WTF Is NFT And Why Should You Care?
--
Don’t even get me started on Crypto, Blockchain, Web3, and metaverse (WHAT??)
By now, you have heard terms such as NFT, Blockchain, and metaverse. I think many are familiar with cryptocurrency and its digital currency darling, Bitcoin. There was a time in the not too distant past when terms like these would have been considered Sci-Fi fodder — a “Ready Player One” type of world where nothing is real, everything is virtual, and the line between the two is increasingly blurred.
These are very difficult concepts to get our heads around when we are so accustomed to dollars and cents. How can you possibly pay a bill in Bitcoin or have an intimate relationship in the metaverse?
Now, I’ve invested in Bitcoin and its fellow cryptocurrency Ethereum. I look at them like stocks: you buy, sell, and trade. But, when I first started hearing about NFTs and metaverse, I suddenly felt… old. What is this fancy, nerdy technology shit these young whippersnappers are doing these days? I come from a tech background. I helped launch the first wireless roosters in the US. I was doing PR for biometrics companies before biometrics even became a ‘thing’. I remember when I saw the first drones flying around the convention center at CES. ‘The Jetsons’ of yesteryear had arrived in the millennium. Needless to say, advancements in technology are nothing new to me.
But like any normal middle-aged person who gets stuck in their ways, I was happy with the technology I knew, could touch, and understand. I had no desire to learn about these new-fangled ones. But as they say: Keep up with the times lest you get left behind. Nobody puts Baby in the corner so I decided to give in to this futuristic furor and learn more about these space-age concepts that are becoming omnipresent in conversations, both real and virtual.
One of the things I always pride myself on (and something that always lands me tech writing jobs) is the ability to take complex technical concepts and dumb them down so even your grandmother could pick up what I’m putting down. I am going to try to do that here so if you’re completely new to all of this and curious to learn more, or just completely befuddled and confused, here’s a little cheat sheet:
