Off the Blockchain with Neil deGrasse Tyson & Dr. Sandra Johnson

What the funge is up with crypto? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Marcia Belsky talk about the science behind cryptocurrency, NFTs, bitcoin, and the blockchain with electrical engineer Dr. Sandra Johnson.
What the heck is blockchain? We dive into the technological foundation of all these crypto-crazes and how the blockchain really works. What is bitcoin? What is a ledger? How do you mine bitcoin? Is it like mining gold? What’s going on???
What’s going on with NFTs? What does it mean for something to be fungible? We explore how blockchain may change the way humans interact in the future and if there are any applications beyond cryptocurrency and NFTs. Can someone hack into the blockchain?
Is it possible for all the bitcoin to get mined? Could blockchain be the basis of an intergalactic currency? We think back to when paper money took the place of gold and precious metals. How can someone invest in crypto ethically? Find out about the environmental impacts of crypto and what sort of energy it takes to generate. What does it mean for cryptocurrency to cost anything? All that, plus, how do we prepare for a crypto future?
Thanks to our Patrons Thomas Cochran, Tony Wilson, Rachel Farrell, Casey Bailey, AIDAN BARNETT, Sahil Gupta, and Jennifer for supporting us this week.
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About StarTalk:
Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
#StarTalk #NeildeGrasseTyson
0:00 - Introduction
2:15 - Dr. Sandra Johnson's Time in Africa
3:47 - Dr. Johnson's Cryptocurrency Background
4:36 - What is the Blockchain?
10:21 - What is Bitcoin Mining?
15:21 - Everyone's Cryptocurrency Credentials
17:33 - What is an NFT?
21:03 - How the Blockchain will impact our lives?
29:24 - Neil Creates a Cliffhanger
30:26 - Social Media Plugs
31:00 - Marcia Belsky explains her viral song '100 Tampons'
33:11 - Could blockchain be the basis for an intergalactic currency?
33:56 - What incentives remain to audit the blockchain once all Bitcoins have been mined?
35:04 - Are cryptocurrencies a viable replacement for fiat currencies?
37:26 - How can we invest in crypto ethically?
40:24 - How may we prepare for a crypto future?
45:13 - Why lock an economy into our computing power at this moment?
47:06 - Would you take your paycheck in crypto?
49:27 - What is a stable coin?
51:22 - Closing Notes

[@StarTalk]

What do you think is the biggest potential upside to blockchain technology?

[@solotrotrotro2530]

1 All species DNA sequences for all diseases cure ; 2 Resolving the 'merge' of Quantum physics with General Relativity ; 3 Finding all particles in the universe and understand Black/Dark matter .

[@albertoguerrero80]

Government transparency

[@michaelhermoso6338]

Defi

[@daz7335]

Scientific data being able to be trustlessly shared throughout the world. Fair and accountable financial systems. The world becoming digital - Paperwork and important records/deads will be replaced by NFT's. Proven control of your own data. You can control it, not the companies. Decentralisation - consensus matters, no single entity has control Musicians/Artists/Researchers/Practically anybody can sell their data as they see fit. Unhackable and secure software. Vital for the IOT cities and cars of the future

[@bula9737]

Thanks for that hero’s

[@a-par82]

We need chuck on this topic

[@lokeegnell3991]

Dear Startalk folks, there's a lot of scams in this comment section. They come automatically when there is crypto related words in the video.

[@Cloud_Stratus]

I feel like the guest did a huge disservice not explaining just how bad NFT scams are right now.

[@robinbeers6689]

@@Cloud_Stratus Somebody upthread recommended the documentary "Line Goes Up" and that does a really good job of laying out the dark side of the whole scam.

[@amateurrandomdude5870]

Lord Chuck where are you sir?

[@Ryukachoo]

Anyone reading this should really watch that recent documentary video called "line goes up" to get a bit of a reality check as to the benefits of blockchains in general.... It's not nearly as Rosy as it seems and it's important to realize that

[@ctygralight2262]

Seconding this recommendation!

[@robinbeers6689]

Thanks for that recommendation. I went and watched that and now it all makes a lot more sense.

[@matthew360]

I hope you do this topic again some time with someone that can educate us about blockchains, cryptocurrency, and NFTs.

[@harshalshah4685]

Currently 99% of NFTs are greater fool scams. There are legitimate uses for NFTs but its not gonna make you rich overnight. As Dr. Johnson mentioned, the deed to your house or the title to your vehicle is unique or non-fungible. Can't use the deed to my house to make a claim on someone else's house...

[@kicka55]

I suspect they are mostly used as pretext to sell other things. Like you want to buy this thing from a friend but you don't want your bank to know about, so you instead agree to buy a worthless NFT for the same price and he gives you the thing for free. And since you bought this worthless NFT for so much money other unrelated people now get interested into it. You can get a portion of your money back reselling that NFT to them again at a lower price. It gets even better, since you now sold this NFT at a "loss" you can get tax returns on your regular income and you end up buying your friends thing for free lool. I hope you understand why it's so popular amongst a certain group of people and why they hype it up so much. They want this to keep going really badly.

[@harshalshah4685]

@@kicka55 as Carl said to Lenny in the Stonecutters episode, "Shhhutupppp". 🤣

[@felicityc]

NFTs? I can't buy drugs with them so it's 100%

[@kicka55]

@@felicityc You can't buy drugs with NFTs, but you can buy drugs and get an NFT with it. To make the tax authorities believe you just bought a very expensive ape. Just using cryptocurrency is insufficient for money laundry. You need NFTs for that.

