[extropy-chat] A nickel and dime economy?

[Erik Starck]

On 2004-12-20 Kevin Freels  wrote:
>I have been noticing a trend toeards ever smaller payments for smaller and more personalized products >and services. 

Jeremy Rifkin writes about a subscription economy in his book The Age of Access:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1585420824/qid=1103555343/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-1252904-7536761?v=glance&s=books&n=507846

I think that's a more plausible future. For example, it's just a matter of time before the MP3 download sites will be subscription based, and then the movie and TV industry will go the same way (you will subscribe to access to a database of programs/movies). You don't buy a car, you lease it (that is, subscribe to the possibility of using it). Access to internet used to be a pay-per minute fee, now it's a fixed monthly one. Same thing will happen to wireless internet. The book has more examples.

I suppose the small fee could be a middle step, but in the end it becomes too expensive to keep track of the purchases and too difficult for the consumer to understand what she pays for. Basically, it takes way too much energy to keep track of all the little expenses. 


--
Erik S.
blog: framtidstanken.com