So in your paradigm, where is the friction between information and benefit – there you will find businesses

Brave of you to put fuzzy thoughts on the screen. This is an interesting thoughtstream worthy of more exploration. Initially your writing makes me think that the ultimate value of a product or service results in an internal emotional and mental experience that could be seen as information. This led to more thoughts.

There are information-dependent business models out there (e.g., Google, Blogs, AAA, Wikis, etc.) and there will surely be more. Information can lead to the efficient consumption of products and services; and since human time and materials resources are limited, information should have great economic value. Amazon customer reviews present a good example of your ideas in practice. The reviews help me shop better.

Industrialized nations will have less labor time in the future due to an aging population, and emerging nations want more material goods. Perhaps information (or knowledge) is the key to solving these problems.

One big problem is that information is perceived as being an abundant and free resource, and information used to form decisions about the future is never perfect. Perhaps this tendency will fade as people become more sophisticate buyers.

You may enjoy reading “Collective Intelligence” by Pierre Levy. He philosophizes beautifully on some of these issues you raise. This is a fuzzy book, but my gut says Levy points to the future. Fuzzy thinking is where good things begin.

Dan Wallace
Twitter @ideafood

@Jake, yes I think you’re right, there are a whole set of abstracted services like filtering and organising that would still be valuable. The Web is a model for that.

First, your foggy ideas are something I aspire to. Second, I started down one path and then decided to check the link @Adam provided in his response above. Damn.

That blew my mind and my idea.

One thing “Better Than Free” did not explore fully enough IMO is the value of the filter in this copy economy. I believe one possibility for the new class of business you suggest could be a company that provides the service of filtering the infinite possibilities available into a finite list for my particular situation. Further, for those items that need it, this virtual concierge will also be able to develop a customized, personalized copy.

Just a half-foggy idea from someone who should have most of his faculties intact.