slim_vimApr 25, 2023
Rod Hilton

I have a hard enough time explaining what a rotary telephone is to my children.

I don't know how people are going to explain in a few years that there was this brief window where people were buying monkey jpegs for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

And that the folks who were saying that was a bad idea were being treated like THEY were the morons in the scenario.

Apr 24, 2023 at 1:36pmWeb
Show threadRod HiltonApr 24, 2023
If you ever want evidence of COVID causing severe collective brain damage look no further than the years in which people were actively spending money on ugly ape gifs.
Show threadDell Cameron 🐈‍⬛Apr 24, 2023
@rodhilton were they even gifs?
Show threadJacob SchumerApr 24, 2023
@dell @rodhilton Ugly ape pngs
Show threadJack Coates 🐀Apr 24, 2023
@rodhilton I read this at an impressionable age… and it has made sense of what I’ve seen ever since https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extraordinary_Popular_Delusions_and_the_Madness_of_Crowds
Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds - Wikipedia

Show threadSirLichApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton Tulips. Grifters have been grifting since long before the rotary telephone.
Show threadAbigail GobenApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton put it in the same box with a "here's a postcard of a bridge that I bought for you"
Show threadBrandon RuthApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton wealth inequality
Show threadChristian HaselbachApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton they were buying data entries with a link that may or may not point to a monkey JPEG.
Show threadOutOnTheMoorsApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton Saw a hilarious Twitter exchange between one account with an NFT avi and another with the same avi that he freely admitted was a screenshot. Second guy explaining he just liked the pic, first guy having an apoplexy.
Show threadoptiMSTieApr 24, 2023

@rodhilton

Oh gawd.

When my friends from school would come over my place, they'd see our rotary phone and wonder what the hell they were looking at.

I feel this.

Show threadThadApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton IDK, the mechanics of NFTs are complicated but the grift is age-old. The details may be hard to explain (especially since any sensible person's response will be "I don't think I understand, because that doesn't make any sense") but the broad strokes are the same as any other confidence scam.
Show threadMajin BoowompApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton Square-Enix is still defending NFTs as if they’re gonna be the ones to actually be successful with them. And that hasn’t been working at all, so they’ve had great press releases, such as “Gamers are idiots for not buying our NFTs! Also please buy Final Fantasy XVI, out this June for PlayStation 5, we really need the money”
Show threadPete Prodoehl 🍕Apr 24, 2023

@rodhilton People used to by "Pet Rocks" so just explain that people are insane and do stupid things... often because they see other people do stupid things and don't want to be left out.

Hmmm, there's a lesson in there somewhere!

Show threadCatMom916Apr 24, 2023
@rasterweb @rodhilton But when you bought a pet rock, you had a rock. When you buy an nft, you have nothing, unless you print it out--then you have a picture. But you can do that with a picture of an nft. You don't have to buy anything. I don't understand why ppl bought nfts or bitcoins. You don't even get the rock in the end.
Show threadPete Prodoehl 🍕Apr 24, 2023
@CatMom916 @rodhilton I got to work, I get paid, and then some company tells my bank I got "money" and then I log into some app or web site and click things and pay for my rent and utilities but like... I never actually see the "money" but it does exist, I guess. Things are weird.
Show threadDerick Campbell Apr 24, 2023
@rodhilton
Not much different from trading Hockey cards, Beanie Babies and antiques. Digital collectibles don't fill up your garage and smell funny though.
Show threadRod HiltonApr 24, 2023
@derickc yep it's definitely convenient that something totally worthless also happens to be odorless and massless.
Show threadDerick Campbell Apr 24, 2023
@rodhilton yes many of them are worthless, but some are part of exciting projects that I'm happy to support. Very similar to supporting a Kickstarter project.
Show threadCSGApr 24, 2023
@rodhilton googoo gaga