To funge, or not to funge?
Is that the question? Entry 2 of a crypto poet's guide to the metaverse
Is that the question? Well, maybe it is. When you make your first steps into the world of crypto art, you get bombarded with a barrage of new terminology. Terminology that might not make sense at all at first. I like language, and I like to figure out the meaning from words by seeing if I get the base of it from maybe a different language that I (partially) know. So when I was considering to start making NFT poems, I looked at that term: "Non-Fungible Token" and tried to dissect it.
Not your garden variety of fungi
The words "Non" and "Token" did immediately ring a bell. The negation and the signal. That was clear enough. So, this was a signal, or symbol, of something not being "fungible". But what does that f-word mean exactly? At first glance, I thought pizza. You know, with "funghi"? Those things growing in your garden? But a not-mushroomable token did not seem to be anything close to logical. This is not your easily-derivable term. I had to look it up.
Not all explanations are equally clarifying
When I looked it up, I learned that being fungible means being mutually interchangeable. So non-fungible means not being mutually interchangeable. That got me maybe half a step on the way to understanding. A token that is not mutually interchangeable. I needed an example. And when you find one, it actually starts to make sense. Let's first look at that word: "Token". In your daily physical life, you may have some coins or banknotes in your wallet. Let's say you have a 2 Euro coin. This coin represents the value of 2 Euro. It is a token, that serves as an exchangeable item for that value of 2 Euro. And if you want to give me 2 Euro, you can give me that coin, or any other 2 Euro coin you have. It doesn't really matter. The coins are interchangeable. The same is true for cryptocurrency. The coins of the blockchain. They represent value. They are a token of value and if you give me 1 bitcoin, or 1 tezos or 1 Ethereum, it doesn't really matter which one of your virtual coins you are giving me. One bitcoin is interchangeable for another bitcoin, without losing value. They are fungible.
So, when it's not fungible, it's unique. Like art. One work of art, one poem, is not the same as another work of art, another poem. They are not interchangeable. They are unique pieces. So, Non-Fungible Tokens, or NFTs, are unique digital items to which you can ascribe value just like you can to a painting, a statue, a limited edition print, you name it.
Easy to copy(, )right?
Obviously, when it's digital, it's easy to copy, right? It's hard to differentiate between one jpg and the other, between one gif and the other. Or a music file, a video. That is where the blockchain comes in. Obviously, this is a very ingenious and complex system, but if you simplify it to the extreme, which is done by many to explain the principle, it is basically a ledger that keeps track of authenticity and provenance. This ledger is public, so everybody can see and verify it. That makes the blockchain so suitable for digital art. Suddenly, we can create unique works of art that are not easily copied. And with that, it also becomes again interesting to buy these works of art for collections. The risk that copies are coming out of the woodwork by the gazillions is quite limited. For artists, this is also an interesting proposition. Publishing something online always had the risk of your work being stolen and monetised by others. But with NFTs, it's much more difficult to steal work, and it's easier and cheaper to create one than to have a copyright infringement internationally prosecuted.
With NFTs, a new income stream is born for artists. Obviously, it's all early days now, but it looks like a promising proposition. After having taken my first steps, and having minted my first Non Fungible Tokens, I can say it's a rewarding experience. I've sold a couple of poems, collected others and have met many wonderful poets along the way.
Next time, we are going to talk about blockchains. Because there's more to crypto than bitcoin.
A travelogue posing as a guide
As I dive into the NFT world, I will learn a lot about what is what. I will share these learnings here. Together, eventually, these learnings will form a guide. A guide for people who also want to dip their toes into the NFT world. Artists looking for a new place to create and sell, collectors looking for beautiful art to collect and wonderful artists to support, people who have heard about crypto, blockchain and fungible things, but don't get it all. These learnings will take the form of a journal of sorts. A travelogue. Added to that, I will share pieces of art as well. As the metaverse and web3 are now very rapidly evolving and growing, I will focus my journey on a specific type of NFT: the poetry NFT.
The first entry in this travelogue was Hello, world! A genesis piece.
A crypto poet to read more of
Marilyn, also known as Tea at Eleven, is a poet that writes a variety of poets. She just released a new collection of aphorisms but also has a beautiful collection of poems on mental health and a very sensual one on seduction. The poem below is from the mental health collection Cloudy with a chance of healing and is titled Accepting Change.
