Technology

59448 readers

3609 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

[email protected]

1597

Linux Inventor Says He Doesn’t Believe in Crypto (u.today)

submitted 6 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

668 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, does not believe in cryptocurrencies, calling them a vehicle for scams and a Ponzi scheme.
Torvalds was once rumored to be Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto, but he clarified it was a joke and denied owning a Bitcoin fortune.
Torvalds also dismissed the idea of technological singularity as a bedtime story for children, saying continuous exponential growth does not make sense.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

You can also use it to... pay for that energy you just used... Hooray!! /s

[+] [email protected] -7 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I've recently been hearing a lot about mining, consuming energy that either would not exist otherwise, or would be wasted. For example, places in Africa can build like a hydroelectric power station, but don't have the money to run lines far enough for all the energy from the power station to be used, so they give most of it to a crypto mine and let the residents use the rest. If the residents ever need more power, then the crypto mine can shut down temporarily or slack off on their usage in order to provide the residents with more power.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

Also consider that many peoples (me) would like to move from the older cryptocurrencies that needs lots of power to run (proof of work) and try to advocate for newer proof of stake models.

To my understanding proof of stake models have dramatically lower power requirements.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 6 months ago

Yes, but they are also quite a bit easier to take over and destroy because governments can just print their fiat and buy up a large amount of that currency and then kill the network.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

You know what else they could do? Store it... in batteries... which are reliable for long term storage... and aren't nearly as volatile... and use it on stuff that generates more value per watt consumed... For example, batteries can be used to power homes and businesses, which can help to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and improve air quality e.g. improving quality of life which generates a shit load of value. Batteries can also be used to provide backup power in case of a blackout, which can be essential for critical infrastructure such as hospitals and data centers. I just don't see how most crypto currency can compete in this space... maybe something highly power efficient? But even then the value is extremely volatile.