The Obstacle Is the Way: An NFT Story
I love the idea behind NFTs, a decentralized ledger that shows ownership of unique items. There are so many possibilities, but unfortunately, it is currently being used in a very limited way. Although expanding, I mostly see digital art, music and items for games. Don’t get me wrong, I like art and admire the skill and creativity involved in creating it but I don’t get the full appeal of a lot of it and the high prices some of them get. Maybe it’s my advanced age in this arena (42) that I can’t see this becoming popular in most households in its current trajectory. My point is NFTs are not mainstream, yet.
NFT Limitations & Ideas Around Them
The biggest problem I see with the current setup of NFTs is that it’s limited by the file types supported when minting NFTs. These include only files that promote digital art and music. I’m not deep enough in the full technical aspects of Ethereum to know if expansion is possible, but I do know what OpenSea, the world’s largest marketplace of NFTs, allows me to use. I had new ideas for NFTs and was ready to mint my collection but this roadblock got in my way. I wanted to mint text, especially plain text, but it just wasn’t possible. I wanted to create something unique in this emerging space but was limited by technology. So, I had to figure out how to create my ideas within the current limitations of the files accepted to mint NFTs. My idea: digital representations of the basic building blocks of our world and some of humanity’s greatest discoveries in their most basic digital form.
What Did I Want and How Did I Do It?
I wanted to make my digital representations ‘pure’ and objective, or at least erase as much ‘choice’ or subjectivity as much as possible. No formatting, keep it as simple as possible and keep the file sizes as small as possible. Computers allow me to do this somewhat but I decided to go back to the early days of mass computing to accomplish it. I stuck with the popular and simple applications such as Notepad, Wordpad, MS Paint, MS Word, HEX colors and even just the original web safe HEX colors. We’re way beyond these early limitations now but there’s a beautiful simplicity to them that we don’t always get now. Within these programs I used the default settings and options. You may think this decision is the start of a never ending chain of subjective choices but these programs can produce objective files that include plain text, 1x1 pixel images and RTF files that are mostly plain text but that allow basic and necessary formatting.
What NFTs Can Be Created These Ways?
Let’s start with the basic building blocks of this world…
- Numbers — The numerals 0–9 actually come from the Hindu-Arabic numeral system that replaced Roman numerals. No matter though, it’s ‘numbers’ that matter. They have always existed and make up the basic building blocks of our world.
- Elements — Literally the basic building blocks of our physical world. Although their modern organization didn’t happen until the 19th century, they have always existed.
- Primary Colors — The combinations of these 3 colors create all colors. I also include white (light) and black (absence of light) in this category. These are the basic building blocks of all that we see.
Let’s go a little further and into the organizing of our world…
- English Alphabet — The Alphabet is a basic building block of our world that allows us to record our thoughts and words, and allow others to read and understand them.
- Scientific Formulas — Human discoveries of our world in their most basic form. These discoveries help us understand the highly complex world we live in.
Now into the computer age…
- HEX Colors and ‘Web Safe’ HEX Colors — The color codes that make up the internet and design. They are basic building blocks of what we see on our computers and internet devices world.
- Paint Colors — The original colors used in one of the oldest and most used computer graphics programs. They represent the basic building blocks of our early computer graphics.
- Fonts — The building blocks of our text’s style in the computer world.
And now moving into the crypto age (with a little fun added)…
- BTC Wallets — Bitcoin wallets and their QR codes make up the basic building blocks of the original crypto currency. But that’s not all. I wanted something special and more permanent. How about dormant BTC wallets, and the ones with the most value? These bitcoin wallets represent lost treasures worth billions.
New ideas and new NFTs coming soon…
Creativity Before Technology
Let’s work towards expanding what’s possible with NFTs, but before that’s possible, let’s be creative. My contribution to this is to put the fundamental building blocks of this world and human discoveries into the Ethereum blockchain and do it first. All working within the current limitations of the files supported in minting them. The Pure Collection is not ‘art’. It’s not supposed to be beautiful, it’s meant to be as pure and objective as possible. If we can move beyond digital art, games and music we can make NFTs more mainstream and popular with average households. If we can do that, Ethereum might reach and go beyond the levels of Bitcoin.
