Green Taxi

Reading through an article sent to me a few months back that is much older itself, I came across an interesting theory about the Internet economy and its correlation to the credit economy.

The article, “The Attention Economy: The Natural Economy of the Net“, written by Michael Goldhaber in 1997, proposes that Attention with become the new form of currency in the world.

First, he explains that

“economies are governed by that which is scarce, and information, especially on the Net, is not only abundant, but overflowing.”

He then spends much of the article explaining how attention drives people’s interest, and it is that interest that they are paying for in the end.

He uses a time of change, when European feudalism was taken over by American capitalism, to relate to much of the change the world is going through now.  I think much of his “attention” theory worked out extremely well so far, even through the dot-com bust.  But the theory does extend beyond that and his point is relevant today.  Capture peoples attention and you are in charge of the economy. 

Facebook has done this well, they just have not been able to monetize on it yet.

However, here is where I think his theory explains many answers that are out there today.  Who says that monetization is the final goal?  With the way our society is heading, toward socialism, the idea of capitalism might be gone completely.  Maybe the goal is to create a more stable society for everyone and trusting the government to do so?  Personally, I do not think that is the right answer, but his idea at least points us in a direction of what to analyze.  Maybe Facebook success is not defined by making a lot of money, but instead by creating a tool that unites every human in the world more than anything before.

Either way, his final conclusion sums up his prediction of when this end could occur.

“At the end of the feudal period, the pomp and display of the nobility reached a level never before attained; the most gorgeous armor, the most magnificent tournaments of knights, the most elaborate ceremonies between rival nobles, the most brilliant marriages, the greatest interest in noble lineage. But by then it had lost all real function or importance. So today, when the stock market goes up and up, when money wealth itself seems a source of fame more than ever, when being number one on Forbes 400 list seems the height of perfection, when every basketball superstar wants a contract that is at least a million more than the last record one, we seem to be more dazzled by money than ever, just as we seem to be more intrigued by material goods than ever. But these interests are superficial and faddish. They are signs of decadence not of a glorious future for the money economy. Even in themselves they speak to the growing desire for attention, the need for it as well. Money is now little more numbers, one number among many, and as a source of lasting attention it can fade in an instant. The attention economy is already here, and more completely so every day.”

If that time is not right now, I cannot imagine another time.  Nothing speaks more clearly than the excesses enjoyed by Wall Street over the last few years.

The end of the credit economy is here.  A new economy is now beginning.  I do not know if it will be the “Attention” economy, the green economy, or the age of socialism, but something is coming and I am walking towards it with my eyes wide open.

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