[e28eta]

> There's quite a big elephant underneath this argument, which is the "zero utility in crypto" assumption. If utility exists then the question of energy use and externality is simply a matter of cost/benefit like everything else society does with resources. And then you go back to why the stuff was invented, and it was for exactly the thing that you're dismissing, which is to evade authorities and enhance privacy through cryptography.

Passing laws and then prosecuting offenders is a major way that society codifies what costs are acceptable and what’s unacceptable.

If you believe that offering an bypass around that control has utility (corrupt regimes, whatever), I don’t think it’s fair to handwave the really sticky part: how does society add controls so that we don’t destroy the planet through runaway energy consumption, or end up with the smartest, most ruthless, and least ethical folks controlling all the resources.