You’re right that a negative affect to NFTs in particular / blockchain stuff in general is part of the reaction, but I don’t see the reasoning error in
“<X> causes greater electricity consumption;
on the margin, greater electricity consumption currently causes <more pollution / finite resources to be consumed faster / more birds to die due to windmills / …>, which is bad;
this is a downside to <X>.”
It’s probably the case that NFTs do not directly cause greater electricity consumption, but NFTs do plausibly indirectly cause greater electricity consumption, e.g. via making Ethereum more valuable, thus increasing mining rewards, thus increasing competition.
I am definitely not saying that NFTs are not bad for the environment—they are, as is anything that draws on the mains grid and creates demand. It is absolutely correct to judge cryptocurrency negatively, just as it is correct to judge things like driving a gas guzzler or flying 20 times a year. But it seems like we completely ignore some ways in which the energy we produce is wasted, and hyperfocus on others, and we just end up with a completely screwed up valuation of what needs changing.
You’re right that a negative affect to NFTs in particular / blockchain stuff in general is part of the reaction, but I don’t see the reasoning error in
“<X> causes greater electricity consumption;
on the margin, greater electricity consumption currently causes <more pollution / finite resources to be consumed faster / more birds to die due to windmills / …>, which is bad;
this is a downside to <X>.”
It’s probably the case that NFTs do not directly cause greater electricity consumption, but NFTs do plausibly indirectly cause greater electricity consumption, e.g. via making Ethereum more valuable, thus increasing mining rewards, thus increasing competition.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply, Joachim!
I am definitely not saying that NFTs are not bad for the environment—they are, as is anything that draws on the mains grid and creates demand. It is absolutely correct to judge cryptocurrency negatively, just as it is correct to judge things like driving a gas guzzler or flying 20 times a year. But it seems like we completely ignore some ways in which the energy we produce is wasted, and hyperfocus on others, and we just end up with a completely screwed up valuation of what needs changing.