WHAT WE HAVE BECOME, AND WILL BE...
JON WEINSTEIN
Diverse Small/Large Business Sales-related consulting services * Licensed(NY) Life, Accident & Health Life Consultant.
Pithy, as usual, concisely thoughtful views from Seth Godin:
The internet began as a way to connect private networks. First it was university researchers. But then, as email kicked in, it was a tool for private conversations among people who knew each other. That's just one of the reasons that spam is so hated–it intruded on a space reserved for people with permission.
The next leap was a public one. Geocities and websites. Facebook and Twitter. This is the public, all of the public, or at least as much as you care to engage with.
The interesting phase that's happening more and more, and is amplified by the blockchain, is the semi-public/semi-private world. This is a group of people (perhaps a tribe, even) that are connected to one another (insiders) but the riff raff (outsiders) aren't invited.
These semi-public groups can work together in ad-hoc or permanent teams to create new work of value.
Lyft isn't a public system. You can't become a Lyft driver without going through some sort of vetting process. The same goes for a discussion board online that's just for licensed doctors, or volunteer firefighters…
There's a huge opportunity to become an organizer of semi-public groups. These entities will become ever more powerful as the economies of the firm begin to fade, replaced by the speed and resiliency of trusted groups instead.me
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But, here's the rub: Life Imitates Art. Anthropologiocally, advances occur within the same basic confines of basic human structure: tribes, grouping, exclusiovity, fear of outsiders.
The first walled-in community was the begining of the selective Newsgroup, Chat Room or other online community. It is perfectly natural to restrict axcess to, say, a chat room, conline community, etc. about rhe latest surgical tool use in a specific type of neurosurgery. Having that board crowded out minute by minute by PRO and ANTI Trumpsters, senders of jokes and other litter would be a terrible thing for the intended users and beneciairies of such a community. Full Stop there. Few could disagree.
But with the end of Net Neutrality and ascendant deregulation, esclusivity and tribal fiefdomism will proliferate online. It already is.