Web3: NFTs — Authenticate the World #1
The dictionary definition of the word ‘Authenticate’ is to prove something is real, or to make something real. From this we could ponder the question;
In a world that already exists, is there a need to further prove its reality?
The core question of this article is the relationship between NFTs and the reality we see.
A World of Symbols
The world is, in fact, full of ‘symbols’, and abstract concepts like love, faith and trust cannot be quantified in terms of money. You may remember from the previous article that we referred to a token as a ‘thing’. However, not everything can be tokenized just because it is referred to as a ‘thing’, such as love, faith or trust. Cognition itself is also difficult to tokenize. This means that, despite the importance of tokens, there are many things that cannot be encapsulated within them.
For those still slightly befuddled by the notion of symbols and tokens, cast your mind back to the famous line from The Matrix, when a young monk said to Neo, “There is no spoon.” This meant the spoon is also just a symbol that we have assigned to an object, or ‘thing’. Ultimately, it leaves the question of whether objective facts really exist. (In this sense, The Matrix could also be considered a Web3 movie). Many other examples exist. Recent news showed French farmers spraying soup on the Mona Lisa, which is surrounded by bulletproof glass — although they didn’t actually spray the Mona Lisa itself, they conveyed their intended message through the symbolism of desecrating a world-famous piece of art, even though the art itself was untouched. This case also allows us to glimpse the essence of NFTs. It wasn’t directly sprayed on the Mona Lisa, and the message they intended to convey, that agriculture is more important than art, had little to do with the Mona Lisa itself. This act was a way to symbolically convey their message.
As this example shows, the act of exchanging symbols is what constitutes NFT trading. NFTs are purchased with money, which itself is nothing more than a common symbol agreed upon by some 8 billion people. Even if it’s an imperfectly agreed-upon symbol, those who have no hesitation in buying and selling are essentially reflecting the psychology of those actively engaged in NFT transactions. Money is merely a concept that exists only for people, yet people control ‘reality’ through money. Similarly, through the consensus of NFTs, we can manage and authenticate the real world. The implication of NFTs is that they continuously pose the question of ‘what is important’ through symbols.
How we as a species interpret the attempts to comprehend reality through innovative technologies will determine the next phase of society. That is, the answer to what the ‘true nature’ of our era is, which lived through the age of platforms and labels representing us, lies within Web3.
NFTs capable of containing AI… but too ‘big’ to be incorporated into financial products
Attempts to place NFTs under strict financial regulations do not make sense. As described above, NFTs are not simply assets. Tokens represent a concept much larger than some of the coins that reside in the realm of finance.
Tokens will become the next generation’s internet standard, similar to websites during the Web2 era. If websites contained a lot of information in the internet age of Web2, then in the Web3 era NFTs will hold much more. Chris Dixon of a16z has said that NFTs can contain art, video, music, text, memes and even code. AI Network is going a step further by attempting to contain AI within NFTs. This is precisely the concept of AINFT that we are pioneering at AI Network.
Some may wonder how artificial intelligence can be contained in NFTs. As described above, NFTs gain their value through consensus in the process of discovering reality. Just as a person’s identity is encapsulated in an ID card, serving as a standard to prove that individual’s personally identifiable information, if there is a consensus to prove reality, then artificial intelligence can also be contained in NFTs.
Community & Expansion; What are truly important in NFTs
If tokens are the agreed-upon symbols, then how we reach ‘consensus’ becomes the challenge. This is where the community comes into play, and community becomes the subject of consensus. However, reaching consensus is not as simple as it might seem. A true consensus is required in the process of discovering reality, meaning that everyone must be made to see the same thing for it to be considered ‘consensus’. This leaves us with the task that NFTs must converge towards reality. Just as we can all agree on what a water bottle is because it exists and we can see, feel, touch and taste it, every project has the responsibility and duty to prove reality, its place within it and reach consensus with their communities. Completing this reality will be the culmination of the Web3 community, and a community that has reached consensus will be an incredibly powerful one.
The other challenge is scalability. NFTs have the attribute of enhancing our vision and cognitive abilities, and efficiently organizing the numerous symbols that exist in the world and authenticating the valuable ones could be a true socially significant advantage of NFTs. In this sense, converting things that originally had NFT-like attributes into NFTs (like concert or plane tickets) may not provide significant-enough social value. For NFTs to have social value, they need to offer values that the current system cannot provide, such as being programmable, universally addressable, easy to transfer and digitally secured. Whether it can provide value beyond its current attributes and whom it should be applied to remains a social challenge.
This is a picture of a pipe, not a ‘pipe’ itself.
We shall conclude with the picture below, by eminent 20th century French philosopher Michel Foucault.
Although a lovely picture of a pipe, it’s not actually a ‘pipe’. No matter how diligently one draws, it can never become an actual pipe. However, just by looking at the picture, we can think of a real, existing pipe within our mind’s eye. This is precisely the meaning of NFTs. As a link to the world, the existence of NFTs, perhaps resembling this picture, ultimately exists based on our epistemology (Identity Theory).
Society expands by overcoming obstacles from what we have already recognized, changing our socio-cultural customs along the way. Within the flow of major changes, NFTs too will gradually find their place in our society, just as crypto and blockchain technology are.
When NFTs do indeed find their place, the number of things that become NFTs in themselves will increase exponentially. Not everything will become valuable, but ultimately, value will be tied to the agreed-upon symbol of money. In this process, those that find value will do so through the consensus of many in the community, gaining significant value in our society through the power of community. AI Network, too, will tirelessly work to have its value and the value of NFTs and AINFTs recognized.
AI Network is a decentralized AI development ecosystem based on blockchain technology. Within its ecosystem, resource providers can earn AIN tokens for their GPUs, developers can gain access to GPUs for open source AI programs, and creators can transform their AI creations into AINFTs. The ultimate goal of AI Network is to bring AI to Web3, where everyone can easily develop and utilize artificial intelligence.
If you want to know more about us,
- Homepage: https://www.ainetwork.ai/
- AI Network DAO Discord: https://discord.com/invite/aindao/
- AI Network YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@ainetwork_ai/
- AI Network Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ainetworkofficial
- AI Network Twitter: https://twitter.com/ainetwork_ai