[@dankennedy4776]

Given that blockchain is a relatively new concept, as are NFTs, we really needed someone with some clear knowledge and confident explaining skills. I’m afraid we didn’t get either in this episode, and it only served to be more confusing. Not a good choice. I’m particularly peeved about the logistics use case for blockchain as it only serves to misuse and further confuse blockchain usage. I’m glad Dr. Tyson called her out that the systems she explained already exist. Contrary to the strange comment: blockchain does not in fact help anyone find lost packages. Just plain strange. Anyway, for all intents and purposes, this episode was mostly discussion on the hype-driven aspects of blockchain and NFT; largely useless and I feel sorry for those who expected a layman explanation of both.

[@SwedishYouthHumanist]

I agree. Most important counter-questions went unasked ans unanswered.

[@thejoshbtv]

I came in to this video incredibly confused about the whole situation. I finished the video even more confused than when I went in.

[@robinbeers6689]

It's not you. This was very badly explained. There's a documentary called "Line Goes Up" that will make it a lot more clear and is also a lot more unbiased.

[@Gustavo-wu3of]

Agreed. It's a pretty poor explanation, mainly about Blockchain. I think that the lady didn't have so much experience in the field.

[@Violinoknight]

Thank you for also doing this topic sir. Greatly appreciated.

[@StarTalk]

It was long overdue!

[@TJ-hs1qm]

I'd love to hear more from Dr. Johnson about her time in Africa!!!!

[@Gary85M]

NFT sounds similar to buying or naming a star with a certificate from her explanation. It certainly seems to be used by some to rip people off like that.

[@dievas_]

Well at least the star wont disappear (soon), images on the other hand are not stored on blockchain and once their gone, you are left with a link that leads nowhere.

[@radicallybean]

it is exactly that

[@LehalParminder]

It is a big scan that will last for decades and nothing will be left (of value) at the end......

[@hhiippiittyy]

It's a star in an digitally created universe with a buy in. I'll bet most star naming purchases get the buyer a little certificates something.

[@emilecormier5085]

@@hhiippiittyy They do get certificates with the star's coordinates. They then proceed to pester their local astronomy club about wanting to see "their" star through their telescopes. You have to walk on eggshells when dealing with them, because sometimes the star name was "bought" for a sick/dying/dead relative. I hate these star naming scam companies with a passion, and I wish they were made illegal.

[@RupertReynolds1962]

Let me get this straight about blockchain and BTC:- 1) there is demand for the processing power to complete a block on the chain, but once complete it is easy to verify the block, so the public can have confidence it hasn't changed. 2) people compete to complete the block, because they get paid in BTC worth thousands $/£/€. 3) everyone else competing gets nothing, except a bill for the hardware and electricity used. 4) the BTC price can be controlled by varying availability of blocks My question is who controls availability and how is it that everyone with the hardware can compete? What stops the fastest hardware winning every time? Also, who controls availability/price and what stops that from being corrupt?

[@robinbeers6689]

This is the question I keep asking and getting zero reply. This system did not spring into being from a robot dream and the A.I s don't maintain it. There are people involved somewhere even if it is "decentralized", people who regulate and make decisions about the running of things. Who are they? Where are they? What are their interests/incentives? I can answer your last question about corruption. Nothing is stopping scams. They are rampant. And there is no governing body to take your complaint to if you have been ripped off. You are just S.O.L. These are the things that should be talked about if NDT does a Part 2 which I hope he does because this episode was presenting the whole thing through rose colored glasses.

[@Pancakegr8]

Having a bigger mining rig definitely helps, which unfortunately means that the rich get richer since they can buy more graphics cards.

[@sascachito]

tyson you are one of my great inspirations to continue studying science and meet my goals :D thanks for everything, I'm sorry if my English is not very good but I practice watching your videos.

[@BoogerBrain]

I wish they talked more in depth about what the actual cryptographic algorithm is.

[@CreativeGPX]

There isn't one algorithm. Different cyptocurrencies can use different algorithms and the same one can use different algorithms over time. So, that might be getting too much into the weeds with it.

[@kosdas]

it is complex to explain in this show. You'd better read some books. Start with studying Bitcoin of course. It is really incredibly robust.

[@michalmatousek7009]

If you want to kono more look into the HASH function. It is cryptographic hash function that has very important property to be one way, meaning form list of numbers on input is create single number on output but it is hard to find from output number to what input should be. For BTC is used SHA256. MIning is just complementing the input list with the correct number so that output is exactly defined number, and due to one way property it needs to be tried many times with different numbers on input. Once found and published it is easy for anyone validate that input really produced the desired output.

[@jamesgreen2495]

Bitcoin is basically which ever miners computer guesses the long number that's been randomly generated wins the block and adds it to the Blockchain. Is so wasteful as all the others have basically used energy for nothing. Is like to find a password that unlocks and wins.

[@kosdas]

@@jamesgreen2495 "used energy for nothing"?? The energy used by all miners together, goes to secure the network. Do you have any idea of what this exactly means? If not, then please don't speak random words.

