Maybe forget the NFTs and buy new glasses?
News Official Star Trek NFT Collection Announced
- Thread starter David cgc
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Sorry, did I overlook something?
The trick is, transactions and the generation of new units of cryptocurrency involve a lot of high-level computing to verify them (something called "proof of work"). So "minting" an NFT, or buying something with cyptocurrency, can require enough computer-work to drain a goodly amount of electricity. I've never seen a one-to-one comparison (like, "spending a bitcoin takes as much computing power as streaming a 4k movie to X number of people, or rendering Y seconds of a Pixar movie, or calculating Z protein folds"), but it'd be interesting to know exactly how much processing time is being wasted on these things that could, theoretically, be going towards the betterment of humanity. Or at least towards pwning noobs in Halo or exploring Elden Ring. All the estimates I've seen are just about the drain on our electrical system. There's nothing special about cryptocomputing that requires dirty power, it's just that setting up more coal or gas generators is faster and easier than building new solar stations or wind turbines, so new dirty power is being expedited to keep up with the increased demand to an extent it wouldn't be if there wasn't all this additional load on the power system.
As a personal example, last year I had a computer that, on its last legs, started to get very crashy when it wasn't doing anything, so I had to keep it under load to keep it stable. If I didn't have any 3D renders to run, I started doing Folding@Home in the background. For the few months before I finally put the poor thing out of its misery and replaced it, it was taking up enough electricity to completely wipe out the normal drop in the energy bill that came from winter ending and the furnace not being used. And that's a single computer, cryptocurrency "mining" can have dozens of machines like that running at once in a single room, across dozens of rooms, because you can make a lot of money off of this craze, and plow it back into more computers making more money, but it also requires a lot of investment to make one big score that pays for all the losses. Like gambling.
No I did not see the link, hence the eyeglasses remark.
NFTs were part of a business that was on a recent SHARK TANK episode.
I still don't quite understand what they are, but if I'm interpreting what I saw correctly, it's almost like a barter system where nothing has a set value and you trade based on what looks good to you.
It sounds like nonsense because nothing is actually useful. Or more to the point, nothing is tangible. As an example, I have framed posters of the STAR TREK shows up to VGR, with nearly every cast member signed. One could say that they are useless, but at least they are real items... not to mention the wonderful memories I have associated with them.
NFTs just sound like 'owning' a movie on Amazon or another site... it's there for you only as long as that site is allowed to have it in their library. It's one of the reasons why I much prefer dvds and actual game cartridges vs. online only... once you buy the physical version, it's yours for life. (At least as long as you are careful with it.) 'Owning' a copy online is really just a rental for use for an undisclosed amount of time.
I still don't quite understand what they are, but if I'm interpreting what I saw correctly, it's almost like a barter system where nothing has a set value and you trade based on what looks good to you.
It sounds like nonsense because nothing is actually useful. Or more to the point, nothing is tangible. As an example, I have framed posters of the STAR TREK shows up to VGR, with nearly every cast member signed. One could say that they are useless, but at least they are real items... not to mention the wonderful memories I have associated with them.
NFTs just sound like 'owning' a movie on Amazon or another site... it's there for you only as long as that site is allowed to have it in their library. It's one of the reasons why I much prefer dvds and actual game cartridges vs. online only... once you buy the physical version, it's yours for life. (At least as long as you are careful with it.) 'Owning' a copy online is really just a rental for use for an undisclosed amount of time.
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NFTs are like when Evangelical preachers ask for money to pray for you, except it uses a lot more electricity, and you don't even have the benefit of the Placebo Effect.
I hope this burns so hard that Paramount actually loses money from this. Scorch the earth, salt it, and make them realize that we won't participate in this bullshit that harms the environment, and is just one more money laundering scheme for the wealthy.
I hope this burns so hard that Paramount actually loses money from this. Scorch the earth, salt it, and make them realize that we won't participate in this bullshit that harms the environment, and is just one more money laundering scheme for the wealthy.
Which is why NFTs in general are so hard to convince the general public of their usage. Every single time a company comes out announces something like this, it's all vague promises and a bunch of acronyms that most of the public is never going to understand. I've yet to find a convincing argument for why these need to be a thing. These companies are fighting an uphill battle, trying to create a need where there isn't one. One big problem I see with all these is the lack of transparency. People have a right to know where their money is going, who they end up supporting.
