Quote from: 2112 on May 14, 2018, 10:41:49 PM

and the referenced external post https://blog.sia.tech/the-state-of-cryptocurrency-mining-538004a37f9b

Fascinating read. Seems there's even more nuance and intrigue than most people realise. The takeaway is that if general purpose hardware can do it, custom hardware can do it faster. So adding more complexity or a larger number of randomly drawn algorithms isn't going to help:

Quote from: David Vorrick

At the end of the day, you will always be able to create custom hardware that can outperform general purpose hardware. I cant stress enough that everyone Ive talked to in favor of ASIC resistance has consistently and substantially underestimated the flexibility that hardware engineers have to design around specific problems, even under a constrained budget. For any algorithm, there will always be a path that custom hardware engineers can take to beat out general purpose hardware. Its a fundamental limitation of general purpose hardware.

So, in effect, we should take the opposite approach and lower the bar, not raise it. If ASICs are inevitable, they should be as widely available as possible. Make it easier for a greater number of manufacturers to create ASICs, not harder.

That's the argument most Libertarians take when it comes to firearms, isn't it? Everyone should have one so that no one can take advantage? It's not an argument I agree with when it comes to guns, but I think it fits nicely here.