I was listening to an interview with Dan Novaes, Co-Founder and CEO of current.us, a blockchain based media consumption company which aims to revolutionize how media is consumed. It aims to use blockchain technology to reward viewers for their time and attention.
What they plan to do is pay users with crypto for viewing content. From what I understand, the viewers will get a fair share of crypto while consuming content. The premise is similar to what the much talked about Vice Industry Token plans to do, where they want to reward porn viewers with crypto.
Where Current differs from Vice is that Current wants to incorporate crypto rewards for all existing content providers like Youtube, Spotify and others.
Steem's Smart Media Token makes a similar promise in which website owners will be able to reward their readers with cryptocurrencies.
These are but a few examples I have come to know about. I am sure there are many other similar ICOs which are working towards a similar future revenue and reward model based on putting a price on the ATTENTION of users.
The basic idea is to help users earn while consuming content. Initially, it sounded quite extra-ordinary. It is indeed extra-ordinary because this is a revolutionary idea which can disrupt everything.
However, one question keeps coming back to my mind.
If it becomes so easy to earn money, how will this future ATTENTION economy sustain itself? Who will work if everyone watches videos?
Universal Basic Income???
There has been a lot of talk regarding the feasibility and probable adverse impact of a universal basic income.
**There is one section which says UBI will provide people with a minimum amount for sustenance and allow them to have free time and money for better things in life like education, health or other productive activities and will help the economy in the long run. **
The opposite argument is that such an income scheme will make people not work and reduce economic output and thereby negatively impact the economy.
What really happens remains to be seen.
A similar argument for the attention economy?
Come to think about it, the idea of paying content consumers for their attention is but an experiment on UBI. Since the majority of us consume content over the internet (almost everyone in the future economy will consume content over the internet), rewarding consumers for their consumption will actually provide them with a basic income.
Problem is, if the rewards are substantial enough to encourage more and more people to take up video watching or reading or blogging as full-time employment, people actually creating economic output reduces over time as more people want the easy way of earning through consuming rather than producing.
**This may seriously reduce economic output as a majority of economic work still happens outside our screens. ** Media, entertainment and content are but a small portion of the total economic output today but has the largest share of ATTENTION of the global economy. Millennials spend up to 4 hours consuming video daily, this is likely to increase in the future.
So will the future not be as rosy as we all hope it to be?
AI and Robotics to the rescue?
Before I stumbled upon blockchain and came to know how it is going to transform the world, I was gobbling up information on how artificial intelligence is going to transform everything.
There is so much technological change going on all around us, it's sometimes hard to figure out which technology will be the real game-changer. I have come to think that all these technologies together is what it will take to change the world.
Perhaps the advancements in AI and robotics, which is supposed to make millions of jobless, will have a perfect handshake with the ATTENTION economy? People losing jobs to AI and robots will spend their time earning crypto money?
It is probable that machines will take over production and people will largely be consumers getting paid for their attention. This may well be the Utopia we have been waiting for!
I think for all of these technologies to provide sustainable and substantial benefits to all of mankind, all technologies will have to work together and thinkers and builders of the future and leaders of the world should take into account all possible implications.
Please note that I am not an economist, neither am I a futurist. I am just somebody who is interested in these topics and would love it if someone who is more educated on these topics can throw some light on my analysis.
