Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies get all the headlines but the real breakthrough technology is what underpins digital currency: the Blockchain, the decentralized ledger that keeps track of all transactions in full view of the public eye. Powering the Blockchain is a valuable mining process wherein computers compete to earn new Bitcoins by racing to solve complex mathematical problems that once solved serve to verify the pending transactions.
Investopedia explains how it all works:
“Chances are you hear the phrase ‘bitcoin mining’ and your mind begins to wander to the Western fantasy of pickaxes, dirt and striking it rich. As it turns out, that analogy isn’t too far off.
Far less glamorous but equally uncertain, bitcoin mining is performed by high-powered computers that solve complex computational math problems (that is, so complex that they cannot be solved by hand, and indeed complicated enough to tax even incredibly powerful computers). The luck and work required by a computer to solve one of these problems is the digital equivalent of a miner striking gold in the ground — while digging in a sandbox.
The result of ‘bitcoin mining’ is twofold. First, when computers solve these complex math problems on the Bitcoin network, they produce new bitcoin, not unlike when a mining operation extracts gold from the ground. And second, by solving computational math problems, bitcoin miners make the Bitcoin payment network trustworthy and secure, by verifying its transaction information.”
The problem with bitcoin mining, however, is that it takes a huge amount of computing power to pull off, which in turn strains resources and contributes to global warming. If only there were another way to mine bitcoins. Well, maybe there is. In fact, in the near future it may be possible to use your brainwaves to mine cryptocurrency!
Popular Mechanics explains how this breakthrough from Microsoft would work:
“As the company describes in the patent application, while a person watches an advertisement or conducts some other simple internet task, sensors can monitor their brain activity. Because these actions are largely unconscious work, they aren’t massively draining to the person.
Each cognitive task would be assigned a pattern of numbers, depending on how much effort was put in. If that string matches the target, it’s considered a proof-of-work, and the transaction may be completed. Using the brainwaves as a stand-in would take some light effort on the part of the human involved, but would save massively on electricity.”
Personally, I love this idea because it ties in perfectly with one of my long standing assertions that we humans waste a lot of time collectively. It’s a thought I had repeatedly while living in New York and commuting to work on the Long Island Rail Road. Sure, there were lots of people reading books, magazines, and newspapers or maybe finishing up some work or sending emails. But there were also a ton of people just sitting there, staring off into the abyss, chit chatting or not really doing anything at all. What a waste of brainpower that was.
I had hoped to devise a way to capitalize on all that untapped potential, possibly by coming up with a way for people to brainstorm creative solutions to ongoing world problems while sitting together in crowds but I never knew how to pull that off technologically. But now I won’t have to. If it’s possible to use people’s brainwaves to mine cryptocurrency then all of a sudden there’s a way to pull off what I was envisioning. We no longer have to waste human capital. No longer have to waste our commutes or the time we spend waiting for the doctor. We can now be super productive at all times and can do so subconsciously without any impact to our own cognitive abilities. It’s the best of both worlds and it saves the environment in the process. It just doesn’t get any better than that.
I know that this technology is just a patent application at this point and is still highly speculative. It’s highly likely that the idea will get met with push back from people who won’t trust the technology and who will fear that the government will really be using it to read our minds or brainwash us. But at the same time I really hope that Microsoft pursues it and that it becomes a real thing. It’s potential for doing good would seem to far outweigh any concerns we may have.
Is using brainwaves to mine cryptocurrency the Greatest Idea Ever?
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