Processing Power, where does it go?

[boconniff40]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Can't we use our processing power more efficiently, both by mining coins and helping in university research. I'm sure people should be able to buy up processing power.

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[bitcoinsarefun]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Say wha ....

oh wait, this is the noob section and you need 5 posts ...

but ur not a noob ...

mind blown ...

[boconniff40]

lmao YES i am very much a noob, i just found out about bitcoins a couple of days ago.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Can't we use our processing power more efficiently, both by mining coins and helping in university research. I'm sure people should be able to buy up processing power.

University research would be finding solutions to real problems, whereas Bitcoin mining is basically like password cracking. Because of the very specific way that mining is done, there is nothing else it can be used for except heating a room and drying out strawberries.

As for where the processing power goes, as I said, it's just password cracking basically when you dumb it down. Each new block is a new password to crack. The processing power goes into those cracking attempts. The only thing you have to show for your efforts is the bitcoin you (may) find, this is partly what gives the value of the bitcoin. If it costs $4 to mine 1 bitcoin, there is very little chance Bitcoin would drop below that price.

[boconniff40]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Can't we use our processing power more efficiently, both by mining coins and helping in university research. I'm sure people should be able to buy up processing power.

University research would be finding solutions to real problems, whereas Bitcoin mining is basically like password cracking. Because of the very specific way that mining is done, there is nothing else it can be used for except heating a room and drying out strawberries.

As for where the processing power goes, as I said, it's just password cracking basically when you dumb it down. Each new block is a new password to crack. The processing power goes into those cracking attempts. The only thing you have to show for your efforts is the bitcoin you (may) find, this is partly what gives the value of the bitcoin. If it costs $4 to mine 1 bitcoin, there is very little chance Bitcoin would drop below that price.

You said it best man. I wasn't aware each new block is like a password to crack.

[Matthew N. Wright]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Can't we use our processing power more efficiently, both by mining coins and helping in university research. I'm sure people should be able to buy up processing power.

University research would be finding solutions to real problems, whereas Bitcoin mining is basically like password cracking. Because of the very specific way that mining is done, there is nothing else it can be used for except heating a room and drying out strawberries.

As for where the processing power goes, as I said, it's just password cracking basically when you dumb it down. Each new block is a new password to crack. The processing power goes into those cracking attempts. The only thing you have to show for your efforts is the bitcoin you (may) find, this is partly what gives the value of the bitcoin. If it costs $4 to mine 1 bitcoin, there is very little chance Bitcoin would drop below that price.

You said it best man. I wasn't aware each new block is like a password to crack.

Yep. First person to crack the right password unlocks all the coins inside, and each transaction that is being done in bitcoin is contained inside that password protected block so once you unlock it, you in turn process the transactions and "confirm" them on the network. This is why it takes time for a transaction to be "confirmed". It's because it takes time for everyone to crack those blocks open.

Processing Power, where does it go?

For a very general answer to that question, you
should Google this: feynman lectures computations

Fneh! Kindergarten stuff!

[Matthew N. Wright]

Fneh! Kindergarten stuff!

Turns out Feynman didn't know much about computers when he
started writing this, and he figured his way through the domain
pretty much by himself.

Because of this, the book is a surprisingly easy read.

Oh I was being a douche, I didn't actually read it. I assumed by the title it was hard. I'll check it out for real now that you made me feel bad.

[bitcoinsarefun]

Are there actually universities out there that would pay money for your processing power on par with bitcoin?

research is basically dead in north america regarding any kinda government funding

and hey, didn't seti have to shut down at some point?

[Matthew N. Wright]

Are there actually universities out there that would pay money for your processing power on par with bitcoin?

research is basically dead in north america regarding any kinda government funding

and hey, didn't seti have to shut down at some point?

There are many folding@home style projects, Seti included, but paying for computational power is only valid in file storage these days, what with the major bucks allowing for large scale cloud computing. Involving insecure home rigs....messy shit.

[edmundedgar]

Your processing power goes into creating heat. You can make better use of it by putting the computer somewhere you want to make warmer.

I'm thinking, BitCoin-generating Kotatsu.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotatsu

[kliffen]

Whenever i tried (i've stopped trying now) explaining buttcoins to my friends, they always ask this question. Most of them seem to think buttcoins are part of a mass botned used to crack NASA codes or something.

PROTIP to everyone here, never try to explain buttcoins to anyone, ever.

[Gabi]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Can't we use our processing power more efficiently, both by mining coins and helping in university research. I'm sure people should be able to buy up processing power.

Find a way and we will do.

What? You can't find how to do it? Oh... 

[Jela]

What a weird question ... the processing power goes into mining coins period.

The processing power doesn't go into mining coins. It goes intro protecting the block chain. That is the main reason for doing it. The 50 coins (or less in the future) is just a motivation to do so.

[DeathAndTaxes]

What a weird question ... the processing power goes into mining coins period.

The processing power doesn't go into mining coins. It goes intro protecting the block chain. That is the main reason for doing it. The 50 coins (or less in the future) is just a motivation to do so.

This. 

Strange to see experienced users saying the opposite.

We hash transactions into blocks to create an irrevocable record.  That process need to be difficulty to prevent an attack.  Eventually transactions fees will pay for this service but as Bitcoin grows a block subsidy provides compensation and a mechanism for initial distribution of coins.

To say things like "crack passwords and get free coins" makes Bitcoin sound like some kind of ponzi scheme.

[Gunny]

Considering that we are using up alot of electricity and money up by investing in this e-currency, where does our processing power go?

Can't we use our processing power more efficiently, both by mining coins and helping in university research. I'm sure people should be able to buy up processing power.

The processing power is used for security.  It makes it very expensive for someone to undo previous transactions.

You need a problem that is very hard to solve but very easy to verify that it was solved correctly.  This is called "proof of work".  SHA256 works well for this but the work isn't otherwise useful.  Folding@home, SETI@home etc don't have the right properties.  They're hard to solve but it's hard to prove they were solved correctly without doing all the work over again.  Most if not all research problems will be this way.