OMG, I just got a mini education on NPR on the Bitcoin Mining World...all Greek, Russian, German to me, talk about a HUGE HUGE Energy drain on our world. I want nothing to do with this stuff, never did and want even less...$%$%##$@@!@!#$$%%
It'll go the same way as money and industrial civilization, which is also affected by EMP. Reminds me of that movie Escape from L.A.
I recall all of the Bitcoin investors bragging about how smart they were. Reminds me of the punks during the early internet days saying they are borrowing buying credit cards remortgaging their homes to buy internet stocks. All the time laughing at myself as an old geezer (I was42) because I told them they had zero value and would disappear overnight. I sometimes think of all those young folks waking up in more debt than they ever thought possible.
I really haven’t studied bitcoin enough to offer anything conclusive but I imagine an EMP would put a dampener on not only that but ANY electronic banking system. The Fed doesn’t like it anyway so at some point they may find a way to nuke the whole system. I know a guy (Ravi) who outfitted a building for a bitcoin mining operation. He must have at least 30 computers working 24/7 and even has a machine in his store so his customers can buy bitcoin. To what avail? Well, Ravi recently took his wife and 2 children to travel throughout Europe for 2 weeks and then spent a week in India (his place of origin) and did it all on bitcoin. His hotels, transportation and meals were all arranged using bitcoin.
It might be possible for AI to know more than any human or human group can possibly know about bitc , and maybe create it or destroy it, however it is planned to, in A TRILLIONTH of a second, over and over again. Or pretend to. i.e. make it look that way some time.
I was talking to my friend Ravi yesterday and he told me that after he got back from Europe he shut down his mining operation. He said something to the degree of when so many people are doing industrious mining (like him) then the worth goes down plus massive bitcoin mining falls into a sort of shady area between being legal and illegal. I’m still thinking about it but he offered to give me one of his machines to do some mining of my own. Again, I know just enough to get myself into trouble at this point but his offer is tempting. I had thought it was just a computer and I told him that I already have one but was informed that no, the mining machines aren’t computers but they merely use a single computer to link to. I’m learning.
Reminds me of that movie Colossus: The Forbin Project, where a computer is designed to do what you described, and then realized that it should just take over and enslave the human race as the latter has been known to be destructive and irrational.
hahaha, I have not even thought of that movie, nor its sequel, for over a decade. For you and others who have not seen the movie or particularly the sequel, I won't put a "spoiler" here. It turns out much different than expected from just seeing the first one "Colossus: The Forbin Project". THe real world we live in is totally corrupt different than it was before computers. They have been used to consolidate (emphasis on "con") power in the hands of a few who do not have good intentions at all, ever.
I decided to drop the idea of mining for bitcoin. After only a fair amount of research, the amount of electricity that mining takes would make the venture a wash or even possibly winding up owing the utility company. On the other hand, if I decided to go solar for my supply of electricity, the initial investment for the panels just for the mining wouldn’t be feasible at this time. In short, I’m not going to worry about an EMP so far as bitcoin goes but if an EMP did hit, I wouldn’t be able to even write this brief post.
We had a few blips on our computer server yesterday. Connected, not connected, connected, not... I had just recently signed our phone on with them from AT&T lined phone. So, if I were inclined I could not call or use the computer and I have been fretting about a trip we are driving this month. Finding the place is not easy. I definitely use physical maps. But it is a quiet wake up call.
Dunno Jeff. Look what the last pandemic did to our supply of toilet paper. If an EMP hit, everyone would be stashing anything and everything that might be used to wipe rear ends. Maybe go back to the stone age and write everything on rocks.
well, stock up on washable wash cloths and cotton cloth diapers. Long long history of effectiveness and good for the environment and so on.