[konschubert]

Here is how I understand the argument made in the first link:

If you give people a certain block reward, say 1$ per year, then the capital they are willing to invest to gain that reward will be 1$ divided by the worldwide rate of capital returns at the given risk level.

The argument is that it doesn't matter if we are dealing with capital that is locked away in mining hardware + lost as electricity or in a smart contract. The total amount of "economic work" locked away will be the same.

I think that's correct. Proof of stake is not cheaper for the short-term economy than proof of work.

But what about the long term? 100 years? The kind of time frame that investors don't worry about, but we as mankind should?

I guess what I'm saying is that locking away capital today maybe has less long term damage than wasting extreme amounts of energy.