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Kevin Kelly -- The Technium

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Rental

Highlighted by isaacmao

I use roads that I don't own. I have immediate access to 99% of the roads and highways of the world (with a few exceptions) because they are a public commons.

Highlighted by sersinghaus

on 2009-02-25 by sersinghaus

An interesting idea: the road as public commons.

The web is also a social common good. The web is not the same as public roads, which are "owned" by the public, but in terms of public access and use, the web is a type of community good. The good of the web serves me as if I owned it. I can summon it in full, anytime, with the snap of a finger. Libraries share some of these qualities. The content of the books are not public domain, but their displays (the books) grant public access to their knowledge and information, which is in some ways better than owning them.

Highlighted by isaacmao

The request to enjoy a work is thus separated from the more complicated choice of whether I want to "own" it.

Highlighted by kbtykr

For many people this type of instant universal access is better than owning. No responsibility of care, backing up, sorting, cataloging, cleaning, or storage.  As they gain in public accessibility, books, music and movies are headed to become social goods even though they might not be paid by taxes. It's not hard to imagine most other intangible goods becoming social goods as well. Games, education, and health info are also headed in that direction.

Highlighted by jrstoltz

Property may be less about title and more about usage and control.

Highlighted by jrstoltz

an idea has little value unless it is shared or used to some extent

Highlighted by anitsirk

Free things don't generate strong feelings of ownership. Gifts do, which we think of as "free," but our sense of ownership is related to their "replacement costs"

Highlighted by jrstoltz

our sense of ownership is related to their "replacement costs" – how much they would cost us to buy elsewhere, their market value.

Highlighted by kbtykr

If an item has a marketplace cost of zero, we tend not to feel we own it. So as more economic activity gravitates toward the free, less will feel owned. As more is shared, less will act like property.

Highlighted by kbtykr

Leasing, licensing, subscribing are all types of shared ownership. (In general we rent for short-term and lease for longer; we'll rent a car for a week, or lease it for 2 years.)

Highlighted by taryn930

The downside to the traditional rental business is the "rival" nature of physical goods. Rival means that there is a zero-sum game; only one rival prevails.

Highlighted by jrstoltz

This ability to share on a large scale without diminishing the satisfaction of the individual renter is transformative. The total cost of use drops precipitously (shared by millions instead of one). Suddenly, ownership is not so important.  Why own, when you get the same utility from renting, leasing, licensing, sharing?

Highlighted by taryn930

Access is so superior to ownership, or possession, that it will drive the emerging intangible economy. The chief holdup to full-scale conversion from ownership to omni-access is the issue of modification and control.

Highlighted by jrstoltz

The trend is clear: access trumps possession. Access is better than ownership.

Highlighted by isaacmao