Pages:
Author

Topic: No coins generated in 708 hours, normal? (Read 7256 times)

legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1010
December 17, 2010, 11:07:11 PM
#33

Of course it doesn't have to be - but wouldn't a truly democratic currency require it to be fair?


No, it doesn't.  Monetary policy doesn't have to have an ideology.  Is it fair that you were born naked?

It is as long as everyone else is born naked.


Everyone starts off within the Bitcoin economy with the same amount, also.

Zero.

Quote


Then you get into the grey areas of if those who gave birth can afford to clothe me and fairness, morality, etc.


Those aren't grey areas.  They're called "life".

Quote
Quote
Quote
To me, ease of obtaining (or at least some path other than losing a large % of my "unconverted money" aka "real money" in order to obtain) is crucial here.


What is "real" money?  Have you ever held real money in your hand?  I would wager that you have not.


I see this sematic differentiation often  brought up but never fully resolved on the forums. Simply put, real money would be that which has value in my reality.

That is a definition that is entirely subjective, and relative to the observer.  It's entirely useless in any civic context.

It's also false by any accepted definition.

Quote
Quote
Quote
I think it would be a massive breakthrough if any reputable and legal credit card / currency conversion processor was effected by the bitcoin. I believe the next breakthrough in popularity will be any place that allows someone to buy into the system with their perceived "real money" effortlessly. Getting around a smaller fee by using this system and accruing a larger fee to convert currencies is undermining it to the ignorant/vaguely interested public (myself included!)

Then don't get involved, if it doesn't favor you.  It favors some, which is why it trades.


My statement is that it obviously doesn't favor anyone getting involved now,


That's not even true, much less obvious.  It may be true for you, but it probably isn't. You can't possibly know if it's true for anyone else, much less everyone else.
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1016
Strength in numbers
December 17, 2010, 06:18:27 PM
#32
Frott seem to think the success of bitcoin is inevitable or something.

Yes, but curiously the guaranteed riches do not seem to excite him.
legendary
Activity: 980
Merit: 1020
December 17, 2010, 06:15:52 PM
#31
Frott seem to think the success of bitcoin is inevitable or something.
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1016
Strength in numbers
December 17, 2010, 06:12:26 PM
#30
Frott, people who find out about bitcoin and start earning them 6 months from now are going to be early adopters from a wide perspective. If you think there is no risk being taken by amassing coins then you should be glad at this opportunity.
legendary
Activity: 980
Merit: 1020
December 17, 2010, 04:55:35 PM
#29

Seems very simple and clear to me.

I don't see why there's a need for the mining operation in order for the decentralization p2p concept to work. you can still remove (some of) the (perhaps corrupt) 3rd parties and lower costs via this system.

To extend your metaphor, the way "monopoly money" was printed was if you used the special monopoly money printer, and there were various rules to that output that a few in that town began. They want me to exchange $10 for $50 or I could borrow their machine except now millions of others are using it and we all split it every time we turn the crank once.


This is complete utter nonsense if the system works as designed. Satoshi designed it that way. There's also no currying of favors here, at least as far as I know.

Also, block generators serve an important purpose in the bitcoin economy, such as securing the integrity and as well processing transactions. They need incentives to do it.
legendary
Activity: 980
Merit: 1020
December 17, 2010, 04:48:14 PM
#28
In the first response you seem to validate money monopoly of early adopters because of some sort of "grand risk / effort" which is always laid bare on the soulful sleeves of those fortunate enough to luck into that position, but in the second response you state the governance of such monopolies are the core issue.

Do you believe capitalism can exist without regulation? I don't, and I see the government and management of the money as a natural outgrowth, aka, the laws behind posting "beware of scammer" blog lists.

The core understanding of libertarianism is that the government is a monopoly by force, and of force. It is the initiation of aggression that is the issue here.

One could of course have a natural monopoly in a free market, but this isn't the same as hiring people with guns to enforce position in the market against all future and current competitors.

With governments, they do not provide the rule of laws, but unpredictability.

