Reply To: Digital collecting is cheaper and takes less room

[blinky465 17028xp 1]

I don’t fully understand the whole NFT/blockchain thing; a few years ago, investors were literally throwing money at anything that mentioned “blockchain” (I even attended an event at the Eagle Lab in Sheffield in 2018 where no less than four “blockchain tabletop games” were funded (I’ve yet to see a one released yet). I even walked away from a job around about that time, because the company thought it was all cool and exciting (and, presumably, would attract clever developers) because “it was blockchain” – yet not one person could even justify, let alone explain it’s use. The start-up company has since, predictably, gone bust with zero assets and a talent pool of dubious quality.

From a technological point of view, I think they’re a bit of a curiosity. A bit of whimsy. The idea, however, of creating artifical scarcity, I find abhorrent. And the ecological cost? Burning about a tonne and a half of coal to create the power to compute a unique UID? For me, it’s a bit like setting up a colony on Mars – sure, it represents the pinnacle of human intelligence and technological advancement. But with everything so utterly messed up here, in the real world, why the hell are bothering with it?

Maybe it’s my lack of complete understanding that puts me off the idea. But I’m starting to feel like the only bit I don’t actually understand is the “why”.