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Technology Stocks : The *NEW* Frank Coluccio Technology Forum

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To: axial who wrote (32098)12/23/2009 12:26:07 PM
From: Frank A. Coluccio  Read Replies (2) of 46821
 
"It is very hard to transfer the protocols of one culture onto those of another."

NYT Op-Ed: The Protocol Society
By David Brooks | 12-22-09

In the 19th and 20th centuries we made stuff: corn and steel and trucks. Now, we make protocols: sets of instructions. A software program is a protocol for organizing information. A new drug is a protocol for organizing chemicals. Wal-Mart produces protocols for moving and marketing consumer goods. Even when you are buying a car, you are mostly paying for the knowledge embedded in its design, not the metal and glass.

A protocol economy has very different properties than a physical stuff economy. For example, you and I can’t use the same piece of metal at the same time. But you and I can use the same software program at the same time. Physical stuff is subject to the laws of scarcity: you can use up your timber. But it’s hard to use up a good idea. Prices for material goods tend toward equilibrium, depending on supply and demand. Equilibrium doesn’t really apply to the market for new ideas.

Cont.: nytimes.com

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