Frisbees tossed on mossy yards

Originally Posted on May 8, 2005 Last Updated on December 12, 2006

The Internet is full of free stuff. Between the world’s open-source g33ks, the guys at Google, and other up and comings like Doodlebug and Flickr, I am very hard-pressed to find a reason to spend my time on the Internet doing things that cost money. There’s just so much fun and useful free stuff out there, it just doesn’t make sense.

And the more programs out there that allow me to share my creative side with other people (and vice versa) the more interactive the Internet becomes, because “interactive” no longer means that you’re playing a video game and the creatures found within are talking back to you and shaking your hand or fighting you or whatever, but now interactive is such a giant term for how I have friends all over the world, ideas flowing in from all corners of the planet, and so on. We post pictures of our lives, our travels, our interests on line. We draw silly pictures of what we’re thinking about, or record drunken audio clips about what is distressing us. We play games, exchange opinions on religion and politics and even fall in love. And we’re allowed to do it all for free.

And all of this, of course, opens up the wonderful reality that as more and more things found on the Internet are free, and more and more of our lives are spent commuting, banking, shopping, communicating and playing on the Web, the more likely we are to arrive at an alternative solution to the current form of monetary compensation for goods/services. The Internet is seeping into our real lives and it’s only going to continue to do so. Who buys CDs anymore? The music is all free now. And even those people who do buy music online, well, they pay very little for it. Netflix revolutionized DVD rentals, so much that the US’s largest video store is now offering the same service after watching their profits drop. So how long will it be before we’re allowed to watch movies for free in theatres? We’d still be making a transaction: You let me watch this movie and I’ll sit through these bullshit previews. That’s what Google does, and at some point we’ll get sick of paying for movies because we can download them all for free and so on and so on. Of course, movies are just one aspect of this all…

More about free stuff can be found here.

Up Next: Camouflage Lizards and the Big Bright Sun that gives us the light that doesn't help us see them all that much anyway

Discussion

Anonymous 8 May 2005

Interesting. I love the idea!

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st0nes 8 May 2005

all though i love this way of life and getting free music and movies is fucking sweet. there is however, one problem to that. if every one decides that they are not going to pay for music/movies any more, the industry would surely grind to a halt. so i think what i am trying to say is, i will stick with not having to pay for music/movies, and you all keep paying for it.

i think in the long run this will work out to my advantage.

-thanks

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olivia 8 May 2005

You should write an article for Wired about this.

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ClickNathan 8 May 2005

Hmmm. Well Bob I know what you’re saying but it’s moot.

Because every industry will need to find a new way to make their product valuable in ways that won’t require exchanging money.

Think about my blog. I link to other people and that gives my blog value depending upon how good the blogs I link to are. In turn, people who link to my blog gives my blog more value, because it gives me more routes to get people coming in. I don’t get anything monetarily out of it, but I do get something of value. I get more people to listen to what I have to say, and that’s what’s important to me.

So the bands and movie makers, well, they would get the same thing. And it would eliminate movies being made simply for the money of it. Do you think Britney would do what she did if it meant that she wasn’t going to be a multimillionaire?

Bands could still find ways to “make a living” it just might not involve getting paid because we would ideally eliminate money.

Oh and livia, I would love to do that. I wonder if I’ll put any effort towards it.

AHH! oh man that’s my problem isn’t it?

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st0nes 8 May 2005

ok well thats an interesting point. and you are absolutely right. you did not make your blog to get paid for it. and thats exactly how it should be. i’m not going to make my super duper comment alert program made in python to get paid for it either. these are just creative ways to take up time while we die. but when we do these things we take up our OWN time to do them not any one else’s (main point). and thats fucking crescent fresh. but think of how much it costs to actually make these videos and or movies, there has to be some kind of income, coming in to pay the people who make this happen. i really don’t think these people would work for free just to make some movie, that some fucked up director/writer has dreamed up. not that i really care about whether or not these industries go under, it makes no difference to me.

and for Britney, yes i do think that stupid fucking wh00r’ does it for the money. she may not have started out doing it for that reason, but now in my opinion she is just farming her talent out to make the bunsin!

“Bands could still find ways to “make a living” it just might not involve getting paid”

well i totally disagree with that. i havn’t heard of any REAL bands (and by REAL i mean ones that have contract deals) that have day jobs. and if there are any that you could point out to me then maybe i would change my views on this.

“because we would ideally eliminate money.”

i don’t see any future where we will not use money. money unfortunately rules the way we live and thats a fact.

oh yeah i still love Modest Mouse. and i hope that what was mentioned above will never happen to them.

