Current Events > Dan Olson explains how Cryto and NFTs are way, WAY worse than you thought.

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g

This video is very long, but an essential watch for anyone who's unsure on the merits of Crytocurrencies and NFTs. Watch it in chunks if you have to. Watch the first two chapters if nothing else.

Gods, how many Olson siblings ARE there!

Heineken14 posted...

Gods, how many Olson siblings ARE there!

Ol had a lot of sons.

Heineken14 posted...

Gods, how many Olson siblings ARE there!

Enough to populate a very large district of Tarrey Town.

bump

This video is legit amazing.

Who is he and why should anyone care about what he says on the topic?

Esrac posted...

Who is he and why should anyone care about what he says on the topic?

He's an absurdly articulate journalist and video essayist. Just listen to him speak for like ten minutes and see what you think.

this video was great at showing just how much of a scam ALL crypto is

He's done a lot of metaphors and comparisons in his openings before. Comparing the toxic predatory housing market prior to the collapse and recession in 2008 to the current crypto/NFT boom, while ALSO naming the bankers and investors that jumped ship and boarded the bandwagon for crypto is fucking genius.

I dont really listen to / watch video essays anymore, they are the enemy of brevity and anyone can make one

Like you really don't need 2+ hours to explain why NFTs don't meet any reasonable or useful definition of "ownership" (an NFT of an image by itself is no more interesting than if DaVinci sold you a receipt for the Mona Lisa that gives no control over the art).

Nor to explain why it's delusional to believe that financial firms aren't fifty steps ahead of the retail investor crypto mob (financial firms learn from experience, mobs do not).

IMO the most unfortunate thing about the crypto craze is the absolute cults it has formed on the internet, go to any major NFT discord for certain 'brands' like lazylions and the discussion is just cultish. Similar to more broadly how certain 'investing behaviors' have become memes ("HODL", "line go up", "buy the dip!!"), anyone who gets swept up in the hype will inevitably face serious losses in the long term.

Doe posted...

I dont really listen to / watch video essays anymore, they are the enemy of brevity and anyone can make one

Like you really don't need 2+ hours to explain why NFTs don't meet any reasonable or useful definition of "ownership" (an NFT of an image by itself is no more interesting than if DaVinci sold you a receipt for the Mona Lisa that gives no control over the art).

Nor to explain why it's delusional to believe that financial firms aren't fifty steps ahead of the retail investor crypto mob (financial firms learn from experience, mobs do not).

The video goes into detail regarding the technology behind cryptocurrency, the history of the movement, and the internet communities that exist around all of it. I guarantee that virtually everyone who watches it will learn something new.

The absolute worst part of this is these cryptofuckers trying to turn everything into a stock market. Futures dependent on crypto and NFTs are extremely bleak.

I did watch this the other day and forgot to come back to comment, this was a pretty great video. Somehow simultaneously 2 hours long and concise.
It's morbidly fascinating how these people interact with each other. If nothing else it's relieving that it's got a bunch of them targeting each other rather than innocents. My negative assumptions about the community based on the interactions I've had with them were mostly right but I didn't know they actually went careening off into cult territory with the groupthink, rituals and forced lingo.
I almost want to see more in a kind of wait, let me see how he reacts to a few things, I'm starting to think this would make a decent no shame, no standards villain character kind of way.

"Now let's talk about unions"

Seriously wtf lol. This is what I mean by how video essayists can't help but throw every one of their pet interests into the pot because they don't have an editor

I love the dichotomy expressed in new technologies. Here's this absolutely new technology. Let's see how we can warp and pervert it around old business models.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/2/3/4/AAAAD4AAC1sq.jpg

A fucking 2-hour video is the clearest explanation.

I liked this video a lot but I definitely wouldn't pretend it's concise. I don't think it's really trying to be though, it's a very exhaustive analysis of all sorts of problems with it. I think my favourite little moment was the screenshot of the discord message that said something like "if this discord looks like a scam to you, then every discord I'm in is a scam". so close to realization yet somehow so far

Doe posted...

"Now let's talk about unions"

Seriously wtf lol.

like this doesn't need to be here, but it also is part of the whole thing wrong with it, so if you want to really dig into all of it at once you probably want to mention it. I could definitely see this split into multiple videos though <_<

wiiking96 posted...

He's an absurdly articulate journalist and video essayist. Just listen to him speak for like ten minutes and see what you think.

Why should I? I already know NFT's and crypto is bullshit. This guy would likely explain it very in depth sure but why open up a turd and dissect it?

For those who eat it, makes sense sure but I don't already so...

Doe posted...

"Now let's talk about unions"

Seriously wtf lol. This is what I mean by how video essayists can't help but throw every one of their pet interests into the pot because they don't have an editor

The entire point of the video is that crypto and NFTs claim that they'll bring down existing financial power structures when in reality they just recreate them but even worse, and you have to talk about unions when you talk about financial power structures

Garioshi posted...

The entire point of the video is that crypto and NFTs claim that they'll bring down existing financial power structures when in reality they just recreate them but even worse

See you wouldn't be able to tell that based on the title of the video

Like I'm sorry I'm trying to get through the video but he will just move from a topic like how having capital makes it easier to whale on bitcoin to the energy usage of crypto vs ATMs and then detours to a review of a book someone wrote about ethereum while focusing more on calling the writer a loser than just explaining ethereum.

He is more interested in building the narrative for his audience than actually clearly explaining crypto and why most claims about it don't work out.

