10 sats \ 4 replies \ @phygit 25 Apr 2023 \ on: The Fundamental Disconnect of PoW and PoS bitcoin
Everybody agrees with that. BUT:
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PoS works nonetheless. Some PoS blockchains have been working well for years, and so does the "new" Ethereum. In this whole debate, it's always "bad things could happen". But sometimes they don't — and things just work.
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Most people on earth don't give a dam about this debate. They don't know what is PoS/PoW, never had, never will, for the same reason that most of them don't know how money works, how Visa/Mastercard networks work, or what Central banks do. People just care about their own needs and when it comes to managing their money, they are only after convenience, price (low fees), speed, and security. If a solution (any coin, any blockchain, any "proof of") brings them that, they will go for it.
So constantly using this PoW argument to advocate Bitcoin is useless. It's geek and will not get us anywhere in the real world. Even if, yes, PoW is better, from a security point of view.
an unfortunate truth. in the future, the average person will probably be using bitcoin without even knowing it
i think most people that begin falling down the rabbit hole do naturally ask this question though so it's still an important question to be able to answer for yourself and those with questions. passing this education onto the next person is how we get more bitcoiners
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Yup. Unfortunately, most people won't care. I think that's why Bitcoin is probably going to win through lighting and store of value, and PoW will just be a thing in the background like you are describing.
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It isn't pointless at all. You are correct about the masses but talking about this stuff isn't for the masses its for the select, the remnant. The thing is, you never know who will read/hear this info so don't underestimate the power of explaining the "geek" things. The people that truly want to learn and understand are often influential and leaders.
On the point of "bad things could happen". Do you really think PoS can withstand state attacks? The ETH validators are already bragging about OFAC compliance... In a perfect world this stuff would not matter, but we don't live in this magical world. Bitcoin's approach to censorship resistance is one of the main things that got me. Yes these same attacks can be done to bitcoin but it is much harder to execute.
A common mistake people make is watering down things. I find that those that don't care about the security of the network and censorship resistance come from places of privilege like the the wealthy western world. Often they seem to have a Pollyanna view of the state. Bitcoin is a real threat to tyranny and many will try to stop it. We can't kid ourselves.
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PoS works UNTIL IT DOESN'T. And it has a tendency to get corrupted and centralized over time. So that's a very short-term argument.
People don't care about this UNTIL THEY DO (their first rugpull). And PoS ALWAYS EVENTUALLY leads to the rugpull. Humans are gonna human.
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