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I think in some sense we're all moving towards this model of "ownership", in one way or another. For example, when it comes to the most easily mass producible

I think in some sense we're all moving towards this model of "ownership", in one way or another. For example, when it comes to the most easily mass producible thing in the world--information--we're all "billionaires" now. I can ask Google to get me all kinds of information, and it just appears. Even 15 years ago some fairly trivial Google searches would have required privileged access to sources of knowledge (libraries, universities, etc... stuff not always available everywhere in the world) and lots of free time. There are very few limits (or if there are, we haven't reached them yet) on the reproducibility of information. The marginal cost of reproducing information for another ten or twenty billion human beings is fairly negligible. Will it ever be the case that we can overcome the limits on the reproducibility of material goods? Or are there fundamental constraints on material goods that don't exist for information? If we can overcome them, then one day we will all be "billionaires", in this sense. EDIT: Amazon Web Services is a good example of this kind of transformation; it's made all of us "millionaires" when it comes to computing. A few years ago, "get me a thousand servers" would have required millions of dollars, a fair amount of time, and a lot of technical expertise. With EC2, it requires $100/hr.

deleted 18y ago
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ph0rque 18y ago
> Will it ever be the case that we can overcome the limits on the reproducibility of material goods? Or are there fundamental constraints on material goods that don't exist for information? Yes, in a sense: see reprap.org, and further along in the future, molecular nanotechnology. However, there will always be a (small) cost for the raw materials that go into the finished product.
- jorgeortiz85 18y ago
  I think I'm fundamentally a pessimist on this front. I think, for example, that the rising price of oil is a symptom of the absolute physical limits that material resources face. Some raw materials have a small cost, others have a high cost.
asdflkj 18y ago
The major difference between information and material goods is that material goods also serve as indicators of status. If we evolve toward some other way of indicating status, then one day stuff will be just as free as information is now. But if not, people will continue to spend money on ridiculously overpriced stuff that has no added utility over "regular" stuff, just to show that they're better than those who can't afford it. And they are better, in a sense. This seemingly childish game of status shouldn't be discounted. It's evolutionarily very important.

deleted 18y ago

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ph0rque 18y ago

> Will it ever be the case that we can overcome the limits on the reproducibility of material goods? Or are there fundamental constraints on material goods that don't exist for information? Yes, in a sense: see reprap.org, and further along in the future, molecular nanotechnology. However, there will always be a (small) cost for the raw materials that go into the finished product.

jorgeortiz85 18y ago
I think I'm fundamentally a pessimist on this front. I think, for example, that the rising price of oil is a symptom of the absolute physical limits that material resources face. Some raw materials have a small cost, others have a high cost.

asdflkj 18y ago

The major difference between information and material goods is that material goods also serve as indicators of status. If we evolve toward some other way of indicating status, then one day stuff will be just as free as information is now. But if not, people will continue to spend money on ridiculously overpriced stuff that has no added utility over "regular" stuff, just to show that they're better than those who can't afford it. And they are better, in a sense. This seemingly childish game of status shouldn't be discounted. It's evolutionarily very important.