PANTS: Across the Nanoverse IV
@nattorare
18/12/2022
4 minute read
AI in Future Lifestyles: The Agent Infiltration Begins
On the 15th of December, 2022, Nanoverse & PxN’s lead founder Rei would announce that the Nanoverse Phase II collection - The Nanoverse Agents - will be canceling their public and whitelisted mints: effectively turning it into an exclusive claimable only available to Nanopass holders.
In lieu of the current market situation; where retail crowds are more sparse - the Agent's initial asking price of 0.195Ξ was met with an exasperated reaction from NFT Twitter, with some citing the duo projects' turbulent price action as a pain point.
Even with the absence of past price action, the current market sentiment was such that retail was less likely to favor longer-term speculative investments such as AI software and 3D models - additionally, trade volume within the NFT markets had lowered to the extent that 0.195Ξ would be considered a fairly risky entry.
Sensing that the mint would not do well, the Nanoverse team quickly huddled for solutions:
"Most of us stakeholders, whether large or small, have very strong opinions. So its been a very emotionally charged and turbulent couple of days where we discussed every single option." Pants recalls, "Uhm, and a lot of fights broke out? It's never like a malicious fight, it's just a lot of: 'No! Shut up! I'm bringing good ideas and you're ignoring them!' (laughs) I believe we said that to Rei."
To quote Rei on his announcement post on Medium:
"NFT investors may be passionate and assist projects in raising awareness, but, like VC investors, they are ultimately driven by profit. Additionally as a tradeoff, in many cases, their investment timeframe is also much shorter than that of their VC counterparts... If we had focused on creating merchandise or other experiences that had a shorter shipping cycle, it may have been fine. However, both AI and 3D models do not fit into this category. Many retail investors simply lack the ability to invest into products that took this long to mature."
Ultimately, the Nanoverse team landed on a decision that shows support to Nanoverse’s core beneficiary - their holders, by delivering the promised product from Phase I while providing maximum value to those who bought and held into the project long-term.
"What we got to was this final unifying mindset of: 'what do we care about?' We care about fulfilling the promise we made to Nano holders," Pants reiterates, "[With 0.195Ξ/250$], you can't even commission the profile picture with that much money, let alone a fully rigged 3D model that comes with AI & Vtubing software. We're allowed to have a minimum price, we're only not allowed force people to pay it."
"We're completely okay with saying 0.195Ξ was fair, but if we can't make a successful mint out of that then we shouldn't be charging that at all." Pants concludes.
The Nanopass Agents are envisioned as AI companions, doubling as both an AI-powered desktop assistant for your PC as well as a wearable avatar within the digital space in the form of a ‘Vtuber’ software - motion capturing software that captures your movement and projects it onto a 3D avatar.
Day by day, AI technology grows closer to being capable of handling advanced human processes. The Nanopass Agents - by design - explore the possibilities of social development between humans and AI technologies. This futurist concept may seem alienating to some at first, but in a time when daily life becomes increasingly digital and children are born with a phone in hand, this concept had not initially resonated with the markets for no reason:
“A lot of people think it's like, I guess unhealthy or like weebish to be talking to a ‘waifu’ or AI by yourself at home, but I don't feel that way.” Pants says, “you extrapolate from [online relationships], and you think, ‘what if you could speak to AI?’ Like, why is it purely damaging? It doesn't mean that you only speak to your AI and you just become this shell of a person…
… It's just one of those activities that helps you in an increasingly isolated world that helps you with your outlet for conversation, for interaction.”
In conceptual terms, AI encroaching onto human lives is something that has been extensively explored within media and pop culture. However, there are also more utopian possibilities envisioned by creators and thinkers alike.
With Web3 being a part of the futurist movement - it wouldn’t be too hard to entertain the possibility of the truth being somewhere in the middle while discussing other futuristic concepts such as borderless digital currency and metaverses. The Nanoverse Agents wouldn’t even be the first to tackle the ambitious concept of creating socially based AI interactions: non web3 desktop companions, too, pursue more human-like interactions with their users.
Whether or not the ambitious concept reflects positively on the price action and public sentiment for the Nanoverse Agents appears to be irrelevant to the Nanoverse team, as they continue building toward their radical vision through bull and bear.
Whatever the future holds may be unclear: but one thing is for certain - Pants, the Nanoverse and the Phantom Network, aren’t going anywhere for awhile:
"I think we're of a generation that has seen a lot of bad times, but through these bad times we are also a generation that have seen far more opportunities than any other generation before us. So many things happened. These cycles come and go so quickly. So if you are OK with not being comfortable, if you're OK with taking a risk… Go all in."