Acquiring information goods vs. acquiring physical goods (was: Re: [ox-en] extrinsic motivation = coercion)

• From: Stefan Merten <smerten oekonux.de>
• Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:44:11 +0200

Hi Diego and all!

BTW @Diego: I love it when you write complete sentences ;-) .

I'm still struggling with the (non-)distinction between information
goods and physical goods - at least as far as the production process
is concerned.

Last month (30 days ago) Diego Saravia wrote:

I need zillions of dollars to use nuclear power, I only need one PC, an
internet conection, an a tech background to use free software. So a lot of
people could enjoy free software (libre and gratis), and that makes free
software a relevant phenomena.

as I said

apt-get install free-software. That action do not cost me a penny more
(marginally off course). If I dont do it I will spend the same.

For material goods the situation is completely diferent.

If I want to give out for someone some material stuff I will need materials
and time. I will need to spend time and other resources. And that is not
dependent of economical system, or distribution scheme. Exchange systems,
gift systems, etc are all the same in relation to that.

Well, let's look carefully at this.

When you say "apt-get install free-software" then you are really
relating to the production phase and the distribution phase of a
single instance of a good. The .deb package is produced for you on
some remote server by copying it from an "original" version. Today you
can do this with marginal costs by two reasons:

1. Computers have digital copy as part of their infrastructure

   Because of this the production process of your copy is of marginal
   cost.

2. The Internet as a means of transportation is part of common
   infrastructure

   Again because of this the transportation of your personal copy
   comes with marginal cost.

Today we take this for granted. 40 years back this would have been
plain magic. I.e.: There is a change in technology involved in this
whole thing.

By saying "apt-get install free-software" you are *not* relating to
the original creation. This is simply assumed as given at this point.

If now

1. Production of some physical goods is part of common infrastructure

2. Transportation of these physical goods is part of common
   infrastructure

then you could acquire these goods also with marginal costs. Right?

If we see technology as an important preconditon then the question is:
How do we get the technology do create an infrastructure for (some)
physical goods similar to computers and the Internet?

Or may be there is already such infrastructure? I mean all these
physical goods are already produced and some of them already have
marginal cost.


						Grüße

						Stefan
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• Follow-Ups:
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    • From: Diego Saravia

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  • Re: [ox-en] extrinsic motivation = coercion
    • From: Diego Saravia

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