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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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Posted: Mon Jun 10, 19 2:44 pm Post subject: Abandoned BitCoin mine... |
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I don't know if anybody here is familiar with BitCoin. I don't claim to know a lot, but the relevant point is that they are "Mined" by doing a ridiculous amout of calculating by computer, and because it gets progressively more difficult, the amount of computing power required to get anywhere with it is getting utterly ludicrous (if it wasn't in the first place).
Some years back, a friend bought a "bitcoin mine": some hardware dedicated to the relevant calculations, which is of course now almost completely useless for that task.
However there are very many tasks that require lots of repetitive calculations: cure for cancer, search for extra terrestrial intelligence, big data perversion of democracy, etc. Could such a machine be put to task on any of these projects?
We might argue that to do so would be a waste of electricity, but there are still quite a lot of people who use electricity for heating for quite a lot of the time, and if they are doing that, then why not put the electricity to work on its way to becoming heat?
I had quite a long debate with the mine owner and his friend as to whether a bitcoin mine would be as efficient at heating as an electric heater, but I am pretty sure the law of thermodynamics is on my side in that one... |
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dpack
Joined: 02 Jul 2005 Posts: 46168 Location: yes
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sgt.colon
Joined: 27 Jul 2009 Posts: 7380 Location: Just south of north.
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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28227 Location: escaped from Swindon
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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15932
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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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Mistress Rose
Joined: 21 Jul 2011 Posts: 15932
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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28227 Location: escaped from Swindon
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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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jema Downsizer Moderator
Joined: 28 Oct 2004 Posts: 28227 Location: escaped from Swindon
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Hairyloon
Joined: 20 Nov 2008 Posts: 15425 Location: Today I are mostly being in Yorkshire.
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