Here, we have a protocol that enforce a kind of rule of law. Violence on the internet is almost impossible by the virtue of actors being distributed far away, and the protocol provide a ruleset that is very clear in how it operate and completely predictable in its outcome. (21 million bitcoin, irreversible transactions, and so on)

That is not simply possible with a democratic legislative process that care about everything in your life and wish to dictate rules on things that they don't know anything about, or their mind is tied to the fickle emotions of democracy.
legendary
Activity: 1386
Merit: 1097
December 17, 2010, 05:17:34 AM
#27
If I want to acquire 1g of gold, there are several ways I could go about this.

Excellent! I lived for few months with Bitcoin without single bitcoin mined. Agree that mining is just part of whole idea, exactly like in real-world gold. I don't know why people are angry when somebody invest large amount of $$$ and start mining itself. Everybody can do that!

And I'm doing that because I'm geek and it is fun for me, not because of whole financial reward (by the way, my investments will be back maybe after half an year, which is my personal risk and mining reward so-so cover it). But if you are not interested in programming and hacking, simply buy bitcoins on market. It is faster and cheaper (because you don't take any risk of investment).

legendary
Activity: 1106
Merit: 1004
December 17, 2010, 03:30:46 AM
#26
Of course it doesn't have to be - but wouldn't a truly democratic currency require it to be fair?

Fairness and democracy have nothing to do with one another.
It's fair if you are rewarded proportionally to what you contribute. The more hashing power you add to the chain, the more you contribute, and the more you are rewarded. This is fair.

Why mimic the core issue with capitalism when denouncing so many of the corrupt residues of it?

What are you talking about? There's no "core issue" with capitalism being denounced here. There's a core with issue with governments (money monopoly, central banking..), which bitcoins are designed to bypass.

AKA why the hell is there this romanticizing of the unfair plundering of natural resource by generally greed-driven and corrupt individuals?

Oh boy, we're dealing with a watermelon here...

Why should I be thankful? I am still not grasping how the exclusivity benefits the market at all, and the deterrence here is someone was able to "mine relatively free coins at a fraction of my current cost and time spent mining" can use bitcoin as a currency in and of itself, where I don't have the convenience of "convert some % of electricity/computer/programming efforts" into coins.

It's not free, and you do have the convenience, just buy GPUs and install the proper software.

I think it would be a massive breakthrough if any reputable and legal credit card / currency conversion processor was effected by the bitcoin. I believe the next breakthrough in popularity will be any place that allows someone to buy into the system with their perceived "real money" effortlessly. Getting around a smaller fee by using this system and accruing a larger fee to convert currencies is undermining it to the ignorant/vaguely interested public (myself included!)

There are many people trying to establish such services, it's just not easy, due to credit card charge backs.
There is one service where you can buy bitcoins with an US credit card. They perform several checks on your identity before allowing you to buy.
legendary
Activity: 1246
Merit: 1016
Strength in numbers
December 17, 2010, 01:57:53 AM
#25

Update: Currently there are 5 million bitcoins, with an exchange rate of $0.25. Clearly there is hording, artificially raising the price of a bitcoin. Classic pump and dump.

Might we get a definition of hoarding? And some examples of currencies that aren't hoarded and/or are a classic pump and dump? I'd like to understand where you are coming from.
newbie
Activity: 4
Merit: 0
December 16, 2010, 03:08:10 PM
#24
Frost, the reason gold is valued is not because it is useful but because others value it. The reason gold can take this role is because it is rare.

Currencies like the US dollar were valued because they were backed by gold. However after the gold standard was abandoned, the US dollar was still valuable because others valued it. The rarity of the US dollar is managed by a central source, the government.

Bitcoin is trying to provide an electronic decentralized version of the US dollar. Its rarity maintained by the increasing difficulty of creating a bitcoin.

The people who helped create the currency (the early adopters) were able to print money like the government. It may benefit them enormously but rarely are things equal (the world isnt fair, get over it).

The issue for you is that bitcoins may never be valued by other at all. Right now using bitcoins is like walking into a town that uses monopoly money and tries to convince you to convert at an exchange rate of $10 US for $50 Monopoly. In this analogy the early adopters would have warehouses of monopoly money, just hoping it catches on.

