News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by odonnellryan on Sunday February 13, 2022 @11:35AM (#30322942)
No. People buy lottery tickets for a lot of reasons. It is a fun bit of escapism and entertainment that costs just a few dollars.

You're making the assumption that everyone plays the lottery because they think it is a smart financial decision.

Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by toolz on Sunday February 13, 2022 @11:46AM (#30323064)
I don't assume nor do I have to assume anything about someones intent to know that gambling is stupid. Entertainment can be had in so many forms today that even the poorest of the poor in developed countries can have choice paralysis from having so many options. Gambling is a stupid waste of resources, if you enjoy doing stupid things I have no moral/ethical qualms with your choices, but it's still stupid.
Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by mrep on Sunday February 13, 2022 @12:27PM (#30323483)
I don't really like gambling outside of playing poker with my friends but your comment is reeking with a bias for what you define as "Entertainment".
Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by heliodor on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:51PM (#30327902)
Gambling is not a waste of resources. It is a transfer of resources from one entity to another. It's a zero-sum game.

On an individual level, gambling is roughly breaking even in the long run (say, 95% retention of the resources).

Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by dragonwriter on Sunday February 13, 2022 @09:55PM (#30327923)
> Gambling is not a waste of resources.

Yes, it is.

> It is a transfer of resources from one entity to another. It's a zero-sum game.

All real gambling consumes as well as transfers resources, and is, therefore, negative sum.

Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by odonnellryan on Monday February 14, 2022 @08:58AM (#30332047)
What do you mean consumes?

By your definition it seems literally everything is a "waste of resources"

Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by dragonwriter on Monday February 14, 2022 @10:40AM (#30333300)
> By your definition it seems literally everything is a "waste of resources"

Most activities use resources.

Many produce value and are not a waste of resources.

Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by heliodor on Sunday February 13, 2022 @10:39PM (#30328130)
> Yes it is.

No it's not.

Are we "debating" like in first grade or what is this?

Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by odonnellryan on Monday February 14, 2022 @08:58AM (#30332035)
Gambling isn't even always stupid. There are professional gamblers who have made more money than I will ever make, and maybe more than you will, too.
Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by tomc1985 on Sunday February 13, 2022 @02:07PM (#30324554)
My only beef with lottery players is that they always take forever in the convenience store line.
Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by odonnellryan on Monday February 14, 2022 @08:59AM (#30332052)
Haha yes. I have only played the lottery, maybe, 10 times in my life. But it is fun sometimes, and in my state the money goes mostly to good causes anyway.
Re:White hat hacker awarded $2M for fixing ETH-creation bug by hunter-gatherer on Sunday February 13, 2022 @03:00PM (#30325027)
Before I read this I was thinking this exactly!