[@alejandrokakias3235]

Im a big fan of the show but I think the analogies and explanations were accurately understood mainly only by people that already know about the subject and can actually understand the point of a specific example per instance. Im trying to say that even if I agree or not with the technology, the information was kind of mixed up and untentionally misleading (without intention to do it) for most of the questions. I like that the show is going from only star talk to science or technology talk.

[@askarkalykov]

And actually, many, if not all, questions were not answered.

[@zendyrwrathgarron5135]

i still have no idea. all i heard was ledger blah blah blah blah. basically, there s a block of something that everybody can see that floats around somewhere. if everybody can make a block why do i want to spend time mathing to get a block? so nfts give me a token? how do i get my token? how do i cash it in? do banks take them? is it mailed to me? so I'm I'm buying fake stuff? do I buy it with fake money? how do i know i own it? can i show it to anybody? how do i hang a fake painting in my house?

[@scdijkens]

She did a horrible job explaining it for people that know nothing. There were 1000s of easier analogies

[@mobaby1979]

Same. This show was honestly the most memorably bad and misleading (and very poorly structured). I can tell that all of the people involved are SUPER NICE. But lets face it, this was a huge fail.

[@Igor-Demchuk]

agreed

[@MiyabiJNEP]

Good, helpful content. Thank you for this.

[@GR000]

This is a minor (pun intended) update for Dr Johnson, but at the last Bitcoin halving event in May 2020, miner rewards were halved from 12.5 BTC to 6.25 BTC (i.e. miners are now rewarded with 6.25 Bitcoin per block created). Next halving event will be sometime in 2024.

[@reynoldsmathey]

You crypto enthusiasts don't seem to realize that YOU are the product. It's nothing more than a scam, a ponzi scheme.

[@dienadel30]

And all the while consuming massive amounts of power ! FYI is craps !! Grandma !! Talking about Digital assets. Most people are looking for an unregulated market to make money in my days it was penny stocks.. Grandma Blockchain now is what the WWW was 90s IBM has a quantum computer, she retired ? the face of bitcoin is use more power who controls the halving ? Which make, it harder more power consuming to mine ? She was trying to make money Very disappointed Neil

[@MentalBrothers]

@@reynoldsmathey Who let biden on youtube, please show him back to his bed

[@JamesRuga]

Yeah, and also the first reward was 50 BTC not 25 BTC

[@StarTalk]

Thank you for the info!

[@darlenedoddy9903]

I love this show and watch it RELIGIOUSLY, but todays show was the not 'par for the course'.....Actually its the only episode ive had had an issue with. I dont know alot beyond the basics of crypto and blockchain, but after todays show i feel sumhow 'lost' knowledge or had confusion mixed into what i did understand previously by the way things were explained by the expert...... Ive heard it explained sooo much better before is what im trying to say here.... But even tho todays show was a failure, the high level set by the previous shows might explain all the dissatisfaction expressed in the commemts here

[@vo1pwf]

awesome co-host ...need to have her do more with you neil

[@kicka55]

How can both of them not understand NFTs lol. You don't actually buy art buying NFTs. You buy a digital representation of that art (a pointer to a webspace that contains the art). However, that webspace the art is placed on is NOT part of the blockchain. Only the pointer is. So if someone deletes the art from the webspace, the NFT becomes a pointer to nothing. Now the value could still remain if people believe in the NFT more, than they believe in the actual art. If we were to store the art on the blockchain it would explode in volume. But why do people spend thousands for NFTs? Simply put, if you sell things online nobody should know about, you still have to explain to tax authorites where the money came from. "Selling art" becomes a pretext to selling other things. You "buy art" and attached comes a briefcase containing white powder. That's not new but it was normally done using physical art. Using NFTs is just much simpler. Those people have a big stake in crypto and NFTs so they do all they can do advertise it online. That's why it's everywhere.

[@BrianBattles]

What if someone downloads the art or takes a screenshot? Now they have a copy too.

[@Danymok]

The dark days have come

[@Cloud_Stratus]

I'm going to assume that Dr. Sandra Johnson came to the show with good intentions, but I don't think it's fair to compare crypto and NFT stuff with real life. At the end of the day, it's literally just 1s and 0s on a computer. Not to mention you don't actually own whatever you bought, except for the access to a URL to an image.

[@thevitruvianman9781]

Define ownership

[@SwedishYouthHumanist]

@@thevitruvianman9781 ownership is when you dictate somethings use at the acceptance of others. It would mean nothing to "own a car" if anyone could jump in it, use it, without your consent. When you "own" an NFT that's all you own: the NFT blockchain. The artwork itself is not owned in any meaningful sense (I can throw a penny down a well amd claim that I now own the Earth, but that's also meaningless in any practical sense).

[@sukryronde460]

I can't stop watching your vid you are a great teacher

[@alisha2875]

Great interview! Can’t wait for part 2!

[@stevewise1656]

I needed this video! All of this is over my head.

[@StarTalk]

We hope we made you at least a little more crypto-literate!

[@michaelblount167]

Whew... Chuck and Neil is like peanut butter and jelly. Today they got peanut butter and mayonnaise.

[@ThePoushal]

Spoiled mayo

[@frankcasares6723]

Lol

[@michaelblount167]

@@ThePoushal ha ha 😂😂😂 why I gotta be spoiled

[@andypeiffer5]

Thank you for covering this

[@healonyou]

You should consider inviting Andreas Antonopoulos. He is the best educater in the space!

