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Short term view NFTs look like a scam or a joke. Long term view we will need digital ownership especially when it comes to content or individual data/items. W

Short term view NFTs look like a scam or a joke. Long term view we will need digital ownership especially when it comes to content or individual data/items. When the augmented reality spectacle takes over and everyone is looking through AR glasses, rather than through a small device but through their own eyes, digital collectibles will have more value. Shared spaces with others will have collectibles that only exist in the virtual space, but also with AR a shared virtual reality. Sitting in your room you can have layers of digital collectables that you can swap out: art, sports/gaming, music, landscapes etc that others can also see and experience. Availability and exclusivity are always part of the market and the augmented world will have similar in many areas. Eventually consumption will have to move mostly digital with carbon neutral energy generation to prevent overuse of resources, people can collect much more in the digital space. Hoarding digital/augmented content is not as problematic as hoarding in the real world. Everyone knows this is coming and NFTs seem to be an early iteration of digital ownership to make unique collectibles. Making games let you know that many players just like to collect things, obsessed with it. Digital collectibles already are a massive market. When that market changes to an augmented world, where people will share spaces virtually or play games in the real world overlaid with fun elements like games, scenery, educational content, history, events and more. This is when digital content ownership will make more sense when it comes to the unique experiences and items that people will need to make money and a market. This will only grow with more augmented spaces, events, experiences, games, entertainment, education, history and more. Rather than tie these digital items to a platform, ownership outside the platform is better in terms of being a standard. NFTs might not be the final form, but digital content uniqueness is actually something that can help the planet once the power usage is improved or neutral. If you think about it in the long term, where more people will be viewing augmented experiences from their own eyes (Apple Glasses and more) suddenly it makes more sense, then some items may only exist in that augmented layer.

echelon 6y ago
Why are we introducing scarcity to digital goods? That's not a good thing and shouldn't be praised! We rail against companies selling cosmetic additions to games. It doesn't add value. We already have "ownership". The legal framework of copyrights, purchase or goods, and licenses. NFTs are barcodes. People are selling cryptographic barcodes.
- distances 6y ago
  I fully agree. I hadn't heard of these NFTs before, but sounds like a dystopia to me, a perversion of the underpinnings of the digital world.
- drawkbox 6y ago
  Here's my Mr. Brightside view of it, there is a Black Mirror-esque side as well as some humans build towards utopias and some build toward dystopias. I look at the quality of life and good side of things where I can. I agree with most of what you are saying but that is based on the current era. Created scarcity and exclusives are annoying but there are pros and cons. Putting value to something will create markets and digital markets you can take your stuff with you. When we get to more augmented spaces it will change the world dramatically. There will have to be some sort of digital ownership that is transferrable preferably a standard outside walled platforms. For instance artists or entertainment events that are unique are collectible. Uniqueness creates value, value creation makes markets, this would create massive amounts of jobs and quality of life/livelihood if done right. Already it is spawning some amazing art and assets. It is in a pump/bubble but new things always come out hot, rework, then in the end the best parts do live on and the initial bubble might have even been undervalued, like the internet, or mobile. The augmented space will have all sorts of network effects like that. It is in the very early stages, like a sketch of a storyboard early on in pre-production, everything early on in a way sucks, but we do know that over time the world will be more augmented and in that space digital ownership and uniqueness will be a thing. The market is there now for collectibles and stores of value and it will only grow. Take for instance you participate in a launch AR game for a launch event that takes place in your own environment with others locally or virtually, where you are in maybe a Stranger Things Upside Down world and you have to kill Demogorgons. The winner gets to keep the Demogorgon from that event. That item has value, you can buy a regular copy of one, but the original may be worth value over time. Do that same thing with any Star Wars, Marvel or other property, you start to see people will want those. Or let's say you go to a concert and an event gets a recording from a musician that you get to keep and show others who are sharing your augmented space but you own it. You own the unique view or access, but others can get copies of other parts. Or you watch a piece of digital art be created and the piece is sold and traded. Like right now if I got to buy some sort of collectible from the first Half-life that was unique and part of it was my house or a yard can be turned into a level like datacore or stalkyard and I could have friends play it with a unique character added in from the Half-life launch it would be pretty awesome. There can be copies, but to have the one specified by the creator has some value and some uniqueness that creates that value. Collectors love this type of stuff. Think of it like comicbooks, baseball cards, movie poster one sheets and unique characters. The fact that a collectible has value makes it more fun in a way but also creates value that can employ people and make a digital market. Markets like this will help keep people happy and doing things. The more people in the digital market the more jobs and resources out there. There is value in creating a marketplace that people can participate in that doesn't require physical assets/resources or even location. It could be used to help inequality and create economic markets. Economics can solve lots of problems but also require resources, if the resource problem is solved then it can be very beneficial. These were just game/entertainment examples but you get the idea. The coming eras of augmented reality and shared spaces on that will probably refine this idea more and more. The far end of this is like some of the tech in Blade Runner 2049, unique landscapes, augmented bots that are friends/assistants that learn, companions like virtual pets, and other valuables that gain unique knowledge that cannot be replicated because it learned from your experience/event, but that is way in the future.
dbspin 6y ago
Here's the thing most people on Hackernews have missed. Owning an NFT does not usually mean you own the copyright to the image, and this is a good thing. It's not introducing artificial scarcity, its purchasing collectable bragging rights that allow an artist to 'monetize' their work, while retaining the copyright. Here's the relevant line from the Rarible TOS "In the absence of an express legal agreement between the creator of a Collectible and purchasers of the Collectible, there cannot be any guarantee or assurance that the purchase or holding of the Collectible confers any license to or ownership of the Collectible Metadata or other intellectual property associated with the Collectible or any other right or entitlement, notwithstanding that User may rightfully own or possess the NFT associated with the Collectible. " Link - https://rarible.com/terms.pdf https://rarible.com/terms.pdf Here's one example of an attempt to standardise this contract - https://www.niftylicense.org/ https://www.niftylicense.org/

