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Been looking for info about NFTs and their impact on the environment. Can't find anything without extreme and obvious bias in one direction or the other. Anyone read or listened to anything they found useful? (Not a hint at anything, I am just personally curious)

Been looking for info about NFTs and their impact on the environment. Can't find anything without extreme and obvious bias in one direction or the other. Anyone read or listened to anything they found useful? (Not a hint at anything, I am just personally curious)

  • Iksar
    Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
    Been looking for info about NFTs and their impact on the environment. Can't find anything without extreme and obvious bias in one direction or the other. Anyone read or listened to anything they found useful? (Not a hint at anything, I am just personally curious)

    • SophApparently
      Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS I can’t remember the article I found about it but tl;dr: NFTs are done based on Ethereum, a crypto thing that uses “proof of work” as verification that people aren’t gaming the system. Basically, to add a block to the blockchain (get a coin, essentially) 1/

      • SophApparently
        Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS You need to solve a complex cryptography problem. The idea is that, if you need to spend a bunch of money on computation power to solve that, then you have stake in the blockchain and won’t try to “cheat” or screw it up. 2/

        • SophApparently
          Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS And it takes a fucking LOT of power to keep your computer(s) chugging along to solve the problems. Like… a lot, a lot. And that’s where the environmental issues come from, the obscene amount of power you need to use for “security”

          • SophApparently
            Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
            @IksarHS But yeah, I’m no expert. Looking up “proof of work” in this context will prob tell you more

            • SophApparently
              Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS Worth noting that NFTs aren’t really a problem by themselves. The problem comes from Ethereum and Bitcoin doing proof of work, and NFTs are just an offshoot of that

              • Iksar
                Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
                @SophApparently This was helpful, I'll look into it thank you!

    • hadidjahb
      Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS @SophApparently covered the proof-of-work issue really well; afaik a fundamental of PoW systems is that they *have* to require every-increasing energy to maintain their value/integrity. The oft-cited alternative is proof-of-stake, so google that too. PoS tends to be win-more tho.

      • hadidjahb
        Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS PoS, afaik, uses "votes" instead of computation to preserve integrity and dispense new coins. WAY less energy, but how many votes a user has is variable. More votes=more chances to win the coin, and votes are often based on resources (i.e. wallet size) or tenure (i.e. coin age).

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
          @hadidjahb Definitely curious about energy consumption vs something normal I understand like leaving a light on or running the air conditioner. I’m sure everyone can argue some power use for convenience or service is warranted, seems like NFT/ETH crosses the line for some people, though.

        • hadidjahb
          Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS A subtler concern I also worry about is the ripple effects of crypto-driven hardware demand/hoarding. That's a lot of new *stuff* being purchased (and obsoleted), but also, that's a lot of tech/rare earth metal required, the mining of which has historically been kinda horrifying.

          • Iksar
            Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
            @hadidjahb I’ve also heard this, is it different somehow than any technological advancement that requires real resource? Like the computer or the television? Is it just that it’s an unnecessary advancement? Or that the amount of resource / power consumption is too great?

            • hadidjahb
              Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
              @IksarHS I think the difference for many (including me) is in the application - the "unnecessary advancement" that's *built* on constantly-increasing energy consumption (PoW) and/or pre-existing wealth/resources (PoW and PoS) - during a climate crisis and massive wealth disparities.

              • Iksar
                Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
                @hadidjahb So basically it's less about the amount of consumption and more that any (within reason) about of consumption for something unnecessary should be heavily scrutinized given our current state (climate crisis).

                • troldann
                  Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
                  @IksarHS @hadidjahb Also the systems encourage accelerated consumption, so even if today's amount isn't bad (which I believe it is), there's every reason to believe tomorrow's will be.

                  • Iksar
                    Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
                    @troldann @hadidjahb this makes sense to me

    • theSTERE0
      Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS I found this one to be pretty balanced. Stumbled across it the other day. https://t.co/DQdPkihYhv

      • Iksar
        Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
        @theSTERE0 thanks, this already looks interesting clearly this person is pro-nft so I'll keep that in mind but lots of facts and sources

        • theSTERE0
          Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
          @IksarHS For sure. Have yet to find one that didn’t have at least some leaning. But this felt least inflammatory.

          • Iksar
            Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
            @theSTERE0 Yeah, if you are writing an article on the subject you are probably passionate about climate change, crypto, or both.

    • Natakazie
      Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
      @IksarHS The impact on the environment would not be bad if all electricy were renewable. NFTs are based on Blockchain technology, basically of a transaction is done every system in the... system has to confirm that this transaction is valid, which is an huge amount of operations.

      • Natakazie
        Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
        @IksarHS for actual usefuellness of NFTs... It's basically like you buy a Bill for the Mona Lisa and get a sign with your name placed next to it. If another Person wants their name next to it, they have to buy the bill from you. You own only the Bill.

        • Iksar
          Posted 4 years, 4 months ago (Source)
          @Natakazie NFT art has always been strange to me because you can’t…. use it…..but anyone in the gaming space is pretty familiar with the idea of buying digital goods.
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