[@SparkyWrench]

I don't think Dr Johnson explained it very well. I don't understand it anymore than I did before. To answer one question, as computer processing power increases, more crypto is found, and the value goes down. Then, the amount of crypto awarded is decreased (less available crypto in the market) raising the value.

[@robinbeers6689]

I agree. I have enough degrees to paper a wall and this presentation left me more confused than when I started.

[@jissanboermans5009]

I agree too. I watched it twice and still don't understand.

[@Gerard1971]

Absolutely wrong. As computer processing power (= hash rate) increases, so does the network difficulty, so that on average one block is added to the block chain every 10 minutes. The award for mining a block is halved every 4 years, and is currently 6,25 bitcoin. However, none of this has any influence on the value of bitcoin. It is actually the other way around: if the value of bitcoin increases (due to demand being higher than supply), miners add more processing power as the reward has become higher, but this will only lead to an increase in the network difficulty, so this does not result in more bitcoin coins mined, and therefore does this not cause the value to go down. The only correlation is therefore between the value of bitcoin and the amount of electrical energy wasted, the higher the value of bitcoin becomes, the more electrical energy is wasted.

[@666evilgizmo666]

This was (at least to best of my knowledge) first released in to the Either by Neal Sephenson in the book "Cryptonomicon" in 1999. Great book by the way if you are in to Science Fiction: or is it? Or is it Science Fiction meets Reality? At least the Cryto part of it.

[@leefbeatz2104]

You are a major superhero and inspiration to me and my family 🙏🙏🙏🦊

[@TROllingNINJA2031]

My one problem understanding all of this is how do you differentiate digital from physical. The whole FedEx analogy messed me up even more

[@BrianBattles]

Yeah the explanation went nowhere.

[@bria-space-time-traveler]

This technology is rife with people abusing it, particularly with NFTs. I honestly think there are MUCH better things to focus on. This hype is filled with people making a quick buck and will be known in history as a technology that took off, became immediately became riddled with scams. Can it be used for good? Sure, it's like any other technology. Is it CURRENTLY being used for good? No.

[@Good_Horsey]

Sums it up pretty well. I do like the comment threads on videos like these though, where bots start giving each other hot tips on who to invest with and ALL the thousands they make on the hour or whatever. It's already going on on another thread of this video. 🤑🤖

[@Hecarim420]

I think the real problem is that this "cryptocurrency" is not compatible with our "financial world" and you can, for example, cash in illegal assets like NFT and even more finnancial scams :v Having said that, I believe it can be used "wisely"

[@lo-firobotboy7112]

It still feels like a pyramid scheme for the digital age.

[@daz7335]

This is still just the beginning. The future of NFT's is bigger than even i can realise. It's so much more than just artwork and scams. It's about the new digital age

[@oldcowbb]

it just economic (game theory), if your game is designed to be have abusable flaws then people are going to abuse it, NFT is lawless by designed and perfect for scams

[@justinbaker2883]

Shipping example doesnt make sense. Neil is right. Losses would still occur due to human error and if you think porch piracy is bad now would be 1000 times worse if everyone can see when you are getting said package

[@tadeth]

Everyone can see it but can’t have it. The good side maybe illegal transactions, such as smuggling, and illicit trades, trafficking can’t escape the check points that may be adopted by the government.

[@DarthBiomech]

Maybe shipping company will eventually learn it's better to handle packages directly into the recipient's hands, with signing a paper that they've received it, like it _should be?_

[@adityasonawane686]

Thank you for the video !! finally i have some understanding of crypto nfts and blockchain ...

[@ModernDayGeeks]

Interesting to see what Neil has to say in regards the whole NFTs and Cryptocurrency thing. Always a reminder for everyone to due their diligent research about NFTs and Crypto before delving deep.

[@kathryntate6809]

Thank you, Mr. Tyson for this show with an amazing knowledgeable person. Thank god this is happening.

[@StarTalk]

We're glad you enjoyed!

[@droidnick]

@@StarTalk thanking "god" when talking to Neil deGrasse Tyson... the irony. Lol

[@fritzelly7309]

This Dr has very simplistic knowledge of crypto

[@lesliefranklin1870]

She clearly simplified it for her hosts and audience. Anyone with a PhD in EE and/or CS will have a much more in-depth knowledge than was presented here.

[@iluvtododrawrings]

She may be hella smart, but she does suck at explaining the relevant concepts: technology (blockchain/NFTs), traditional money (cryptocurrency difference), bitcoin specifically, and the problems crypto/blockchains can solve.

[@kosdas]

@@lesliefranklin1870 She made errors on Bitcoin which is clear index of low crypto knowledge.

[@irrefudiate]

Marcia Belsky was delightful. Very relatable, quick witted, and I'd never heard the Sally Ride story before. How utterly 1950's.

[@petertvp8039]

Great discussion, enjoyed it a lot👌🏼

[@jimmyers4890]

The next time you have Dr. Johnson on ask her, "If I get paid in crypto how do I use that to buy my groceries?"

[@lennoxgordon6557]

Your Dr. Johnson shared enough information on crypto currencies to lift me from the my blissful ignorance of the subject. Many thanks to her and the rest of the team.

[@StarTalk]

We hope this episode acted as a valuable stepping-stone to a future as a successful crypto trader!

[@BrianBattles]

I've known about crytocurrencies and I've owned some for more than 6 years now, and she didn't clarify a thing to me, she just said words.

