rmtech's comments

rmtech | 4 years ago | on: Cryptocurrency Blockchains Don’t Need to Be Energy Intensive

The problem with waiting AFAIK is that it's vulnerable to attacks on the underlying peer-to-peer network.

Let's say you wait 1 hour to see whether there was a double spend. If an attacker wanted to, they could spend twice and somehow mess with the network for 1 hour.

For example, an attacker at the internet service provider could intercept packets from the Bitcoin network and just block the other spend transaction from getting to you. You wait 1 hour and consider the payment finalized, and you swap goods for Bitcoin.

rmtech | 4 years ago | on: Ethereum will use around 99.95% less energy post merge

Proof-of-work cryptocurrencies are in the process of banning themselves.

All that wasted energy is paid for by the holders, and proof-of-stake is just more financially attractive.

No government intervention is required IMO.

rmtech | 4 years ago | on: Why has nuclear power been a flop?

Social factors.

Today's governments wouldn't have the state capacity and ambition to achieve what those of the 1940s-1980s were capable of. We've regressed; we're incompetent and moat of our effort is directed at virtue signalling rather than progress.

Nuclear power is just one aspect of this.

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: Is that ship still stuck?

In an optimal attack on the problem I think you would be doing all of these; water, fuel and cargo would all be unloaded simultaneously.

Losing a few percent of weight in cargo is worth it.

But in real life these things aren't optimal ;)

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: Surge Pricing, Artificial Intelligence, and Responsibility

Sounds like the author knows a lot about AI and data but almost nothing about economics.

Prices exist for a reason; if power became more expensive that's because it was scarce. People need to stop using it or pay more so that power companies can build more supply.

There are also options like the Tesla Powerwall that will be helped by this event.

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: Bitcoin and other PoW coins are an ESG nightmare

Another issue is that proof-of-work may simply be inferior to other consensus mechanisms because of hardware centralization. I think the cryptocurrency world needs to solve this problem at its own pace though. Ethereum is already rapidly heading to proof-of-stake, precisely because it's seen as better on its own merits without considering energy costs.

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: Bitcoin and other PoW coins are an ESG nightmare

I think the mistake here is that the author doesn't understand the potential of cryptocurrency so sees electricity use for crypto as a pure cost. You can see this because of comparisons to centralized services.

On coal power: It's bad to use coal to mine Bitcoin, but it's bad to use coal to provide power for any activity. Coal power should be banned outright.

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: The M1 MacBook Air: Perfection

It's still a highly user-hostile Apple. Though you can tell this review was written by a true iSheep from the part where s/he talks about the dictation key. "Apple thinks I should use that functionality more, so I will!"

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: Telegram is not as private and secure as most of its users think

Telegram has the huge advantage of not needing to reveal your phone number.

If your threat model doesn't really include the government but does include people stalking you then telegram is actually better than Signal.

With Signal you have to buy a new SIM card to get rid of a stalker, which is a huge annoyance.

rmtech | 5 years ago | on: A True Google Mess

BTW this post reminds me that I am probably overexposed to Google and should consider partially de-googling my life to some extent.
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