Traditionally, the monetary value of a cultural artifact (e.g., a painting) would only be known when that artifact was involved in a transaction—usually a sale. Even then, the value of the transaction would not always be publicly disclosed and would only be known to the buyer and the seller (or a select few).
With Web3 technology and NFTs specifically, everyone knows the monetary value of all cultural artifacts in near real-time.
While there’s value in this kind of transparency for both artists and consumers, one should also remember that Focusing on monetary value impoverishes cultural work.