[@PronatorTendon]

@@BrianBattles That's because you're already part of the _in group._ Most people aren't well-informed on crypto

[@BrianBattles]

@@PronatorTendon Yes and this didn't help. Raised more questions than it answered

[@Feasco]

@@BrianBattles questions like "why is she exposing the grifts I'm trying to make bank on?"

[@Hawke.The.Talentless.]

I'm 32 also and this chick is 💯 correct. They thought our generation nothing of finance

[@pfunkPT]

I'm all for crypto I just don't like the mining aspect of it. The energy needed for calculating blocks just seams a big waste to me not to mention hazardous for the environment. And these mining rigs have lots of graphic cards, and now we can not find any at a reasonable price for regular PC's. The one I bought in 2020 cost double the price now!

[@ghostnights8538]

Banks need energy too. They need more energy lol

[@misterx168]

*Wakes up while facing my master in my new mechanical suit* *Breathes* "Where is Chuck?" *Breathes* "Is He safe? Is he Alright?" *Breathes*

[@simsfamily298]

"It seems in your anger , you killed him"

[@TheRabbitRonin]

I think Marcia Belsky did a good job co-hosting for her first on Startalk.

[@EtherealSheBe]

AMAZING EPISODE

[@heynando]

When Chuck isn’t there it’s not the same

[@superluigiac]

The impact on the environment was reaaaally downplayed ("well, it can be solved then" yeah, as easily as climate change), as well as the companies abusing NFTs and just getting money out of already available assets, but putting a price tag on it

[@JurisKankalis]

Sure. As in.... the impact is usually REAAAAALY OVERPLAYED in the heads of eco-zombies - or at best, misunderstood, like in case of eg BEVS vs. ICE vehicles. Go hug a panda, polar bear or a whale. You've given choice - use it wisely and don't say people are being rude to you!

[@superluigiac]

@@JurisKankalis "go hug a panda" (Sigh) really dude?

[@Galactic_fart_sniffer]

@@JurisKankalis i hate crypto. Its dumb. Ill go hug a panda before i invest in crypto.

[@oldcowbb]

@@superluigiac cryptobro man, cryptobro

[@kosdas]

Check today's article on a recent research. find: mining bitcoin co2 global. In 2 words: "The impact of Bitcoin on the environment" is practically zero. (0,08% of all CO2)

[@AtlanticPicture]

If you want a clear explanation there are several good vids on this, *Johnny Harris* has a 17 min vid on it from about 9 months ago and it's well illustrated, explained.

[@JurisKankalis]

Mr Tyson should have said - when Marsha was asked by the professor to call about her NFT - DO I GET COMMISSION? Anyway. Brilliant episode. Greetings from Latvia.

[@thelograph7162]

Incredibly helpful! Been waiting for credits system Buck Roger's used to come to fruition. Still keep my gold but will get rid of worthless paper. Would a solar flare or EMT take crypto out?

[@StumpyDaPaladin]

Yes.

[@Good_Horsey]

Why do I feel like I'll walk away from this 52 minutes later still thinking it's a scam?

[@Deatomizer]

Open your mind. This is the future and the future is here.

[@alexisrivera200xable]

Because it is a scam. All you buy is an encrypted link the blockchain doesn't even host the file itself for the NFT. It's fake scarcity on digital goods that can be copied infinitely.

[@szerocools]

@@alexisrivera200xable hehehe. Do you remember what they said about Bitcoins back in 2008?

[@Deatomizer]

@@alexisrivera200xable oh brother, you're funny

[@MMradnane]

@@alexisrivera200xable critical thinking has become like flat earth for some fake woke maniacs

[@oldskoolguy1]

Definitely beed to do a second video on this explaining bitcoin, crypto, nfts and blockchain. Dr. Sandra in my opinion is a brilliant woman just not a great teacher…one of the reasons Dr. Tyson is so Amazing is because he can teach confusing things to a baby, somone can be knowledgeable but not great at teaching especially when we are used to being taught at the level Neil teaches..some of the analagies wasnt broken down enuff…also i love Marcia! Bring her back

[@IfYouKnowYouKnow.]

Great episode

[@infinatep1mp737]

Thanks Neil for taking the time to feed us knowledge 👍

[@StarTalk]

Thank you for taking the time to consume it!

[@edwardgaliber]

This was an incredible episode, thank you!! Truly inspired by the guest host. Also in the same generation with a vague understanding of bank ledgers lol. Learned a lot, these are the best.

[@paymeinxrp9599]

Buy XRP

[@darrell20741]

Great video!

[@Uzukii]

It's so nice to see an older person with an education explain blockchain, crypto currency and NFTs instead of the typical zoomer kid who made a million dollars or some shyt fresh outta high school.

[@JML6988]

My thinking is that the future success of crypto depends on the willingness of banks to convert it to cash if their customers so choose. As long as we're cash-based, any alternative trading medium needs to be convertible.

[@kosdas]

You can convert crypto in cash anytime. You can send dollars to your bank account, directly from your crypto-exchange. Simple as that.

[@thanos879]

Hey startalk, there's a bunch of bots in the comments recommending financial advisers to lure people into a scam.

[@JJ-de9vf]

Watching from Nairobi Kenya.

[@vicmartone]

What a convoluted answer.

[@GrimmWolf-]

It’s about time we hit this topic!

