[iDC] A primer on the Attention (Centered) Economy

[Joe Edelman]

I think I have a note that might help this debate go a little smoother:

Many of us--whether we are professors, architects, artists, or  
software developers--recognize that we are in the practice of creating  
or shaping relationships between humans.  We create systems of rules  
or instructions or spaces which present certain opportunities to the  
people who find themselves under our influence.  And these spaces can  
facilitate new kinds of relationships or interactions among strangers  
or among friends.

Just like someone who hangs mistle-toe underneath a bridge in hopes of  
creating a space for lovers to kiss, so do all of us use computer code  
or text or art or the classroom to point towards new ways for people,  
often strangers, to relate.

A lot of this is about creating intimacy, or connection, or  
opportunities for one person to support another person, by helping  
them think, by helping them with physical work, by sharing some  
convivial or supportive time, or by meeting needs directly in the  
interaction.

One thing that's exciting about the internet, is that it can scale  
these processes.  A website I was lucky to help develop-- 
CouchSurfing.com--connects (directly, in-person) more than 300  
strangers every hour, 24 hours a day, and 7 days a week.  [http://couchsurfing.com/mission_stats 
]

Since most of our needs are relational, and all are satisfied or not  
satisfied in relation to others, this act of creating intimacy-- 
whether it occurs in a classroom, under a bridge, or via the web--has  
tremendous economic impact.  And when to a degree we can meet our  
needs directly with the people with whom we are already intimate,  
there is usually no need to participate in the mediating market  
mechanisms that many on this list see as problematic.

Let us then agree then to respect each of our attempts, whether in the  
classroom or on the net, to create these intimacies.

--
J.E. // nxhx.org // 413.570.0001




On Oct 23, 2009, at 9:29 PM, { brad brace } wrote:

>
> thanks for this Emil; it's gratifying to hear these
> inspiring net ideas again but it really seems as if the
> institutionalized powers-that-be are now effectively
> re-establishing and maybe enhancing every disingenuous
> advantage they've always had...
>
> /:b
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