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ClickNathan 8 May 2005

Yes Bob well I’m not sure whether or not the original idea was to eliminate money all together, but certainly in my mind that would be the ideal one.

And when you say that you don’t think people would work on the project for free just to help a director with his project, I disagree. I would. If Tim Burton came to me and said, “Hey I like your stuff, will you come and work for me?” I’d do it in a heart beat. And in this scenario that I’m talking about, well Tim would be able to pay me by keeping me alive to the best of his ability because he’s now relying on me to help him finish his movie. Imagine a world where Mrs. T’s Pierogis was headed up by a guy who LOVED Tim Burton films. Mrs. T’s would give free food to Tim because they wanted to see him continue making films, and to do so, well, he needs to eat. There would other companies who felt this way too. And keep in mind, Mrs. T’s is (in this scenario) only in business because someone was truly passionate enough about pierogis to start a business and it had nothing to do with how lucrative the pierogi industry was. Since they are so devoted to making pierogis, these are the best damn pierogis they can make, not simply the most cost effective ones. So in turn perhaps someone else who really digs these pierogis helps their company along and so on and so on down the line. Companies would only be started if they were genuine and good enough to convince other companies to help support them. The entire world’s trade system would be based on a barter for quality system and so everything would be completely dependant on someone else helping them out and everyone would want to help eachother out because everyone is passionate about the thing they’re doing or helping someone else to do.

I realize it’s a dream world, but it’s exactly why Google works, even if they do sell ads to make money to continue their core mission.

It’s not as far off as you might think. There are more of us who don’t have money than those who do, and contrary to popular belief, majority really does rule, statistically speaking anyway.

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olivia 9 May 2005

I agree, in the ideal world, money should be gotten rid of all together… it causes so much fighting and so much unhappiness.

However it would be extremely hard for me to be so heavily dependent on so many people for my livelihood. Constantly needing to ask multiple people to help me out because I need stuff and I did them some favour. I can’t stand needing people for anything.

For me the ultimate freedom is walking out of the house not having plans of when I’ll come back with my keys shoved in my back pocket and a whole lotta dough in my wallet to see me through the rough times. I know that wherever I’m going I’ll be able to buy my way out of trouble if I need to… if I forget to pack something essential I can replace it… and I’ll be looked after when I’m old even though I won’t have kids of my own. For these reasons I have always made sure I can support myself with a bit to spare.

Wanting to feel safe is a hard habit to break.

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st0nes 9 May 2005

well i know what your saying m0nk but in my opinion this will never work, mainly because there are just not that many passionate people. and you mentioned that you don’t think the idea was to get rid of money all together. well one thing that comes to mind, in this awesomely awesome world, where every one worked out of passion to help others out. what need would you have for money? why would we keep it around? there would be no point for it! i don’t know i keep getting confused.

i am a rather poor person, and having to have money really sucks, at times. but i just can’t see the world being able to work with out it.

but your right if every one pitched in, this ideal world of yours might be able to work.

i’m tired i must sleep now.

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ClickNathan 9 May 2005

Yes, Olivia, I know what you mean but in this system no one asks people for other things, people volunteer up their goods and services out of an innate desire to see others prosper. Because you love something that someone else creates, you help them to keep creating it.

It avoids having an upper and lower class because as much as people will like the movie stars and musicians, well those people will like bread and alcohol, too, you know? For every guy out making fine sirloin steaks there will be someone making toilet paper and necessities will become just as valuable as the extra things in life.

I’m not saying that this is a real definite solution to the original post, it is merely the way that it’s progressed through these comments. Regardless of what outcome you arrive at though, you have to realize that when/if this happens it will be a large change in the way people think, so your desires and fears and aspirations and aprehensions will be radically changed because of it.

And Bob, you’re missing the point, bruhamsky. In this society there would be no money. And as far as some people not having a passion about things, well… Those people would simply die out or become gutter bums doing any old shit thing they can to get people to feel bad for them. I suppose there will always be the greedy who want more than they contribute (a rich man and a poor man can be very similar in this way) but after a few generations those people will be evolutionarily bunk. If you’re not passionate, you won’t strive to do your best, and so no one will feel that you have something to offer.

But if you think about it, money is the reason why so many people aren’t passionate. The woman behind the counter at your local gas station, well, do you think she aspired to make minimum wage and work at the Country Fair? Hell no, but as it became more and more evident that she didn’t have the money to become what she wanted and she NEEDED to get a job and so she didn’t have the time well one thing leads to another…

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st0nes 10 May 2005

not to be a dick but as you explain this system, it sounds more and more like it will never work.

better yet it sounds like a book that Tristan has in his room some where.

TITS…!

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