Hacker News Reader

I challenge the idea that the negativity is about “technology.”

The negativity appears to be about bogus businesses built on hype, fraud, exploitation, rigged demos, completely fictional timelines, and bogus business models that have come to dominate what we call the tech industry.

Fraud is actually more common in “tech” than it has ever been. It has huge repercussions for everything from start ups to large companies and, with NFTs, toxic financial products exploiting people in the same way that the dotcom and subprime eras did.

You don’t get to opt out of this. I have relatives who now want to get “in on NFTs.” Our industry has real ethical problems with tons of external impact.

By not sitting in judgment of other people’s decisions which are totally unrelated to me, I am far from “opting out”. I am not the arbiter of what is right, and neither is anyone on earth. c'est la vie

Their decisions aren’t any more unrelated to you than any other gross polluter. “Don’t like polluted water? Don’t drink it” isn’t a viable policy.

I agree that we shouldn't dump on other people's ideas, but I think one reason there is so much vitriol against crypto and NFTs on HN is the lack of real regulation. The field creates systemic market risk that could negatively impact everyone. The SEC requires investors in high-risk, early stage tech companies to be accredited, so that if an investment fails (which 90% do), accredited investors at least have some cushion. In the case of crowdfunded investments, there are dollar amount limits to protect individual unaccredited investors from getting wiped out.

Public companies are restricted in the types of information they can release publicly to protect individual investors from fraud. Crypto boosters can say whatever they want, whenever they want, to convince people to invest.

With crypto and NFTs, someone making minimum wage could easily invest their entire savings into a completely unproven, early-stage technology and lose it all in a matter of hours.

It's hard to ignore the externalities of these crypto adventurers.

1. The enormous carbon footprint spent on something that is 90% a pyramid scheme is absolutely everybody's business. I don't care that you legally paid for the hardware and the electricity bill, it's about the amount of waste generated on something that barely provides a net benefit to humanity.

Yes, there are other industries that are guilty of the same, but it doesn't mean cryptocurrencies get to evade the criticism.

2. It's hard to ignore the fact that I can barely get a decent GPU these days to carry out my research. It's not the sole fault of crypto, but it adds to the problem. Depending on how Chia goes, the market for storage might be affected as well.

3. When we as a society allow scams to thrive, we undermine the general level of trust. Trust has a very real monetary consequence, and we see the effect of this in different societies.

As someone that did some contributions to the ERC721 NFT standard, I am completely enamored with the unexpected and robust direction the market took NFTs and their platforms

I would pretty much never pay for one, but I love claiming NFTs! I have a nice little gallery now too.

I also find it weird that people can’t separate that, it’s obviously their uncomfortable relationship with money that both got their attention and their ire. They’re trying to see if they should be doing something else with their time or if every decision they made in their life for money was wrong and irreconcilable.

That has nothing inherently to do with NFTs.

How can one claim an NFT without buying it?

There are plenty of claimable airdrops from prior participation in something

Just have to stick around and participate in the ecosystem

No different than achievements in an online game available to the first few people that did something

Think of the paid NFTs as microtransactions collectibles for people that dont [necessarily] want to participate and just have

I usually only find out I’m eligible for claiming an NFT from casually checking non-NFT related chatrooms from time to time. All luck but I’ve found things I really liked!

I think those of us who have been around for a while are starting to synthesize the idea of negative externalities. It's no longer good enough to say "Move fast and break things". It's "Hold on, what are you breaking and why?". It's not good enough to continue to live in the care free world that didn't pan out where Facebook just brought people together and hackers don't use bitcoin to extort utility companies..

> The overwhelmingly negative attitude towards technology on HN lately is upsetting and nauseating. If you don’t like NFTs, don’t buy them (I don’t).

What new technology ? There is nothing in NFT's that is new technology vise.

The only thing "new" is the money/value part.

Some people (myself included ) see that as an attempt to subvert technology.

To me watching NFT's are like watching TV televangelist. It bothers me that people use technology I love (web, internet, cryptography,...) and subvert it into what are in my opinion scams.

agree. i suspect the dollar amounts involved in NFT's is causing some sort of envy or anger amongst those that do not understand why.

if the dollar amounts were all less than $1 do you think there would be as much hate?