[dcolkitt]

This is like saying, I now own a million BTC because I forked the Bitcoin blockchain and moved all of Satoshi’s holdings to my wallet.

Ownership is just a social construct. Society now recognizes cryoto keys on the blockchain as a form of ownership. The attitude of “just copy the JPEG” is a little bit like the Native Americans who were happy to trade Manhattan for beads because they thought it was ridiculous that anyone could “own” land.

The world has fundamentally changed. You might not like it. You might think it’s stupid. You might even think that it will snap to its senses sooner or later. But the reality is this is the world we live in now, and scoffing at the new reality doesn’t change the facts that JPEGs of monkeys on the blockchain are now worth more than Picassos.

[user-the-name]

> Society now recognizes cryoto keys on the blockchain as a form of ownership

It really doesn't.

> The world has fundamentally changed

It really hasn't.

[recursive]

Are you saying someone's going to stop my from downloading the JPEG with guns?

[rchaud]

Everyone will follow the rules. You wouldn't download a car, would you?

[yellowapple]

Knock knock. It's the MPAA.

[squabble]

The blockchain allows me to cryptographically prove that I knew some information at a certain time.

If I was the first person to record that I knew this information, that's a pretty good proxy to proof that I created it. That makes me the author, artist, or inventor of this information.

If other people find this information valuable, then they might want to pay me because I released this information. Because I was the first person to sign the information on the blockchain, they know the right person to pay.

So the blockchain provides a way of tracking the author of information, which is not controlled by any company or government.