Even still, you're assuming the government has the ability to address climate change if given the chance. But, there would need to be global consensus and enforcement or government intervention could actually make the problem worse (e.g. heavy environmental regulatory burden means products get manufactured and shipped from Asia, and actually generate more carbon emissions).
Perhaps, free market solutions a la Tesla are all we've got?
If the government were mandating people behave a certain way, that would be an entirely different discussion. We're talking about a service that people can choose to use or not use. If they want to use it, they have to comply with the standards set by the service provider...
I struggle to see how anything you described could be categorized as "Orwellian"... Why are we concerned about "problem users" being left with no options? Just act like a normal human and you won't be a problem user... What is "Orwellian" about free markets and voluntary exchange?
You assume that a substantial portion of bitcoins are being mined in populated areas where the energy would otherwise be used for what you deem "better" purposes. How do you reach this conclusion?
The article does not make any effort to investigate the location of bitcoin mining facilities or sources of energy being used. For all we know, 99% of bitcoins may be mined using sustainable energy, off the grid. Without this information, any estimation of raw energy consumption is meaningless.
If there's nothing inherently bad about energy consumption, why do you think it is an "issue" for 0.5% of the world's consumption to be used for mining bitcoin? What if 100% of bitcoin mining is powered by renewables?
There's nothing inherently bad about energy consumption. The raw amount of energy consumed is a useless metric without determining how much of this energy is derived from clean/renewable sources.
> It's well-known that deflationary currencies do not work.
This is laughable. Your definition of "work" includes a presumption that we all want the government to control and manipulate the economy without regard for the interests of the individual.
Ask any individual citizen whether they would prefer that their savings increased in value or decreased in value, and I suspect they'll have a different answer as to whether a deflationary currency "works" for their purposes.
For cryptocurrency fans, it is quite obvious that such a system would not be desirable or beneficial at all. The entire purpose of cryptocurrency is to remove governmental control of money.
Inflation hurts the poor far more than the rich. Rich people invest their money rather than simply holding cash and losing value through inflation. Poor people have no choice but to keep their money in cash. Also, wage increases are often much slower than the rate of inflation.
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.