Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhotchkiss
Bob, I think thats a reasonable comparison. Or, consider original negative of a very famous photo. Imagine you had the negative of Ruth bowing out in his last game. The actual negative. You could make a millions pics off it, but there is only one negative. I think thats what an NFT is like, except its not tangible, its digital. But you can take it to another level - I can produce 20 photos from the negative, label them 1-20 and then destroy the negative or somehow retire it so more pics can be made. You can do this with an NFT too - make a limited edition/run, 1 of 20 of the same thing. Or, you can make some dumb monkey with 85 different hats on and sell each one of those hat-monkeys as an NFT that is part of the larger monkey-hat run. I am not saying this is a good buy, but only trying to explain, in somewhat "earthly" terms, what I think an NFT is.
And, as the owner, I think you would be able to bring actions against people who used your NFT without licensing it/permission; just like if someone used my painting or song in a commercial or movie.
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Okay Ryan, I think we're on the same page then in understanding these NFTs, and still not sure why people are willing to pay so much for them. As you said, these are digital images, not something tangible. So one digital image is exactly the same as every other similar one out there, unlike say a work of art where the artist also puts out a limited edition number of prints of that piece. Those prints will never be exactly the same as the original painting, and you can always tell the original from a print. Not so sure that is the case with an NFT digital image. Guess it is a lot of the old fart in me that has a hard time valuing such non-tangible items so highly, because once that digital image gets out there for all to see, copy, and forward, its out there. You won't be physically able to know of and sue everyone who now may have a copy of it as well.
That's why I alluded to an NFT as maybe like the first ever '52 Topps Mantle card to be made. You don't have the only one, just the first one. So the value is in the bragging rights of saying you have the first one. But with these digital images, exact copies can be quickly and easily made, and then forwarded to a huge, ever expanding, number of people. Not the same as owning the negative and then making prints one by one, or having someone then try making a copy from one of the prints, that will never come out as good as a print made from the original negative.
I guess I'll never understand the younger generations and what they see in all these new things. Maybe that's the main problem with the world in general, things are changing too fast and too quickly. Just thinking back to when I was born in the '50s, and all the technological advances and discoveries that have occurred during my life up to now, it almost literally dwarfs all of mankind's combined previous advances and discoveries up till then. Just look how the hobby itself has changed in the last 30-40 years, and the further unknown changes coming with the Fanatic's dealings, things like these NFTs, and God knows what else. As a former colleague of mine and I always used to say to each other, "I'm getting too old for this sh#t!"