That's fine if you want to make a video about the motivations of crypto evangelists and etc, but as an educational video about the limits of the technology it's unfocused and poorly structured. I mean it's called "the problem with NFTs" and he has not explained anything about NFTs in the first 30 minutes. And that makes it feel like he's jumping on a thing that people (rightly) love to rag on as a front to pitch his ideological viewpoint.

It reminds of this guy Nightmare Masterclass I once watched who used the viral ARG Petscop as a front to talk about why he hated Bill Clinton. That's why I don't like video essays anymore, you really have no idea what you're going to get

Doe posted...

but as an educational video about the limits of the technology it's unfocused and poorly structured.

Good thing it's literally not about the limits of the technology

Garioshi posted...

Good thing it's literally not about the limits of the company

Video thesis: NFTs have problems, here's why

Video: I HATE CRYPTOBROS!!!! (2 hours)

Doe posted...

Like I'm sorry I'm trying to get through the video but he will just move from a topic like how having capital makes it easier to whale on bitcoin to the energy usage of crypto vs ATMs and then detours to a review of a book someone wrote about ethereum while focusing more on calling the writer a loser than just explaining ethereum.

He is more interested in building the narrative for his audience than actually clearly explaining crypto and why most claims about it don't work out.

That's fine if you want to make a video about the motivations of crypto evangelists and etc, but as an educational video about the limits of the technology it's unfocused and poorly structured. I mean it's called "the problem with NFTs" and he has not explained anything about NFTs in the first 30 minutes. And that makes it feel like he's jumping on a thing that people (rightly) love to rag on as a front to pitch his ideological viewpoint.

It reminds of this guy Nightmare Masterclass I once watched who used the viral ARG Petscop as a front to talk about why he hated Bill Clinton. That's why I don't like video essays anymore, you really have no idea what you're going to get

See, now this description makes it sound like it isn't a good video for anyone who either isn't already a fan or doesn't already agree with the premise ahead of time.

The video clearly explains the problems with NFTs. As it turns out, most of the problems stem from cryptobros being massive wankers.

Also

Like I'm sorry I'm trying to get through the video but he will just move from a topic like how having capital makes it easier to whale on bitcoin to the energy usage of crypto vs ATMs and then detours to a review of a book someone wrote about ethereum while focusing more on calling the writer a loser than just explaining ethereum.

These subjects are directly related. The people with capital are the same people creating gigantic crypto mining rigs that consume ungodly amounts of electricity.

Doe posted...

That's fine if you want to make a video about the motivations of crypto evangelists and etc, but as an educational video about the limits of the technology it's unfocused and poorly structured. I mean it's called "the problem with NFTs" and he has not explained anything about NFTs in the first 30 minutes. And that makes it feel like he's jumping on a thing that people (rightly) love to rag on as a front to pitch his ideological viewpoint.

His point is that crypto scams that people are running nowadays are very similar to the kinds of things people were doing before the 2008 crash (some of the same people doing it, even), and he's giving the proper background. And in a 140-minute video, he can afford to take 30 minutes to do that.

Esrac posted...

See, now this description makes it sound like it isn't a good video for anyone who either isn't already a fan or doesn't already agree with the premise ahead of time.

It's a good video for people who are uncertain about the merits of crypto and NFTs. Plus it's also highly educational.

Doe posted...

Video thesis: NFTs have problems, here's why

Video: I HATE CRYPTOBROS!!!! (2 hours)

"The problem with NFTs" does not necessarily imply "The technological limitations of NFTs" holy shit NFTs don't exist in a vaccum, they aren't theoretical technologies we might implement to fight climate change

that was a good watch.

Got the chance to watch it, the dude went deeper than deep on this. Absolutely phenomenal video.

wiiking96 posted...

The video clearly explains the problems with NFTs. As it turns out, most of the problems stem from cryptobros being massive wankers.

Also

These subjects are directly related. The people with capital are the same people creating gigantic crypto mining rigs that consume ungodly amounts of electricity.

It's not really the "cryptobros" that are the wankers (Well, they are, but that's a secondary issue), it's the people with already deep pockets that are manipulating cryptobros in a plethora of Pump-and-Dump or Greater Fool scams, and NFTs are merely one of the many out-growths of this techno-fetishist speculation bubble.

Somewhere between finishing Arcane, working on FFXIV, and hanging out with the gf I'm gonna find time to watch this. It seems like something very worthwhile.

Definitely good video but it spells out what I already knew. The top are using this to make themselves richer while convincing idiots by telling them that they too can become rich who in turn act as their tools to get them more money

I just finished watching that entire video and it was really great. For anyone that doesn't understand crypto or why it's a giant con it'd be an amazing educational tool

Unfortunately the people involved in crypto right now would never listen to any of it. They are either aware of it already and are in on the con or will engage in sunk cost fallacy

Just wanted to mention that Dan Olson has tons of other great videos. His video on chicken nuggets is very short but still great.

NFTs are a scourge.

Doe posted...

"Now let's talk about unions"

Seriously wtf lol. This is what I mean by how video essayists can't help but throw every one of their pet interests into the pot because they don't have an editor

That's like 1.5 hours in and is directly relevant because crypto people really like the idea that tokens can be used for union membership in an anonymous, decentralized platform capable of effecting real change. It of course doesn't work like that, but then Crypto is just scams being built on top of scams to try and catch thr biggest fool.

wiiking96 posted...

Just wanted to mention that Dan Olson has tons of other great videos. His video on chicken nuggets is very short but still great.

Link?

TailsStillRight posted...

Link?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V-a9VDIbZCU