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Not sure that there's any paradox here. The rise of a freely-accessible network connecting all humans (i.e. the Internet) has just made it such that hundreds of
by kyaghmour 11y ago
Not sure that there's any paradox here. The rise of a freely-accessible network connecting all humans (i.e. the Internet) has just made it such that hundreds of years of cleverly and carefully assembled middle-middlemen that were required to keep the economy going are no longer required. This affects the software ecosystem that existed right before the Internet but impacts everything else as well: taxis, hotels, etc.
Moving forward, assume that middle-men are gone, unless required by legislation or differences in sovereignty (i.e. still effectively legislation). The net result is that it's cheap to build and procure yourself practically almost anything, with the surface of things you can't build/procure yourself increasingly diminishing given the network effect of large swaths of the human race rushing to the Internet to build ever increasingly sophisticated modular components with each trying to outflank each other with a lower price/barrier-to-entry.
If we can 3D print/carve materials we can buy in bulk in a cheap fashion from freely-available software/data, we are likely looking at a fundamentally different economy than the one we are in today.
- cronjobber 11y ago> assume that middle-men are gone Wishful thinking. In the real world, middle man competition is being replaced with middle man monopolies, e.g. Amazon between manufacturers and consumers, Apple/Google between app creators and users, Google between websites and readers, Uber between cabbies and travelers.
- raverbashing 11y agoInteresting concept There's a word for single seller (monopoly), single buyer (monopsony) but not for single middle man (at least not that I'm aware of)
- digi_owl 11y agoPublisher? ;)
- cpeterso 11y agoIs a middle man not a seller, of sorts?
- _dps 11y agoI'm not familiar with the associated ancient Greek word for middleman (-poly and -psony come from ancient Greek), but in modern Greek "μεσαζοντας" (pronounced meh-sa-zon-das) is "middleman". So that would suggest something like "monomesazontia". There is also "μεσίτης" (meh-see-tees) which means broker / facilitator. That would suggest "monomesitia". But if you're willing to mix Greek prefixes with English/Germanic roots for "dealer", then I like the sound of "monomongery" :)
- giaour 11y agoI believe it then becomes a matter of perspective. A single middle man will be a monopoly to one party and a monopsony to the other. So for consumers (and regulators), this state of affairs would be indistinguishable from a traditional monopoly.
- c22 11y agoAnd Verizon between everyone and their middle man!
- nickpsecurity 11y agoThe middlemen won't be done because they offer advantages many companies want. They handle so much of the sales, distribution, international issues, and so on that it grows the company. Not as profitable as direct sales but it's hard to get them. Microsoft's OEM deals and Oracle's sales team drove quite a bit of their revenue. Never underestimate power of good middle men. Just make sure you get a good deal and preferrably have a transition to direct in the future.