When it became blindingly apparent that mining diamonds, gold and rare earth metals was proving harmful to societies (pollution, war etc.) countries put into place regulation to ensure that future mining would be conducted in ways to try and eliminate these harms.
Mining bitcoin is a growing contributor to energy consumption, and subsequently environmental damage and harm.
Not sure this is particularly true, it took the US 6 years from 2008 to recover all the jobs lost in the recession [0]. I would assume the bulk of those were low-skilled, manufacturing roles, the ones ever more at risk of being rendered obsolete by automation.
I think the crux here is that decriminalising/legalising the use of drugs such as heroin would not make them more widespread and ubiquitous. Despite being illegal they are still so very easy to access in almost all countries, and most people are well aware of the high risks associated with them. Legalising them would bring users/abusers into a more public sphere where it is far easier to access harm reduction and the state can provide it without legal complications
We should gauge our society on how we treat our most vulnerable people, and if this is how people want to shape our society then stop the train and let me get off.
Locking up vulnerable people in quasi-concentration camps staffed by hazmat suit wearing doctors administering ‘care’ in the most basic and cruel manner is no way to treat any human being live, let alone a group of lab rats. I’d challenge anyone advocating this nonsense to lock themselves away for six months with only the most basic/essential of interactions and see how they get on. This lack of empathy or any sense of understanding of human nature and sociability is absolutely absurd.
Building regulations in the Uk mandate a minimum standard of fabric energy efficiency regardless of location, both for renovations and for new builds. The Greater London Authority is quite strict on this for new build developments and I suspect that carries through to renovations. It’s more the other way round in that developers are required by local authorities to meet efficiency targets, but ending up cutting corners to achieve it on the cheap
The R number is in essence the driver of this pandemic. But like you say the published figure is at best a conservative estimate and at worst an educated guess. Imo the way it’s reduced down into this singular all-explaining number belittles the sheer scale of variables and complexities going on in the real world. But hey, explaining that would be too much like hard work for many tabloid outlets.
Mining bitcoin is a growing contributor to energy consumption, and subsequently environmental damage and harm.
Similar precedent?