Comment on US Government Launches New Attempt to Gather Data on Electricity Usage of Bitcoin Mining

pivot_root@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• shortwavesurfer@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  This singles out a single industry. Why not data centers in general or also add in AI?

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  • pivot_root@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    I wouldn’t consider cryptocurrency an industry. At best, it’s unregulated stocks whose value is backed by speculation. At worst, it’s a waste of resources and a low-risk way for malware authors to profit off of victims.

    Don’t get me wrong, though. AI is also deserving of the same treatment.

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    • FaceDeer@fedia.io ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Note that the second-largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, no longer uses proof-of-work to validate its chain. So any regulations or data on electricity usage will be basically irrelevant to it.

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      • randompasta@lemmy.today ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        Hopefully other crypto follows suit.

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    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      Would you consider finance to be an industry? Because crypto is the same thing without the legalized grift.

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      • maxinstuff@lemmy.world ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        For years crypto investors were warned that it was the wild west, and after everything that’s now happened do people still actually believe this?

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  • bamboo@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    The military is one of the larger stakeholders in AI advancement, and generally doesn’t care about the environment. There will not be a probe that could stifle future advancement in military applications.

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    • AHemlocksLie@lemmy.zip ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I’m pretty sure the military cares, at least to the extent that it will cause instability. I’m 99% sure there’s something from the Pentagon to support that. I wanna say Pentagon wants us to address it before it starts making them do their job a whole lot more.

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      • bamboo@lemm.ee ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        For one particular example, the military is currently funding a program to research techniques to use AI for automated vulnerability discovery and exploitation. The info is public here: aicyberchallenge.com

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    • technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨2⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      The only military “advancements” are genocide and the destruction of the planet.

      Ofc the state is going after bitcoin instead.

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