You could either get a cable subscription, then a sports package on top of this, then hope and pray that they sell enough tickets of your favorite team so they will actually broadcast the game, then put up with 1 minute ads interrupting every 30-45 seconds of the game...
Or you could find out that many nations all over the globe also have networks that buy the NFL rights, usually HEAPS cheaper than in the US because football just isn't so popular in those countries, offer the game on a live stream, and you get a VPN from the country just in case it's limited to national IP addresses...
Easiest way for this would probably be some kind of RasPi (or similar) device that allows you to do pretty much what you do now when trying to figure out whether a coin is genuine.
Something like this will eventually come. The details are of course still to be worked out, but eventually I'm quite convinced we'll see cheap sticks (or just for-purpose made roms holding coins) being used. All it takes is a simple way to verify that the stick/rom/whatever is genuine, and that's far from impossible with current technology.
Unless they, too, hand the stick to the next person. Because, well, how do you "use" a bitcoin? Why, you transfer it to someone. Which is exactly what happens when you pass on the stick.
It's more like handing over cash, and if you want to wire it to someone, you first have to put it into an account. With the difference that this might actually still be faster than putting money into your account and then transferring it...
The "nothing to invest in" point is reached. What would you want to put your money into? Or rather, why do you think the likes of Bezos and Musk start ventures that border on insanity? There is simply nothing sane to invest your money in. The ROI of anything you could place your money on is insignificant anymore, what's left is high risk (ad)ventures that might pay off.
What they do looks absolutely insane and like they don't know what to do with their dough, and that's basically true: They simply have no venue to invest in left and are desperately looking for new ones.
The only way a revolution can work out in our time is when army and population are on the same side. As Turkey has shown lately, just having the army isn't enough (though, whether the coup was real or just staged is debatable).
This is actually going to be interesting should bitcoins ever start to slide a bit more than they did, people notice that they can't get rid of them because the transfer itself already takes insane amounts of times and people (who are already nervous as all hell considering the investment) start to panic.
Could we get this compared to the amount of power used for computers standing around in offices being idle because the tasks they run don't even use 5% of the CPU's power 99% of the time, and how those offices could lower the power footprint by way more than the bitcoin miners use?
Could we then also see the power footprint of the global light pollution, especially during times like Christmas where everyone feels the urge to put enough light into his garden to divert planes because they think you're the airport?
Just to have a perspective, ya know?
Yes, it's the usual whataboutism. In the end, though, if you're really worried about power consumption and the transition away from fossil fuel, I'm pretty sure we have bigger fish to fry than bitcoins.
No, rich people want to invest that money. And they want revenue for it. But investment needs something worthwhile to invest in. And this is exactly the problem we're facing today.
Right now, you don't get any interest for your money. If you're unlucky enough, you'd actually have to pay to park your money somewhere. And STILL this is not less viable than investment. That alone should give you pause and make you think. One of the reasons Bitcoins are soaring like they are is simply that there is a LOT of money wanting to be invested and lacking any viable investment venues. Do you really think this is due to some geeks and financial adventurers that throw a few thousand bucks in and play roulette? Please. What you're looking at there is a lot of VERY rich people desperately looking for something, anything, to invest in that promises at least some ROI. Yes, the risk is insanely high. But it seems to be STILL more appealing than investing in some business that provides goods or services.
Yes, it's a simple model, but that way it's easier to explain. The expenses you mention, that's all included in those 100. There is a limit to what you can spend sensibly on consumption, simply because there is a limit to your time. At some point you simply CANNOT spend the money anymore. And believe it or not, people have actually met this limit.
There is also a limit to what people want to spend, usually depending on the standard of living someone wants to achieve. And the lower someone's income is, the closer this limit is to his actually available money. The sweet spot is actually where people earn a tiny bit more than what their standard of living demands from them to spend. That's exactly how much someone should have to keep the economy going.
What cripples ours today is that there is simply one group that piles up way more money than they need for their standard of living while others would spend but don't have the money to.
I wouldn't say anarchy, it's rather got a lot in common with what a corporate state must look like. The elections are basically a joke, with two nearly indistinguishable parties (I affectionately call them The Party) fully entrenched to ensure that even if the odd third party or independent candidate should win once in a blue moon will have no impact on their politics. They have their rights explicitly enumerated (personally, I prefer our system of "what's not explicitly forbidden is ok"), those rights get removed one by one and nobody bothers to do more than shrug, but if someone as much as mentions pondering thinking about debating whether it might be considered to do as much as register guns you can see them go mental.
And if you mention it you have it justified with something along the lines of these guns protecting their freedoms, ignoring that their potential enemy in such a fight would be the largest military that ever existed, along with a propaganda machinery that would make old Joe Goebbels drool to convince those soldiers to gun down those domestic terrorists.
It's fascinating to watch. Kinda like a train wreck.
