Cryptocurrencies! Cobalt! Bitcoin! Batteries! Are These A Net Positive or Negative For Society? How Should We Feel When The Goods We Love Lead to Ransomware, Child Labor, More Carbon, and Death?

<p>The Best Paragraph I've Read:</p> <p><br></p> <p>A truly consequential innovation is one that makes possible entirely new business models that touch the lives of millions. The car enabled motels and shopping malls, the internet enabled e-commerce, and smartphones and GPS enabled ride-sharing.</p> <p>What business model that touches the lives of millions have cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin made possible? American motorists now know: ransomware. In such attacks, hackers encrypt and sometimes steal the victim’s data, demanding a ransom to decrypt and not release the data. Crypto is how Colonial Pipeline Ltd. <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/colonial-pipeline-ceo-tells-why-he-paid-hackers-a-4-4-million-ransom-11621435636?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">paid hackers</a> who earlier this month forced offline a conduit that supplies 45% of the East Coast’s fuel.</p> <p>A few days after the Colonial attack, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/market-data/quotes/TSLA">Tesla</a> Inc. announced <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/elon-musk-says-tesla-suspends-accepting-bitcoin-for-vehicle-purchases-11620858838?mod=article_inline" target="_blank">it would no longer accept bitcoin</a> as payment for cars because of the carbon emissions generated by the computer processing necessary to mint new coins.</p> <p>The two events underline how an innovation that was supposed to displace the dollar as a medium of exchange has proved largely useless for buying legal things yet frighteningly effective at facilitating extortion.</p> <p><br></p> <p>This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal in an article titled: "Cryptocurrency Has Yet to Make the World a Better Place." &nbsp;The article is written by Greg IP. &nbsp;You can read the article here:</p> <p><br></p> <p><a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-has-yet-to-make-the-world-a-better-place-11621519381">https://www.wsj.com/articles/cryptocurrency-has-yet-to-make-the-world-a-better-place-11621519381</a></p> <p><br></p> <p>Zac and Don discuss whether cryptoc