Update: Currently there are 5 million bitcoins, with an exchange rate of $0.25. Clearly there is hording, artificially raising the price of a bitcoin. Classic pump and dump.
legendary
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1010
December 16, 2010, 02:35:33 PM
#23
Of course it doesn't have to be - but wouldn't a truly democratic currency require it to be fair?


No, it doesn't.  Monetary policy doesn't have to have an ideology.  Is it fair that you were born naked?

Quote


Why mimic the core issue with capitalism when denouncing so many of the corrupt residues of it?


I don't think that you are going to like it here.

Quote

Obviously I believe THEY Should be thankful that they were able to convert those resources into something that essentially adds value to this currency.



I'm certain that most are very thankful.

Quote
To me, ease of obtaining (or at least some path other than losing a large % of my "unconverted money" aka "real money" in order to obtain) is crucial here.


What is "real" money?  Have you ever held real money in your hand?  I would wager that you have not.

Quote


I think it would be a massive breakthrough if any reputable and legal credit card / currency conversion processor was effected by the bitcoin. I believe the next breakthrough in popularity will be any place that allows someone to buy into the system with their perceived "real money" effortlessly. Getting around a smaller fee by using this system and accruing a larger fee to convert currencies is undermining it to the ignorant/vaguely interested public (myself included!)

Then don't get involved, if it doesn't favor you.  It favors some, which is why it trades.
hero member
Activity: 532
Merit: 505
December 16, 2010, 12:58:46 PM
#22
Quote
how the exclusivity benefits the market at all
there's no such thing as exclusivity,
anyone, yes, you too, is able to buy some decent hardware and start mining immediately.
i myself just ordered a new gfx-cad today only for the good of the bitcoin-network (and maybe, if i'm lucky, some coins for myself).

Quote
if anyone who created a new bitcoin account was given 100 bitcoins
and how would you tell, if that person has an "account" and got his 100btc already, or not?
there's no way you can tell, how many bitcoin-clients i installed, should i get 100 for each instance?


and those "early adopters" took a high risk by investing (energy,time and money) early,
when they'v been able to generate the equivalent of hundreds, if not thousands of bitcoins, those coins had almost no value at all.

take your risk now (it's still high) and invest (in coins, or hardware+energy), or don't, but don't blame those who did and will do.
legendary
Activity: 980
Merit: 1020
December 16, 2010, 12:08:39 PM
#21

Bottomline is that I don't believe that someone who was able to generate the equivalent of hundreds, if not thousands of bitcoins (the equivalent of much $$$), is on the same footing as someone today and that undermines the democracy behind the beautiful underlying technology.

It's not a democracy, but an agreement!

I believe that a split network will continue to operate independently of one another.
donator
Activity: 826
Merit: 1060
December 16, 2010, 08:28:09 AM
#20
Option 2) might be the most fun though.
legendary
Activity: 938
Merit: 1001
bitcoin - the aerogel of money
December 16, 2010, 08:04:12 AM
#19
Ok, here is my controversial opinion on this:

Casual Bitcoin users should not be encouraged to do any mining at all.

They are wasting their time.

Leave the mining to the experts.

Mining is an essential aspect of Bitcoin. That does not mean it's the most useful or even  interesting aspect  for the majority of users.  

Newcomers always seem to get fixated on the (relatively minor) mining aspect, and this distracts from what Bitcoin is really about, an exchange tool. I feel that if all this effort, time, and passion that so many newcomers devote to mining, was devoted to improving the exchangeability of Bitcoin instead, this project would be a lot more successful by now.



If I want to acquire 1g of gold, there are several ways I could go about this.

1) I could head to the mountains with a gold pan and wade in the river all day every day, and after half a year of panning I would find a nugget (if I am lucky).

2) I could join a collective of 100 panners and head to the mountains for just a weekend. Then whoever is lucky enough to find a nugget agrees to divide it equally amoung the other 99 panners.

3) I could do what I am good at, be it programming or hairdressing, for a few hours, earn some money and then invest in a professional mining company that sends its heavy machinery capable of extracting thousands of nuggets per day.

