This week @JeffKeniPulver invited me to the #VON3 Summit 🌐 (Voice|Video on the Net). Speakers discussed NFTs (non-fungible tokens) & Web 3.0 (Worldwide Web based on blockchain). Most of the discussions were waaay over my head, but it got me thinking. 🧠 I bet most of us have heard of NFTs but don’t understand what they are. I’ve associated them with crazy art, like the Nyan Cat 🌈🐈 that, in Feb. 2021, sold for 300 ETH (Ether crypto currency), or about $690,000. 💰 It’s enough to make me feel like running & screaming😱 as I cover my ears to block out the noise of the future. 🙉 But is it inevitable? 🤔 WHAT IS NFT? A non-fungible token is unique & can’t be swapped for something of equal value. Like, a $10 bill = ten $1 bills, 🧮 but the Mona Lisa can’t be traded for another Mona Lisa. 🎨 HOW DOES IT WORK? It’s verified via blockchain, which IBM defines as a shared, immutable ledger that eases the process of recording transactions and tracking assets. ▪️▫️◾◽◼️◻️⬛ I came across @jchris on Twitter 🐦& liked his explanations 9:24 AM–Jan 24, 2022: “[NFT] is more like a link than an asset. You’re buying your name at the top of the list of holders. 📋 The value comes from the previous holders (& the link to the creator), more than the image. 🖼️ NFTs are not about scarcity; they’re a new type of link🔗—one that memorializes how it moves through a community📍 & becomes valuable because of its history. 💲 [It’s] a link that gains its uniqueness from human interactions. 🧑🤝🧑👫👫 This is old & new. Objects that gain value from their history become heirlooms. 📜 NFTs do that & it can feel uncanny.” People can see & even download NFT images, but they can’t own or be verified on the blockchain. 🔐 Chris Torres, creator of Nyan Cat, says many popular & expensive NFTs tend to be closely linked with internet & meme culture, that appeal to the Web3 crowd. 🕸️ I’m not quite there. Are you? What do artists think of NFTs? If you like & collect art? Do you want to “own” something ethereal like an NFT? PHOTOS: Our #Airbnb in Randle, WA; Grass #patterns & #hoarfrost #LewisCounty #washingtonstate #MtRainier in the #settingsun #nfts #nftstories #nyancat #blockchain (at The Horsfall House) https://www.instagram.com/p/CZTnePJrbqn/?utm_medium=tumblr