Johnathan mentions quantum computing and talks about how a piece of art he is showing was created in a quantum computer by inputting a sample size of two million images and resulted in a product of 10,000 images that were completely fabricated. This immediately shattered my ability to take both him and his wife seriously as these are buzzwords thrown around by people who do not actually understand computer science or the ability of both modern day computers and AI / machine learning. Google would not use a quantum computer as they do not even own one due to how insanely expensive and complicated their usage is. Quantum computers are only needed when running systems that are massively interconnected and need a large quantity of processes to run at the exact same time. An AI does not need this capability as it would just take all the data in one at a time and construct each piece of the picture pixel by pixel until it was done. A quantum computer would try to draw each and every pixel at the same time which is massive overkill and way too expensive for something of relatively little value. Secondly Google would most likely not use an AI to complete this as it would be a severe waste of resources for something that is only in its infancy and is incredibly easy to break or malfunction. They most likely used machine learning which will take a sample size and then try to construct something similar. This is seen in your ‘confirm you are not a robot’ checks around the internet that ask you to point out a few things in different images as machine learning algorithms require massive sample sizes for relatively small tasks and can’t keep up with changing captcha’s. I mentioned this to show that they are throwing around buzzwords that are meant to capture the attention of investors and gain popularity for the art, currency, or service and thus increase their own investment in said object.
The problem with NFT’s currently is the same problem that cryptocurrency had when it started to gain mainstream notoriety and still struggles with today. The fact that neither is physically backed by any government or entity is a major problem for their widespread and long term use. NFt’s are the new wild west with anyone and everyone creating them and selling them trying to get in on the hype with major consequences. Several creators and artists have come out saying that people have created illegal NFT’s with their own copyrighted material without consent from the creator. Other sellers are vastly overselling what an NFT actually is and what it can do by saying buzzwords that are designed to catch the unaware audience’s attention. This is a major problem I have with Quinn and Johnathan. They continuously use buzzwords in ways that make it sound like something grandiose without actually understanding the concept behind the technology. A perfect example is the word blockchain. Blockchain is not a new technology like many entrepreneurs working with NFT’s and cryptocurrencies make it sound. It was created in 1991 and is nothing more than a way to digitally store a small amount of information online connected to an image or object. That is all it is and has been a concept since the internet was created. It does not immediately grant something of value as a random crypto currency using block chain is not the same as a dollar bill and isn’t backed by an entity that has control of resources. This is the problem many struggle with when getting into digital art in that they believe they are buying bonds or something similar that is guaranteed to get better in the future but really are just gambling that something will trick enough people into valuing it that it actually becomes valuable.
Over and over the presenters continuously bring up the fact that unlike other scenarios you actually own a NFT rather than something like a house in which you only own a deed. They really try to drive this point home because it fails to acknowledge the major difference in something digital vs physical. Your house has significant value as it can provide you shelter. Things that are real and tangible can be taken apart for materials or jury rigged into other services while digital art like NFT’s can only serve as just that, a NFT. They also use the point that this famous painting is different from this preschooler drawing just like NFT’s. This does not show that the difference is not only in the visual aspect of the item but also in the value of the item. People care about dollars, euros, pesos, and any other government backed currency because they know that they have something they can reliably trade for food, clothing, and shelter. These currencies are backed by governments which have resources they can trade for said currency. In the dollar’s case it used to be gold as the U.S. government would exchange dollars for gold. However in the case of NFT’s the only value is based on how many people you can convince that it is valuable. If you are willing to buy something for a million dollars but no one else cares about it or even wants it, then it is not worth anything even though you paid out the nose for it.
