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Everyone can have the exact same monkey down to each bit, it’s just that you have a note on a blockchain that says you bought the monkey and no one else did. I
by mattnewton 5y ago
Everyone can have the exact same monkey down to each bit, it’s just that you have a note on a blockchain that says you bought the monkey and no one else did.
It’s like if we had matter replicators from the Star Trek universe and anyone could print a van goh copy down to the same molecular structure and hang it on their wall, but you bought an impractical-to-forge piece of paper that says yours is the original.
- marcus_holmes 5y agoI could write "I bought the monkey picture" on a piece of paper and put it in a sealed envelope and hide it in a drawer - same effect. It only matters to people that it matters to. Anyone unconnected to the blockchain that stores this information doesn't give a monkey's about it. Imagine that I and the monkey-picture-owner use the monkey picture as an avatar. They say "you can't use that, I bought it - look at this blockchain". I say "no I bought it - look at this piece of paper in the drawer". In general in society we would then have a court case and a judge would decide, and the police would enforce it. In this case - nothing. There's literally nothing the "owner" can do. If you can't enforce your ownership, in what sense do you own anything?