NFTs are objects that last forever in the Ethereum universe. It’s easier and more fun to think of Ethereum like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The difference is Ethereum lives on the internet, involves real money, and in this universe, no one controls the story.

Each NFT is a kind of Infinity Stone. There can be many versions of an Infinity Stone, but each one has its own history. Each one has its own timeline and its own path, interacting with different characters.

The World Heavyweight Champion of boxing, pro-wrestling, mixed-martial arts, etc. each have a long history of claiming that the holder of this object is the baddest man on the planet. The man no one else can beat. We can argue about which one is fake and which one matters most, but they are all lineal objects. The history of each object matters. In their respective universes, they are non-fungible – you can’t split up the belt. The whole point is there is only one.

Over time, variations are created for different weight classes, promotions, eras, or marketing gimmicks, but there is always one belt that can be traced back to that original, single object. The belt everyone wants. That’s an NFT.

“I’m not surprised, motherfuckers.”

One of the most iconic lines in sports history was uttered by Nate Diaz after an upset win over the seemingly unstoppable Conor McGregor at UFC 196 in 2022. Fans were shocked. Nate Diaz was not.

UFC, the company, owns the footage, but do they own the moment? They will profit from that scene and that line for as long as the company exists. But what about the two guys that paid for that moment with blood and years of training? Can Nate and Conor get a piece when that moment is replayed in promos and memes across the internet? Without NFTs, the answer depends on the contract. With NFTs, the answer becomes more interesting.

If two NFTs were created that captured the moment when “I’m not surprised, motherfuckers” was first said, but one was created by the UFC and the other by Nate Diaz, which one would be more legitimate? A free market lets us find out. The prices for each would swing wildly depending on the day and mood of potential buyers. Both versions would likely exist at the same time and both would be valuable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Diaz-lineage NFT was worth much more in a hundred years.

Francis Ngannou standing over Tyson Fury in the third round of his pro-boxing debut. Another iconic moment in combat sports history. Possibly one of the most astounding feats in boxing history. That image will live forever in college dorm rooms like Muhammad Ali standing over Joe Frazier. Only in Ali’s day, there were only so many copies of the image that could be created and seen. Now, moments like that are instantly copied, remixed, and spread across the world. Yet the reward system is basically still the same.

All I’m saying is, if that was an NFT, I would want it. The fact that the people who are most responsible for creating these moments can gain more control and ownership over the legacy they helped create and have the option to give more to their kids, seems like an improvement. Fighters can show up, do their thing as usual: give a piece of themselves and their souls to the arena. And maybe with NFTs they get to keep something that lasts longer than a paycheck.

The most impactful technologies tend to ask the most interesting questions. With NFTs, many new questions emerge. One of the best ones is “who owns what?”

There was a day when it was okay to steal something from a culture that was different from your own and then decorate your house with it. Eventually this practice became frowned upon, so the stolen stuff was put in museums. What if an NFT was created for these looted pieces, and the creators of the NFTs were the original tribes or families that would have inherited the objects in an alternative set of historical events?

This world would now have two lineal objects: one digital and one physical. Both objects can be moved around and transferred. Both have a unique history and story. The original is a physical cultural artifact. The NFT is a digital cultural artifact.

The physical object is the one they all really want, but the existence of the NFT version owned by the original ancestor group who carry the lineage of the item in their blood has raised some questions. Will there be an urge to unify the objects? Would the existence of the NFT be a crime?

A.I. asks some pretty good questions too with “what does it mean to be human?” being the most interesting one.

ChatGPT made most of the world believe for the first time, that artificial intelligence was real, or at least very close to being here in the sci-fi sense of having a conversation with a robot. But this kind of intelligence is only possible because of the vast amount of data on the internet. Data we all created and keep creating every day.

If A.I. is a creature, it was born out of the internet. It is humanity’s collective child, and that child just learned how to talk.

Whether the future contains a single all-powerful A.I. or millions of different A.I.s, an NFT lets the data that spawned them become recognizable and traceable like DNA. It creates a lineage that can be seen by future generations. It becomes a checkpoint that says, “we created this at this time.” And maybe, long after we’re gone, A.I. will want to know more about their ancestors, and maybe, they will dig up an NFT to trace their heritage back to you.

