Of course, but it's is not fair to say that only the most efficient way is efficient.
Yes, but eight year old GPUs aren't going to be in any way
efficient today, at anything, by any measure.
If something is profitable, then there's likely something of value was generated, no matter what.
"Of value" is a relative term. If thousands of gigawatt-hours are burned calculating cryptocoins, then you have only created a string of more-or-less random numbers, which people have decided for the sake of their own greed has value. Whereas if all that energy was donated into medical or physics research (through distributed computing clients like SETI, BOINC or Folding@Home), then something of ACTUAL value would have been created; concrete results. Not necessarily money for the donors, but still something of value: knowledge.
Unless you can demonstrate that an "inefficient mining operation" is taking something out of someone else, otherwise it's a fair game IMHO.
I don't understand why you're so hung up about something having to be taking something out of someone else. That's a different thing; it's called thievery. Has nothing to do with efficiency.
Like, one-time use plastic bags. They've been a thing for decades in the retail market. You buy something in a store, you get a plastic bag to put it in (typically with the store logo on it making you a free advertisement with legs as you move around in the city). You come home, unpack your stuff, then throw away the bag. Typically it either ends up in a landfill, or gets incinerated. Efficient use of petroleum feedstock, a finite resource which causes tremendous pollution problems around the world? I can't really say so, but it's not 'taking something from someone else' so it's 'fair game'?
Except a number of states around the world, including the E.U. is moving to ban them, because of the many environmental issues they bring, and none of those have anything to do with someone getting something taken away from them. Well, unless you count various wildlife having their lifespans shortened by eating plastic and ending up with blocked intestines of course...
The planet is in a poor shape because people take advantage of externalizations (i.e. polluters don't pay for the cost of pollution)
No, that's backwards. First off, pollution doesn't really let itself be measured in dollars and cents (or whatever), nor does "paying for it" mitigate its effects. They're still going to be there. Like the CO2 cap-and-trade thing; you think the atmosphere pays attention to if a polluter pays for the CO2 say, a coal powerplant emits or not? The cost gets pushed onto end users, the powerplant owners still make a profit, and the earth grows hotter. Awesome solution!
IE, paying for pollution is not a solution, it's a distraction. The solution would be to end pollution.
Then why are you spending your energy criticizing about some guy's inefficient mining operations? Isn't it inefficient itself? Just go after the big ones!
How about "no"?
(Meaning, I'll post the way I want, and we'll both be happy mkay?)
What I do with the electricity that I purchase at retail is my own business and not yours to decide.
My, my. Touchy!
Are you seeing me "deciding" for you what to do? No. This is a discussion forum. People express opinions, sometimes they differ.