Beyond NFTs

[droqen]

Final thoughts on NFTs:

WHAT I LIKE:

- They are a platform for interacting with the concepts of ownership and money in a 'playful' sort of way.

- Currently, NFTs are a 'magic circle' of digital scarcity, or at least as 'magic' as anything about money can be: the ownership of one doesn't afford you any privileges except, purely, the idea that you own something worth money.

WHAT I DO NOT LIKE:

- 'Proof of work' blockchains have a strong negative effect on the environment. They are fundamentally wasteful.

- It seems that NFTs, like most things about money, are not happy to stay in their magic circle. The fantasy of the digital scarcity that they allow users to play with is sort of beautiful in its pure form, but this is not the endgame for NFTs. (See Unlocked Doors, Everywhere for a little more on this.)

- Invitations to play with NFTs come with (small) monetary benefits to the inviter, so all invitations are a little suspect. "Come play with NFTs" means, in a deep way, "Come play with your money at this casino, and I'll get a small cut the more you spend." This social fabric is just systematically kinda gross.

[droqen]

And, in general, I think a lot of the excitement around NFTs is going to go down the path of greater ownership and value, and less freedom and play. I don't think that every individual within NFTs is looking to lock down the world this way and enforce the valuation of their NFTs as keys to locks... but I think the environment will tend that way. People are into that kind of thing, and the blockchain enables it.

I might still play with them someday, but it will be with the knowledge that I'll want to insulate myself to some degree from this sort of ideology. There is something cool here, but I won't walk blindly into a marketplace's novel form of locked doors without coming to peace with what it means.