You can opt out of every government. Unless you're in North Korea or something like it. At the very least you can vote what government you prefer, and if that doesn't work out, move to a place where the government is more to your liking.
Most of what our economy does these days is incompatible with a free market, but nobody seems to have a problem with that. As long as corporations benefit instead of customers, that is.
You obviously never tried to build something somewhere.
It's by no means simply putting a house somewhere. You need to get more permits than for owning a damn gun if you wanted to build a house somewhere, twice so if you plan to rent it out.
That's not enough to drive an economy. Let's imagine I have 900 and you, along with 9 other people, each have 10. Our whole economy has a purchasing power of 1000.
Let's say that we could all be happy with "stuff" for 100. That's basically what someone would sensibly spend, at the most. Sure, you can somehow survive at 10, be ok with 20, feel satisfied with most your needs spending 50, but if you can spend 100, pretty much all you could sensibly want is paid for. We're talking Ferrari in your garage on the mansion on the hilltop with the private air strip and the private Learjet. The point where there's simply no more spending that could fill any kind of void.
So you spend your 10, because that's all you can spend. I spend the 100, because I can afford it and there isn't really anything left to buy. Now I sit on 800 that... well, what do I do with it? I want to invest it of course but what should I invest in? There's nothing to invest in because there is no viable business able to open, there wouldn't be anyone to sell to. I have what I want, and you have no money.
Let's spread the money differently. You and those other 9 people now each have 50, I have 500. Our total economy still has a purchasing power of 1000, but a lot more money now changes hands. You'll probably spend 20-30 of your 50, either because you want to retain some purchasing power "in case", or simply because there is no supply to match your demand anymore, because so far there was simply no demand. I still spend my 100, with 400 sitting here, ready to be invested in the businesses that now have a potential customer, i.e. you. And those other 9 people like you.
Slashdot Mirror
Pass the popcorn, here's a soda.
I like this movie. I mean, the script's pretty predictable but it's still oddly entertaining.
You could either get a cable subscription, then a sports package on top of this, then hope and pray that they sell enough tickets of your favorite team so they will actually broadcast the game, then put up with 1 minute ads interrupting every 30-45 seconds of the game...
Or you could find out that many nations all over the globe also have networks that buy the NFL rights, usually HEAPS cheaper than in the US because football just isn't so popular in those countries, offer the game on a live stream, and you get a VPN from the country just in case it's limited to national IP addresses...
Yes, we're not talking about much electricity per CPU.
But we're talking about millions of CPUs.
Easiest way for this would probably be some kind of RasPi (or similar) device that allows you to do pretty much what you do now when trying to figure out whether a coin is genuine.
Something like this will eventually come. The details are of course still to be worked out, but eventually I'm quite convinced we'll see cheap sticks (or just for-purpose made roms holding coins) being used. All it takes is a simple way to verify that the stick/rom/whatever is genuine, and that's far from impossible with current technology.
That portion of the deal of course still needs electricity. As does any verification.
Gimme a few hours to work on the idea, I just had it, ok?
Unless they, too, hand the stick to the next person. Because, well, how do you "use" a bitcoin? Why, you transfer it to someone. Which is exactly what happens when you pass on the stick.
It's more like handing over cash, and if you want to wire it to someone, you first have to put it into an account. With the difference that this might actually still be faster than putting money into your account and then transferring it...
The "nothing to invest in" point is reached. What would you want to put your money into? Or rather, why do you think the likes of Bezos and Musk start ventures that border on insanity? There is simply nothing sane to invest your money in. The ROI of anything you could place your money on is insignificant anymore, what's left is high risk (ad)ventures that might pay off.
What they do looks absolutely insane and like they don't know what to do with their dough, and that's basically true: They simply have no venue to invest in left and are desperately looking for new ones.
The only way a revolution can work out in our time is when army and population are on the same side. As Turkey has shown lately, just having the army isn't enough (though, whether the coup was real or just staged is debatable).
I can also hand someone 1 bitcoin without electricity. Put a wallet with exactly 1 bc on a cheap USB stick, presto.
I kinda predict that something like this, along with a quick and easy way to verify that there is actually a bc on the stick, will surface soon.
This is actually going to be interesting should bitcoins ever start to slide a bit more than they did, people notice that they can't get rid of them because the transfer itself already takes insane amounts of times and people (who are already nervous as all hell considering the investment) start to panic.
I'll bring the popcorn.
Could we get this compared to the amount of power used for computers standing around in offices being idle because the tasks they run don't even use 5% of the CPU's power 99% of the time, and how those offices could lower the power footprint by way more than the bitcoin miners use?
Could we then also see the power footprint of the global light pollution, especially during times like Christmas where everyone feels the urge to put enough light into his garden to divert planes because they think you're the airport?
Just to have a perspective, ya know?
Yes, it's the usual whataboutism. In the end, though, if you're really worried about power consumption and the transition away from fossil fuel, I'm pretty sure we have bigger fish to fry than bitcoins.
