What is an NFT?
When humans fell from the trees they looked to the ground and collected items. The stick was the first tool used by the human. A simple stick can be used to kill an animal to eat, kill another human or draw a picture in the dirt. Which of these utilities was the first we do not know, however, we do know that the human urge to collect items has followed us to the digital.
As the parabolic growth of non-fungible token fanaticism explodes upon itself and then explodes again in many people’s brains, there are repeated arguments that need some simple and pure destruction. One main reason for this is that the message communicated about what NFTs are misunderstood and often the reverse of what is really going on. Join me as we explore the many NFT denier arguments and the source of their butthurt.
It is simply Subjective vs. Objective
The most widespread use of NFTs is art and collectibles. The value of art is not based on the amount of labor it takes to create it. It is not based on proof of work, the amount of energy it takes to make that art. It is not based on cryptographic methods, the type of smart contract used, or academic papers cited in work. It is an almost pure subjective value. Notice I said “almost” because of course the things I named such as what smart contract is used do play a role in the value of the art, they are not paramount in most cases. This causes a brain implosion in some when the market disagrees with what we can call “objective value blockchain dogma”.
Before moving own, to some of the typical arguments, I want to describe what I mean by “objective value blockchain dogma”. This is a hardline position that is not exclusive to hardline bitcoin fanatics but also ETH heads, Defi purists, and digital tree huggers. The value is put on an audit of the total supply of a coin, smart contracts without edit function, the inability to create bitcoin -out of thin air-, immutability, labor theory, proof of work, monetary policy that is set in stone as well as “math” and “physics”, The world view hinges on these values so much, that the market not agreeing with their world view is automatically irrational. This practically means that NFTs, the creators, users, buyers, and sellers are: scam artists, don´t understand physics, stupid, wrong, blockchain hypers, or in some cases, morons. One source for immediate butthurt is their dogma is at odds with efficient market hypothesis which is very likely that they use in their own arguments, sow the wind.
What is an NFT?
The definition has changed a lot over the years. I do not think anyone loves the term Non Fungible Token, but it is here to stay for now. A token issued that is a one of one is an NFT. It does not have to be a one of one, it can be part of an edition, so in general, a low issuance token can be an NFT. There are some token standards such as erc-721, counterparty token, bsc-721, erc-1151 , trc-theo26 ect. In the end, the technical is blurred and a subjective arbitrary short mint of a token can be an NFT. Yes, it has to do with the token first! Without the token, you have nothing. Without the token, you don’t have an NFT. It doesn’t matter what you copy, what you say, what cat, dog, or b logo you think goes with the NFT, without the token you have, zero.
How can this digital artwork be an NFT?
You can just right-click the image, so you don’t own it!
Everyone can see it!
Digital artwork can be an NFT because of the artist’s intent. If the intention of the artist is to make an artwork as an NFT then it is so. That is all that is needed for an artwork to be an NFT and the NFT to be an artwork, and it is indeed like that. The token is part of the artwork and the artwork is part of the NFT. With each alone you do not have — IT — . To have -IT- you need the token. It is a total artwork, a gesamtkunstwerk. How can digital artwork be an NFT? Because the artist says so.
Yes, everyone can see the artwork. This is true for other artwork such as the Mona Lisa, everyone can see it! But that is not all, everyone can take a picture of the Mona Lisa, or even duckduckgo a picture of the Mona Lisa and make a copy of it, right-click bro. Yes, that is true, but they do not own the Mona Lisa. You can right-click Homerpepe, but do you own, THE HOMERPEPE? You can right-click beeble 62 million NFT, do you own it? Do you have it? You cant copy the token, you can not copy an NFT. If the right-click argument is true, I invite any, and everyone to simply copy the most expensive NFTs and sell them. You should have an economic incentive to do so if it is so easy to simply right click and copy, we are waiting.
Now that we have gone over what causes the most butthurt, artwork. We can move on to something the objective value dogma cult can grasp easier. Those are in-game items. The NFT token is an in-game item such as a sword, shield, or simply cosmetic (gasp more subjective value) such as a t-shirt or shoe. Without the token, you do not have the in-game item. Sure you can screen capture a picture of the item, other people can see the item, but you do not have — IT — without the token. You could argue that you don’t -need- and NFT for in-game items, which is true, however, you -can- use NFTs as in-game items, and part of it, you guessed it, is related to subjective value.
Domain Names
The domain names .eth .crypto and some others are NFTs. That means you can change ownership by simply sending an NFT token to someone. Get ready, you can right-click a picture of the domain name! Everyone can see the domain name! You do not own -IT- unless you have the NFT. It would seem this is easy to be understood by the objective value dogma crew, but instead, I am going to front-run their reaction which will be, drum roll…………………………………………..ITS A SCAM!!!!! The knockout argument to end all arguments, since these domain name nfts are on ETH, well it’s a scam, and even though it makes sense that you only own the domain if you own the NFT a simple jump to scam will be an argument victory or distraction at least.
selfdestruct" or "function pause() external onlyCLevel whenNotPaused {paused = true;
}” but it is all on chain bro!
Defi NFT
If you do not have the defi nft in your wallet when you interact with a defi contract, you don’t have -IT- . You can right-click the logo of the defi NFT, you can take a screen capture of the defi NFT but you do not have -IT. It could be a form of ID, part of a referral program, insurance, or any number of utilities. Of course, the simple word “Defi” will elicit the reaction “SCAM” by many, however, there is simply nothing anyone can do for these people.
E logo vs. B logo vs. NFT
How many B and E logos have you collected?
As with Bitcoin or Etherum, you can right-click the logo, you can even photoshop a wallet and balance and show it to people. You still don’t own -IT- without the native token of the bitcoin network, bitcoin (bro there are no tokens only utxo! Token =Scam), or EThereium, or Doge. You can make all the pictures of the Doge dog but you don’t own any Doge unless you have the token, much like the NFT, you don’t have IT.
You don’t own the rights to that picture
The whole discussion about copyright, licensing, and patents that are connected with NFTs is another discussion for itself. There is no simple all-encompassing rule.
The image is a representation of the token, not the reverse. In the end, if you don’t own the token you don’t own anything. It doesn’t matter how often someone says “you can’t own a digital picture “ on Twitter, they just don’t get it, they do not see that the picture is a representation of the TOKEN, not the other way around. This is also true for the bitcoin logo, the eth logo, and the doge logo. I will repeat, the image is a representation of the token, not the token a representation of the image.
Just right click bro, I invite you, bros, ladies, he, her, they, and many any others. I invite you to simply right-click the most valued NFTs and sell them. Since you can just right-click, it should be an easy task! We await the results of you proving your theory. We await you walking the walk, instead of armchair preaching your dogma. Let us front-run a typical reaction, “bro NFTs are scams I’m not going to waste my time”. You have already spent time as an NFT denier, you are rekt, now is your chance to redeem yourself! Maybe you are not only an NFT denier but an M Efficiency Theory denier, and well the NFT market must be wrong! Because well, subjective something and right-click! Please, I invite you yet again to simply copy the most expensive NFT you can find, and report back.
Join me and others at the NFT LIVE AUCTION March 20th 2300 CET
Post Scriptum
I am more than willing to discuss any and everything on a voice or video livestream with neutral third party host, I have taken part in hundreds of youtube panels, countless real-life panels and informal discussion, ask around. If one would like to see the references of said panels I am more than willing to reference them as to provide evidence to be reassuring to anyone potentially involved that I do indeed debate in good faith.
Best,
Theo Goodman
