Hi guys,
Check out this article at Wired.com about the economics of free commodities in the digital age. It’s really spectacular. Essentially, it explores what will happen once the price of processor power, memory, and bandwidth reaches zero (or so small as to approximate zero) for the single user, which seems to be happening. The article uses a great metaphor, that of electricity being “too cheap to meter,” which at one point many believed would happen. The result…an end to water shortages, electric cars, virtually no globe-warming emissions, etc. Perhaps a bit of a Utopian vision, but it’s hard to argue that the world isn’t headed for some sort of economic breakthrough of one kind or another.
Too bad we have to keep on screwing up the Colorado River to keep Las Vegas lit.
This is definitely a great article. The pessimistic side of me wonders what will happen as other commodities (necessities, some of them) become more expensive: gasoline, fresh fruit and vegetables, real estate (or rent). Will they become the cost we pay for basically free technologies?