Introduction
To start off this paper, I would like to preface by saying that not only do I not own an NFT I actually had never heard of it before. All knowledge and/or understanding I have of NFT’s comes specifically from the video. From my current understanding the definition that I will use that is relevant to this paper is that it is a completely unique, digital identifier that cannot be replicated, substituted or subdivided in any way. For example, who’s the owner of snap chat photos? Does the person who takes it or the person who’s in it have more of a say?
Digital Art Solution
They say that the value of art is in the eye of the beholder, the uniqueness can make it “non-fungible.” This is where NFT’s might be able to come help.
The idea of NFT’s immediately made me think of the current issues going on with digital art. Many people love to create digital art, aka fanart for books they’ve read, shows they’ve watched or even just to have fun and create people and/or landscapes. While all this digital art is fantastic, something that has been happening very commonly recently is the use of AI to create art. Many people may have even seen the TikTok filter used where you take a picture of yourself and it creates a digital art version. From what I’ve heard, in order for these quick digital art pieces to work they have to “mimic” an artist's style. They will use art, have the AI study it, and then the AI will create an image using that specific artist's style. Would an NFT help provide ownership of the art, so that the artists can reap the benefits of their work? Or is this simply a copyright issue with no current solution? It’s definitely something to ponder. (Disclaimer: the tiktok filter was just an example of a filter many would know, I have no idea whether they used another artist's work unwillingly/willingly or at all.)
Maybe these artists can buy digital land area rooms to show their art in order to prevent people from looking at it for free. Only time will tell if this could be an answer to these questions.
The Interactive Side and Benefits
Moving along, while digital art is a popular form of NFT’s, it looks as if there’s interactive pieces of it too, and participation in solving these interactive puzzles/quests may result in getting prizes. It’s not even just digital anymore either. Some physical items have QR code which can trace back ownership to its owner.
He said that this blockchain creates a system that is trustless and limitless. Saying a system could be trustless opens a whole thing of possibilities. So for so many sales you have to take people by word of mouth and may have no idea if they're being honest or not. This idea of NFT’s and blockchains could single-handedly get rid of scams (assuming no computer hackers get into the system, but that’s a completely different can of worms.)
Where I Start to Question
Now, I will be completely honest, I was starting to get more on board with this idea until I saw that you can buy digital land. Now, I will admit that I’m an animal science major so I do need land to do what I want to do, but digital land won’t feed the horses and allow me to do what I need. It was starting to feel a bit too video-game like for my tastes. I guess that as of right now this is not something that I feel like I could justify investing my money into, as it just doesn’t suit my interests/needs.
In no way am I saying that this isn’t something that could be a really cool thing, but I’m not as big into video games or technology as you would need to be to get invested with NFT’s and blockchains. They use things such as Pokemon Go for an example of how technology has revolutionized things, but as someone who never got into it I think I would just need a bit more incentive to get into it. However, there are many celebrities such as Snoop Dog and Chris Rock on these things, and clearly they are doing something right financially so take my view with a grain of salt.
Conclusion
Again, I do have to acknowledge just how cool of an idea this is. It’s a way of mixing real life with digital. They described it as almost like a real life fantasy football, and while I’m hesitant to try it for myself I’m looking forward to seeing how the idea of blockchains and NFT’s will develop over the years and if it might be something I eventually get myself into.
