Keynote talk by Arun Sundararajan at Tokyo's first Sharing Economy Summit, organized by the Sharing Economy Association of Japan, which coincided with the release of the Japanese language translation of "The Sharing Economy."
24. “Technology is seductive when what it
offers meets our human vulnerabilities.
And as it turns out, we’re very
vulnerable indeed. We are lonely but
fearful of intimacy. Digital connections
and the sociable robot may offer the
illusion of companionship without the
demands of friendship. Our networked
life allows us to hide from each other,
even as we are tethered to each other.”
2012
25. “Whether or not it is the presence of the
machine and its iron discipline that creates, as so
many argue in our day, the conditions of
depersonalization and alienation in modern
mass culture, the fact is plain that the
contemporary sense of anxiety and insecurity is
associated with not merely an unparalleled
mechanical control of environment but, more
importantly, with widespread faith in such
control.”
1953
26. On the socially atomizing effects of the modern
forces of technology, individualism, and the
division of labor:
“What is in fact characteristic of our
development is that it has successively
destroyed all the established social contexts;
one after another they have been banished
either by the slow usury of time or by violent
revolution, and in such fashion that nothing
has been developed to replace them.”
1897
27. “Our need to reach out to and connect
with others is a primary driver behind our
behavior. New research using fMRI shows
that our brains react to social pain and
pleasure in much the same way as they
do to physical pain and pleasure. Who we
are is linked to the important people and
groups in our lives – the result of our
deep social wiring and necessary for our
success as a species.”
27
29. increased capital “impact”
more variety, more consumption
“buy up to rent out”
inclusive growth
fundamental economic impacts are positive
30. Is there inherent economic benefit
to decentralized capital?
Does the individual owns intangible
assets (portable reputation)?
Do providers own platform equity?
The pace of AI/robotics automation
what factors could lead to reduced inequality?