Blockchain, NFTs, and Web 3.0

[viscousmemories]

There has been some discussion of blockchain, NFTs and "Web 3.0" in Bitcoin thrad and Bits and PCs - a Computers and Tech Miscellany, but I think it's time we had a thread dedicated to these things. Not because I have anything intelligent or even interesting to say about them, but because I want to learn more about why it's all dangerous nonsense but I don't know who to trust for techocriticism anymore. I've always found cryptocurrency interesting but not enough to get into it, and I now view it as straight up gambling (with worse odds than casinos) that has a massively negative impact on the climate. NFTs just strike me as mind-bogglingly stupid, and what the hell even is "Web 3.0"?

[Ari]

Crypto seems like many other ideologies in that when written down in a nice little box it sounds amazing, but the real world isn’t a nice little box, despite that, the humans so pleased with themselves for inventing it, now bash it against everything in hope something will stick.

On the most basic level bitcoin is a system designed for people who trust no one, and defeated by people trusting others. A ledger system where criminals can trade money, away from banks/governments while being forced to stay truthful in the transactions sounds great. But how will people easily trade large amounts, or switch to other currencies? I know, Bitcoin exchanges!

Mt.Gox Bitcoin heist 2014, 740,000 bitcoins are stolen, 650,000 never recovered. At the time that was around $400 million. Those 650,000 coins are worth around $26 billion in todays prices.

The History of the Mt Gox Hack: Bitcoin's Biggest Heist

[fragment]

all of my professional service providers keep asking me about crypto because they keep hearing about it and they know I'm a tech person and I'm like "look. if this were ever going to be a viable ANYTHING, porn studios would have embraced it 5 minutes after it showed up"

— rahaeli (@rahaeli) January 10, 2022

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

The Associated Press is starting its own NFT marketplace for photojournalism - The Verge

[viscousmemories]

Thanks for that link, very interesting. It led me to this very thorough explanation of NFTs which it turns out I didn't fully understand hadn't previously fully understood. I now realize NFTs are similar to virtual accessories people like myself may or may not have bought with real money in iPhone games or Second Life once upon a time, except more likely to be unique. At least that's what I think I learned from that article. Still off-putting, but not as completely absurd as I thought.

Still appalled by the ecological impact of the current blockchain technologies though.

The [proof of work] process is incredibly energy inefficient on purpose. The idea is that using up inordinate amounts of electricity — and probably paying a lot for it — makes it less profitable for someone to muck up the ledger. As a result, Ethereum uses about as much electricity as the entire country of Libya. -source

Supposedly Ethereum is working on a more energy efficient algorithm but I got bored going down that rabbit hole.

[Ari]

Originally Posted by The verge

the FAQ says these particular images will “have increased scarcity to preserve their status.

This effectively sums up NFTs.

The digital revolution removed scarcity as a reason for paying more for an image, basically dumping the price of still digital images into the gutter as there’s no investment in owning a digital image. For awhile the art world was pushing “Giclee prints” as the definitive collectors item, but it’s both still a physical item and as screens get better, possible not the optimal way to display images in the first place. So there’s been a scramble to figure out how to artificially create scarcity in a way everyone agrees upon to keep ‘art market as a form of investment’ alive.

As much as I think they’re dumb, they’ve been an interesting capitalistic robinhood, with people who unexpectedly became internet famous, getting some money for their fame. If you or a loved one has been included in an internet meme, you may be entitled to compensation… and should absolutely sell the meme as an NFT before the hype fizzles.

[Stephen Maturin]

But what about Matt Damon saying that fortune favors the bold on those teevee commercials? So, what, these guys are the "bold," as opposed to those mighty Galtian cryptocurrency investors?

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

https://t.co/QagYm9TiYu

— Mike (@MikeHoyer3) January 20, 2022

[JoeP]

[Ari]

Yes this is over 2 hours long, but having listened to it, I’d say it’s worth it. Spoiler, He is not a fan.

