Bitcoin algorithm should be rethought in order to be used for valuable computation not just useless hashing. At this point it's a waste of energy, but that doesn't mean we can't turn it into something useful. I believe we really need to ask ourselves: "What are we trying to accomplish here?". Are we trying to create just a digital medium that promotes the same old selfinterest, or are we trying to create a new kind of system that transcends the individual?
The ultimate thing would be for a cryptocurrency to be based on thoughts/comments/ideas, but nobody has quite cracked how to quantify the value of those yet. So the best idea in this space I've managed to get to so far is to have the network process big data to find meaningful patterns.
Not only could the value of the big-data-backed cryptocurrency grow in value off the speculation, you could charge companies to upload/stream their data into the network and essentially have a giant distributed supercomputer processing it and searching for patterns. Then share a percentage of any revenue with the miners as an added bonus.
I feel we're already at the point where more data is produced than our ability to process, understand and extract useful insights from that data. And the rate at which global data is produced appears to be on a never ending exponential growth curve.
So in one swoop you could lay the foundations for a global distributed currency whilst harnessing the collective computing power of the Internet to solve humanity's problems, gain tremendously powerful insights into human behaviour at all levels from micro to macro, make us more efficient as a species and eventually the potential to become the global AI that feeds off all data streams; constantly feeding in, being processed, recorded, analysed, and subsequently feeding the computed knowledge into agents that make real-world decisions and actions.
If anyone has thoughts, skills or interest in this... hit me up.
> So in one swoop you could lay the foundations for a global distributed currency whilst harnessing the collective computing power of the Internet to solve humanity's problems, gain tremendously powerful insights into human behaviour at all levels.
Exactly, I think it is possible to create a distributed cyptocurrency and use that computation for something useful in the same time.
> Are we trying to create just a digital medium that promotes the same old selfinterest, or are we trying to create a new kind of system that transcends the individual?
So, currency is more than anything the medium that enables trade. Trade enables specialisation and cooperation on a massive scale. If the scope and benefit of global trade doesn't "transcend the individual", I struggle to think of anything that does.
The classic "I, Pencil" essay[1], while written even polemically in support of capitalism, also serves as a great example of the scale of human cooperation enabled by currency.
Yeah, trade transcends the individual, but profit based capitalism does not. If your utility function is profit, you will get egotistical behavior. What we should really try to maximize is the number of smiles in this world, because that, I think, is a better measure of the success of a society. We should really strive to feel better not to have more. Money is an instrument that favors egotistical thinking, counting what we have, but funny enough, we seem to feel better when we give more, not when we get more.
That makes no sense. Self interest is why it works.
Adam smith said it succinctly: "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest. We address ourselves, not to their humanity, but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages."
As for "maximising the number of smiles" and "strive to feel better, not to have more", there is research that suggests that the way to do that is to become richer:
It's not "useless hashing". The computations are neccesary to secure the network and process transactions. It's not possible to just swap the algorithm to do something entirely different and still achieve the goals of Bitcoin network.
The only way using masses of computing power gives you security is by making the 51% attack harder.
To me the whole thing is a manifestation of the bizarre way BTC are handed out, by competitive mining. (No, I don't have a better solution, but can't you see the issue here, the same amount of BTC are created but ever more power is being used)
