日本語での紹介は下の方(英語での紹介の後方)にあります。

This is a tie-up event with PyCon APAC 2022, which will be held on Sept 3 and organized by PyCon TW. This special talk event is organized by the PyCon JP Association, with the corporation of the PyCon APAC community.

Background

As part of our work within the PSF Trademark Work Group, we receive and approve (or deny) applications to use the trademarks of the PSF such as the Python logo and the name PyCon in projects and conferences. In January 2022 we received a request to use the Python logo in a for profit NFT project. This sparked a discussion internally on NFTs, trademarks, ownership and value.

The discussion was interesting and we have decided to invite the co-chair of the PSF Trademark WG, Dr. David Mertz to give a talk and to have an opportunity to discuss this very interesting topic with the rest of the community.

About this talk

The title of this talk will be "Encrypting tulips in the modern prestige economy: Blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and dystopianism"

Short summary

There are a great many ways in which human societies and human beliefs are often fundamentally irrational. Arguably, sport or casino gambling are such irrationalities. Arguably, many religious beliefs are so. Arguably, extreme pricing of "prestige" goods like collectible artwork or luxury brands contain a similar irrationality. Most certainly, Ponzi schemes and directly fraudulent pitches play off of irrationality, greed and wish fulfillment.

While cryptocurrencies and NFTs have many family resemblances to some of the referenced human irrationalities, there simultaneously seems to be something novel in fervent enthusiasm for blockchain. Many of these enthusiasts are most certainly simply motivated by greed, but at the same time, many others believe that these specific technologies offer some utopian possibilities for better societies. In some ways these beliefs are akin to early 1980s-90s beliefs in the inherent liberation of the internet, but in other respects they continue a libertarian fetishism about gold and silver as "inherently valuable" in contrast to "fiat currency."

In this talk, I will first outline the technologies themselves behind blockchain. They do represent a fairly interesting and clever intellectual combination of pre-existing cryptographic primitives. On the other hand, it is not obvious that this particular combination does anything worthwhile in its novel combinations. Whereas Freenet, and BitTorrent, and PGP, combine similar building blocks, those have been relegated to niche interests of geeky technologists (like myself), Blockchain—in one variant or another—attracts trillions of dollars of financial trading, and millions (if not billions) in research investments by large governments and international banks. The social dynamic of this is perplexing, but worth exploring.

Some useful keywords that will pop up during the talk will be

• cryptography
• blockchain
• trademarks
• economic bubbles
• "status capital"
• the prestige economy
• Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class

Agenda

Time and Place

• Time: 6th May 2022 (Fri) 20:00 - 21:10 JST (UTC+9)
• Place: Zoom and YouTube Live (We will update attendees with the URL nearer to the date)

Timetable

Who is this talk is for

If you find the summary and keywords above interesting and would like to learn more, then this talk might be for you.

Who is this talk NOT for

This talk will not be about how to make money from NFTs or cryptocurrency. If you're solely interested in NFTs and cryptocurrency in order to make money, then this talk is not for you.

About our guest speaker

Our guest speaker will be Dr. David Mertz (He/Him), Partner and Senior Trainer at KDM Training

David is heavily involved in the Data Science community and served as Director of the PSF for six years, and remains co-chair of its Trademarks Committee and of its Scientific Python Working Group. His columns, Charming Python and XML Matters, written in the 2000s, were the most widely read articles in the Python world. He has also written previous books for Packt, O'Reilly and Addison-Wesley, and has given keynote addresses at numerous international programming conferences.

David received his Ph.D. in Philosophy as well as a Master of Arts in Philosophy and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and Mathematics.

Code Of Conduct

• By participating in this talk event, you agree to respect and abide to our Code Of Conduct
• If you have any questions or suggestions, please contact us through the form provided on connpass

(日本語概要)

本イベントはPyCon JP AssociationとPyCon APAC コミュニティ共催のイベントです。合わせて、2022年9月3日に開催されるPyCon APAC 2022とのタイアップ企画にもなっています!

