Gene Roddenberry’s living signature NFT is just strange

Star Trek’s Gene Roddenberry has a new living NFT.

A new NFT has been created that combines the signature of Gene Roddenberry and a living bacterial organism. That’s right, we’re tattooing bacteria now. The signature of the Star Trek creator has been coded into the DNA of an actual living bacterial organism. Why? Who knows. But people wanted to see it, as it was displayed at the world-renowned Art Basel this past weekend.

The bacteria, if it’s active, can produce millions, if not billions of copies of the signature. The very same signature that was used to sign the deal with Lucille Ball’s Desilu Productions. The whole thing was created simply by putting the signature into the bacteria’s DNA code via a non-fungible token.

Dubbed the “first living eco NFT”, the art piece is apparently a new example of how to create NFT’s that are sustainable and eco-friendly. As it turns out, the computers that create these things tend to be pretty awful for the environment.

Who would want a Gene Roddenberry bacteria signature?

Technology may have been a mistake. NFT’s are already controversial enough. They’re largely a fad, powered by a Ponzi Scheme (cryptocurrency), and are doing some damage to our environment along the way.

Not only that, it’s not even good things that you can get with NFT’s. You can pay thousands of dollars for an image, that most will just right-click and save. You now both own it. Only one paid thousands of dollars for it.

It’d be one thing if you were buying a piece of history. Like the actual contract, Roddenberry signed with Desilu. Except you’re not. You’re buying something that has no real value. It’s a copy of a signature. On bacteria.

I’d rather have moldy bread that Roddenberry once left in his fridge for too long.

It all just feels schemey and gross to be able to reduplicate a signature billions of times over and possibly sell them off, and to what end? So you can say you own it? Why would you want to?

NFT’s are weird.