What the heck is with this NFT art stuff?

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > What the heck is with this NFT art stuff?

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

You know that scam where they sell land on the moon? So you send them some money and they send you a certificate that says you own a piece of the moon? So you can put that certificate up in your house and tell people you own a piece of the moon, but really all you own is a certificate?

Now imagine that, instead of the moon, it's a picture of the moon. And instead of a certificate, it's a digital certificate that you can't even show people. But because it sounds extremely technical and complicated, when you say "I own an NFT of the moon" people tend to just assume that means something because it couldn't possibly be as stupid as it sounds and these things seem to be worth a lot of money so there must be something to them and maybe I'm the dumb one for not getting it? No. You're not the dumb one. There's nothing to get. It's a worthless digital certificate of pretend ownership for a picture on someone else's computer that they still have complete control over and responsibility for.

# ¿ Apr 3, 2021 03:50

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 04:56

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

VideoGameVet posted:

It prevents the art from being �lost� if the host goes away (assuming other hosts and local copies)

If you've got other hosts and local copies, what is the NFT doing? Those other copies/hosts are already preventing it from being lost.

# ¿ May 12, 2021 09:05

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

VideoGameVet posted:

It's just a certificate. The art isn't in the NFT (as noted). The idea of having the digital signature added is to say "yes, this is the art that was existed when the NFT was minted."

You said that it prevents the art from being lost though. But unless it actually contains a copy of the art (which it doesn't) it can't prevent that at all. Having other copies is what's preventing the art from being lost. The NFT does nothing.

# ¿ May 12, 2021 16:42

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

VideoGameVet posted:

That�s not exactly what I said.

It literally is though. These are your words:

VideoGameVet posted:

It prevents the art from being �lost� if the host goes away

If you think I've taken them out of context, click through and you'll see that I haven't.

# ¿ May 12, 2021 19:42

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

VideoGameVet posted:

I should have been clearer. A digital signature just means that if you HAVE a backup or copy on a different address, you can at least verify that it is the same art that was used to mint the NFT.

So what though? What does that get you? Ownership of an NFT doesn't confer ownership of the rights to an artwork or even a physical copy of it. So you can prove that Fred bought this NFT that points to a URL that used to be a a copy of particular jpg. Fred still only owns the NFT which is still just a certificate proving ownership of itself. Adding extra security and redundancy to this is like adding extra locks and seals to a box containing a picture of your bank balance and declaring that your money is now safer.

# ¿ May 13, 2021 06:30

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# ¿ Apr 20, 2024 04:56

Tiggum: Oct 24, 2007; Your life and your quest end here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUs5y9leCyA

# ¿ Oct 8, 2021 16:31

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Ask/Tell > What the heck is with this NFT art stuff?