What makes any art valuable other than people's shared belief that it has value?

Here's the thing about NFTs: it's more complicated than what you wrote, but you're also not wrong. There is a part of the NFT world that's all about speculation and drops and value and money. However, there's also the artist side of it. There's a very interesting space where art and technology are coalescing. People are using computers to create incredible digital art, but there's limited means to display, sell, or monitize it. Fuck the pixel apes or punks...check out some people like Zach Lieberman, Joshua Davis, Casey Reas, and Mark Dorf. These are people who are using programming, coding, augmented reality, and algorithmic functions to make beautiful dynamic and generative art. For digital artists, the NFT is a blessing; because their work is displayed in the form of video or gifs or whatever, there isn't really any way to sell it or display it, or stop anyone from just copying their stuff and sharing it. The NFT then is kind of like an artist's signature, it creates scarcity in a medium where replication is easy. You can buy a poster of Guernica by Picasso for a few bucks, but the actual Guernica is worth millions. Why? Because it's the original. NFT's are a way for artists working in the digital space to solidify an 'original' version of their work, that can be verified by anyone.

Value is completely subjective. The speculator people who are doing all these million dollar bored ape and pixelated unicorn things are actually helping digital artists by creating a precedent of value for their work and this medium. These digital artists previously had no way to monitize their digital creations, even though they're all hugely respected and revered in their fields. Now they do. The possibilities of what uses could evolve for NFT are limitless, and the whole scene is being created as we speak. NFT's could help artists license out their work to businesses that would like to use it, instead of having it stolen and not really having any recourse to prevent theft. The function of defined ownership creates scarcity, and that in turn makes the digital art world more like a microcosm of how the IRL fine art world works, except with normal people dictating the value of something as opposed to snobby high art gatekeepers.

The money aspect is the least interesting thing about NFTs, imho. Sure people do pump and dumps like they do with shit-coins, but that doesn't mean the entire technology is just a bullshit scam. The really cool thing is there's no kind of 'big picture' or direction this stuff is headed....it's so new, the applications are endless. It's fascinating to watch a bunch of people try to figure out ways this new tech can be applied, with no roadmap and no rules, inventing and creating and collaborating together...reminds me of the early days of the internet. Their communities are very supportive and enthusiastic about helping one another develop ideas and stuff.

Also: owning some original NFT from an artist on your computer may not seem like it's a big deal now, but as we migrate further into digital worlds (VR...metaverse, etc), these works and their ability to be displayed and viewed in digital spaces will make the concept of ownership make more sense. People already pay a good chunk of change for skins or accessories in video games. That is the direction we're heading, so while the NFT may seem like it lacks utility now, it may have all the utility in the world as technology and the way we interact continues to evolve

What makes any art valuable other than people's shared belief that it has value?

Here's the thing about NFTs: it's more complicated than what you wrote, but you're also not wrong. There is a part of the NFT world that's all about speculation and drops and value and money. However, there's also the artist side of it. There's a very interesting space where art and technology are coalescing. People are using computers to create incredible digital art, but there's limited means to display, sell, or monitize it. Fuck the pixel apes or punks...check out some people like Zach Lieberman, Joshua Davis, Casey Reas, and Mark Dorf. These are people who are using programming, coding, augmented reality, and algorithmic functions to make beautiful dynamic and generative art. For digital artists, the NFT is a blessing; because their work is displayed in the form of video or gifs or whatever, there isn't really any way to sell it or display it, or stop anyone from just copying their stuff and sharing it. The NFT then is kind of like an artist's signature, it creates scarcity in a medium where replication is easy. You can buy a poster of Guernica by Picasso for a few bucks, but the actual Guernica is worth millions. Why? Because it's the original. NFT's are a way for artists working in the digital space to solidify an 'original' version of their work, that can be verified by anyone.

Value is completely subjective. The speculator people who are doing all these million dollar bored ape and pixelated unicorn things are actually helping digital artists by creating a precedent of value for their work and this medium. These digital artists previously had no way to monitize their digital creations, even though they're all hugely respected and revered in their fields. Now they do. The possibilities of what uses could evolve for NFT are limitless, and the whole scene is being created as we speak. NFT's could help artists license out their work to businesses that would like to use it, instead of having it stolen and not really having any recourse to prevent theft. The function of defined ownership creates scarcity, and that in turn makes the digital art world more like a microcosm of how the IRL fine art world works, except with normal people dictating the value of something as opposed to snobby high art gatekeepers.

The money aspect is the least interesting thing about NFTs, imho. Sure people do pump and dumps like they do with shit-coins, but that doesn't mean the entire technology is just a bullshit scam. The really cool thing is there's no kind of 'big picture' or direction this stuff is headed....it's so new, the applications are endless. It's fascinating to watch a bunch of people try to figure out ways this new tech can be applied, with no roadmap and no rules, inventing and creating and collaborating together...reminds me of the early days of the internet. Their communities are very supportive and enthusiastic about helping one another develop ideas and stuff.