It's a catch 22. If the thing you use for money has another use, then it's wasted if it's used for money. If it doesn't have another use, then it "wastes" resources to produce and needs to if you don't want overproduction.
Money increases the efficiency of trade by eliminating the need for a double coincidence of wants. The energy consumed by the mining of bitcoins is more than recouped when the coins are used in trade over and over for years. Otherwise, you need huge government systems to prevent counterfeiting fiat or huge barter networks to find third fourth and fifth parties willing to trade stuff for the stuff you want to trade.
Topic: Something has to be wasted - page 2. (Read 2805 times)
I think I found a match of this two model!
In a deflation economy like bitcoin world, people waste lots of energies to produce the currency (thinking about how much electricity/computation power are wasted in the meaningless hash calculation to generate those coins)
In a inflation economy like the world we are living in, people waste lots of energies to produce the goods and service that no one is interested in(think about those projects never get any return, those business never get any customer, they are purely driven by enthusiasm)
So, something has to be wasted anyway, as long as there is a chanel for exhaust energies, the economy has some motivation to going forward
In a deflation economy like bitcoin world, people waste lots of energies to produce the currency (thinking about how much electricity/computation power are wasted in the meaningless hash calculation to generate those coins)
In a inflation economy like the world we are living in, people waste lots of energies to produce the goods and service that no one is interested in(think about those projects never get any return, those business never get any customer, they are purely driven by enthusiasm)
So, something has to be wasted anyway, as long as there is a chanel for exhaust energies, the economy has some motivation to going forward
All automatic and non-automatic ways of making money will generally balance out. A world where the concept of crypto-currencies which rely on proof-of-work, has caught on will have major research into all sorts of bitcoin like problems - easy to verify, tough to produce. All sorts of research into computation as well, the kind that is going on now into finance.
Whether this is a waste or not is a matter of perspective.
The only thing which can be said is that the way that power plants today are using their waste heat, there will be others who will figure out ways to use waste heat from "mines".
Moon is right, silver is by far the most useful precious metal out there.
The majority of uses for gold on that site mention either backing a currency on it's own, it's malleability, or the fact it can be used for jewelry and ornaments, electricity conduction.
Silver is also a better conductor of electricity (in fact, the best known material in existence), as well as heat.
I would only be interested in gold as an investment, as for it's utility, there aren't really that many compared to other metals. Gold is just something pretty and shiny.
The majority of uses for gold on that site mention either backing a currency on it's own, it's malleability, or the fact it can be used for jewelry and ornaments, electricity conduction.
Silver is also a better conductor of electricity (in fact, the best known material in existence), as well as heat.
I would only be interested in gold as an investment, as for it's utility, there aren't really that many compared to other metals. Gold is just something pretty and shiny.
gold has nearly zero industrial uses outside of the monetary functions of gold.
That's simply not true... http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml
In fact it's the complete opposite LOL
Like I said, nearly zero industrial uses. A few of those mentioned are only potential uses of gold. For example, Silver is a far better conductor, and is used in aerospace for this purpose. When is the last time you actually heard of anyone getting a gold filling? That use has been replaced outright by enameled plastics and porcelin techniques.
gold has nearly zero industrial uses outside of the monetary functions of gold.
That's simply not true... http://geology.com/minerals/gold/uses-of-gold.shtml
In fact it's the complete opposite LOL
MoonShadow - you should switch the order of society's laws in your signature. The 2nd is more important than the 1st.
I didn't write them, and they are not ordered based on importance. The first is the root of all contract law, the second of all criminal & tort law. They are called 'Mayburys Two Laws'
MoonShadow - you should switch the order of society's laws in your signature. The 2nd is more important than the 1st.
Mining for gold is also a net waste of energy, from the perspective that gold has nearly zero industrial uses outside of the monetary functions of gold. Societies that produce more than they need to persist can afford to commit resources to such endeavors. Societies that are on the edge of starvation, cannot.
I think I found a match of this two model!
In a deflation economy like bitcoin world, people waste lots of energies to produce the currency (thinking about how much electricity/computation power are wasted in the meaningless hash calculation to generate those coins)
In a inflation economy like the world we are living in, people waste lots of energies to produce the goods and service that no one is interested in(think about those projects never get any return, those business never get any customer, they are purely driven by enthusiasm)
So, something has to be wasted anyway, as long as there is a chanel for exhaust energies, the economy has some motivation to going forward
In a deflation economy like bitcoin world, people waste lots of energies to produce the currency (thinking about how much electricity/computation power are wasted in the meaningless hash calculation to generate those coins)
In a inflation economy like the world we are living in, people waste lots of energies to produce the goods and service that no one is interested in(think about those projects never get any return, those business never get any customer, they are purely driven by enthusiasm)
So, something has to be wasted anyway, as long as there is a chanel for exhaust energies, the economy has some motivation to going forward
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