echelon 6y ago

Why are we introducing scarcity to digital goods? That's not a good thing and shouldn't be praised! We rail against companies selling cosmetic additions to games. It doesn't add value. We already have "ownership". The legal framework of copyrights, purchase or goods, and licenses. NFTs are barcodes. People are selling cryptographic barcodes.

distances 6y ago
I fully agree. I hadn't heard of these NFTs before, but sounds like a dystopia to me, a perversion of the underpinnings of the digital world.
drawkbox 6y ago
Here's my Mr. Brightside view of it, there is a Black Mirror-esque side as well as some humans build towards utopias and some build toward dystopias. I look at the quality of life and good side of things where I can. I agree with most of what you are saying but that is based on the current era. Created scarcity and exclusives are annoying but there are pros and cons. Putting value to something will create markets and digital markets you can take your stuff with you. When we get to more augmented spaces it will change the world dramatically. There will have to be some sort of digital ownership that is transferrable preferably a standard outside walled platforms. For instance artists or entertainment events that are unique are collectible. Uniqueness creates value, value creation makes markets, this would create massive amounts of jobs and quality of life/livelihood if done right. Already it is spawning some amazing art and assets. It is in a pump/bubble but new things always come out hot, rework, then in the end the best parts do live on and the initial bubble might have even been undervalued, like the internet, or mobile. The augmented space will have all sorts of network effects like that. It is in the very early stages, like a sketch of a storyboard early on in pre-production, everything early on in a way sucks, but we do know that over time the world will be more augmented and in that space digital ownership and uniqueness will be a thing. The market is there now for collectibles and stores of value and it will only grow. Take for instance you participate in a launch AR game for a launch event that takes place in your own environment with others locally or virtually, where you are in maybe a Stranger Things Upside Down world and you have to kill Demogorgons. The winner gets to keep the Demogorgon from that event. That item has value, you can buy a regular copy of one, but the original may be worth value over time. Do that same thing with any Star Wars, Marvel or other property, you start to see people will want those. Or let's say you go to a concert and an event gets a recording from a musician that you get to keep and show others who are sharing your augmented space but you own it. You own the unique view or access, but others can get copies of other parts. Or you watch a piece of digital art be created and the piece is sold and traded. Like right now if I got to buy some sort of collectible from the first Half-life that was unique and part of it was my house or a yard can be turned into a level like datacore or stalkyard and I could have friends play it with a unique character added in from the Half-life launch it would be pretty awesome. There can be copies, but to have the one specified by the creator has some value and some uniqueness that creates that value. Collectors love this type of stuff. Think of it like comicbooks, baseball cards, movie poster one sheets and unique characters. The fact that a collectible has value makes it more fun in a way but also creates value that can employ people and make a digital market. Markets like this will help keep people happy and doing things. The more people in the digital market the more jobs and resources out there. There is value in creating a marketplace that people can participate in that doesn't require physical assets/resources or even location. It could be used to help inequality and create economic markets. Economics can solve lots of problems but also require resources, if the resource problem is solved then it can be very beneficial. These were just game/entertainment examples but you get the idea. The coming eras of augmented reality and shared spaces on that will probably refine this idea more and more. The far end of this is like some of the tech in Blade Runner 2049, unique landscapes, augmented bots that are friends/assistants that learn, companions like virtual pets, and other valuables that gain unique knowledge that cannot be replicated because it learned from your experience/event, but that is way in the future.

dbspin 6y ago

Here's the thing most people on Hackernews have missed. Owning an NFT does not usually mean you own the copyright to the image, and this is a good thing. It's not introducing artificial scarcity, its purchasing collectable bragging rights that allow an artist to 'monetize' their work, while retaining the copyright. Here's the relevant line from the Rarible TOS "In the absence of an express legal agreement between the creator of a Collectible and purchasers of the Collectible, there cannot be any guarantee or assurance that the purchase or holding of the Collectible confers any license to or ownership of the Collectible Metadata or other intellectual property associated with the Collectible or any other right or entitlement, notwithstanding that User may rightfully own or possess the NFT associated with the Collectible. " Link - https://rarible.com/terms.pdf https://rarible.com/terms.pdf Here's one example of an attempt to standardise this contract - https://www.niftylicense.org/ https://www.niftylicense.org/