most projects don't have on chain art or metadata, so the token is essentially a link to someone else's machine... if that machine goes away all you have is a token that represents something that no longer exists
Yep, I think we are in agreement. It's a buyer beware kind of thing for collectors of NFTs to do their own diligence if they care about these details. I do love the on chain projects though and the budding generative art scene. For example how Art Blocks keeps their code on chain... it's a very creative use of the medium.