this post was submitted on 05 Sep 2024
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Long before cryptocurrencies existed, proof-of-work was already being used to hinder bots. For every post, vote, etc., a cryptographic task has to be solved by the device used for it. Imperceptibly fast for the normal user, but for a bot trying to perform hundreds or thousands of actions in a row, a really annoying speed bump.
See e.g. https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Hashcash
This combined with more classic blockades such as CAPTCHAs (especially image recognition, which is still expensive in mass despite the advances in AI) should at least represent a first major obstacle.
The issue I have with this that basically, now users need to "pay" (with compute time) to speak their mind. This would be similar than if you had to pay to vote in political elections. It favors the rich. A poor user might not be able to afford 20$ additional electricity bill a month, but a large agency (such as state sponsored, corporate agendas) might have a 1000000$.
I see it more as a tax. While you can evade taxes in a political system, you're supposed to be paying them if you're voting.