[@chullotm1970]

I have not listen yet, going to bed in a min. but I will tomorrow....but I am afraid there will be a lot of bs about crypto! I am into crypto for the last 5y already, so I am curious what they will say about this 'space'!

[@xxxxxrandom]

Any explanation beyond "it's a new scam just like pyramid schemes have always been" is superfluous. Well perhaps one could also add that it's also a colossal waste of electricity.

[@kd1s]

Oh my InfoSci B.Sc started as an Accounting degree. So I know what ledgers are, balance sheets, trial balances etc.

[@robelw5287]

Enlightening!

[@sandrataylor2323]

Okay...I am more confused now and I know what a ledger is as I've used them in the past. I guess I'm one of the unteachable ones when it comes to this subject.

[@linkingwithnaz1295]

What are you confused about? Its a decentralized ledger. No single entity had control and cannot make changes without everyone else seeing it.

[@johnevans1313]

It was very poorly explained.

[@sandrataylor2323]

@@linkingwithnaz1295 Just what does decentralize mean? I'm 65 and computer illiterate and have been to college, but it is still all Greek to me.

[@sandrataylor2323]

@@johnevans1313 You are right.

[@linkingwithnaz1295]

@@sandrataylor2323 instead of the data being stored in a single server owned by a single entity, multiple ledger copies are stored by multiple servers and independent unrelated parties which are checked against each other. This is important because you don't have to rely on a single trusted entity to maintain the ledger. There are downsides however. Namely that it's slower than a centralized ledger controlled by a single entity.

[@nevarran]

And from what I understood the entire blockchain concept is insanely ineffective - you have thousands of machines doing the same task, and then the one that finishes it first, logs it in and takes the reward. The work of all other machines that were doing the same work goes in the trash. You can hardly create a more wasteful system than that.

[@oohhboy-funhouse]

The waste is a feature, not a bug. It's 'security' is based on how much waste is required to hack the system vs potential payout. Actual security, aka encryption, forces the attacker to use all the computing power available on Earth for a day or billions of years on a single computer to brute force the decryption. Encrypting the data takes next to no time.

[@Gerard1971]

@@oohhboy-funhouse This is utter nonsense, nowadays there are more modern distributed ledger technologies that do not require this enormous waste of energy, and are faster and more scalable, and even more secure than Bitcoin blockchain. Also, in blockchain there is not any encryption/decryption involved, only hashing.

[@oohhboy-funhouse]

@@Gerard1971 The entire point of hashing to increase the cost to mount an attack, for people to pretend they are doing useful work, to feel like they are the new capitalist rather than the bag holders that they are. Alternate systems of BC simply changes what gets wasted, whether it is GPU/HDD/SSD/RAM, electricity or people. Any efficiency gains is consumed by the fundamental inefficiency requirements as it decreases the cost of attack, thus more resources gets sucked in for a given 'Price' point to maintain difficulty. The difficulty to attack is a finite subset of Earth's computing power which means it 100% open to attack within an attainable amount of resources at all times. This has happens every time a BC gets forked. A cabal of mining pools agreed off chain that they don't like what got inputted on to the chain. It is also a demonstration of the centralisation and the complete lack of accountability in BC.

[@michalmatousek7009]

You are right but not the first one, therefore there are beside Proof Of Work systems also Proof Of Stake systems, where consensus mechanism is not base on wasted work, the most popular are ADA and soon ETH 2.0.

[@nevarran]

@@michalmatousek7009 I don't know much about this stuff, but I remember seeing someone writing a comment about the "soon to come" Proof of Stake system in Ethereum at least a couple of years ago (I assume that's what ETH 2.0 means).

[@kasession]

I cannot say I understand this concept any better. I need to see how this actually works. I will say one statement from Dr. Johnson jumped out at me. And that was when she said... "I'm not an economist". I think that was very telling.

[@robinbeers6689]

Exactly. She could have stopped right there.

[@gabrielhersey5546]

Thank you Dr Johnson

[@kenqb5450]

As for the house purchase example, can a blockchain be altered to change the ownership of a property without the actual owner's knowledge? I know it can happen now, but it would seem that putting the information in a blockchain would open it up for more theft.

[@RohanVx]

A Block cannot be altered that way, if you Own something in a Blockchain, the only thing that changes this Ownership is by you Transferring it to another Owner

[@welchbrice8303]

I want to know how they keep this stuff from being hacked when even the most secure databases are regularly breached.

[@ronneymccarthy6448]

Blockchains are immutable & decentralized, that means there is no central point of control. Each block contains a hash (40 digit alpha numeric code) of it's own block & the previous block. If anything changes on either block they become invalid. In addition they use POW (proof of work) for consensus. In the case of bitcoin It would have to be a 51% attack on the entire blockchain to do just 1 double spent and that will cost you 100s of millions of dollars to do. 1. Decentralization 2. Hash 3. Proof of Work There are other types of blockchains such as POS - proof of stake, POA - proof of authority, etc... I hope this helped.

[@gowthamk9823]

Really interesting 👍

[@kunaltyagi5130]

Now you have covered all topics officially

[@hanstubben]

Still don't understand crypto or blockchain, but still think of it of a poncy scene, the latest getting into it will pay for it all.

[@kosdas]

you don't even know what a ponzi is. Forget ponzi and read about Bitcoin asap. It's a good advice, you will remember these words.