4) I could buy the gold from someone who already owns some.


Anyone who did 1) IRL would be considered nuts, unless it's purely a hobby that they genuinely enjoy. But that is a good analogy of what you are doing when you attempt to mine Bitcoins with a CPU.

Option 2) would be considered slighly less nuts IRL, yet still highly inefficient and silly to say the least. But that is essentially what a pooled mining effort is.

Option 3) is smarter but still too cumbersome for a casual gold user because it requires detailed industry knowledge and investing experience, and because you have to wait until you get your gold.

Option 4) is by far the most sensible choice for the majority of people.

Want some Bitcoins? Trade them! That's what Bitcoins are for.
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1008
1davout
December 16, 2010, 06:33:59 AM
#18
It is not free to generate a bitcoin.

Of course not.

One of the main deterring qualities to this entire concept is the notion that someone who as in on it during early stages had low difficulty and massed crazy multiples of coins every day.

You're telling a new adopter that they generate the currency "probably never" yet they should just convert currencies to use bitcoin.
Meanwhile someone else didn't have to convert anything to be sitting on a pile of bitcoins for a relatively tiny fraction of expense.

I'm excited about the transactional ramifications of this theory, less so about the currency itself when considering the massive wealth generated by those aware of this early on.

The same is valid for gold mining, early birds got to mine big amounts easily.
Putting coins into circulation doesn't have to be "fair".

Except you're essentially buying them from someone who has generated money and gotten rich. Looking at threads of people paying 10,000 for pizzas which is now worth 200, and claims of "generating thousands a day" are more than disheartening when you're looking at years to be able to buy that same pizza for essentially massive multiples of the cost.

People who are still massively generating invested money into hardware and man-hours into converting the CPU miner to a GPU miner, you should be thankful to these people that they shared the GPU mining code for free.

I've looked into this and the conversion rates and profiteering are laughable? What am I missing, as converting currency seems to involve massive losses.

Conversion fees are market-regulated and are bound to go down.
full member
Activity: 215
Merit: 100
Shamantastic!
December 16, 2010, 06:20:56 AM
#17
Has anyone tried a N580GTX with CLMiner? Fermi was supposed to be the cat of Nvidia. Let me know.
legendary
Activity: 1470
Merit: 1006
Bringing Legendary Har® to you since 1952
December 14, 2010, 02:54:33 PM
#16
Oh, mine is running for ~1400 khash/s, several orders of magnitude slower than your systems. I thought I could spare a laptop crunching some numbers since it doesn't draw a lot of electricity. But dedicating a power consuming gfx card for the crunching would lead to a noticeable cost. So I'm out for now and wish you good luck with your crunching. Perhaps I'll use your monetary system some time in the future though, even if not generating any new coins personally. Thanks for your explanations!


The idea of bitcoin is not to generate money and get rich... if you want to use bitcoins you can just buy them, like you buy currency on paypal or any other online system

....or you can simply use bitcoin for money transfers worldwide.
legendary
Activity: 1937
Merit: 1001
December 14, 2010, 01:21:32 PM
#15
Oh, mine is running for ~1400 khash/s, several orders of magnitude slower than your systems. I thought I could spare a laptop crunching some numbers since it doesn't draw a lot of electricity. But dedicating a power consuming gfx card for the crunching would lead to a noticeable cost. So I'm out for now and wish you good luck with your crunching. Perhaps I'll use your monetary system some time in the future though, even if not generating any new coins personally. Thanks for your explanations!


The idea of bitcoin is not to generate money and get rich... if you want to use bitcoins you can just buy them, like you buy currency on paypal or any other online system
newbie
Activity: 32
Merit: 0
December 11, 2010, 07:38:36 PM
#14
Oh, mine is running for ~1400 khash/s, several orders of magnitude slower than your systems. I thought I could spare a laptop crunching some numbers since it doesn't draw a lot of electricity. But dedicating a power consuming gfx card for the crunching would lead to a noticeable cost. So I'm out for now and wish you good luck with your crunching. Perhaps I'll use your monetary system some time in the future though, even if not generating any new coins personally. Thanks for your explanations!
Pages:
Jump to: