Being into all things computer, I read an interesting article about the WWW code being up for auction. Tim Bernes-Lee, a London-born computer scientist, invented the World Wide Web in 1989. This ended up revolutionizing the sharing and creation of information - one of the most significant inventions since Gutenberg invented the printing press back in the 15th century.
Sotheby's is auctioning off the digitally signed Ethereum blockchain non-fungible token (NFT), a one-of-a-kind digital asset which records ownership, includes the original source code, an animated visualization, a letter written by Berners-Lee and a digital poster of the full code from the original files.
NTFs have really become popular in recent months, including at auction. For instance, a digital-only artwork by American artist Mike Windelmann sold for nearly $70 million at Christie's in March.
When asked why a NFT, Berners-Lee replies, "Well, it's a natural thing to do ... when you're a computer scientist and when you write code and have been for many years, it feels right to digitally sign my autograph on a completely digital artifact."
The files contain 9,555 lines of code including implementations of the three languages and protocols invented by Berners-Lee: HTML (Hypertext Markup Language), HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol), and URIs (Uniform Resource Identifiers). In addition, the original HTML documents that instruct early web users on how to use the application are included.
Berners-Lee laid out his vision for what he initially called "Mesh" while working at Europe's physics research centre Cern in 1989. His boss at that time wrote that it was "vague but exciting" on the cover of Berners-Lee's 1989 paper "Information Management: A Proposal".
In 1990, he built an application he called "WorldWideWeb" that was originally written in Objective C programming language on a NeXT computer, a company founded by Apple founder Steve Jobs after his ouster from Apple.
"Sir Tim's invention created a new world, democratizing the sharing of information, creating new ways of thinking and interacting, and staying connected to one another," said Cassandra Hatton, global head of science and popular culture at Sotheby's.
"Over the past several centuries humankind has seen a succession of paradigm shifts that have brought us forward into the modern era ... but none has had the seismic impact on our daily lives as the creation of the World Wide Web."
Bids for the NFT start at $1,000 in a standalone online auction titled "This Changed Everything" running from June 23-30, 2021.