The Blockchain Socialist Unlocked: The best leftist hot take on NFTs you'll ever listen to (Remix)
For this week's episode, I have unlocked a previously patreon exclusive podcast episode I did about a month ago during NFT mania. I wanted to unlock this episode for the public because there’s been some serious confusion around what NFTs actually are even though everyone seems to have an opinion on it or should I say want to be angry about it and I wanted to get my, what I believe to be, more educated and nuanced view of it. This was originally a patreon exclusive episode because as a patron you are able to vote on what the monthly or so patreon exclusive episode will be about and well my patrons at that moment voted for an episode on NFTs. Below is the description I used for the episode when posted on Patreon. Enjoy!
The patreon democratic economic planning council has spoken. With a choice between discussing NFTs and the left’s reaction against centralization vs decentralizataion, the former has won. Some have speculated that the topic of centralization was too spicy for the council as they didn’t want to butt heads with the anarchists. It seems they’d rather suffer through another my hot take on NFTs. What could I possibly say that hasn’t already been said in the deluge of hot takes that have polluted our social media feeds? Well frankly I don’t know but I’m gonna try.
In this episode I go through some of the hot takes from the left I've seen and heard, explain what I think they're getting wrong on the issue, and provide a couple alternative potential uses of NFTs. The work of previous guests on the show, Jon Beller of ECSA and Ruth Catlow of Furtherfield make appearances as well to support my arguments.
More on NFTs
McKenzie Wark's Article - "My Collectible Ass"
Jon Beller Article - "Fascism on the Blockchain? The Work of Art in the Age of NFTs"
Interdependence episode: NFTs for n00bs
My interview with Ruth Catlow
Some of the Tweets
Chelsea Manning tweet
Lee Carter tweet
Yanis Varoufakis tweet
Everest Pipkin Article
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Send me your questions or comments about the show and I'll read them out sometime.
ICYMI I've written a book about, no surprise, blockchains through a left political framework! The title is Blockchain Radicals: How Capitalism Ruined Crypto and How to Fix It and is being published through Repeater Books, the publishing house started by Mark Fisher who’s work influenced me a lot in my thinking.
The book is officially published and you use this linktree to find where you can purchase the book based on your region / country.