[@KarrGalaxyStudios]

One thought to answer Neils question around increasing computing power (like quantum computing) churning out coins faster, may be that the more volatile currencies today become commoditized and their values drop or stabilize. If all the coins eventually are mined, whatever the last value would stay as the value but the coins are still traded on the blockchain as a currency. Think about how many physical dollars change hands. Stable coins will always fluctuate a little based on physical assets. It could be in the future that bitcoin speculative coins of today reverses the trend and IT becomes the more stable value once you cant mint any more bitcoins. Interesting to think about. One thing im waiting for is the US copywrite office to start offering NFTs for original artists work because doing so would allow digital ownership for artists that could be sold in an easy way online. Artists should always have their rights protected whether digital or physical be able to sell it first bevause we own the copyright.

[@KarrGalaxyStudios]

@@KsNewSpace if you mine the last coin the currency would cease to exist? Makes no sense to me. The existing value would still be there and ledger should continue to tell what wallet owns what coin. The USD doesnt shut down the economy simply because the fed doesnt print more money, all that happens is values change. Yes inflation could be a problem. But the face value of one bitcoin should still equal one of something... otherwise who would gamble on such a currency. And it is gambling at the moment...

[@ystong6345]

I'm sorry but i keep hearing Dr Johnson saying "Blackchain". Am I the only one? I'm listening to this while i'm working and it just confuses the crap out of me! LOL

[@garygwhicks5856]

Hi Dr. Tyson! VERY confused about cryptocurrency. There was a lot of talk about complex computations. What is being processed? I'm a retired software engineer with 30 years of experience, but I do not grok. Also, there was talk about people winning crypto, but no talk of people losing it. Seems like crypto needs to further evolve. I guess I am gonna hang on to my gold... 😷STAY😷SAFE😷 👁

[@moahamadshoumar9328]

The answers are not good. So many misconceptions especially when talking about nft, like these pics and videos are not stored on the Blockchain, they are stored on someone's server, so he can delete or alter the pic. Thus it's centralized and worthless

[@iwersonsch5131]

The picture painted by this video is dangerously incomplete unless you also watch the documentary "Line goes up". Hard recommend if you think this holds any merit (which it might but it's really easy to misunderstand stuff here).

[@robinbeers6689]

I couldn't agree more. This presentation left me more confused at the end than I was to start with. Then I watched the "Line Goes Up" documentary and it all finally made sense.

[@polarchucky]

It's so nice of Mirabel for cohosting the show XD

[@justomar6648]

I hope someone can answer this.. so is it that we are finding X (or mining for x) where f(x) is that 256 bit binary number? and every x is worth 12.5 bitcoins?

[@feedingravens]

I heard a bitcoin mined in China costs about 8 tons of coal You can mine bitcoins mined in Norway with hydropower - sounds ecological, but on the other hand, this energy is lost to do something else with it, light a house, charge electric cars, etc. And green power is NOT infinite. I heard (and that was several years ago) that to keep the crypto currency running, you require the energy consumption of Switzerland. As she said, the COMPLETE blockchain is available everywhere anytime, so the blockchains have to be circulated around the cloud constantly. A coin or a dollar note is made ONCE, and then it lies around, using ZERO energy, until you use it to pay something, then it lies around again, using ZERO energy. Your bank account is a number, stored in a computer of your bank. That requires comparably little energy, as the info is stored on a harddrive that is storing the data and does not necessarily needs energy. It is storable with thousands of other bank accounts on one disk.

[@paulroche369]

L

[@Gerard1971]

No bitcoins are mined in China anymore, because the government made it illegal to do so, and I'm sure may more countries will follow. Even if all bitcoins are mined on green energy, that indeed takes away from useful purposes, so unless all electricity in the world is "green", bitcoin is directly or indirectly contributing to CO2 pollution. You compared to the energy consumption of Switzerland; Bitcoin alone uses more than twice that already. The complete bitcoin blockchain is currently 388 GB and is available on all bitcoin nodes in the network (nearly 15000). On average every 10 minutes a block of up to 1 MB is added to it, so that is manageable in terms of traffic and storage, but that is also because only 250000 transactions are done on the bitcoin blockchain each day, and the theoretical limit is some 800000 per day, but it has never reached more than half that. If you compare this to daily number of transactions on bank accounts and credit cards in the world, which far exceed one billion, then you can see that bitcoin blockchain could not even remotely handle that.

[@skeller61]

There are some real world problems with all these Bitcoin miners. They buy up all the supplies of high end graphics cards the moment they are available, leaving actual graphic designers, video editors, etc., to pay exorbitant prices for them, if they are lucky enough to find one. That sucks, in my opinion. In addition, as a scientist, Neil, you were quick to suggest solar panels, but you don't understand how much power is being used and you know that most of it is made burning fossil fuels, and you know about climate change, so I don't understand why anyone concerned about these issues would be in favor of this right now.

[@emigon_fmageuw6113]

Euthirum 2.0 is working on reducing that :)

[@anthonyscira2511]

You can't mine Bitcoin with graphics cards. You need dedicated ASIC miners.

