An NFT points to some asset, just as a deed to a house points to that house. The deed is not the house, but owning the deed gives you the right to exclude others from usage of the house. So the fact that an NFT is just a pointer shouldn't somehow disqualify it from being meaningful.

Maybe eventually we'll put things like deeds on-chain as NFTs. This would have the benefit of decentralizing the record-keeping power, so we wouldn't have to worry about failure of some central authority in this regard.

Enforcement of these ownership rights will probably depend on some centralized power, but if the deeper record-keeping layer becomes decentralized, is that not a win?

I can print a copy of the Mona Lisa, but that doesn't devalue the original painting.