That's Matt 7:3 for you Bible guys.
No, but everything with why rent is high and living space is artificially kept scarce.
To each their own, I guess. You see, I'm a guy of simple taste....
No, rich people want to invest that money. And they want revenue for it. But investment needs something worthwhile to invest in. And this is exactly the problem we're facing today.
Right now, you don't get any interest for your money. If you're unlucky enough, you'd actually have to pay to park your money somewhere. And STILL this is not less viable than investment. That alone should give you pause and make you think. One of the reasons Bitcoins are soaring like they are is simply that there is a LOT of money wanting to be invested and lacking any viable investment venues. Do you really think this is due to some geeks and financial adventurers that throw a few thousand bucks in and play roulette? Please. What you're looking at there is a lot of VERY rich people desperately looking for something, anything, to invest in that promises at least some ROI. Yes, the risk is insanely high. But it seems to be STILL more appealing than investing in some business that provides goods or services.
Still doesn't make you ponder why?
Yes, it's a simple model, but that way it's easier to explain. The expenses you mention, that's all included in those 100. There is a limit to what you can spend sensibly on consumption, simply because there is a limit to your time. At some point you simply CANNOT spend the money anymore. And believe it or not, people have actually met this limit.
There is also a limit to what people want to spend, usually depending on the standard of living someone wants to achieve. And the lower someone's income is, the closer this limit is to his actually available money. The sweet spot is actually where people earn a tiny bit more than what their standard of living demands from them to spend. That's exactly how much someone should have to keep the economy going.
What cripples ours today is that there is simply one group that piles up way more money than they need for their standard of living while others would spend but don't have the money to.
I wouldn't say anarchy, it's rather got a lot in common with what a corporate state must look like. The elections are basically a joke, with two nearly indistinguishable parties (I affectionately call them The Party) fully entrenched to ensure that even if the odd third party or independent candidate should win once in a blue moon will have no impact on their politics. They have their rights explicitly enumerated (personally, I prefer our system of "what's not explicitly forbidden is ok"), those rights get removed one by one and nobody bothers to do more than shrug, but if someone as much as mentions pondering thinking about debating whether it might be considered to do as much as register guns you can see them go mental.
And if you mention it you have it justified with something along the lines of these guns protecting their freedoms, ignoring that their potential enemy in such a fight would be the largest military that ever existed, along with a propaganda machinery that would make old Joe Goebbels drool to convince those soldiers to gun down those domestic terrorists.
It's fascinating to watch. Kinda like a train wreck.
You can opt out of every government. Unless you're in North Korea or something like it. At the very least you can vote what government you prefer, and if that doesn't work out, move to a place where the government is more to your liking.
Erh... this is the Germany of "Mutti" Merkel, not Big Daddy Adi.
Same rule as with everything else: It's worth what someone else is willing to pay for it.
Most of what our economy does these days is incompatible with a free market, but nobody seems to have a problem with that. As long as corporations benefit instead of customers, that is.
You obviously never tried to build something somewhere.
It's by no means simply putting a house somewhere. You need to get more permits than for owning a damn gun if you wanted to build a house somewhere, twice so if you plan to rent it out.
You define your "meaning" and worth by your work and the money you have?
I pity you.
That's not enough to drive an economy. Let's imagine I have 900 and you, along with 9 other people, each have 10. Our whole economy has a purchasing power of 1000.
Let's say that we could all be happy with "stuff" for 100. That's basically what someone would sensibly spend, at the most. Sure, you can somehow survive at 10, be ok with 20, feel satisfied with most your needs spending 50, but if you can spend 100, pretty much all you could sensibly want is paid for. We're talking Ferrari in your garage on the mansion on the hilltop with the private air strip and the private Learjet. The point where there's simply no more spending that could fill any kind of void.
So you spend your 10, because that's all you can spend. I spend the 100, because I can afford it and there isn't really anything left to buy. Now I sit on 800 that ... well, what do I do with it? I want to invest it of course but what should I invest in? There's nothing to invest in because there is no viable business able to open, there wouldn't be anyone to sell to. I have what I want, and you have no money.
Let's spread the money differently. You and those other 9 people now each have 50, I have 500. Our total economy still has a purchasing power of 1000, but a lot more money now changes hands. You'll probably spend 20-30 of your 50, either because you want to retain some purchasing power "in case", or simply because there is no supply to match your demand anymore, because so far there was simply no demand. I still spend my 100, with 400 sitting here, ready to be invested in the businesses that now have a potential customer, i.e. you. And those other 9 people like you.
Money is an asset the value of which is realized only at the moment when you part with it.
Yes, it's minimum wage, labor unions and a strong social security system that ruined Venezuela.
Along with the other countries that have these things, like Austria, Germany, Sweden, France, Britain...
Wonder why these countries didn't spring to your mind as examples for these horrible, horrible socialist ideas.