CRYHUGHES

“Information wants to be free”

-Stewart Brand

Chris Anderson’s latest book builds Brand’s commandment into oracular forecast.

My take is that Web 2.0 did indeed birth a new economy.  Its actors continue to pursue their own best self-interest, but their currency has shifted.  The societal abundance of “biological and physiological needs” (at least in the G20+) enables individuals to ascend Maslow’s pyramid and focus on “belongingness and love needs.”  This new economy parallels the GDP economy.  The catch is its coin, reputation, can only indirectly be converted into dollars, if at all.

(The same concept applies to my LeBron James brand valuation quasi-argument.)

Free: The Future of a Radical Price’s mark of excellence in evident in the debate its stirred among pop culture’s social science giants.  Gladwell rejects Anderson’s thesis, Godin’s stance (and revenue stream) depends on it.

Currently “free” is a digital lab experiment, but as the matrix continues to converge with the the physical world, the result will become increasingly disruptive.  Its worth the coffee table debate, and cleverly available (in limited formats) for free.

“All things are artificial, for nature is the the art of God.”

-Thomas Browne

Extending Browne’s logic: we became Gods when we synthesized goods; we replaced God when we zoned and urbanized the natural world.  Miru Kim shows us that albeit unintentionally, we also became artists.

Naked City Spleen explores the urban decay we have forgotten juxtaposed the stark and literally naked frailty of the human experience.  The interpretation could go on, but it is better direct from her.