Another thing is that if a services's server gets hacked, these tokens can be stolen, and it has happened, leaving those who've invested in the hole. Then they have no authority to contact on their behalf, no bank they can talk to, because it's all decentralized.
Plus the entire idea of Star Trek NFTs feel so much like an anti-sentiment of Trek as a whole. Feels like a Ferengi's idea of a brilliant business plan.
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My universal translator must be kaputt.
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Does anyone here remember Amway? Pretty much that, except with Amway the vitamins and hand lotion you had sitting in boxes in your garage still had some kind of real world value.
Seriously, though, they have a computer generate a unique starship (what we would call kitbashes because the parts are just bashed together, like from the old model kits back in the day), and the picture of that starship can be bought by you for the low low price of $250. What it does, how it will work in the game, none of this is known. Anyway, what you get is a digital receipt that says you own it.
That's it. That's what you get for $250. A kitbashed randomly generated starship with a certificate of authenticity that depends upon a server that can verify said certificate as valid.
If you're thinking "this sounds like a scam," then congratulations, you're well ahead of people who buy NFTs.
And they don't need the fans to buy it, as long as NFT bros are buying it... Latinum is Latinum!
Still, they're trying: At the Chicago conventon they had a panel, including Sonegua and Antony, to promote the NFTs.
Still, they're trying: At the Chicago conventon they had a panel, including Sonegua and Antony, to promote the NFTs.
And when it comes down to it, the end-result might be an ugly kitbashed design that you're stuck with, because I somehow rather doubt it that you'd be able to play with the randomization. The real winners in this case are always going to be the companies selling them, and they'll make shuttlecraft loads on unsuspecting customers. And all it really achieves are bragging rights that you bought an expensive piece of randomized digital art, which isn't really much to brag about in the first place.
I think of it as digital trading cards.
I hope they're getting paid in NFT's.
At the same time Picard is airing episodes with Picard, Guinan, 7 et al lamenting that in the 21st century we're killing the planet, the owners of Star Trek actively use Star Trek to participate in something that's killing the planet.
^ That's nice irony there.
Another thought occurred, is about what happens if the company providing the service either shuts down, goes bankrupt, or a license expires if it's a licensed project. Technically in all of these cases, you'd be SOL. As recently as this week, for example, an F1-licensed game with NFTs was shut down because a contract wasn't renewed. So, what happens to those who invested their money into these things? In this case they were told they'd be given the equivalent in another game run by the same company, and that their licensed NFT would no longer be accessible. I can only imagine the uproar this would cause if this were to happen here, with those given the notice that they would be getting transferred to generic ships.
Another thought occurred, is about what happens if the company providing the service either shuts down, goes bankrupt, or a license expires if it's a licensed project. Technically in all of these cases, you'd be SOL. As recently as this week, for example, an F1-licensed game with NFTs was shut down because a contract wasn't renewed. So, what happens to those who invested their money into these things? In this case they were told they'd be given the equivalent in another game run by the same company, and that their licensed NFT would no longer be accessible. I can only imagine the uproar this would cause if this were to happen here, with those given the notice that they would be getting transferred to generic ships.
That sounds like the same thing as the example I mentioned about 'owning' a digital only movie from Amazon or wherever. Once a contract expires for that movie, they can never access it again.
How exactly do you own something if you paid for it in full, but you can't access when you want?
NFTs always sounded shady to begin with, but the more I learn about them, the more they look like scams.
How exactly do you own something if you paid for it in full, but you can't access when you want?
NFTs always sounded shady to begin with, but the more I learn about them, the more they look like scams.
It's kinda sad seeing Anthony Rapp and Soneqa Martin-Green shill this stuff on twitter. I wonder if they're paid to or required to.
They probably don’t understand it and didn’t research the topic before committing.
My favorite Minecraft Content creator did a sponsored video on a free to play video game a while back, that targeted kids and young people and heavily focused on trading NFTs ingame avatars for real money.
It was funny because the promotion required him to repeatedly emphasize that it‘s got nothing to do with cryptos.
Anyway, he has since researched it after his viewers gave negative feedback and honestly regrets taking the very significant paycheck.
Which I even don‘t fault him for taking, because he only just went full time and has a family to support without another steady income.
The point is, NFT companies prey on influencers with huge paychecks, don‘t tell them what NFTs really are and shift the focus away by pointing at evil crypto!!!
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