this post was submitted on 24 Jul 2023
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"I have a print of the Mona Lisa! That's just like owning the original!"
Except this "Mono Lisa" is a digital file, which has no distinction between the "Original" and "Copies".
In most cases the NFT isn’t even a file. It’s a URL to a centralized server. If that server goes down you are now the proud owner of a broken URL
"I own a reciept that says I own the original Mona Lisa but literally anyone else in the world can possess an exact, identical copy of the Mona Lisa for free. I'm an incredible investor!!"
"I own the Mona Lisa; it's in a hermetically sealed safe, and I have the key. The value is that I own the original, given to me by the artist; the countless knock-offs have no impact on the fact that I own the original."
I once read that some reproductions of some famois art pieces display better technical skill than the original artist. The paintings are objectively better. The original will still fetch more.
Explain the difference to me.
Digital files are infinitely replicable and are indistinguishable from each other, which is evident using md5 hashes and similar technologies. They are meant to be exactly replicated and easily distributed. It is one of the most important components of network computing and an underlying, required principle for every large website on the internet. The originating file has no more significance or importance than the copies that function identically in every way. We don't put the first copy of Microsoft office in an museum because it would be fucking moronic. You copy it and then you have the original.
Your collection of NFT "originals" has no value. Get out before the market completely collapses. I guarantee your NFTs will be worthless in less than a decade. .
You don't even own an NFT. Even if I bought a print of the Mona Lisa, I at least have a physical, tangible thing in my hand. It might be worth fractions of a cent but at least it's more real than an NFT you might have spent actual dollars on.
If I had an exact replica of every brush stroke of the mona lisa, it would be just like owning the original.
I wouldn't because it would not have been painted by Da Vinci