NFTs are objects that last forever in the Ethereum universe. It’s easier and more fun to think of Ethereum like the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The difference is Ethereum lives on the internet, involves real money, and in this universe, no one controls the story.

Each NFT is a kind of Infinity Stone. There can be many versions of an Infinity Stone, but each one has its own history. Each one has its own timeline and its own path, interacting with different characters.

The World Heavyweight Champion of boxing, pro-wrestling, mixed-martial arts, etc. each have a long history of claiming that the holder of this object is the baddest man on the planet. The man no one else can beat. We can argue about which one is fake and which one matters most, but they are all lineal objects. The history of each object matters. In their respective universes, they are non-fungible – you can’t split up the belt. The whole point is there is only one.

Over time, variations are created for different weight classes, promotions, eras, or marketing gimmicks, but there is always one belt that can be traced back to that original, single object. The belt everyone wants. That’s an NFT.

“I’m not surprised, motherfuckers.”

One of the most iconic lines in sports history was uttered by Nate Diaz after an upset win over the seemingly unstoppable Conor McGregor at UFC 196 in 2022. Fans were shocked. Nate Diaz was not.

UFC, the company, owns the footage, but do they own the moment? They will profit from that scene and that line for as long as the company exists. But what about the two guys that paid for that moment with blood and years of training? Can Nate and Conor get a piece when that moment is replayed in promos and memes across the internet? Without NFTs, the answer depends on the contract. With NFTs, the answer becomes more interesting.

If two NFTs were created that captured the moment when “I’m not surprised, motherfuckers” was first said, but one was created by the UFC and the other by Nate Diaz, which one would be more legitimate? A free market lets us find out. The prices for each would swing wildly depending on the day and mood of potential buyers. Both versions would likely exist at the same time and both would be valuable, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Diaz-lineage NFT was worth much more in a hundred years.

Francis Ngannou standing over Tyson Fury in the third round of his pro-boxing debut. Another iconic moment in combat sports history. Possibly one of the most astounding feats in boxing history. That image will live forever in college dorm rooms like Muhammad Ali standing over Joe Frazier. Only in Ali’s day, there were only so many copies of the image that could be created and seen. Now, moments like that are instantly copied, remixed, and spread across the world. Yet the reward system is basically still the same.

All I’m saying is, if that was an NFT, I would want it. The fact that the people who are most responsible for creating these moments can gain more control and ownership over the legacy they helped create and have the option to give more to their kids, seems like an improvement. Fighters can show up, do their thing as usual: give a piece of themselves and their souls to the arena. And maybe with NFTs they get to keep something that lasts longer than a paycheck.

The most impactful technologies tend to ask the most interesting questions. With NFTs, many new questions emerge. One of the best ones is “who owns what?”

There was a day when it was okay to steal something from a culture that was different from your own and then decorate your house with it. Eventually this practice became frowned upon, so the stolen stuff was put in museums. What if an NFT was created for these looted pieces, and the creators of the NFTs were the original tribes or families that would have inherited the objects in an alternative set of historical events?

This world would now have two lineal objects: one digital and one physical. Both objects can be moved around and transferred. Both have a unique history and story. The original is a physical cultural artifact. The NFT is a digital cultural artifact.

The physical object is the one they all really want, but the existence of the NFT version owned by the original ancestor group who carry the lineage of the item in their blood has raised some questions. Will there be an urge to unify the objects? Would the existence of the NFT be a crime?

A.I. asks some pretty good questions too with “what does it mean to be human?” being the most interesting one.

ChatGPT made most of the world believe for the first time, that artificial intelligence was real, or at least very close to being here in the sci-fi sense of having a conversation with a robot. But this kind of intelligence is only possible because of the vast amount of data on the internet. Data we all created and keep creating every day.

If A.I. is a creature, it was born out of the internet. It is humanity’s collective child, and that child just learned how to talk.

Whether the future contains a single all-powerful A.I. or millions of different A.I.s, an NFT lets the data that spawned them become recognizable and traceable like DNA. It creates a lineage that can be seen by future generations. It becomes a checkpoint that says, “we created this at this time.” And maybe, long after we’re gone, A.I. will want to know more about their ancestors, and maybe, they will dig up an NFT to trace their heritage back to you.