Topic: Bitcoin computational power and problem solving (Read 208 times)

No, I don't think your suggestion can be rubbish as that can have of some value too. Maybe this can be taken up by some people who are very much involved with bitcoin and its processes. Indeed, if the same hashing power can also be used with other worthwhile cause then bitcoin as an ecosystem can be more valuable and can be serving humanity more most especially that it is taking a chunk of electricity to run the whole thing. I am hoping that somebody can propose this or if the idea had already brought out sometime then maybe it can be re-examine to see if integration can be possible. Now, am not really an expert on bitcoin but I do agree with what you mean.

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Sure the power is used for nothing except securing the network which is why some peopl suggest protocols other than PoW.
these PoW concepts that the power is used for solving something actually real world, there's plenty of these cryptos around..

but in the end, maybe it's necessary that these computations are "useless", only monetary gain?
because an unbreakable economical system that can't be abused etc is invaluable

In my understanding (forgive me if i'm wrong) Bitcoin uses hash power to create SHA-256 algorithms thus creating more Bitcoins.
What bothers me from an economic perspective, is that we have right now 55 million tera-hash of computing power that are used to solve mathematic equations that are basically not used for anything else besides mining Bitcoin. Miners secure the network and create new bitcoins. In order to achieve this they solve a mathematical problem and chain together blocks of transactions. The problem here is that this mathematical problem is of no use for anything else. It is just a process added into the system in order to help with mining, making it just a timer more or less.

My first thought when I started reading about Bitcoin a few years ago was that these equations were used by some institution for a greater scientific cause. I felt a little disappointed this didn't happen. Recently after talking with my colleagues about bitcoin and trying to explain how it was produced by miners using mining equipment like Antminers that consume electricity etc.. , most of them had the same question:
So these computations Bitcoin network is making are used by some university or government institution to help with solving some difficult problem or equation?

I think everyone of us had the same question. Even before Bitcoin was launched I remember SETI project had an app that could use your computer's idle power to provide results for their project. Other scientific projects have same apps as they are in need of running extremely difficult algorithms that demand computing power of a supercomputer, making this costly and also time and space consuming.

So my thought is that there has to be a way for Bitcoin algorithms to change and be of help for science sectors that demand a huge amount of processing power. This would actually be a second major breakthrough for Bitcoin as besides from solving the digital money problem, it could actually be used (in the form of renting it's network perhaps) for science projects that otherwise are stalled and left behind for decades. Space exploration, health sciences, physics, all sciences are in need of processing data faster than what they can do today, in order for humanity to progress further. It's just a thought but I still feel like we are missing out on a huge opportunity to prove that Bitcoin can become something more than a means of transactions, something that can affect every aspect of our lives. Implications on price would be extreme if a usage like that is implemented, as it would become an enhancing quality of Bitcoin.

Now this might sound rubbish to some people (perhaps that's the reason I didn't write about this thought earlier), but still I know how a business is run in order to create value. I think this could add value and more qualities for Bitcoin.

Perhaps someone already mentioned something like this post in Bitcointalk, although after doing a quick search I didn't find any relevant posts.