NFTs and Essentialism

Imagine a machine that could replicate anything in the universe, precisely down to the molecular level. Ignoring for a moment the impossibilities of quantum mechanics (the no-cloning theorem), we used the machine to create an identical molecular copy of the Mona Lisa. Every blob of paint, every scuff, even down to the way the canvas stretches, you place the original and the identical side by side. Then I ask you: Which one is worth more?

It turns out, there’s a lot of experimental evidence to guide us to an answer. When presented with a copy, humans prefer “the original” if they have an attachment to it. This has been tested many times over. Even children prefer certain individuals over perfect duplicates, implying that this is neither a learned trait or social behavior. It’s an inborn attitude that humans project into the world called essentialism. The basic idea is that some objects have an essential nature to them that makes them unique, even when every measurable attribute is identical. The experiment with children goes like this: each child is given a stuffed toy to play with for a period of time. Then a researcher posing as a scientist claims to have a machine that can perfectly duplicate the toy. When he places the child’s toy into the conveyor, two identical copies come out the other side (one being the original, one being an identical toy of the same type). When asked which toy they prefer to keep, nearly every child expresses a strong preference to keep their original. The results are the same even if the toys are swapped, and the child is merely told that the…