Probably sheer magnitude, no? The Google results for "how much power data centers use" show numbers between 1% and 3% (it's similar numbers whether I specify global or just the US). Let's assume that's at least somewhat accurate.
If we believe both statistics, then crypto mining uses roughly as much electricity as all data centers. But data centers drive so many different industries and benefit people in countless ways- entertainment (as you mentioned), financial, education, communication, etc, etc.
Crypto is like. Neat? There's some people who benefit greatly from it, sure. But broadly compare how different society would look if crypto didn't exist (not different at all, I'd think?) to how different it would look if data centers didn't exist. Looking at it that way, it's crazy that they at all use similar amounts of electricity.
Because of the demand curve. I can only read so much Reddit, and watch so many TikTok s. devoting all my waking hours to those, I'm still only going to be taking our watching one person's worth. Meanwhile, Bitcoin mining will scale to the amount of money I am willing to throw at it.
(Why) do you consider Bitcoin to not be a waste of energy, independent of TikTok or Reddit? What problems has it solved in the last decade that would make it sensible to shut down Reddit before you shut down Bitcoin?
(I'm not even climbing up the tree of Bitcoin's energy consumption being many multiples greater than Reddit's.)
Social media has - in my eyes - peaked and is in a continuous cycle of enshittification. Youtube, Tiktok, Reddit et al. are built on inducing compulsive behavior in people to feed their business models.
While Bitcoin arguably parasitises energy, social media parasitises human time and attention (which is a much scarcer resource), all while breaking down political institutions and societal cohesion and being a tool for foreign actors to manipulate people on never before seen scales. Social media is "move fast and break things" on a societal scale.
Bitcoin is at worst a speculative asset (no worse than most financial assets) at best a new monetary system in its infancy (unlikely but possible). It is clear to me which technology has more of a raison d'être.
I guess social media pays the salaries of most people on this forum, so the old adage "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it" applies.
Or maybe I'm completely wrong. It's happened before. The future will show who is right.
what gives you the right to bucket something as waste? maybe to some people tiktok is a waste of energy, resources, time. Some people would argue that alchohol consumption is wasteful since it does not have any health benefits?
ultimately, once you start thinking you have the right to ban things you should be prepared for someone else to ban things you enjoy.
I give myself the right, as having an opinion. It feels like you're saying that all opinions are equally valid and that we shouldn't strive to critically evaluate and debate things.
While there are different ways to evaluate any given topic, all opinions are not equally valid.
you can have your opinion, but ultimately the question is: do you want me to tell you what you are allowed and what you are not allowed to do with the electricity you PAY for?
you may not like what I do with the power I PAY for but you don't get a say in how I use it.
everyone like to scream free market until they run into something they don't like.
If I am paying for the electricity do I have the right to use that electricity however I like? Next time you don't like how much electricity "bitcoin" uses ask yourself: am I okay with the government dictating how I am supposed to use electricity? in fact, am I okay with the government dictating anything that can and should be adjustable through the free market?
