Culture / 400 posts found
Dystopian Futures: The Vision of Idil Dursun’s NFT Art
When you look at the NFT art of Idil Dursun, an architect and CGI artist whose work deals in future dystopia and cyberpunk aesthetics, it imparts an eerily familiar feeling. Several sci-fi traditions immediately jump out at you: a bit of Blade Runner here, a dash of The Matrix there. But what’s most unsettling about the sprawling and seemingly endless cityscapes of Dursun’s art is that they don’t feel like fantastical impossibilities; they feel like a version of something you’ve already seen. If you’ve ever walked through the center of a dense urban metropolis, you’ve seen bits and pieces of […]
ISIS Is Minting Propaganda: When NFTs Put Lives on the Line
The Alpha: An alleged “terrorist sympathizer” just minted an ISIS announcement — along with two pieces of ISIS propaganda — as NFTs, according to an initial report from the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Since their discovery on public NFT marketplaces Rarible and OpenSea, the “terror NFTs” have been delisted. As part of the WSJ report, intelligence experts believe terror groups could use blockchain technology to raise funding for terror campaigns. Why it matters: So why mint these “terror NFT” in the first place? It’s all about the blockchain. The alleged “terrorist sympathizer” may have turned to NFTs due to their […]
Miguel’s Vision for a Creative Renaissance
With Web3, creatives across various industries and disciplines have found a place that undeniably feels like home. The promise of selling your works directly to your fans is everything for a creative. One such visionary is Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter Miguel, who has steadily made a name for himself as one of Web3’s most outspoken supporters. Through his recently established membership-based lifestyle solutions brand, S1C, he hopes to utilize the power inherent in blockchain technology and its underlying concepts. Namely, decentralization. “The creative renaissance through NFTs, through blockchain, through Web3 is already happening. Web3 is always about the artist — or […]
Ticketmaster Just Took a Substantial Step Toward NFT Tickets
The Alpha: Flow recently announced a groundbreaking new initiative with Ticketmaster. Via the Flow blockchain, all Ticketmaster event organizers can now link NFTs with each attendee’s ticket. The NFTs are positioned to offer ticket-owning event attendees richer experiences. Primarily, the linked NFTs hope to offer Ticketmaster eventgoers Web3 analogs to the IRL events, where they receive the NFTs. Recipients of linked NFTs may gain access to “VIP experiences,” according to Flow. Otherwise, the NFTs can simply serve as blockchain memorabilia for events. The execution of each NFT ticket tie-in is up to the event organizer. Why it matters: Although many […]
Blockchain Gaming Needs Triple-A Titles to Truly Go Mainstream
For better or for worse, one of the buzziest words in the gaming landscape is now “blockchain.” Blockchain gaming, crypto games, NFT games — whatever feels most apt works. While the Web3 community believes gaming may be the biggest driving force in onboarding the mainstream into Web3, gamers themselves have long resisted the idea. In the wider gaming community, blockchain games don’t receive the highest respect. But why? For most gamers, the problem might not have anything to do with environmental concerns or the looming threat of bad faith actors licking their paws at any mention of the word “blockchain.” The […]
The CC0 Party Is Growing: a16z’s “Can’t Be Evil” License Drops
The Alpha: Venture capital firm a16z’s crypto arm just dropped a set of free, public NFT licenses eligible for any NFT creator to use. The licenses are designed to aid creators in protecting or freeing the intellectual property rights of their projects. Additionally, the “Can’t Be Evil” licenses hope to help NFT holders understand what they can and can’t do with NFTs bearing these licenses. Why it matters: In the last few months, several high-profile NFT projects went CC0. The movement, dubbed “CC0 summer” by NFT community members on Twitter, was headlined by Moonbirds’ shift to this new licensing agreement. […]
You Can Earn a $130k Bored Ape by Winning this Blockchain Game
The Alpha: NFT tickets for the Web3 game called Internet Game minted today in anticipation of its aptly-titled second-phase Bear Market Battle. The sale will only last 24 hours, but will maintain an unlimited supply throughout the sale period. Via minting an NFT ticket, you can play to win ownership of several high-end NFT projects. As of writing, the floor price for each ticket is 0.07 ETH, or a little more than $100. The first announced prize? Bored Ape #4317 — currently valued at a cool 88.9 ETH. Why it matters: Internet Game, co-founded by Jordan Lejuwaan and venture partner […]
Refik Anadol on How AI ‘Imagination’ Elevates Memory With NFTs
On June 25, 1949, the British neurologist Geoffrey Jefferson gave a lecture to the Royal College of Surgeons of England entitled The Mind of Mechanical Man. It may be surprising that machine intelligence was the subject of much debate in Jefferson’s time, with some describing the 1904s as the period in which artificial intelligence was born following the development of cybernetics. Jefferson’s ideas about the intersection of human and machine were ahead of their time and even impressed the great Alan Turing with their prescience and clarity. “[N]ot until a machine can write a sonnet or a concerto because of […]
NFT Game Developers: Play-to-Earn and ‘Play and Earn’ Are Not the Same
Across all applications of NFTs, one thing has remained consistent: they’re a demonstration of the untold potential of blockchain technology. In the early days of crypto, most early adopters were drawn to the idea of blockchains due to their disruptive potential in the world of finance. But with NFTs, that disruption takes place across a wide variety of industries. NFTs have gradually gained traction among internet-savvy users who have utilized this technology to launch careers in a host of creative industries — namely music and art. However, one sector that seems to be a match made in heaven for blockchain […]
Emojis Failed. Moodies NFTs Aim to Add Depth to Online Interactions
In American culture, there exists a brutal expectation to be happy, said the Visual Artist Tomer Hanuka in a recent interview with nft now. “It’s equated to success. If you’re not happy, something is wrong with you.” “If you don’t present a happy face, you’ve probably failed very deeply in your journey,” he continued. “[With social media], you need to show the storefront of your life as something that is successful, sleek, polished — you jump between vacation spots, coffee shops, great meals, great desserts. The idea of social media and emojis is flat and easy to consume, but has […]