Doug's Inner Net News

Darth Vader and Stem Cells

I took my son to see Revenge of the Sith. I thought the movie was okay. I'm not a big Star Wars fan.

Reflecting on the movie, I think it's interesting that the Republic's technology was so unevenly developed. They built tremendously advanced spaceships and weapons, while their medical technology seemed lacking. In particular, I had to wonder: If Anakin Skywalker had been told of the promise of stem cell research, perhaps he would not have gone to the dark side. Perhaps advanced stem cell technology could have been used to grow him new legs, lungs, etc. too.

Digital Music -- It's All About Money

When I posted the last parable, I had in mind the digital music industry. Whatever else you hear about this industry, keep in mind that it's all about the money. There are many groups that all want to get their piece of the pie.

• Consumers — Production and distribution costs have fallen. Pass the savings on to us. We want inexpensive (or free) music.
• Big record labels — Don't ruin our past profitable offerings. We'll take the status quo, thank you.
• Indy labels — Finally, more money for us?
• Superstar artists — We deserve to make millions. Don't ruin it for us.
• Artists — Pay us our share of royalties.
• Artists' agents — We get our share, too.
• Song writers &mdash Pay us our share of royalties.
• Music publishers — Pay us our share of royalties.
• Consumer electronics manufacturers — New products, new revenue streams.
• Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) technology providers — Pay us our patent royalties.
• Codec technology providers — Pay us our patent royalties.
• Operating system vendors — You need us. You must pay our tax. One day we'll own you.
• Online music sellers — We think there's profit in there for us.
• Politicians — Money talks.

In a steady state, the pie gets divided up. Perhaps some parties are not happy, but everyone gets his share. But when new technology comes along, the steady state gets shaken, it turns into a free-for-all grab. Eventually, we will get back to a steady state once again. But we won't get there until the fight over how the pie gets divided plays out.

Modern Parables 2

A man had a dream. In his dream, he first went to hell. In hell, there was plenty of food to eat, but the only way anyone in hell could eat food was to use very long forks. The forks were longer than any person's arm, so there was much frustration, as no one could get the food into his mouth. Later in his dream, the man went to heaven. In heaven, everyone was enjoying the wonderful "heavenly" food. In fact, it was the same food they had in hell. Also, in heaven, everyone had to eat with the same long forks. The difference was, that in heaven, everyone fed his neighbor instead of himself.

Sometimes greed keeps us from sharing and enjoying abundant wealth.