We need computers for a lot of solid, real life uses.
We don't need cryptocurrencies for almost anything being peddled. They're supposed to be decentralized, but you can't really use them that way in 99% of situations. They're supposed to be currencies and instead they're vehicles for speculation. Etc.
I think their slogan should be: "You don't really need cryptocurrencies for that".
For crypto speculation is <<the market>>.
0: https://hbr.org/2021/05/how-much-energy-does-bitcoin-actuall...
At this point in time, there is no reason to care about this. Maybe we start caring if some insane development happens and BTC suddenly starts representing 10-20% of our energy consumption. Until then, there are bigger problems to worry about.
We already have the technology and the land area.
The ability to tile a land area the size of a smaller American city with relatively bad solar panels to power half a percent of the world's energy usage is pretty amazing.
I'm guessing since there are no hypocrites in crypto you are all using non-fiat "coins" to pay your bills and buy groceries, right?
Energy usage is highly correlated with economic development, trying to curtail energy usage is akin to economic suicide. What you should be advocating for is clean energy production, not consumption. You're headed down a precarious slope if you start policing how and on what people can use energy.
Beyond that, we can and will eventually force Amazon to use EVs if they don't by themselves to save money, which is possible.
I'm all for strongly inducing people to use trains, buses, ebikes, and the like.
We can advocate for clean energy, and we should. But advocating against zero-sum energy usage is perfectly fine and completely consistent with good economic policy.
The internet never used all that much energy. The computers were there anyways, and when it was in its speculative stage it was piggy-backing off the telephone network for most of the actual transmission. It was never even close to a power hog until it became very evident how useful it was.
Cryptokitties run on Ethereum and Ethereum is already partially using PoS. Now from day one people have said "PoW does not work" and yet PoW, so far, is still working. People are now saying "PoS does not work" and yet, so far, PoS is working.
The cryptocurrencies haters better come up with something else than the "energy" argument against cryptocurrencies because the shift to PoS is coming and it's coming fast.
And never let any of those get-rich-quick pyramid scheme shills get away without forcing them to openly admit that even though they're burning coal, wasting electricity, destroying the environment, causing climate change, cancer, and heart disease, they simply don't give a flying fuck about that.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Energy_in_Kazakhstan#Electrici...
>In 2013, the country produced 93.76 billion kWH - 70 billion kWh (81%) from coal, 8 from gas and 8 from hydro. The country has 71 power stations, including 5 hydro power plants located on the Irtysh river, which translates to total installed generating capacity of 19.6 GW. 75 percent of electricity generated is consumed by industry, 11 percent by households, 2 percent by transportation.[25]