Since I mentioned NFTs earlier, I want to link two other articles worth reading on the subject. Seth Godin weighed in on the traps involved. He also linked to a more in-depth breakdown of crypto’s environmental problems by Everest Pipkin. Here I was worrying about web hosting being problematic while other people were creating carbon bombs to light up the atmosphere.
Abstraction. Speculation. Competition. So much of our world in 2021 is geared towards individual profit over collective good. It’s been that way for a long time — really forever. The innate biological imperative of survival continues to hold grasp even after layers of conscience. Sure, some cultures that value the group have emerged, but we need some species level evolution. We need to find ways to make it easier for us to think about everyone instead of our self.
Screw NFTs. Screw infinite growth. Screw unpriced, negative external costs.