# Help me Understand Non-Fungible Tokens **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 29, 2021, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969 "2021-03-29T14:49:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969/81 "2021-06-03T20:52:20Z")
> [@Great\_Antibob](#): > > If I have a print of a piece of art, I don’t own copyright to the underlying art, but I still own the print. This isn’t even controversial. With older types of ownership, you at least gained _some_ right with respect to the work. If I buy an original painting, I have physical control over that instance. If I buy the copyright instead, I can make copies at will and prevent others from doing the same. Even just buying a CD gives me the narrow right to use it for private “performances”. But an NFT doesn’t give me _anything_ with respect to the work. The only thing I own is the NFT itself, and all it gives me is the right to say “I own this NFT”. NFTs are a legitimate concept, certainly–they do what they say they do. And ordinary money (not to mention cryptocurrencies) also have an entirely self-referential existence. But money is, well, _extremely_ fungible. NFTs give up the sole property that makes self-referential abstractions useful. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969/82 "2021-06-03T21:07:28Z")
That’s well put, but I can’t help but feel that these investors understand some nuance that eludes me. Certainly it’s a bubble. And most of the people throwing money at it have either an ulterior motive or more money than sense. But they aren’t all stupid, and I’m not fully convinced the emperor has no clothes yet. This digital asset, as distinct from both physical possession and copyright, may have some prospective utility that we just don’t fully see yet. Certainly there was a time when many people thought the idea of buying a MP3 was wildly foolish, but that was before the iPod made them indispensable. This is of course very different, but I can’t help but ask what am I missing. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969/83 "2021-06-03T22:13:00Z")
I was collecting MP3s back when they were MP2s 🙂 . And before then, MOD (and S3M, etc.) > [@Omniscient](#): > > I can’t help but ask what am I missing. I think this attitude is the driver for 99% the bubble in the first place. _I don’t understand this hot new thing, but surely people wouldn’t be pumping so much money into it if it were nonsense. I’d better invest too!_ If _everyone_ thinks this way, it becomes self-sustaining, even if nobody has any idea about an underlying purpose. I do think there’s probably some place for NFTs in the economy. What, exactly, I don’t know. But virtual Beanie Babies… probably not sustainable. ---
**Author:** ![Omniscient](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omniscient/32/3290_2.png) [@Omniscient](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omniscient)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969/84 "2021-06-03T22:42:43Z")
> [@Dr.Strangelove](#): > > I think this attitude is the driver for 99% the bubble in the first place. No doubt, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s complete ephemera. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2021, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969/85 "2021-06-03T22:52:26Z")
That’s why I said 99% and not 100% 🙂 . There is a risk, of course. If you somehow convince everyone that X is real (where X is intangible), then X _becomes_ real. Independent of whether there’s any underlying substance to it. All of human civilization is built on these kinds of fictions: money, government, ethics, morality, religion, language, gender, etc. They’re real as long as people believe they’re real. Memes, in the original sense. So in principle, you could miss out somehow. I just don’t think NFTs have the kind of utility or lasting value as these other things. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/help-me-understand-non-fungible-tokens/938969.md?page=4)