If the ~$1000 per life figure is accurate, the GiveWell[1] guys will be all over this.
An NFT That Saves Lives
51–60 of 213 posts
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#52This is peak absurdism. Why not simply donate the money? How is this better than a Kickstarter? How many lives could pg have saved by donating the billable time it took him to write this post? It gets even better, from the NFT article: > • What about the environmental costs? > We plan to make a significant carbon offset to mitigate the environmental impact of this NFT. Within one week of the closing of this auction w…
> This is peak absurdism. Why not simply donate the money? How is this better than a Kickstarter?
This reminds me of the Ice Bucket Challenge for ALS.
Does pouring a bucket of ice water over one's head cure ALS? Obviously not.
Did creating a trend that went viral help take strides towards curing ALS? Yeah! According to Wikipedia[1] this meme brought $220 million to ALS research.
So I'm not sure you can simply say "why not donate the money instead of buying NFTs" since NFTs are what people are interested in now!
Maybe this is an instance of meeting your customer where they're at.
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#53Amazing how short sighted HN is when it comes to NFTs. Blindly accepting the "bad for climate" tripe and showing utter ignorance to the upcoming transition away from energy guzzling proof-of-work to a proof-of-stake world. Sad to see this community act so willfully ignorant to all things crypto.
> upcoming transition away from
Read: Not here yet, so still doing the whole energy guzzling proof-of-work thing.
NFTs are a dumb fad that's likely to die out before the always-around-the-corner move away from PoW.
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#54This is peak absurdism. Why not simply donate the money? How is this better than a Kickstarter? How many lives could pg have saved by donating the billable time it took him to write this post? It gets even better, from the NFT article: > • What about the environmental costs? > We plan to make a significant carbon offset to mitigate the environmental impact of this NFT. Within one week of the closing of this auction w…
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Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#55I used to run the tech side for a couple of UK-based aid organisations (just out of college - basically database management and home brewed campaign work.)
We had terrible marketing response once we left a core base of existing donors - getting new donors in the door for a non-profit was (at least for us) a constant challenge. However, once some external event (sadly some horrific disaster) occurred we would see a spike in willing donors.
So this looks like a non-horrific external event - something that might make (at 2 million dollars very rich) rich donors dig deep and contribute.
Great - taking money from the wealthy and putting it to good use is a perfect use of anyone's time and effort, I hope they raise twice what they expect.
Whatever you think of NFTs, I don't care - take advantage of any opportunity to increase your donor base - its tough enough out there :-)
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#56Earlier quoted context omitted.
A blockchain isn't necessary for any of these things, though.
Might not be "necessary", but sure as heck makes all that a lot easier. Sure, one could design their own system that accomplishes all of those features, but why if there's an existing infrastructure layer that anyone can build on that already offers it? Especially a non-profit that likely lacks the technical expertise and resources?
I don't understand your point - are you suggesting a non-profit will find blockchain easier than a regular ledger? Any organization that accepts donations now can already do all of the things you originally mentioned, for free, by simply signing the donation receipts.
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#57Earlier quoted context omitted.
Haven't people been saying this for at least 4 years?
Maybe, but as of now the ETH2 beacon chain is running with > $14B of ETH locked in it, not launching honestly seems unlikely at this point.
For those who, like me, are not knee-deep in crypto stuff, $14B of ETH appears to be about 3.7% of the total market cap.
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#58I'm not sure why this is an NFT other than trying to capitalize on the current craze. NFT or not, a charity should still "issue a public report tracking how this specific tranche of money is spent, and estimating the number of lives saved as a result". Having decent reporting on how efficient your charity is feels like it should be basic table-stakes in order to raise more money in the future. Is this really any diff…
It really isn’t. It’s just a fancy receipt that also happens to be particularly harmful to the environment. There is nothing preventing a shady charity from embezzling the funds. As with everything blockchain related, trust stops every time there needs to be an interaction with the real world.
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#59I'm not sure why this is an NFT other than trying to capitalize on the current craze. NFT or not, a charity should still "issue a public report tracking how this specific tranche of money is spent, and estimating the number of lives saved as a result". Having decent reporting on how efficient your charity is feels like it should be basic table-stakes in order to raise more money in the future. Is this really any diff…
It would make more sense to sell this as an NFT if it were paired with a thematically related artwork. A wealthy buyer would be able to display the NFT in their home and brag about all the lives they saved when they bought it.
Yes.
Good idea, and one I hope yet another decent charity uses. And frankly its waaaay more PR friendly than 'a report on our spending effectiveness'.
Re: An NFT That Saves Lives
#60Seeing pg peddle NFTs after a16z did it just a few weeks ago is kind of depressing. I guess Silicon Valley VCs must be really stinging about missing out on Bitcoin a few years ago. Not to mention that disguising what's essentially a money-making scheme as a benevolent donation is morally murky at best.