[@emigon_fmageuw6113]

@@anthonyscira2511 you can literally mine with graphics cards, I use nicehash just fine

[@emigon_fmageuw6113]

@@anthonyscira2511 yes you can i know because I do it. If you have a good graphics card have a look at nicehash then come back and tell me if you managed to get any

[@johnnycastro5879]

I literally watch this all day as a podcast it's great

[@GringoCurt]

This was a great perspective of a technician. All of her technical answers were spot on and simple to understand. To me, that's how I know when someone understands something. If a person cannot explain something simply then they either don't speak my language or they don't fully understand what they're talking about. She understandably became inaccurate only when economics questions were brought forward. To clear up those small, but important, inaccuracies I'd recommend that you invite Robert Breedlove for interview. No one can explain the economics side of this topic more simply. Better yet, have Dr. Johnson and R, Breedlove on at the same time. This way Dr. Johnson can benefit from learning while creating additional value to the conversation. Great to see boomers talking about this stuff. It brings me hope. No central banks equal a lot less corruption. World Central Banks want to hold onto their power. This incentivizes world bankers to spread misinformation and confusion around an otherwise fairly simple subject to understand. Speaking as a former u.s. national manager for HSBC Bank, that now lives in the jungle, it is essential that this information be taught as quickly as possible. Thanks for being you Neil!

[@PinkSummer1017]

oh my goodness, Neil, please get a crypto expert. really?

[@aljohnson1836]

Hello Dr. Tyson. Nothing against Dr. Johnson, but there’s people on you tube who could have explained blockchain better than her. There’s a very smart young man named Quincy Jones, no relation to the producer who’s a developer with Xinfin network who can better explain blockchain and their purpose.

[@Shaner9er]

Wow Sandra is an amazing person!

[@bula9737]

Brroooooo sis just woke up and put on the headphones to talk to Neil 😂😂

[@DexterTCN]

no-one is any clearer! WHAT'S IN THE BLOCKS!

[@MikeBramm]

As far as I understand, NFTs are only worth what someone is willing to pay for them. There's no real set value. It's like Beanie Babies, Cabbage Patch Kids, Baseball Cards, etc. If you are a collector of a thing you really really want a specific item, you are willing to pay anything for it (to a point). But then, years later, that fad has dwindled away and nobody cares about "that thing" any more and it just sits in your closet, not really worth anything. I just can't see spending money on a photo or song or something that anyone can see or hear, hoping that someone else will ever want to buy it from you for more than you paid for it. For example, say you find a napkin at a diner that Jerry Seinfeld wrote some doodle on, so you sell it on eBay. Some Jerry Seinfeld fan may purchase it, hoping that it goes up in value so they can sell it and make money. But who really wants an old napkin with a doodle on it (no offense Jerry 🙂), what value does it "really" have???

[@linkingwithnaz1295]

It's like having a autographed photo.

[@felicityc]

Yes. NFTs are 100% extrinsic value.

[@belkyhernandez8281]

Yup

[@Deemancer]

Very enjoyable video.👍

[@bobbobbinson1841]

Its so refreshing to watch interviews with actually smart people, instead of famous people and other non-scientifically educated people with nothing to back up their opinions.

[@riveratrackrunner]

No understanding of N.O.S( nature of science).

[@xxxxxrandom]

It is, but this wasn't it. This was people uncritically gushing over the newest pyramid schemes that in addition waste a huge amount of electricity globally.

[@robinbeers6689]

@@xxxxxrandom Yes, I think NDT needs to do a part 2 and consider this one to be the "pros" and do the "cons" in the other. I think the negative impacts on the planet and the major amount of fraud and general wasted energy involved in this whole scam are getting glossed over in this video. I expect better from NDT.

[@Fupachu]

What happened to Chuck??

[@dcpassarell]

While Dr. Johnson did a good job explaining what a blockchain is, she didn't do a great job explaining how mining works and why it takes a huge amount of power. She also did not explain any of the criticisms of NFTs very well. While she described mining fairly accurately as 'rolling dice', she didn't say that mining farms use thousands of GPUs to get more chances to 'roll the dice'. Also, there is only one winner, so the rest of the computing power is wasted. They could at least tie this to something like folding@home so the extra computation is at least beneficial to humanity. Most NFTs on the market are based on Ethereum--one of the worst cryptocurrancies in terms of pollution. It literally produces less CO2 for an artist to sell prints and mail them. Also, the file (image, video, etc) is NOT on the blockchain. It is a hyperlink. If the business who minted the NFT gets hacked, the hacker could easily change every file associated with an NFT into a rickroll gif, or the host could go out of business and you're left with a URL that goes nowhere. The video as a whole seems very pro crypto and didn't touch on many of the negatives.

[@smesh4190]

Thanks for this, completely agree. Could have also spoken about the global shortage of gpu’s casued by crypto mining too

[@chiefsalllday]

This was a 101 video bro, not an advanced course

[@dcpassarell]

Two paragraphs of text does not an advanced course make. It should be at least a bare minimum to call NFTs (in their current state) a scam.

[@SagaraUrz]

Most crypto mining uses the excess and waste of energy producers and also big portion uses green energy.

[@dcpassarell]

@@SagaraUrz that's why big mining operations have bought coal power plants and brought them back online, right? They go to the cheapest power. Sure, sometimes that's hydro, and the guys in Texas using flare gas is a cool idea, but I wouldn't say most.

[@t9xt9x1]

Answer to question at 44:40 is the difficulty of the block.. a new block is expected every ten minutes-on average. After every x blocks if time is more or less they can increase or decrease the difficulty of finding the right block.

[@billybeckett6615]

Y'all really just hit me with a crypto advertisement?🤣🤣🤣