Archive of UserLand's first discussion group, started October 5, 1998.
Re: Giving birth through conversation - I am a digital thief
Author: marekj Posted: 8/14/2000; 10:15:21 AM Topic: I patent breathing. I was here first. Quit breathing. Msg #: 19706 (In response to 19670) Prev/Next: 19705 / 19707
In art the highest compliment possible is theft of a key idea, esp if the credit is passed on along with the idea.RightClick >> View Source is the best method I found so far to learn about web design.
Aha.. The web is the ultimate conversation and we are all thiefs.. Well maybe we are not thiefs. Maybe we are standing on the shoulder of giants. Maybe *digital stealing* is the ultimate perpetual way of being engaged in conversation to keep on creating new possibilities. What do you think?
The web would not have spread as fast as it did if it was not for the miracle of viewing the source code of html pages. Thousands of people peeked at the structure of HTML docs and learned and improved web design.
I am a digital thief, steeling all the best web designs. Tinkering with them, improving them and putting them out on my pages and guess what, I expect people to steal code designs and tinker with them and improve them so I can go to their pages and steal again and tinker thus creating perpetual conversation and moving forward - constanty innovating and creating.
The web is a place of abundance. If I were to give Dave my yellow rubber ducky then He now has it and I don't have it anymore.(Physical world is scarcity), but if I were to give you my source code then you now have it and I have it as well.(Digital world is abundance).
In physical world you figure out how to protect, strategize, put up fences to keep people away from your "stuff". Supply is limited so you set your pricing according to the demand. (Classical view of economy)
In digital world the supply is inifinite. What if *the game* in the domain of digital world is to see how fast can you give it away for free or some small fee instead of hoarding it for yourself until the right buyer comes along who can offer you the best price?
What if this is the game worth playing? Who wins in this game? Who looses? Maybe there are no loosers, maybe we all win. When Dave Winer gives away his manila sites at weblogs.com or editthispage.com does he lose because of that? Maybe not. I say we all win. (Thanks Dave)
(Metcalf's law would apply here to what Dave is doing with weblogs. )George Gilder says "magic of interconnections: connect any number, “n,” of machines—whether computers, phones or even cars—and you get “n” squared potential value. Think of phones without networks or cars without roads."
I say: Think about Weblogs. Userland value grows exponentially with every weblog added to the network. Dave himself said it best in article . How to Make Money in the Internet
MP3 is the ultimate abundance for me. If you make a copy of mp3 you don't take it away from me. You now have a copy for yourself and I still have copy for myself but now your life is enriched and shaped by the music.
So how do you make money in the world of abundance? I don't know would be my first answer. Maybe we need to inquire about how to invent new models for business based in abundance. (Jakob Nielsen talks about Micropayment. It could be a place to start)
I refer here to Eric Raymond talking about "Gift Culture" where participants give time, energy and creativity away, but if they don't get paid does that mean they loose?
Any Thoughts?
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