A Web3 Prophecy Foretold
A Web3 Prophecy Foretold
1. A Web3 Prophecy: The Great Onboarding
For web3 advocates, tickets have always been an obvious use case and an opportunity to onboard millions to the space. NFTs allow digital tickets to feel and operate like physical ones and can have additional layers of utility beyond that.
Owners would have the ability to hold on to the ticket after the event as a ‘keepsake’, displaying it in their digital wallet (in the same way as a physical ticket). And event operators can identify those holders down the line and reward them.
While Gmoney is not an event (actually a person!). He has exemplified how this model can work. He carries a card with an NFC chip that generates a POAP (Proof of Attendance Protocol NFT) for those he connects IRL. It is essentially a digital autograph with added utility.
And those that held onto Gmoney’s POAP were rewarded with access to the initial Adidas Into the Metaverse drop.
Eventually, someone’s collection could say a lot about them. Who they’ve met… what they like to do.
“The same way that people will save ticket stubs from something of sentimental value, over time, these will be representative of that person,” creating a social graph that, similar to a long-term Instagram account, becomes more valuable over time. The difference, proponents say, is that it’s “a little more private than having one’s picture taken”, as Farrell says — without sacrificing the bragging rights to those who speak the Web3 language.
Now, one of the biggest players in the web2 ticketing space has caught on. Ticketmaster has partnered with Dapper Labs who previously helped onboard sports leagues like the NBA to web3 (Top Shot). They have integrated digital wallet functionality into its marketplace and will allow event organizers to issue NFTs and POAPs.
If only a small percentage of the 480,000,000 tickets they distribute annually include an NFT or POAP component, then the prophecy of the ‘Great Onboarding’ may indeed turn out true.
2. Forging the Physical from the Digital
Nike and RTFKT are continuing to explore the relationship between digital and physical apparel. Now, CloneX holders (RTFKT’s 3D avatar collection) can ‘mint’ NFTs tied to a full physical apparel collection based on the CloneX aesthetic.
The t-shirts, hoodies, pants, socks, and hats have ‘traits’ that are matched to the CloneX that minted them: Human, Robot, Demon, Angel, Reptile, Undead, and Alien.
This not only keeps track of provenance but also can give the physical items an IRL story — Was this garment worn to the Super Bowl? Was it once owned by Drake? — which might reflect a change in value.
And of course, you can use those same items in the metaverse:
3. Can you Copyright the Entire Internet?
Popular consumer AI tools like DALL-E and Midjourney leverage complex machine learning algorithms and the entire internet as a dataset to generate images based on a prompt. Using them is easy… not so different from a Google Search. They are powerful tools that will clearly see increased use across a variety of creative industries.
As these tools and others gain adoption, they pose a fascinating conundrum in the world of Intellectual Property as the output produced often pulls in some combination copyrighted material.
And now there is even discussion around the prompts themselves being copyrighted:
It’s incredibly early days in the world of consumer AI content generation, but already we’re seeing it challenge traditional systems.
4. In Defense of Zuck
While Zuckerberg remains a popular internet punching bag, he is (literally) putting his money where his mouth is to the tune of $10,000,000,000. That’s a lot of zeros, but where is that money actually being spent? Certainly something more sophisticated than the Horizon Worlds selfie he was clowned for a couple weeks back.
In a recent interview with Joe Rogan, Zuckerberg made clear that his ambitions for Meta are based in creating the next ‘social centric’ computing platform that prioritizes a feeling of ‘presence’. The $10B he has invested into ‘the metaverse’ are largely going towards the hardware to realize that vision.
And in October, the public will get the next iteration of it. The Meta Quest Pro will go for a whopping $1,500 and offer the latest and greatest in both AR and VR tech. On feeling more ‘presence’, the tech includes eye/face tracking so that you can make eye contact with your online buddies (something video calls notably lack).
At that price point (and physical size), the streets won’t be packed with people wearing ‘metaverse goggles’ anytime soon. But Zuck promises that the hardware will cheapen (and shrink) as the technology and efficiencies improve.
And while Zuckerberg has much to be criticized for, there is an obvious earnestness in his hopes for this technology.
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