No, I think everyone is on the same page. It's just semantics: mining is a mindless task, it just happens that bitcoin requires verifiable but otherwise pointless tasks in order to operate.
And I don't think you should dismiss this criticism so easily. I personally have very little confidence in bitcoin as a currency. But if the system also contributed to science by folding proteins or finding Mersenne primes or doing anything else that is externally useful, I would consider participating.
And I don't think you should dismiss this criticism so easily. I personally have very little confidence in bitcoin as a currency. But if the system also contributed to science by folding proteins or finding Mersenne primes or doing anything else that is externally useful, I would consider participating.