Details of Abundance Based Intellectual Property System
My article Abundance Based Intellectual Property System is being discussed at TechDirt. The fundamental point is that R&D is different from manufacturing and marketing. For a system to promote innovation it must reward those two different tasks separately. And the best system aligns all parties instead of pitting them against each other.
Unfortunately the fundamental point of my article was missed. Read more
Abundance Report: $2 million for a Virtual Horse
World of Warcraft player demonstrate the ultimate level of Abundance, knowingly buying nothing. This is both the ultimate example of Abundance, Artificial Scarcity, and the how to find markets in an age of Abundance.
Abundance occurs when capacity exceeds needs. This focuses on desires further up Maslow’s hierarchy. Innovation leads to Abundance which drives more innovation.
Players of the online game, World of Warcraft, have a lot of free time. They also have a lot of free cash. They were willing to pay $25 for a virtual horse that does not give any benefits other than decoration. 800,000 people rushed to a total of over $2 million in 4 hours for the virtual equivalent of costume jewelry.
Making virtual horses costs nothing. There might be some cost to design the first one but each horse bought by a user is free. The bits used to have a horse in the game versus not having the horse cost exactly the same. This is truly Abundant. But this free item is being sold for $25, how can that be? In the game only people who pay the $25 can have the horse. It’s kept Artificially Scarce. The artificial scarcity is the value of this object. Having something others don’t have and sharing something in common with other people is the desire being satisfied. This is a desire focused on identity. Identity is one of the few things in the universe that is naturally scarce.
Identity will be at the core of successful innovations in an of Abundance.
Student Driver Flips Car at My Friend's House
Photos of a student driver who flipped the car are funny. What makes it weird and an example of Abundance is how I heard about it.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1265629/Learner-driver-flips-instructors-car–SECOND-lesson.html
My friend, John, sends me a lot of links to funny or important news and just things he finds that might interest me. John sent me the link to the article about the student driver in England who flipped the car during her lesson.
When I read the article I was surprised to see that it happened in front of the home of one of my friends, Dermot. John does not know Dermot so that makes it more of an interesting coincidence, or is it?
I spend a lot of time online and John sends me over 20 links a day. Each of these are things he and I share a common interest. Dermot and I also share similar interests. A car flipping over is something that Dermot would be very interested to investigate, especially if it happened in front of his home. Further more Dermot and myself are the type who would be good for a reporter to speak with. The shared interest made it more likely he would be on the scene of a random event and more likely that I would read about it. This is part of the Long Tail Effect.
I am able to be friends with John and Dermot because of technology. Without all of us having access to this technology we never would have met or maintained our relationships. Also, this story was shared because of technology. The ease of finding and sharing stories of common interest made it more likely I would run across this story that mentions my friend from another country.
Finally, I sent the link to the email list which Dermot is a member. Dermot may have not known he was quoted in the article but in a matter of minutes the story circled the world back to him. This is all possible because of the innovation and Abundance it creates. Things that would have been impossible even a few years ago are now so easy and inexpensive they are common place.
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