benyben (OP)
Newbie
 Offline
Activity: 22
Merit: 0
|
 |
May 16, 2011, 08:32:50 PM |
|
Imagine I am an alien that just landed here.
I learn a bit about Bicoins, and I ask: What is the computational power of the GPU used for while he is mining?
The product of such computational power put into work has a functional (or usable) product?
OR are these just "made up" or "blank" calculations that solely require work?
Thanks
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Advertised sites are not endorsed by the Bitcoin Forum. They may be unsafe, untrustworthy, or illegal in your jurisdiction.
|
|
rezin777
|
|
May 16, 2011, 08:39:34 PM |
|
Simple answer: It secures the network.
|
|
|
|
|
Meni Rosenfeld
Donator
Legendary
Offline
Activity: 2058
Merit: 1054
|
|
May 16, 2011, 08:43:38 PM |
|
In a way, these are made up blank calculations that solely require work.
As rezin777 explains, requiring that miners do some sisyphean labor before they can submit a block secures the network.
|
|
|
|
|
CydeWeys
|
|
May 16, 2011, 09:21:22 PM |
|
It's not doing any sort of "useful" distributed computing or anything like that, if that's what you're asking. Nobody's using Bitcoin to do desired computations; the computations are just for the purpose of, as the others have said, securing the network by making it really hard to fake transactions.
|
|
|
|
|
Zaft
Newbie
Offline
Activity: 5
Merit: 0
|
|
May 16, 2011, 09:30:13 PM |
|
I'm going to piggyback on benyben's question here.
I understand that by doing this, we secure the network, however, here's my question: WHY are we being "paid"? Is it because we are securing this network? To me, payment comes from doing work, but since we're not actually using Bitcoin's power to do computations or solve complex algorithms, it seems odd that we're being awarded to, in my view, do nothing.
The only reason I could think of is using it as an incentive to help push it into the online community.
Am I missing something here?
|
|
|
|
|
MoonShadow
Legendary
Offline
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1007
|
|
May 16, 2011, 09:48:34 PM |
|
I'm going to piggyback on benyben's question here.
I understand that by doing this, we secure the network, however, here's my question: WHY are we being "paid"? Is it because we are securing this network? In a way, yes. But mostly because any monetary system has to have the initial distribution somehow, and distributing the currency based on the contributions towards blockchain security is about the most equitable as can be devised for an anonymous, digital currency. Eventually that initial distribution cycle will taper to zero, and then miners will be "paid" to process transactions, but the method of processing transactions also contributes to the ongoing security of the blockchain in like manner. |
"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."
- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
|
|
|
MoonShadow
Legendary
Offline
Activity: 1708
Merit: 1007
|
|
May 16, 2011, 09:50:41 PM |
|
If there were a way to secure the network while also contributing to useful computational projects, we would likely do that. But there isn't any way to do this. The compuations can either be useful for some altruistic project or be useful for blockchain security; but not both.
|
"The powers of financial capitalism had another far-reaching aim, nothing less than to create a world system of financial control in private hands able to dominate the political system of each country and the economy of the world as a whole. This system was to be controlled in a feudalist fashion by the central banks of the world acting in concert, by secret agreements arrived at in frequent meetings and conferences. The apex of the systems was to be the Bank for International Settlements in Basel, Switzerland, a private bank owned and controlled by the world's central banks which were themselves private corporations. Each central bank...sought to dominate its government by its ability to control Treasury loans, to manipulate foreign exchanges, to influence the level of economic activity in the country, and to influence cooperative politicians by subsequent economic rewards in the business world."
- Carroll Quigley, CFR member, mentor to Bill Clinton, from 'Tragedy And Hope'
|
|
|
Meni Rosenfeld
Donator
Legendary
Offline
Activity: 2058
Merit: 1054
|
|
May 17, 2011, 04:24:15 AM |
|
I'm going to piggyback on benyben's question here.
I understand that by doing this, we secure the network, however, here's my question: WHY are we being "paid"? Is it because we are securing this network? To me, payment comes from doing work, but since we're not actually using Bitcoin's power to do computations or solve complex algorithms, it seems odd that we're being awarded to, in my view, do nothing.
The only reason I could think of is using it as an incentive to help push it into the online community.
Am I missing something here?
Payment comes from providing value. Securing the Bitcoin network is valuable. If there was no incentive to mine, people wouldn't mine and the network would be easily destroyed. |
|
|
|
Veldy
Member
Offline
Activity: 98
Merit: 10
|
|
May 17, 2011, 04:32:02 AM |
|
Imagine I am an alien that just landed here.
I learn a bit about Bicoins, and I ask: What is the computational power of the GPU used for while he is mining?
The product of such computational power put into work has a functional (or usable) product?
OR are these just "made up" or "blank" calculations that solely require work?
Thanks
It uses your hardware to perform cryptographic one-way hash functions (which are essentially possible to fake) to solve what amounts to a puzzle where there is one solution for each block. The prize for solving the puzzle is 50 BTC. The work itself doesn't result in useful data if that is what you are asking. |
If you have found my post helpful, please donate what you feel it is worth: 18vaZ4K62WiL6W2Qoj9AE1cerfCHRaUW4x
|
|
|
|
