I often see Bitcoiners try to dispel criticism of its energy consumption by citing Bitcoin’s benefits as countervailing factors: “Electricity is expensive, but sound money is priceless!”

Never works. No matter what social good is cited, it’s never enough.

Bitcoiners are a well-meaning lot who genuinely seek to educate. Even though private energy consumption is a private matter and should be off-limits to public scrutiny, Bitcoiners routinely suspend this belief to reason with Nocoiners.

It’s a trap! Nocoiners don’t believe in private property. They don’t have much regard for economic or political liberty at all. Once you buy into their faulty assumptions, you can’t win. In a world where War is Peace, Freedom is Slavery, and Theft is Good, any attempt at rational debate is an exercise in futility.

So don’t do it. Never indulge a Nocoiner.

Because the challenge for Bitcoiners is to convince people that Bitcoin is a social good. So if you start your defense of the energy usage with the premise that Bitcoin is good, then you're just running back into the original problem. — Joe Weisenthal (@TheStalwart) October 10, 2018

By criticizing Bitcoin’s energy expenditure, Nocoiners are advancing the false premise that electricity usage is an unassailable Bad. The correct response is not to come up with an equal-and-opposite Good, but to say No.

No, we’re not going to play your stupid game.

No, we will not accept Nocoiner values as our own.

No, we refuse to normalize your communist anti-freedom orthodoxy.

Once we disabuse ourselves of Nocoiner fallacies, it becomes very easy to counter concern trolls. See:

FUD: Bitcoin uses more electricity than all of Denmark!

₿: Good! I sleep better at night knowing that my money is protected by obscene amounts of computational power. It’s a shame for Denmark; their GDP has been in steady decline for the last decade. I’m not sure it’s even fair to acknowledge them as a country anymore. The Danish krone? Total shitcoin.

kinda like how Motel 6’s slogan is “We’ll leave the light on for you” — No one ever says “That’s so wasteful!” We think, oh good, how convenient. — Elaine 🦉🇮🇨 (@eiaine) October 10, 2018

FUD: Bitcoin can be used to bypass sanctions!

₿: That’s great news! Sanctions punish innocent civilians, empowering terrible dictators as the population is reduced to poverty. UN sanctions should be considered a war crime and I am utterly ashamed of my country for promoting them.

FUD: Bitcoin is used for tax evasion!

₿: Excellent! Private individuals have the benefit of local knowledge and can allocate capital better than any central authority. If you prefer to have the government do your thinking for you, feel free to donate your savings to the Fed and become a ward of the state.

FUD: Bitcoin (all of crypto, really) is full of scammers!

₿: Indeed! Money flows to where it’s treated best. Bitcoin is doing God’s work.

FUD: Bitcoin’s price is entirely driven by speculation!

₿: Ah, what is speculation but hope?

₿: Of course it is. Bitcoin relies on the free market for price discovery. As opposed to fiat money, whose purchasing power is decided by a cabal. (submitted by GB 01/2020)

FUD: Bitcoin is being used by neo-Nazis!

₿: Wonderful! I’m so glad we finally have a payment system that is impervious to bullying from the shakedown racket known as the SPLC.

FUD: North Korea is mining Bitcoin!

₿: Fantastic! This is so great. China’s concentration of mining power has long been one of the biggest threats to Bitcoin, and the entry of state-sponsored competitors would enhance miner decentralization. Jurisdictional diversity is Bitcoin’s greatest strength!

FUD: Bitcoin has a high Gini coefficient and massive wealth inequality!

₿: Yes! Economic inequality is something that happens when wealth is created, and a permissionless financial system democratizes wealth creation. Even though socioeconomic mobility has gone to shit in this country, Bitcoin is still the land of opportunity!

FUD: Bitcoin is being used to fund Terrorism!

₿: This one might be of legitimate concern. There’s a theory that Bitcoin was created by the CIA to fund extremist groups in the Middle East and effect a regime change in Syria and Iran. Well, the second part of that sentence isn’t just theory — the CIA is financing terrorism regardless of Bitcoin. Let’s abolish the CIA.

Like this: Like Loading...