Right Click Save - Articles - NFTs and the Risk of Perpetual Colonialism
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- It is no coincidence that proponents of new technologies are often referred to as “tech evangelists.” The uncritical optimism that characterizes much of the current discourse on Web3, the non-negotiable adherence to its principles, and the assumption about the inevitability not only of the technology, but also of the context and world view in which they operate, often veer into dogmatism.
- Under these narratives, new technologies are sold as tools of emancipation, if only people can accept them — an approach reminiscent of colonial missions which, in the past, crossed the seas with the self-declared goals of rescuing natives who would otherwise live obliviously in darkness, eternally.
- Power spheres mutating overtime — from the Crown, to the bourgeoisie, to the primacy of the (white) individual celebrated by the Enlightenment, to the early entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution, to the establishment of capitalist liberal democracies — have all subscribed to a need to expand in order to dominate, to source raw and cultural material regardless of its impact on people and the environment, and to impose new cultural practices and threaten risk of extinction (and, later, socio-economic ostracism) in order to drive submission and compliance. This is a point elegantly expressed by Jonathan Crary in his book 24/7 (2013), which discusses the perpetual drive of market forces to secure relentless participation, consumption, and control. For Crary, this ideology fabricates pseudo-deficiencies for which new technologies are offered as the essential solutions.
- Decentralization acquires a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of relationality, a core aspect of First Nations peoples’ world views.¹ While from the Western perspective, we tend to see decentralization as a “breakaway” from ruling institutions, it is still very much human-centred, rooted in the understanding that human needs and wishes drive decision-making. Relational cultures, on the other hand, approach life on the basis of relationships between humans and everything else, including the environment and all things within it, living or not, as well as the cultural capital derived from them — stories, rituals, customs, and beliefs. In these cultures, decentralization operates at an existential level, with humans no longer in a central position of superiority but constituting just another element within a broader cosmos.
- In their book Design: Building on Country (2021), Page and Memmott discuss some of the principles underscoring culturally appropriate design with Australian Indigenous communities. They highlight how, in many Indigenous cultures, the actual product created is often not as important as the process involved in creating it, which at its core should always be collaborative.
Right Click Save - Articles - NFTs and the Risk of Perpetual Colonialism
Metadata
Highlights
- It is no coincidence that proponents of new technologies are often referred to as “tech evangelists.” The uncritical optimism that characterizes much of the current discourse on Web3, the non-negotiable adherence to its principles, and the assumption about the inevitability not only of the technology, but also of the context and world view in which they operate, often veer into dogmatism.
- Under these narratives, new technologies are sold as tools of emancipation, if only people can accept them — an approach reminiscent of colonial missions which, in the past, crossed the seas with the self-declared goals of rescuing natives who would otherwise live obliviously in darkness, eternally.
- Power spheres mutating overtime — from the Crown, to the bourgeoisie, to the primacy of the (white) individual celebrated by the Enlightenment, to the early entrepreneurs of the Industrial Revolution, to the establishment of capitalist liberal democracies — have all subscribed to a need to expand in order to dominate, to source raw and cultural material regardless of its impact on people and the environment, and to impose new cultural practices and threaten risk of extinction (and, later, socio-economic ostracism) in order to drive submission and compliance. This is a point elegantly expressed by Jonathan Crary in his book 24/7 (2013), which discusses the perpetual drive of market forces to secure relentless participation, consumption, and control. For Crary, this ideology fabricates pseudo-deficiencies for which new technologies are offered as the essential solutions.
- Decentralization acquires a very different meaning when viewed through the lens of relationality, a core aspect of First Nations peoples’ world views.¹ While from the Western perspective, we tend to see decentralization as a “breakaway” from ruling institutions, it is still very much human-centred, rooted in the understanding that human needs and wishes drive decision-making. Relational cultures, on the other hand, approach life on the basis of relationships between humans and everything else, including the environment and all things within it, living or not, as well as the cultural capital derived from them — stories, rituals, customs, and beliefs. In these cultures, decentralization operates at an existential level, with humans no longer in a central position of superiority but constituting just another element within a broader cosmos.
- In their book Design: Building on Country (2021), Page and Memmott discuss some of the principles underscoring culturally appropriate design with Australian Indigenous communities. They highlight how, in many Indigenous cultures, the actual product created is often not as important as the process involved in creating it, which at its core should always be collaborative.