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.

“Thoughts for Food” rose to the top 10 downloads for the Journal of IPE: Globalization in SSRN.

(link to previous post)

(link to present rankings)

“Nature, to be controlled, must be obeyed”

-Sir Francis Bacon

A perfect contradiction lifted from one the modern scientific method’s founders. Despite the tendency to separate “civilization” and “wilderness”, each essential human behavioral tendency has evolved from our experiences with nature, and many of today’s most fundamental theories, from Aristotle, to Bacon, to Galileo, to Darwin, were rooted in keen observations of the natural world.

Using that as my excuse, I took two weeks to explore Colorado’s Wilderness regions on route to the 2009 International System Dynamics conference.

Link to photos from two week in Colorado’s Wilderness regions: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cryhughes/sets/72157621578760457/

Update: Stuff White People Like #128: Camping

“There are only 3 real sports: bull-fighting, car racing, and mountain climbing.  All the others are mere games”

-Hemingway

One final task before departing from Manitou Springs: summit Pikes Peak.

Link to photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cryhughes/sets/72157621371174676/