Since I started using the internet, about 1992 thanks to a programmer friend of mine, now at Nvidia, I've been worried about getting so much for free on the internet and because of the internet.
I thought about high school, when my friend (same guy) gave me floppies of pirated, copied games. My computer programmng teacher (BASIC!), told us it was theft. But games were $30, and though my conscience bothered me, and I sucked at arcade games anyway, my friend had no problem with it. Our teacher said we would understand in the future when had to make a living on our own, when we were more likely to appreciate the value of work and money. He was right. Some of us learned. I worry that many of us did not.
Later, same problem, different name: Napster nearly destroyed the music industry. At least, it changed the industry in ways not especially beneficial to anyone.
I kept thinking about the phrase "There is no such thing as a free lunch," about which, Wikipedia:
a popular adage communicating the idea that it is impossible to get something for nothing.…Campbell McConnell writes that the idea is "at the core of economics". Greg Mankiw described the concept as follows: "To get one thing that we like, we usually have to give up another thing that we like. Making decisions requires trading off one goal against another."… If one individual or group gets something at no cost, somebody else ends up paying for it. If there appears to be no direct cost to any single individual, there is a social cost.
I have no politics. Nor do I know much about economics. But I keep wondering who pays for all this free stuff. It’s human nature to want something cheap or free—to get the most stuff with the least amount of effort. What are the consequences of getting so many products and “content†free? (On a side note: What happens when nearly all information, such as “trick†advice, is available to everyone?)
I find it extraordinary that last summer I could buy my parents an extremely powerful Dell for only $500 (a one-terabye drive!). My first 512K Mac was over $2000. My Apple II might have been more. Think of how cheap TVs are, perhaps because they are being made in Communist China by 13-year-old girls under unjustifiable working conditions. Nearly everyone, regardless of income, has internet access, cable, several TVs and computers, cell phones, console game systems. Much of it cheap or free.
On the internet there are so many tricks and secrets, many of them unethical or illegal or both, about how to get something for little or nothing. Copyright abuse everywhere. How to get cable without paying for it. How to dowload You Tube video and audio. Pirated software, movies, music, TV shows. BitTorrent. Theft as social norm. And no one seems to mind. On the contrary, they love it. Many of these products and methods are openly praised and sold, or you can find a freeware version. How can a software developer compete with free? He can't. E-books. Goodbye bookstores and libraries. Price-comparison sites. Does my bank teller know where my money is? What bank teller?
Where is it all headed? Everyone deserves to be paid for their efforts. I know little about economics, but I know that for it function there has to be an exchange of goods and services. One makes, the other buys. One does, the other pays. Is all this free stuff eliminating jobs? Look at the consequences of Amazon, the Wal-Mart of the internet.
What do you think? I admit I’m a pessimist, but I worry about dark times ahead. If jobs are being eliminated faster than they are being created, then what?
The mind boggles.
