The whole NFT craze was embarrassing and very revealing about what powers a lot of people's belief in crypto.
gdbsjjdn 4 hours ago [-]
Everyone who was trading monkey JPEGs has moved on to claiming that they can replace your staff with an LLM.
tptacek 3 hours ago [-]
I have no idea what the former has to do with the latter. NFTs were a scam (I think the same about crypto more generally, but know that's a more idiosyncratic belief). LLMs are not.
Is your point that LLMs are overhyped? Everything is overhyped. That's not what distinguished NFTs from previous hype cycles; the fact that there was literally nothing there is what distinguished it.
LastTrain 2 hours ago [-]
I believe his point is something like this: entrepreneurs used to look for ideas on how to create something of value that people want, and then create a sustainable business model out of it, in order to turn a profit. There was some pride in pleasing customers. Now they look for ideas to make a profit, whether or not something of actual value is created or if people actually want it.
etrautmann 55 minutes ago [-]
I think the point is that many of the individuals involved in hyping NFTs moved on to hyping projects in AI. Even if there's immediate real world utility in AI, it's reasonable to approach the space cautiously if you have concern over the demographics contributing to a significant portion of it.
jsheard 4 hours ago [-]
Except for a16z who are multi-track-grifting with both at the same time, and trying to find ways to put crypto in AI, or AI in crypto, or something.
bix6 4 hours ago [-]
Can you expand on this? I see this brought up a lot but if they don’t return capital they’ll have to shut down?
bpt3 3 hours ago [-]
They are big enough that they basically make the market in venture.
The fact that even they couldn't force much interest in web 3.0 should tell you what a bad idea it really is.
bix6 47 minutes ago [-]
They are huge but only like 4% of the entire VC market so not necessarily enough to substantially move it?
bpt3 27 minutes ago [-]
They are held in very high regard and are very well connected so other VCs will throw money at their portcos.
cactusplant7374 3 hours ago [-]
Probably not hard to return the fund when Coinbase is in their portfolio.
bix6 47 minutes ago [-]
Do you know what round / multiple they got?
staplers 3 hours ago [-]
Digital art and NFT's are not synonymous. I know many digital artists who never bothered with them and could see the triviality. Unsurprisingly many art haters use this as a way to subtly reinforce their bias.
xn 4 hours ago [-]
Hope they backed up the seed phrase for the Art Department before deleting it.
yieldcrv 3 hours ago [-]
> The company will continue to sell digital art within the larger 20th and 21st Century Art category
one interpretation is that they're not interested in digital art
the other interpretation is that digital art has become contemporary art
I like the latter
bze12 3 hours ago [-]
They’re folding the nft department into contemporary art. But I wouldn’t say the first interpretation is invalid either.
yieldcrv 3 hours ago [-]
it is the latter, they are continuing to sell digital art and NFTs and they realized their “specialists” didn't have specialized knowledge to justify a separate division
It just takes slower people longer to see the simple similarities to what they already do
regarding the catalyst for consolidating at Christie’s, the whole art market is following a similar downtrend in price and volume as the NFT market since 2022, there was an article about fine art and the contemporary market here the other day
staplers 3 hours ago [-]
Art is always a lagging indicator of loose monetary policy. Same time interest rates shot up.
Is your point that LLMs are overhyped? Everything is overhyped. That's not what distinguished NFTs from previous hype cycles; the fact that there was literally nothing there is what distinguished it.
The fact that even they couldn't force much interest in web 3.0 should tell you what a bad idea it really is.
The Storm Hits the Art Market
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45175628
the other interpretation is that digital art has become contemporary art
I like the latter
It just takes slower people longer to see the simple similarities to what they already do
regarding the catalyst for consolidating at Christie’s, the whole art market is following a similar downtrend in price and volume as the NFT market since 2022, there was an article about fine art and the contemporary market here the other day