From: Strata Rose Chalup (strata@virtual.net)
Date: Thu Jun 15 2000 - 17:53:55 PDT
This is the flip side of what Phil Agre has been saying for years
over on RRE: disintermediation will occur as people find value in
not only reaching producers directly without a (traditional)
middleman, but as people build networks where context-driven mediation
can be voluntarily applied by the consumer to the producer's products.
A filter is merely a gatekeeper who happens to be acting in my
interest during the context of a particular transaction. A gatekeeper
is a dedicated filter which always acts in the interest of its
controller
during all transactions (or does if it's set up well, at least).
Remember that the ONLY base commodity, the real "gold standard" that
is the underlying bedrock of any and all paper, metal, plastic, or
digital currencies, is HUMAN ATTENTION. The factor determining
whether real or online communities, affinity groups, mailing lists
like this one, etc work or fail to thrive is primarily whether or not
there are implicit or explicit processes in place within the community
to allow individuals to leverage group attention within a
shared-interest
constraint space.
I'm not disagreeing with Jeff or Courtney, I'm just sounding like a
broken record again. Ce n'est pas le science de la rocket, oui?
Someday I'll have to get over my lack of desire to build a company
and just go do it so people will listen. My answer to "if you're
so smart, why ain't you rich?" is "I am rich. It's just not a kind
of rich you're programmed to see. But that's ok, you don't have to
listen to me either."
I don't have condos in all the major cities, and we rent a small
apartment, but I just spent the past month cheerfully doing very
little paying work, and all of it was fun work. In between I visited
hotsprings and went scuba diving a lot. Sure, I wouldn't mind having
a pile of money, but I don't like the odds and would rather just
live and keep going. Every time I forget that and chase money, I
end up in an ER somewhere, and I'm getting old enough (37) that it
just doesn't seem like a good idea, eh?
Cheers,
_Strata
Jeff Bone wrote:
>
>
> Wow, wow, wow... I'm totally overwhelmed by how lucid, insightful,
> cogent, eloquent Courtney turns out to be. This ought to be required
> reading for "Digital Economy 101," a hypothetical class that everybody
> should be required to take in high school. ;-) Check out the
> extrapolation:
>
>
> "...And filters are replacing gatekeepers. In a world where
> we can get anything we want, whenever we want it, how does a
> company create value? By filtering. In a world without
> friction, the only friction people value is editing. A
> filter is valuable when it understands the needs of both
> artists and the public. New companies should be conduits
> between musicians and their fans."
>
> Now a simple substitution:
>
> "...And filters are replacing gatekeepers. In a world where
> we can get anything we want, whenever we want it, how does a
> company create value? By filtering. In a world without
> friction, the only friction people value is editing. A
> filter is valuable when it understands the needs of both
> artists and the public. New companies should be conduits
> between [content producers] and their [audiences.]"
>
> I'm having this really weird "Courtney Love-as-Marshall McLuhan"
> vibe...
>
> Anywaze...
>
> jb
>
>
-- ======================================================================== Strata Rose Chalup [KF6NBZ] strata@virtual.net VirtualNet Consulting http://www.virtual.net/ SAGE Level III/IV Unix Admin, commercial-scale Internet services specialist =========================================================================
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