Steemfest hackathon: BitAd intros BitArt Futures.

On Monday night.

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I took a midnight flight leaving New York City to Lisbon, Portugal. It was the city where Voltaire's starry-eyed, unbelievably optimistic character Candide journeyed to.

I felt a little bit like Candide; I had in mind a grand project that I believed would bring about profound change within Steemit community but also can be expanded to impact the wider internet.

I didn't know if I was simply deluding myself, like Candide, but I believed in it strong enough and I wanted to hear what the wider Steemit community thought of it.

Below is the final incarnation of that idea.

Well, a seed of that idea. I realized by talking to many of the developers and community members that the full extent of what I wanted to implement was not yet technically feasible, and not yet politically practical.

But it is a first step in the direction of that grand project.

The presentation

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Hello everyone, my name is Jacques, and I go by the name @bluablaeno on Steemit; it means "Blue Whale" in Esperanto.

Just a little bit about my background: I'm an aspiring coder, I'm an entrepreneur from New York City and I was studying mechanical engineering in college before I realize there were better and more opportunities elsewhere. I've done some coding and I believe that I could create something amazing using the Steem architecture, and, with the help of the Steemit community.

I realize you don't need to code to create something on the network. All of us can create something some amazing together on Steemit.

There are many great artworks on Steemit, they often get buried because they simply do not have the reach. If we could somehow leverage our influence to bring great work to the forefront, I'm confident they will earn much more.
I say investing though art, by its very nature, is a very subjective thing, so it is best understood through the lens of speculation.

As always is the case in speculation, it's like a box of chocolate; you never know what (value) you're gonna get.
It is unrealistic to always expect a higher return on your investment.
You take the risk in believing in your taste in art will be shared by the wider community.

Most artists are not rewarded for their artwork. This artwork from @erdavid was featured in the Steemfest art gallery and received a whopping ZERO Steem.

My partner had some very valid concerns regarding copy-right, intellectual property, and the philosophy of the project so he asked me to remove his post from the presentation.
I'm sure you all have similar questions for me and I will be happy to answer them.

I want to give my sincere thanks to @anomadsoul for listening to, and sharing with, me a vision of what can be accomplished.

and to @wackou for giving us tremendously valuable guidance on developing the idea.

and to @hansikhouse for providing me with the courage I need to get on stage and pitch when I was unsure whether or not I should.

and to @wmougayar for listening, and giving me the drive to, continuously work and refine my idea.

and to @sneak and @vandeberg for giving a realistic expectation of what is and is not technically feasible currently and what is to come in the future.

and to the many many more Steemians that have listened, and gave feedback on my idea.

I'm still trying to process, incorporate and respond to the many suggestions. It's been a crazy week and I think I'll take the Monday off.