Back in 2009-2010 I was responsible for deploying 8-16 core servers to customers to run large databases and ERPs. I had the idea of doing some burn in testing to stress the components for around a week for each server. Back then I was aware of bitcoin but also SETI@home. Obviously I chose the second option as I believed it was probable my a better choice for humans kind. It obviously was, but bitcoin mining would have been a better one for me.

I remember some rough calculations suggested I needed to upgrade from agp to pcie to make bitcoin mining worth it financially. I went with boinc instead.

I remember calculating that the 0.08 btc that I was mining per day on my desktop wasn't worth the electricity.

That's exactly how Bitcoin is designed to autobalance. It's only worthwhile if you believe demand will increase in future.

Maxim 19: The world is richer when you turn enemies into friends, but that's not the same as you being richer.

I ran the SETI software as well. Was not Bitcoin mining....

I suspect neither your or I though have ever had to turn over a landfill looking for a hard drive. So there's that anyway.