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Arts & Culture > Nft (Non-fungible Tokens)
 

Nft (Non-fungible Tokens)

There are these things you can buy -- but only if you know how to buy them: NFT art and other NFT things. They’re digital and are stored on a blockchain (like Bitcoin is) to make each one unique and uncopyable. They can cost a fortune, and the rich are starting to buy them, and so are investors who want to get in early on something new that they hope will take off like cryptocurrency.

Now, Bitcoin I understand somewhat; when it was begun it was a rebellion against the currency of established nations and their banking systems. It’s a less-visible (not really hidden or obscure anymore) way of buying and paying.

But digital art that doesn’t live in the real world, can’t be physically put anywhere? I think they’re ridiculous and it reminds me of the book Where Were You Last Pluterday? — where the very rich have an extra day to the week that the poor know nothing about.

These NFT pieces are even worse than emoticons as domain names. Yes, in case you didn’t know, you can purchase a domain name which is actually a tiny picture and then .com after it. I guess they exist as code. I don’t know how you use them or access them, and I don’t care. There are better ways to use up money.



*Correction: I found out that most registries aren't allowing the use of pictures (pictographs) and emojis as domain names, so if you want, say, a smiley face as your domain it'll have to be followed by .ws or some other weird extension, since .com and .net won't permit it. But it would be: xn--e28h.com

**All picture-domains, and English domains that include some international symbols or letters start with "xn--", such as xn--mpa646kzb.com If you type that into your browser, it'll come up as the word BET in what I think are Russian letters followed by .com. However, it doesn't work in Chrome. I can see it in Safari though.

posted on Feb 26, 2021 9:41 AM ()

Comments:

Morning Edition (NPR) had two very interesting and informative segments today:
The amount of electricity used for bitcoin mining is equivalent to the usage by the entire country of Argentine. But the valuable info is the reward. This part I don't quite get, but it involves the correct sequences and then guessing a right number. The system makes it harder to guess the correct number proportional to the amount of computers trying to do it. But when you get it right you get a bitcoin to register and you know the current value. This activity somehow keeps the system honest and I don't get that part either.
2. The guy who bought and resold the 10 second digital video has had the honor of owning the original even tho copies are available to view for free online. Much the same as owning a copy of a physical painting. It's only the original that has great value.
comment by jjoohhnn on Mar 2, 2021 8:03 AM ()
That begins to explain bitcoin mining and the high cost in electricity to mine them. Sounds like these mining computer are searching somewhere for these combinations that haven't been registered (or something)?
comment by jjoohhnn on Feb 27, 2021 12:54 PM ()
You know what, don't quote me on this. I'm beginning to think I'm completely deluded about the process. Online explanations of mining sound completely different from what I thought it was.
reply by drmaus on Feb 27, 2021 10:08 PM ()
As my friend has explained bitcoins to me, the computers “mining” bitcoins are simply doing very extensive calculations, to discover higher and higher prime numbers. Prime numbers are kind of the serial numbers of bitcoins.
There are so many bitcoins registered that these are now really long numbers, for one thing, and the calculations involved take a long time, they take up a ton of computer processing. But once they calculate a number, then the mining software simply queries the bitcoin database to see if it’s already registered. If not, then it will be added. I think people don’t actually see these numbers, only the computers do.
reply by drmaus on Feb 27, 2021 10:01 PM ()
I tried to open that two ways in firefox and it couldn't be found. Maybe I didn't do it right? This stuff is beyond me. I listened to 1 40-minute segment about bitcoin on 1A (NPR) the other day and still don't understand all the basics; like why is it a finite quantity like gold? Now you hit us with this and my brain is crying in pain! LOL maybe it's good that I'm old.
comment by jjoohhnn on Feb 26, 2021 12:54 PM ()
You did nothing wrong -- I looked it up, and it turns out Firefox is another browser that either blocks or just won't read the code that these domains are written in. As for bitcoin: Gold is a finite substance because there's only so much on earth, and man can't make more. With Bitcoins, the designer made the system so that there are exactly 21 million bitcoins in the exchange that will be recognized. Once all those are mined and registered into the blockchain, no more will be entered. Only those can be traded.
reply by drmaus on Feb 26, 2021 7:49 PM ()
Whenever I hear about those investment schemes, I think of the people who will fall for it and can't afford to lose the money. But I don't see them as 100% the victims, because it is their own greed that motivates them to look for ways to get-rich-quick.
comment by traveltales on Feb 26, 2021 10:33 AM ()
I know certain billionaires are buying this junk, and fine, let them, but these businesspeople who think they're being very clever by investing are the ones who might really be sorry.
reply by drmaus on Feb 26, 2021 11:16 AM ()
I will stick with dollars and cents because that is all I know how to use even though I never have quite enough of them for the luxury items that I crave. Love your posts.
comment by elderjane on Feb 26, 2021 10:18 AM ()
The more dollars and cents I have, suddenly the more I need to buy.
reply by drmaus on Feb 26, 2021 11:13 AM ()

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