even a vegan should see the value of the resulting nutritional calories from meat consumption, even if they tout alternatives.
I haven't yet been pointed at the value with regards to the thread topic (except in vague 'it's art!' kind of ways), even by extremely enthusiastic crypto-nuts -- so it makes the 'waste' w.r.t the thread topic a bit more egregious feeling, personally.
Well, a vegan and an honest meat eater would bring up trophic levels and needs vs. wants, though I don't want to get into that.
But I liken that incendiary debate to this one over who is "allowed" to waste energy and for what reason. It doesn't seem as simple of an argument as people in these comments suggest.
If I buy $100 of energy, what exactly am I allowed to do and not do with it? Can I not use all of it to power my vibrating butt plug? I think anyone who wants to go down the route should be ready for a much bigger conversation than the (seemingly) kneejerk, narrow-focused reaction lets on.
I mean, if the point of bringing up energy waste wrt crypto is to just marvel at the waste, then fine.
Let's say you have a friend who is always in debt. He knows it. You know it. Everyone you both know knows it.
He has a few friends, also deeply in debt, who try to pretend it's not an issue, but most people roll their eyes in frustration at that subgroup.
One day, your friend comes over in a brand new high-end Mercedes. You and all of their friends are appalled. Why on earth would they buy a Mercedes when they are already so far underwater that it's unclear if they'll ever be debt free.
To me, this is the problem with the crypto space. The world is full of problems that are threatening the planet. The world can't yet agree on how to solve those problems, (and some people pretend that problem doesn't even exist).
And along comes this new thing that consumes more energy than entire countries. And it's not really clear if it'll ever provide enough value to warrant the cost.
Yes, this will require some difficult conversations along the way, but people are quick to jump all over this because quite frankly, it's exactly the kind of problem the world doesn't need on top of the existing problems that still haven't been solved. There's a kind of exasperation that comes with the feeling.
When people bring up climate change, it's rarely just to marvel.
I haven't yet been pointed at the value with regards to the thread topic (except in vague 'it's art!' kind of ways), even by extremely enthusiastic crypto-nuts -- so it makes the 'waste' w.r.t the thread topic a bit more egregious feeling, personally.