I think that it is always valuable to look over dystopian perspectives on our future. Minimally this may be the only voice of Cassandra we might hear…and more plausibly, it is good to address these concerns, if only to clear them out of the way.
With this, I have a link to an interesting blog (Greater Seas) which made some initial sense to me…you see the primary thrust of this article is to consider most online business efforts as derivative bits of fluff having no deeper significance to the rest of the economy… And to be honest, there are certainly lots of easy examples to find, snake oil salesmen to see, and dubious marketing initiatives to have to get past.
When I say I was initially inclined to agree, it is based upon the notion that I have been spending a lot of time online…these last few years… I used to be inside the business world (to some degree…), and with this part of my past more than 5 years ago, I have lost daily touch with many of these issues… The result is that we tend to overstate the importance of what is directly in front of you…and to lessen the impact of things further afield…
For many online pundits, I suspect that there may be many similar experiences.
I think that this article (e.g. “the future of innovation”) might be better considered as a reasonable criticism of all of the (still!) hoopla surrounding online…anything. It surprises me that this is still sexy!
Another implicit aspect of this article which I have come to consider is that if this is a broad critique of US economic innovation…what are our fellow worldwide business partners doing which is any better?
So, the majority of this article is a worthwhile read, and it is worth spending some time considering aspects of what the author is stating, and what you may find…
Web 3.0 and the Future of Innovation
http://greaterseas.com/2011/05/the-future-of-innovation
Web 3.0 and the Future of Innovation
America has a problem: we’ve abandoned the spirit of innovation. In an attempt to get rich quick and create a steady stream of auto-pilot income, young entrepreneurs have turned to derivative businesses with no long term value – casting aside the spirit of innovation along the way. The result is a multitude of clever but generally meaningless businesses whose sole purpose is to entertain and advertise. Allowing this mentality to further penetrate the heart of entrepreneurship puts the economic future of our nation at risk.
To better understand this trend, look no further than the flow of college graduates to Silicon Valley. Top grads from top programs flock to hot startups, many of whom have no business model or intention of significantly impacting the human existence beyond insincere entertainment. Data scientists are finding huge paydays working for social apps like Color, who raised $41 million of Series A funding even before its product hit the market. With that kind of money and talent, you’d think Color was next in line to cure cancer. Not true – It’s a photo sharing app.
Who cares?
While many of the best and brightest try their hand with media companies, the bane of the American economy – health care – is begging for talent and innovation. We’re also still facing a looming energy crisis and now the next wave of terrorism looks to be economic in nature too. At the same time commodity prices are rising, food supplies are shrinking, and whole cities are crumbling as jobs head overseas. There’s plenty of room for innovation, but instead we’re opting for the easy option.
If all we’re good at is getting people to click ads, how do we actually move forward as a nation? The frightening reality of a generation of search engine experts and affiliate advertisers is that all we’re doing is getting good at selling to ourselves. You don’t grow an economy and create jobs by selling to yourself; that’s just moving money around without a net gain. You grow an economy by reducing waste, driving down costs, and finding more efficient solutions to real problems in the physical world.