イベント背景

PSF(Python Software Foundation)商標運営グループでは、作業の一環として、Pythonのロゴや「PyCon」の名称などPSFのもつ商標を自分たちの主催するプロジェクトやカンファレンスで使用したい!という各種申請を受取ったり承認したり(時には却下したり)しています。
2022年1月にはPythonのロゴをNFTプロジェクトで使用したいというリクエストを受け付けました。このリクエストは彼らPSF商標グループにNFTそのものに対しての議論だけでなく、商標や所有権、ロゴの価値についての議論を呼び起こしました。

このディスカッションの内容がとっても面白いものだったので、PSF商標運営グループの co-chair であるDr. David Mertzさんを招待し、本イベントを開催することになりました。他コミュニティのみなさんと知見を共有しあえる場になることを祈っています。

トーク内容について

本トークは全て英語で行われます

タイトル

"Encrypting tulips in the modern prestige economy: Blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, and dystopianism"

概要

There are a great many ways in which human societies and human beliefs are often fundamentally irrational. Arguably, sport or casino gambling are such irrationalities. Arguably, many religious beliefs are so. Arguably, extreme pricing of "prestige" goods like collectible artwork or luxury brands contain a similar irrationality. Most certainly, Ponzi schemes and directly fraudulent pitches play off of irrationality, greed and wish fulfillment.

While cryptocurrencies and NFTs have many family resemblances to some of the referenced human irrationalities, there simultaneously seems to be something novel in fervent enthusiasm for blockchain. Many of these enthusiasts are most certainly simply motivated by greed, but at the same time, many others believe that these specific technologies offer some utopian possibilities for better societies. In some ways these beliefs are akin to early 1980s-90s beliefs in the inherent liberation of the internet, but in other respects they continue a libertarian fetishism about gold and silver as "inherently valuable" in contrast to "fiat currency."

In this talk, I will first outline the technologies themselves behind blockchain. They do represent a fairly interesting and clever intellectual combination of pre-existing cryptographic primitives. On the other hand, it is not obvious that this particular combination does anything worthwhile in its novel combinations. Whereas Freenet, and BitTorrent, and PGP, combine similar building blocks, those have been relegated to niche interests of geeky technologists (like myself), Blockchain—in one variant or another—attracts trillions of dollars of financial trading, and millions (if not billions) in research investments by large governments and international banks. The social dynamic of this is perplexing, but worth exploring.

トーク中に出てくるキーワード

• cryptography
• blockchain
• trademarks
• economic bubbles
• "status capital"
• the prestige economy
• Veblen's Theory of the Leisure Class

Agenda

開催日時とイベント会場

• 日時: 2022年5月6日 (金) 20:00 - 21:10 JST
• イベント会場: Zoom と YouTube Liveにて行います。詳細なURLについては追って「参加者への情報」欄に記載いたします。

タイムテーブル

対象者

上述のトーク概要やキーワードに興味を持った人もしくはもっと知りたい！と思った人。

※このトークはNFTや暗号通貨をつかって稼ぐ方法について話すものではありません。

スピーカー紹介

Dr. David Mertz(He/Him)
KDMトレーニングのパートナー・シニアトレーナー

Davidさんはデータサイエンスのコミュニティに多大な貢献をし、PSFのDirectorを6年勤め、現在は商標運営グループとScientificPythonワーキンググループのco-charを務めています。 彼のコラムである「CharmingPython」と「XMLMatters」は2000年代に書かれたもので、当時Pythonの世界では最もよく読まれていた記事でした。この他にもPacktやO'Reilly、Addison-Wesleyなどで執筆を行い, たくさんの国際的なカンファレンスで基調講演を行ってきた方です。

Davidさんは哲学の博士号、芸術哲学の修士号、芸術哲学と数学の学士号を取得しています。

Code Of Conduct

• 本イベントは、下記Code Of Conductに則ります。
  • https://2021.pycon.jp/en/code-of-conduct
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