The Problem With NFTs - YouTube

It’s interesting just how similarly he describes the targets for NFT’s and the conspiracy Qanon minded, only difference is they are more middle class with some disposable cash.

But I’m also reminded of the video game I like to play, PUBG:Mobile, a completely free to play game with zero pay to win elements which sells only cosmetics that is also one of the highest grossing mobile games in the world, easily bringing in over $100 million every month in profit.

They do so by being a combination of legal gambling and wealth flaunting. It’s been both fascinating and a bit depressing to watch. The Mcclarren event was crazy as it was essentially people dropping $4,000 so that in game when they get into a specific kind of car, it transforms into a Mcclarren sports car. Additionally in the pre-game lobby a crate falls from the sky to show that someone in your game had the cash to buy a Mcclarren (skin) but that’s it, it drives and blows up just the same as anything else. It looks cool… I guess… but otherwise is literally a giant “I spent 4k on this game, no big deal!” sign, and it went absolutely crazy!

Similarly it seems like there are no new scams under the sun, just new variations on old ones. Often the new variation just means finding an unregulated market. There was another way to get the Mcclarren, to gamble and win big on a spin. The gambling side of the game is pretty heavily separated from the free to play side, you must pay to gamble. Er do I mean gamble, I mean spend in-game money on in-game items with flashy lights, but without all those pesky regulatory committees and age limitations.

[fragment]

Originally Posted by Ari

Similarly it seems like there are no new scams under the sun, just new variations on old ones. Often the new variation just means finding an unregulated market

qft

[slimshady2357]

I minted my first NFT, AMA

[JoeP]

Was it of

[slimshady2357]

Originally Posted by JoeP

Was it of

No, but I would snap that up as soon as it was on the market

[BrotherMan]

[specious_reasons]

The video Ari posted was very good. I had happened to watch it around the same time.

[viscousmemories]

Um...

IMG_20111128_074440.jpg

Damn, I took that photo just over 10 years ago.

[viscousmemories]

NFTs Are, Quite Simply, Bullshit

In a word, NFTs are bullshit. And, like most forms of bullshit in America — think WeWork, the Fyre Festival, or any number of other venture capital-hatched disruption rackets — they’ve come packaged in a phony populist language of community and an even phonier rhetoric of innovation.

Like cryptocurrency, it’s hard to make a case for their actual use value and, like the very dumbest Silicon Valley startups and multilevel marketing scams, they’re best understood as speculative investments in which a privileged few can wring money from something of no redeeming social benefit.
...
Events of recent years have been the best occasion in decades to reimagine the fundamentals of American society and transform the economy into something other than a handful of hedge funds and tech monopolies sitting on top of each other inside a trench coat. Instead, the country’s bipartisan ruling class opted to greet mass death with a dollop of inadequate and temporary social protections while its criminally undertaxed ultrarich were left to seek out novel ways of profiting from their own money and new totems of their elite status.

Nothing has been more symbolic of this trajectory than NFTs, the latest symptom of a decadent and increasingly post-democratic consensus resting on little more than predatory rent-seeking and boundless commodification.

[Ensign Steve]

Originally Posted by Ari

Yes this is over 2 hours long, but having listened to it, I’d say it’s worth it. Spoiler, He is not a fan.

Me 15 minutes ago: 2 hours? Who has the time?

Me now: I am 15 minutes into this thing and not one second has not been compelling. Everybody needs to watch this.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

Originally Posted by Ensign Steve

Me 15 minutes ago: 2 hours? Who has the time?

Me now: I am 15 minutes into this thing and not one second has not been compelling. Everybody needs to watch this.

140 character summary pls.

[Ensign Steve]

The intersection of finance and crypto, fields rife with confident assholes who think they can solve all the problems but make things worse.

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

[viscousmemories]

Ok I finally watched it last night and yeah, extremely informative. I confess I slept through the last 30 minutes or so but all the rest was very interesting!

[fragment]

That's a good channel, also recommend the flat earth video.

[Ari]

Originally Posted by Kamilah Hauptmann

140 character summary pls.

Disco Stu - If these trends continue... - YouTube