What the heck is an NFT? And why does a New Orleans gallery think you might want to buy theirs? | Arts | nola.com

Yes, it’s interesting reading an “explanation” from someone who obviously doesn’t really understand written for an audience who understands even less.

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#NFT Pro-Arguments Below is an argument written by roberthonker which won 3rd place in the NFT Pro-Arguments topic for a prior Cointest round.

Taken from u/wargizmo's submission from last round

NFT stands for non-fungible token, which is a piece of data stored in a digital ledger that is completely unique and non-interchangeable. This sets it apart from a regular unit of cryptocurrency (such as 1 Bitcoin) which will always be equivalent to every other unit of the same value of that same cryptocurrency.

NFTs are usually associated with a particular digital or physical asset, such as a jpeg, a piece of real estate, a piece of music, a ticket or an item in a video game.

Unique advantages of NFTs:

Immutable + Unique

The combination of being both unique, and unable to be changed, forged or obfuscated in any way makes NFTs a game changer in hundreds of industries around the world.

Programmable

In addition, NFTs can be programmed to perform all kinds of functions through the use of smart contracts. For example, a content creator can program an NFT to pay out royalties whenever an asset he created changes hands.

Decentralisation of ownership

Proof of ownership is no longer in the hands of governments, publishers and other entities, which are vulnerable to corruption, malicious actors and insolvency.

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Use cases

• Identity. NFTs can be used to uniquely identify a person. Whereas previously an identification document could be forged, and even a digital identity on a database can be changed by a hacker, or a bad actor. An NFT identity document on a blockchain is a permanent record for the person in possession of it.
• Permanent records. NFTs can be used to record personal achievements, such as academic achievements and prizes, it can eliminate forgery and fake records. NFTs can also be used to record criminal activity, which has often been easy for people to hide when travelling interstate or internationally.
• Gaming. NFTs can prove ownership of a video game item. No longer do we need to worry about people figuring out how to 'dupe' items in-game. The NFT is the ultimate way to ensure your game and the items within it are secure. It also allows the players to truly own their in-game assets and to be able to trade them with other players.
• Content creators. NFTs can be used to prove ownership of both digital and physical assets, as well as be used as a means to distribute royalties to content creators. This has many uses in art, music and other creative industries. It's a way to ensure content creators are compensated for their work, while avoiding centralised publishers, which may not be acting in the creator's best interest.
• Physical asset ownership. NFTs are increasingly being used to prove ownership of physical assets, like property. In many countries real estate ownership is often disputed and vulnerable to corrupt governments and other agents. An NFT can prove immutable ownership of a piece of land and is resistant to this kind of corruption.
• Collectibles. NFTs can represent collectible items, both digital and physical, and can be a proof that something is genuine. One could, for example, print a copy of a collectible card and claim it as real, an NFT solves this issue.
• Tickets and passes. Tickets to concerts and events can be tokenised as NFTs to both prove that ticket-holders are genuine as well as restrict scalping and re-selling, should the event organisers wish.
• Anti-piracy. NFTs can be used to confirm genuine ownership of content, such as games, software, and films. A quick check that someone is in possession of the NFT can eliminate piracy and ensure content creators get paid for their work.

Would you like to learn more? Click here to be taken to the original topic-thread or you can scan through the Cointest archive to find arguments on this topic in other rounds.

You're invited to participate in this contest. Contestants are awarded moon prizes if they win. The moon prize allocations are 300 moons for 1st place, 150 moons for 2nd place, and 75 moons for 3rd place. Winners are also assigned special trophy flair which will be visible in r/CryptoCurrency and r/CointestOfficial.

#NFT Con-Arguments Below is an argument written by Chikkin1013 which won 3rd place in the NFT Con-Arguments topic for a prior Cointest round.

Note: as most argument against NFT's have been made already, I will give more nuanced explanations, advance a pre-existing argument, or explore unexplored arguments. I will @ original posters if I add onto a pre-existing argument.

• Ownership of an NFT is a metaphysical ownership of assets
  Note: nuancing u/MrMoustacheMan and u/idevcg's arguments
  > Let us begin with what happens when you purchase an NFT.You own not the actual asset - whether that be a png, jpg (or even the land/yacht, when the time comes) - but the metadata signed by the seller that claims the ownership of a digital asset (we will exclude NFTs that claim ownership to physical assets, as they do not yet exist). Thus, the "owner" of the token is thrice removed from the asset they claim the ownership of.
  > One might argue that the same goes for artworks, where the ownership lies beyond the artwork itself, but at the "spirit" of the art - which some artists claim to be the essence of art. However, for artworks, the owner has complete access to the artwork. He, she, or they may destroy and/or manipulate it in any way possible. For digital assets, the asset still is public, even if the ownership is private. Thus, purchasing an NFT is purchasing the concept of ownership, which is something not yet readily accepted.
• Current NFTs to digital "art" harms artists
  > You've seen the inundation of supposed art in OpenSea. Sure there are great ones that are created by genuine artists exploring new mediums of art. However, most "art" are simply spams or stolen art (by stolen, I mean works edited/taken without the consent of the original creator) to make quick bucks, ignoring intellectual and creative rights.
  > One might argue that even if so, NFT enables bigger audiences to lesser known artists. Sure, I will not argue against that. However, how much of these lesser known artists are genuine artists and not spammers looking for their lucky strike?
• The current NFT landscape is a chicken game
  > We see that massive amounts of art are being traded at unimaginable prices. There is nothing wrong with that, however, once the game is over, individuals and the media will criticize the "casino-like" behavior of NFTs. Sure, people will argue against it and claim that NFT is only the technology and the digital art chicken game is a simple outcome of that, but as we have seen, when DOGE burned individual investors, cryptocurrency and its technology were blamed (the "guns don't kill people" argument rarely holds for blockchain tech due to its infancy). Thus, a viable technology will be blamed for its misuse.

Would you like to learn more? Click here to be taken to the original topic-thread or you can scan through the Cointest archive to find arguments on this topic in other rounds.

You're invited to participate in this contest. Contestants are awarded moon prizes if they win. The moon prize allocations are 300 moons for 1st place, 150 moons for 2nd place, and 75 moons for 3rd place. Winners are also assigned special trophy flair which will be visible in r/CryptoCurrency and r/CointestOfficial.

Since this is a con-argument, what could be a better time to promote the Skeptics Discussion thread? You can find the latest thread here.