For the last ten years, I’ve been wondering about the future of the media industry. I realized in 2004 when video first started showing up on the web that the old ways of doing business were threatened and would be replaced with a new model, one day.

Now, I have a glimpse of that future.

In a new book, Postcapitalism, Paul Mason makes the case that we are living through the end of one era and witnessing the dawn of another. Capitalism is dying and the Collaborative Commons is rising.

Paul writes in The Guardian:

“Postcapitalism is possible because of three major changes information technology has brought about in the past 25 years. First, it has reduced the need for work, blurred the edges between work and free time and loosened the relationship between work and wages. Second, information is corroding the market’s ability to form prices correctly. That is because markets are based on scarcity while information is abundant. Third, we’re seeing the spontaneous rise of collaborative production: goods, services and organisations are appearing that no longer respond to the dictates of the market and the managerial hierarchy.”

Further:

“Today, the thing that is corroding capitalism, barely rationalised by mainstream economics, is information. Most laws concerning information define the right of corporations to hoard it and the right of states to access it, irrespective of the human rights of citizens. The equivalent of the printing press and the scientific method is information technology and its spillover into all other technologies, from genetics to healthcare to agriculture to the movies, where it is quickly reducing costs.”

So, what’s the future?

Christopher J. Dew lays out some thoughts in Post-Capitalism: Rise of the Collaborative Commons on Medium.

Christopher believes:

“Vast increases in productivity and efficiency will be realized in the years ahead through an integrated network of smart-products (termed the Internet of Things, or IoT), accessible renewable energy harvesting technologies, energy sharing across a distributed smart-grid, the decentralization of manufacturing through 3D printing, open online education, the decentralization of finance, legal contracts and governance through Blockchain applications, and the progressive automation of the workforce.”

He argues:

“On the Collaborative Commons, a new type of incentive is driving creativity and innovation. The expectation of financial reward loses relevance when prosumers begin to produce their own products for use and exchange, and marginal costs approach zero. In the Commons, the expectation of financial reward is quickly being replaced by the desire to advance the social well-being of humanity.”

How will all this be paid for? A Universal Basic Income and the Blockchain.

“Smart contracts are computer programs that can automatically execute the terms of a contract once the agreed upon conditions are fulfilled. These could include simple transactions such as an online shopping purchase, or executing the terms of a will. Moreover, as smart devices and products continue to proliferate across an Internet of Things infrastructure they will increasingly integrate and register with the Blockchain and be able to be bought, sold and operated in line with the terms of smart contracts.”

My take: I love this big picture! Imagine a world where every piece of media was recognized by the Blockchain so its creator could be fairly compensated. I called for something like this in my short animation Right2Copy, only in this future, we don’t need any middlemen at all.