Like Go Up

"Like Go Up" is an experimental generative art piece that attempts to highlight some of the inherent contradictions surrounding the discussion of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) and its place as a vehicle for artistic creation, artistic expression and the potential of remuneration for artists.

s - Screenshot (PNG)

a - Animation (5s, webm) (advanced use)

o - Toggle shadows

The hope is that the "Like Go Up" NFT highlights the hypocrisy of some individuals condemning artists that provide an avenue for fan support through NFTs while being in an industry that makes money off of commoditizing attention to get advertisement revenue, sponsor payments and supporter funds through subscriptions.

As of this writing, making a popular video on a streaming site can garner around $3 per 1000 video views. Videos that incorporate sponsors into their content can expect up to $20 per 1000 visits. Often, online celebrity personalities will have an avenue for fans to support them via recurring revenue, with the ability to convert even moderate celebrity status into upwards of $7000 a month, or more, in recurring supporter subscription payments.

The current ecosystem of social media incentivizes behavior for content creators to focus on attention metrics for fan engagement. Content creators that want to create a livelihood from their work must keep producing engaging content to get ad revenue, sponsorships and to drive fans to subscription services.

There is a pressure for well researched, measured and fair critiques of social trends to be overlooked in favor of sensationalist content that prompt user engagement.

A critique of artistic NFTs is that creators are primarily concerned with seeing the price of their art go up, and collectors are primarily concerned with seeing the value of their purchased art go up, so they can resell it for a profit at some later point.

"Like Go Up" tries to highlight the hypocrisy of the perverse incentives that allow for low quality but high engagement content that critiques a perceived system producing low quality but high engagement content.

It's unfair to discount the whole content creator ecosystem because of the self serving actions of a few, yet that's what's many propose by discounting the whole of the artistic NFT and cryptocurrency space by highlighting the actions of a few unethical parties. Despite the incentive structure, content creators and NFT artists both create valuable content, providing quality substance in new and novel ways.

I believe many people in the NFT space, as in the video content creation space, are acting in "good faith", helping fund artists, driving innovation and willing to channel energy for art and experiences that are worthwhile.

The aesthetics of "Like Go Up" are meant to draw attention to how confusing and disorienting new technology can be. Were an observer to view the structure presented in "Like Go Up" locally, it would seem jumbled, contradictory and chaotic. By viewing it from vantage point further away, structures become clear and the chaos that was overwhelming can be seen to be a localized phenomena, sometimes resulting in loops while other times resulting in paths to other parts of the structure.

To the extent possible, the source code is dedicated to the public domain (CC0) and can be used or modified, even for commercial purposes, by anyone. All third party libraries used are libre/free. Please check individual files for their respective licenses.

As all code is libre/free, artists and fans are encouraged to alter, experiment and publish, even for commercial gain, ideas expressed in this NFT.

Cryptocurrency and the related digital assets, such as NFTs, are in a state of flux and their utility, application and adoption are being explored and developed. The hope is we can elevate the discussion from bad faith arguments and outright personal insults to a more balanced and productive conversation about the ecosystem that we've developed around digital goods and intellectual property.