Monoliths as a Service | Hacker News Reader

Monoliths as a Service

themostfamousartist.com

113 pointsgdeglin57 comments

Is there any proof that they actually placed the Utah monolith and are not only trying to make money from it?

No, and conveniently they say they can't confirm or deny it was them because the original monolith was installed illegally.

But it seems like the site is more of a community. Not really a team doing these stunts. So anyone can do a stunt, join the community and then claim it was this community which did it.

I'm sceptical though, because the other stunts on that site are very in your face stunts. That monolith was very much not that since it was installed in 2016 based on satellite imagery, and discovered in 2020. Perhaps the artist joined this community recently so they can imply responsibility under this group. Or perhaps they are just trying to make a quick buck.

> But it seems like the site is more of a community.

The site looks like it's just Matty Mo, who looks to be trying to build a "community". Though not a community as in your usual art collective, but more as in $99/year subscription for behind the scenes content (à la Patreon).

I wonder why can't they confirm the fact. Even if it is illegal, noone will go in jail for that, some fine and thats it. Plus given that it is a tourist atttraction now, the fine would likely not be that high. Bad excuse, I guess.

> Plus given that it is a tourist atttraction now, the fine would likely not be that high.

It _was_ a tourist attraction, as it has already been removed by now. Given that it was an unwanted tourist attraction, causing people to litter there and disturb the local wildlife, I think the responsible agency would want to enforce a fine as much as they can.

I'm just wondering how an undeniable proof would look like. For example, I could drive to that place in Utah now, make a video while I'm setting up the monolith and date it back to 2016 right?

Some random guy on reddit or 4chan will do some magic with how the sun casts shadows, visible patterns in the soil and cloud and bird formations and will probably have the exact date (and your phone number and address) within a matter of two hours. :^)

Just mention that you've never even heard about the coronavirus in the video and you'll be good.

https://twitter.com/ariwrees/status/1333873085741629443?s=21 tiktok of people taking down the utah monolith

Wow my pretentious-o-meter just went off the scale on this site.

What, like most everyone's junk posted to Hacker News? I fail to see how this is really any more pretentious than 90% of the crap posted here these days. At least he's having fun with it and getting out and doing things.

For real though, 99% of personal blogs/substacks/medium published here is straight up pretentious self-advertisement. I honestly don’t know how people put up with it, especially when some many of them offer no value at all. For example, go back three days on the frontpage and you’ll see 4-5 articles about “How I read book” or “How I take notes”. All of those offer little insight into any of those activities beyond what a high schooler already knows. Meanwhile, they all make it sound like their method is the most useful thing under the sun, and that they should be thanked for their “enlightening research”.

Not scaleable MVP concept at all. No way to reach critical MaaS.

Yeah, I too expected a software company.

Came here looking for a different sort of monolith. Am disappoint.

They are made from multiple pieces of metal; they are neither "mono" or "lithic".

Mono = greek prefix meaning "single". Lithic = Pertaining to or consisting of stone.

Just passing on a dose of pointless pedantry, enjoy your day!

Poignant pedantry - the thing that is not what it’s named for is a giant publicity stunt or someone appropriates it into a giant publicity stunt.

The latter would be the most on-brand turn of events for 2020.

The linked community’s login page hijacks the back button and I hate that as much as this marketing stunt. Clever idea but no actual product behind it, disappointing

I expected some marketing. Maybe I was not completely wrong, but not this kind of marketing

Yeah, once the monolith disappeared, I started to wonder what viral marketing campaign this was. Didn't expect it to be a viral marketing campaign FOR alien-like monoliths.

It would be so awesome if it turned out to be a DHH side project to celebrate X years of Ruby on Rails.

"'F, I left my water bottle in the desert' / 'What's the problem?' / 'The brand is Java Spring H2O Elixir*" / 'Oh, you mean that little flask?"

Obelix would be proud of them, perhaps. Otherwise let me spell "art" here…

And there is this...

https://mashable.com/article/who-made-monoliths-utah-califor...

Art is important, artists are vital. I dispute this counts as either.

Good thing you, or I for that matter, have no say in what counts or not as art.

Why is it a 'good thing'?

Why do you feel others are more qualified than you?

Why do you feel others can be more qualified in a subject that (so far) has a purely subjective interpretation?

Are they claiming responsibility for the Utah stainless steel thing?

Of course. And you can own one for the low price of $45,000.

For this much I'd expect far better execution.

What's good an alien monolith wannabe if it's held together with visible rivets?

They're not rivets. They're solid state structural integrity sensors.

Sorry to burst your bubble, but they're really just self-sealing stem bolts.

Oh, really? Now, that's interesting.

I thought their application was not that broad. Maybe we shall document it. What do you say?

Or at the very minimum, for constantly spamming every social and news network they could for the last few weeks about it?

It has been more irritating and fake than anything

We all saw that crap apparently so it was a somewhat effective attempt at viral marketing.

And now that includes being on the front page of HN. Not sure if we should celebrate that or fix it but it happened.

> Hi, I’m Matty Mo. I started my career building advertising technology solutions for platforms like Facebook and YouTube. I’ve worked at award winning creative agencies, started tech companies, and served as CMO for several big brands. In 2014 I decided I wanted to build an art career, cultivate a community of artists, and change the way brands and artists collaborate. And here we are.

So lame. You can't have it both ways, man.

I don't remember any of those things except for the silver box thing. Does that make me old? Or is it because I stopped using FB and Twitter years ago?

Still not sure if this person/community is also behind the one in Romania, they've only suggested Utah and Cali via pics. https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/technology/monolith-my...

Definitely not, the workmanship there was appalling.

To be honest, this is very disappointing.

Someone found a way to make money in a manner people did not expect.

Did they make money?

Was there ever real expectation?

Well Sir there is nothing on earth like a genuine bonified monetized, sheet-metal monolith..

How is this as a service if it's a one-time purchase? Do you not own the item?

You cannot own anything in this world, with the time everything turns back to dust..it's a service with a really long time span ;)

It's a joke.

Anyone have a discount code?

this is sad...

Lol, way to get a suit your way.

I honestly expected a software project here.

I was expecting a medium article explaining how all we’re really doing is moving our monolithic architectures to AWS and trying to monetize them.

I was expecting an article that would justify my recent design design.

I was expecting a VPN ad.

Me also. Also the Mo monoliths look nothing like the one from 2001. Only in 2020 would an alien stick a big mirror in the ground. I hope they sell at least 5 to be setup next to each other in a hexagon with one side missing for entry for a really nice dressing area.

Well, its a misnomer anyways. "Monolith" means "single stone". It is a large structure formed from a single stone, which was significant in former times because there was no concrete to create large artificial stones. If it is metal, it isn't a monolith. If it is welded, which I suspect it is, it isn't a monolith.

Better tell Apple about the tablets, then.

Seems legit

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