PoS cut its energy use by 99.9% which is a win worth celebrating

Energy use in digital systems is a real issue, but it feels like it's been overhyped for blockchains and embedded itself into the psyche of the public. Meanwhile AI and other computing face little scrutiny.

Makes you wonder why?

Researcher at MIT Media Lab | Creating futures | https://cyrus.website/info

i think it's one of the few "tangible" things most people can understand about crypto. especially without diving any deeper its easy to come to the narrative that it's "cash that burns tons of energy constantly"

whereas AI uses a lot of energy, but the output and other effects (ex: job augmentation/replacement for writers/artists/eng/etc) is even more tangible and interesting for people

clanking professionally | bc skier | surfer | baker

which i do think is genuinely challenging (and important) - though traditional finance isn't even that tangible. arguably there's even pressure for tradfi to be less tangible as it creates a barrier to entry and creates a reason to pay people to manage your money

that's a decent rationale around trying to make these immaterial digital things tangible ...