Here’s a really interesting read on the relative cost of things that are easy to copy.
When copies are super abundant, they become worthless.
When copies are super abundant, stuff which can’t be copied becomes scarce and valuable.
When copies are free, you need to sell things which can not be copied.
The conclusion? There are 8 things that can’t be copied that have the potential to make something even “better than free,” even though some of these things (like immediacy or interpretation) might have a cost attached. I’d like to think about how these “generatives” play out in the physical, or for-pay digital, world… but not today.
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That’s a great read, John. Thanks for the link. Here’s my own “but not today”: I’d like to explore how these “generatives” work in an educational context. In a world where “knowledge” is increasingly thought of as free, how can Kelly’s eight generatives (and others we might think of) form an emerging statement of “value” in higher education? Do these generatives help differentiate several years of intense online research and interaction from a university degree program? Is there something in these generatives that helps us define that elusive “Wisconsin Experience” we hope to cultivate here at UW-Madison?
It’s so hard with big ideas like these. You want to take the time to think of something intelligent to say, but it just takes time… and usually by then the moment’s past.