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"What, I hope, interest rates are doing is shifting the balance of power to its natural point: the commons is owned by the volunteers. Megacorp's ability to pro
by rsync 3y ago
"What, I hope, interest rates are doing is shifting the balance of power to its natural point: the commons is owned by the volunteers. Megacorp's ability to profit from this was a disguise created by free money."
I don't think this is correct.
In the excellent book _The Master Switch_, Tim Wu[1] describes:
"... a long "cycle" whereby open information systems become consolidated and closed over time, reopening only after disruptive innovation."
... and my reading of his book suggests to me that the "natural point", as you say, is consolidation and closure.
Youtube is always becoming TV.
My own opinion is that the media is the message and that certain communications media - namely, pure text - can't "become TV". The real difference between reddit and HN is that you can't display a picture - of any kind - on HN.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu#The_Master_Switch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tim_Wu#The_Master_Switch
- mjburgess 3y agoThis is a disanalogus analysis, because the value of these platforms it the labour of their volunteers --- they *are* the commons. "Natural power" includes the collective action of these volunteers -- seen here, eg., with reddit. My point is that the drive to profit from this labour will make the platforms extremely sensitive to their demands -- in ways that do not occur when there's no need to profit. You can say "let them eat cake" if you have your own cake supplier. When the cake runs out, all those labourers turn out to be required. I think these are unique dynamics -- much closer to the fall of serfdom than the development of TV networks