Table of Contents
The Symbol
A serial project in which we ask Toshinao Sasaki about the future of technology and society.
The theme this time is the inherent value created by NFTs
——I would like to ask you about the past and future of NFTs. First of all, what is your view on the current state of NFTs?
Toshinao Sasaki (hereinafter Sasaki): NFTs initially became popular because there was a lot of attention on the fact that it was possible to assign ownership to digital art, which previously could be copied and had no physical form.
A famous example is the first tweet posted by Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter (now X), in 2006, which was put up for sale and sold for a high price, which led to a bubble in the market until around last year.
However, if you looked at the digital art being listed on the NFT marketplace at that time, there were a lot of cheap images that could hardly be called art, and things that were simply copies and pastes of other works.
Another common thing that happened was that a large number of companies would emerge trying to make money by digitizing any famous work, and as a result, the bubble quickly overheated and collapsed, which was the situation from the year before last to last year.
——I see. So the situation for NFTs up until last year wasn’t great.
Sasaki: That's right. In other words, the NFT market collapsed as a result of the emergence of a large number of people who attached value to things that had no inherent value and made speculative moves.
This is not just about NFTs, but also a part where the fraudulent nature of Web 3.0, which began with Bitcoin, was exposed. Originally, Web 3.0 was started with the idea of returning the Internet to its original open and democratic form, rather than a centralized one, in response to the domination of big tech such as GAFAM.
However, the core technology of Web 3.0 was placed on the blockchain, and the blockchain spread through Bitcoin, which gave rise to a large number of scammers and money-grubbers who flocked to it.
The tragedy of the current Web 3.0 is that the entire Web 3 became a means of making money, dragged along by such people, and NFTs were used as part of that, causing the market to collapse. That was until last year.
—— Is there any chance that the situation will improve in the future?
Sasaki: Since the latter half of last year, there has been a slight movement to reassess the value of NFTs.
One project I'm paying attention to is the Nishikigoi NFT project in Yamakoshi Village, Niigata Prefecture.
The project is led by young people who moved to Yamakoshi Village in 2004 to try to do something about the village's rapid population decline, partly due to the Chuetsu earthquake. They are issuing digital art inspired by Nishikigoi, a local specialty, as NFTs.
The focus wasn't on increasing the value of the digital art, but on using the NFT as a symbol of their commitment to Yamakoshi Village.
To be specific, the idea was that anyone who bought the NFT would become a digital resident of Yamakoshi Village. As a result, around 10,000 people bought the NFT, and some of the buyers have actually visited Yamakoshi Village multiple times.
In the past, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications called for population growth and migration to rural areas to alleviate depopulation in rural areas, but with the number of young people itself declining so much and the annual birth rate falling below 800,000, it is unrealistic for young people to migrate to all depopulated areas in the country, and has come up with the concept of a "relational population" that is somewhere between migrants and tourists and is committed to the region.
Relational population refers to people who visit repeatedly and regularly make hometown tax payments. In that sense, I thought it was very interesting that Yamakoshi Village's project used NFTs as a means to increase the related population.
And projects using Yamakoshi Village's NFTs are now being carried out in other cities and towns. I think this is exactly in line with the direction NFTs were originally intended to take.
——Does this mean that we are beginning to see the future of NFTs within regional revitalization policies?
Sasaki: I think it's important to recognize that NFTs are not just for buying and selling content like digital art, but are symbols of relationships.
In my book "Will Web3 and the Metaverse Free Humans?" (KADOKAWA), published in 2022, I wrote about the token economy, and that if a system of buying tokens to support companies spread throughout society, rather than just corporate activities such as a stock-based company and investors, it could become a purpose in our lives.
What do I mean by a purpose in life? Today, society is touting a world where everything is free and people are encouraged to do what they love, but in reality, there are only a limited number of people who can do that.
Furthermore, there is also discussion that as AI and robots evolve and become more widespread in the future, AI will take over human jobs. However, even if AI takes over human jobs, if production and consumption take place and a monetary economy is established, money will circulate and companies will make profits.
Numerically, there is a possibility that a society could be established in which AI and robots make money, the government collects tax on the money companies make, the government provides a basic income to the unemployed, and people living on basic income buy things made by AI.
So what we need to think about is whether there is meaning in that.
Working can be hard, but at the same time, it gives you a kind of meaning in life, in the knowledge that you are providing value to society or being useful to someone, so the question is how to find meaning in life if such a society were to exist.
——What do you think would be a reason to live in such a society?
Sasaki: I think it might actually be what people are talking about now, “oshikatsu.”
Not everyone has creative talent, so if you don’t have a job, you’re not creative, and you only have 200,000 yen to spend every month, the only creative action you can take is to support creative people.
I think that supporting idols or sports players could potentially make up for the kind of meaning in life that is missing from a certain monetary economy.
Currently, oshikatsu means buying CDs or merchandise, but let’s say an unknown idol issues a token and gives it an NFT.
The idol can earn activity fees by issuing tokens, and fans can sell the NFTs from the idol’s unknown days when they become popular, as they will increase in value.
Also, owning the NFT can become a symbol of being a fan of that idol. Only then can the token economy become a symbol of personal relationships rather than an investment purpose.
Of course, one expects to make a profit from stock investment, but it also serves the purpose of supporting the company, and I personally think that if this kind of feeling spreads more, it would be easier to live in a world where we are told to live by doing what we love.
It may be necessary to think of NFTs as a symbol of this system.
"Power is always evil," "The common man's sense is always right," "The weak should be protected," "Artificial things are dangerous," "Natural things are best"... Outdated values that continue to linger in Japanese society. This is the latest discourse that dismantles the "myths" that run counter to the evolution of cutting-edge technology and serves as a guidepost for thinking about the future.
佐々木俊尚 (著) 徳間書店 (2023/9/28)
◉Toshinao Sasaki
Born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1961. Dropped out of Waseda University's School of Political Science and Economics. After working as a reporter for the Mainichi Shimbun and at the ASCII monthly editorial department, he is now a freelance journalist. He has written many books, including "The Age of Curation" (Chikuma Shinsho), "The Layered World" (NHK Publishing Shinsho), "Homemade Meals Are the Best Treats" (Magazine House), and "And So Life Becomes a Community" (Anonymous Studio).
Sasaki Toshinao's thoughts on "The future of mass media" Tech and Future Vol.4
Sasaki Toshinao's thoughts on "Dialogue between AI and humans" Tech and Future Vol.3
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