The Truth About Bitcoin Mining with Lane Rettig
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Lane Rettig is a core developer for Spacemesh. In this interview, we discuss the much-criticised New York Times article that attacked Bitcoin mining, specifically focusing on its strange attacks on demand response and the use of marginal emissions accounting. We also talk about the difficulties of finding truth in a world with misaligned incentives.
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On April 11th, The New York Times (NYT) published a piece of investigative journalism by Gabriel J.X. Dance entitled “The Real-World Costs of the Digital Race for Bitcoin”. The piece stated Bitcoin mines “cash in on electricity — by devouring it, selling it, even turning it off — and they cause immense pollution. In many cases, the public pays a price.” As Margot Paez stated in a brilliant review of the article for the Bitcoin Policy Institute, The NYT’s hit piece is “Absurd”.
The article had been long expected as a number of prominent people within the community have been interviewed for it. What transpired was that any pro-Bitcoin information provided had been ignored. The flip side was the biased representation of Bitcoin mining using flawed analysis, false equivalences, wild extrapolations and incorrect deductions. It is an exemplar of confirmation bias writ large, where the conclusions preceded the investigation.
That Gabriel Dance has no experience of Bitcoin or crypto in any of his previous work is neither here nor there. Any journalist worth their salt knows the basic tenets of reporting: a clinical gathering of evidence, cold interrogation of facts, and an unbiased and clear interpretation of the results. The NYT put’s it best in its mission statement: "seek the truth & help people understand the world".
So, what has happened? A commissioning editor would have signed this off following a modicum of independent fact checking. That it has been published whilst being riven with distortions and mistruths suggests either a corruption of the journalistic practices at The NYT or that their internal systems have been stripped to the bone and the drive for clickbait trumps everything else. Either way, we have a problem, as mainstream fake information spreads like a virus.
00:02:02: Introductions
00:02:46: Real Bedford, and Keith Levene
00:14:05: The New York Times and mainstream bias
00:33:19: The New York Times Bitcoin mining article
00:38:39: Demand response, and energy policy
00:52:42: UK privatisation programme
00:59:02: Bitcoin mining emissions
01:01:11: Marginal emissions accounting
01:20:04: The incentives of journalism, and Substack vs Twitter
01:35:53: Going back to your roots
01:40:18: Final comments
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Mentioned in the interview:
A brief explanation of the cathedral - by Curtis Yarvin, Jan 2021
Elon Musk tweets then deletes DMs from Matt Taibbi over his Substack snit - The Verge, Apr 11th 2023
Noam Chomsky: The New York Times is pure propaganda - Salon, May 2015
What Bitcoin's crypto critics get wrong - Peter McCormack, Spectator, Nov 2021
February 13–17, 2021, North American winter storm [storm Uri] - Wikipedia
“Much ink (and many bits) have been spilled on the recent NYT article covering bitcoin mining, CO2 emissions, and demand response…” - Harry Sudock (@harry_sudock) via Twitter, Apr 11th 2023mining, CO2 emissions, and demand response…” - Harry Sudock (@harry_sudock) via Twitter, Apr 11th 2023
Why No One Saw The Success Of Demand Response Coming - Forbes, Jan 27th 2023
EU agrees compromise on nuclear energy amid French pressure - FT, Mar 30th 2023
Revealed: record number of households in UK depending on food banks - The Guardian, Feb 19th 2023
This map shows you where to find a warm bank near you - Big Issue, Jan 27th 2023
Has Privatisation Failed the UK? - Rolling Stone UK, Mar 2022
Carbon Accounting Attacks Bitcoin Mining - Pierre Rochard, Bitcoin Magazine, Mar 20th 2023
Substack opens up a $2 million community fundraising round - TechCrunch, Mar 28th 2023
Dunbar's number: Why we can only maintain 150 relationships - BBC, Oct 2019
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WBD643: The Corruption of Power & Influence with Ahmed Gatnash
WBD619: Bitcoin Mining & the Energy Grid Transition with Troy Cross & Shaun Connell
WBD616: The Evolution of Bitcoin Narratives with Harry Sudock
WBD589: A Climate Change Debate with Nate Harmon and Steve Barbour
WBD587: How the IMF & World Bank Exploit Poor Countries with Alex Gladstein
WBD575: Censorship & State Capture with Nic Carter & Lane Rettig
WBD571: The White House is Wrong about Bitcoin Mining with Nic Carter
WBD493: Is There a Moral Case for Fossil Fuels? with Alex Epstein