What you write about Facebook is obviously true, it's also been repeated over and over again. Blogs used to be a great social network and information resource, right up until media companies decided there was big money to be made, so even though there are still lots of people blogging, or running websites and communities that either don't make money, or make just enough to keep running, they'll never get anywhere because no one is going to pay attention to it. There won't be Wired articles about them, no VC is going to listen to their pitch and being involved won't make anyone rich. You create it and run it because you love it. That's not what Silicon Valley is about.
I am always amazed when people say capitalism is fine, as long as the government regulates it. So how is capitalism “fine” when it takes an external system that isn’t capitalism to keep it in check? The fundamentals of capitalism are problematic. It’s ok to say that you accept those and we’ll check them with government, but to dismiss the problems as some sort of bad apple capitalism is disingenuous.
I compare capitalism with fire. Fire is just fine. It's amazingly useful for cooking, lighting, heating, materials processing and a host of other things. It also needs to be carefully controlled. You don't burn your house down when it gets cold outside. You don't want to set your book on fire or burn your roast.
Granted, we may be moving to a post-fire society. Electric cars, unlike ICE cars, don't rely on fire. You can cook in a microwave oven or on an induction or resistance cooktop. You can light with LEDs and keep warm with a heat pump or resistance cooktop.
Are we ready for post-capitalism? It's going to take a lot of regulation to make it happen, just as it has for us becoming post-fire. It's also going to be done in stages. My guess is that it would only happen if it is done slowly and incrementally, and like our move to post-fire, it is done in a way that people barely notice.
This post bodes well for the book manuscript. Keep going.
What you write about Facebook is obviously true, it's also been repeated over and over again. Blogs used to be a great social network and information resource, right up until media companies decided there was big money to be made, so even though there are still lots of people blogging, or running websites and communities that either don't make money, or make just enough to keep running, they'll never get anywhere because no one is going to pay attention to it. There won't be Wired articles about them, no VC is going to listen to their pitch and being involved won't make anyone rich. You create it and run it because you love it. That's not what Silicon Valley is about.
I am always amazed when people say capitalism is fine, as long as the government regulates it. So how is capitalism “fine” when it takes an external system that isn’t capitalism to keep it in check? The fundamentals of capitalism are problematic. It’s ok to say that you accept those and we’ll check them with government, but to dismiss the problems as some sort of bad apple capitalism is disingenuous.
I compare capitalism with fire. Fire is just fine. It's amazingly useful for cooking, lighting, heating, materials processing and a host of other things. It also needs to be carefully controlled. You don't burn your house down when it gets cold outside. You don't want to set your book on fire or burn your roast.
Granted, we may be moving to a post-fire society. Electric cars, unlike ICE cars, don't rely on fire. You can cook in a microwave oven or on an induction or resistance cooktop. You can light with LEDs and keep warm with a heat pump or resistance cooktop.
Are we ready for post-capitalism? It's going to take a lot of regulation to make it happen, just as it has for us becoming post-fire. It's also going to be done in stages. My guess is that it would only happen if it is done slowly and incrementally, and like our move to post-fire, it is done in a way that people barely notice.
That was fantastic. You put things so well even a dummy like me could understand it. Looking forward to the next ones.