[ExI] RES: mit's answer to the stanford ai class

[Jeff Davis]

On Fri, Dec 23, 2011 at 10:08 AM, Adrian Tymes <atymes at gmail.com> wrote:
>> If you price it at a dime or a dollar -- cheap enough to buy rather than
>> "pirate" -- in the internet market of 7 billion, you're gonna make some
>> money.
>
> You greatly overestimate the financial resources available to the vast
> majority of that 7 billion.  Less than 10% have that sort of disposable
> income, at least in a form that is readily transferable on the Internet.

You misunderstand my intent, ...and what I see as the internet-enabled
business model.  (Let's see if Drexler says anything similar in his
upcoming book.)  In the old paradigm business model the product or
service provider controls the price:don't have the bucks, don't get
the goods.  In the internet (information) model the buyer controls the
price.  Which is to say the buyer will pay whatever he or she is
willing to pay.

Old paradigm thinking holds that given the choice between getting
something for free or paying, people will universally and always opt
for free.  I disagree.  I think it is in the nature of people to seek
social acceptance, and the drive for that will always make people want
to "do the right thing", which means paying that (small) amount that
balances the need for social acceptance and the constraints of
personal economic circumstances.  The poorest of the poor then, will
access the information services for free, but once they derive an
economic benefit, I predict they will chip in.

Then, there's my intent, which is to provide the benefits of personal
bootstrap uplift to everyone on the planet.  And if you would look at
this from a selfish perspective: the future we would like to see will
be built by whatever human beings have the necessary skills.  The
faster and more efficiently we train them up, the faster we (and they)
will benefit from their contribution.

It's not all about profit, but, that said, the first to market with a
new paradigm "killer app" is gonna make some serious bucks in the new
monster global internet market.

Anyway, that's what I talking about.  That's how I see it.

Best, Jeff Davis

"Everything's hard till you know how to do it."
                             Ray Charles