HERE IS THE ARTICLE YOU CAN SEND TO PEOPLE THAT SEND YOU ARTICLES SAYING “CRYPTOART IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY!”

An open letter to the clearly intelligent and talented, Everest Pipkin, in response to this article about the negatives associated with cryptoart, or NFTs.

Dear Everest,

I’m sorry to hear you’re so mad about NFTs. Truly. It’s not something you should be that mad about, so I’m sorry you feel that way. Here’s why.

In your well-written and well-researched article you outline a lot of great points. Like actually, your article (linking it again right here) has some valid concerns that everyone should be aware of. You do a remarkable job outlining a range of concerns in really solid detail which is super helpful. I encourage everyone to read up on climate issues and to care as much as Everest obviously does about energy consumption.

If we’re being honest, though, your article is also thickly slathered in holier-than-thou sauce.

Your’e absolutely right that NFTs are like Beanie Babies without the beans, at least in that they make fun collectibles for the whole fam. Also, you’re completely (and deliberately?) missing the point with this reduction because they’re so much more than that. For starters, despite their cute names and endearing heart tag bios, Beanie Babies weren’t capable of lifting lifelong artists out of poverty or supporting entire families, or even entire communities. Beanie Babies weren’t a new technology allowing unique pieces of media to be developed and manufactured by individuals to offer security for themselves, or provide fulfillment and direction in thier work.

By the tone and breadth of your article, Everest, I feel confident you know all of this already (this is where you mock me with a bit about crypto empowering art as a fantastic lie), and that you will likely be eager to prove how much of everything I’m writing here you’ve already considered. So, surely it’s boring that I’m going to point out anyway that there’s obviously a difference between something that’s purely commercial, and something that holds the capacity to literally change the lives of millions of creators around the world for the better.

However, as broad as your research on cryptoart and the various externalities involved with mining crypto currencies may be, what I can’t tell from your article is the depth of your experience and thinking on the topic. It’s not clear just by reading if you’ve actually spent much time in the NFT community or experimenting with minting your own work. If not, I can assure you the NFT community would welcome you with open arms, it’s just that kind of vibe.

Here’s just a few things I’ve learned from the last few months spent researching and participating in the incredibly vibrant and supportive NFT community on Clubhouse.

1. The NFT community is primarily artists, musicians, and various creative-types who are trying to figure out how to monetize and make an honest living through their creative works. They’ve discovered the revolutionary potential of non-fungible tokens to decentralize the creative industries (specifically art and music), and to spread and secure wealth for themselves and their families. Not to mention the incredible creative potential of the medium itself. Are there some bad actors and profiteers? Yeah, duh, it’s a market like any other, so buyer beware.
2. The NFT community as a whole is very much invested in humanitarian causes and social good. Whether it be equality or the environment, all of these issues are actively discussed and worked on. The topic of energy consumption and environmental implications is pervasive.
3. Due to the exorbitant gas fees involved with minting new pieces, fixing the issue is an obvious top priority for the community writ large. The interest in the NFT space is actually crowd sourcing bottom-up solutions to problems of efficiency and scale. Nobody is more focused on solving for these issues than the NFT and crypto community, and a range of solutions are already in development, which you noted.

Yes, I know you write off this third point in your headline in a dramatically oversimplified way, but I’m not sure you see the nuance — that is that the interest in NFTs and growth of this specific community directly incentivizes rapid innovation to solve these specific issues. Issues, it must be added, which are going to exist with or without cryptoart.

First, it is not a gotcha that there are worse things in the world than the thing you are currently talking about. I am capable of hating cryptocurrency AND capitalism AND art fairs. I contain multitudes.

The sardonically described “multitudes of hate” you proudly eschew and demonstrate in the article comes off a bit glib, and just makes me feel like in this case it might be slightly misdirected. What I mean is, you don’t happen to mention Facebook, Amazon, or any part of the corporate industrial complex by name. Just 100 corporations were found to be responsible for 71% of carbon emissions since 1988, and I don’t see in the studies linked in your article anything pointing specifically to the economy of art collectors and independent artists selling online having a similar impact.

It’s large corporations across the world who are operating massive network infrastructures, super computers, and machine learning algorithms at global scale…

The point of this isn’t to say, “look over there it’s a bird and it’s much more sinister.” The point is that these problems need to be solved with or without cryptoart, and artists being able to finally own a piece of the manufacturing process for themselves might not be as bad as you portray it to be.

I would venture to guess from your article that you would agree that things like carbon offsets aren’t enough and that radical change is really the only thing that will make a significant impact on improving our society’s relationship with Mother Earth. And you of all people know that artists and musicians generally, as a collective, genuinely care about the environment and reforming our systems.

Here’s a crazy thought — what if the truly revolutionary possibilities of blockchain tech and crypto art to redistribute wealth and decentralize ownership to the working class humanitarians we call artists and musicians is a real first step towards that change? Because one thing is for certain, NFTs will create a new wave of millionaires and a lot of them will be artists who never before in our history would have had the opportunity to enjoy the blessings of their work while they’re alive. I’m optimistic this will in turn spawn a new generation of activists who want to fix the world. Anyone else?

We share similar values and want to improve the world for the better, and while reducing consumption is one solution, unfortunately leaning on that as the ultimate solution is more idealism than activism in my opinion. As valid as many of your points and concerns are, I can’t help but feel like rather than looking to provide positive criticism or constructive conversation you’d prefer to chastise creators who are excited that for the first time in history they can own a stake in the value of their work beyond its initial sale.

In totality, thank you Everest, for putting a big ol’ spotlight on the issue. Sustainability challenges are something we both agree that everyone participating in the NFT space should be aware of and want to solve for. Indeed, we need people like you to bring light to such issues and help drive these conversations forward. I just think it would be a lot cooler if that smug jade in your tea was replaced with enthusiasm to propose solutions and support the artist community you’re a part of. Thanks for listening.

Thus concludes;