Paul Saffo: Is Google Unstoppable? Video Lecture | Shaping the Future: The New Western World - Personal Skills

so you look at a company like Google you
know Microsoft was a good old-fashioned
monopoly Bill Gates with you know find
the enemy stare them down and kill it
Google and so that it's kind of an
off-the-wall example that's like a New
York driver you know in traffic they
stare you down too timid 8u Boston
drivers intimidate you by pretending
you're not on the road what Google does
is it's hunter thompson used to say make
them think you're crazy megan think you
exactly so Google's strategy if
Microsoft played chess Google play's go
and they they succeed by creating profit
deserts you know they'll take somebody
else's thing they're trying to sell for
money and turn it into an externality
for the user that gives data to Google
yeah Google Maps killed the mapping
business google search killed the
for-profit online service yeah and so in
a way Google is like you know am i silly
a layer of mushrooms that you know fairy
ring of mushrooms as it you know spreads
outwards and nothing's growing in the
middle because it took all of the
nutrient is very clever don't you think
I mean if I can bond an audience to me
which may or may not be an audience that
advertisers are interested in but I can
extract what you're calling I think an
externality I can extract data I can
extract behavioral signals from you and
then I can monetize those somewhere in
the back room that's a very clever
business too clever model and here's
certainly not what traditional media
companies do well here's the social
hazard of that for you and me as
consumers are we unwittingly paying a
whole lot more than we yeah I've never
seen that analyze that I mean I haven't
really absorbed your idea entirely but I
think you're onto something that there
is a transaction there is a price you
are subscribed well I'll tell you but
you're paying in a kind of weird bitcoin
of your behavior
mean well bet big pan bitcoin would be
nice because you keep some anonymity you
know I don't do anything illicit but I
still carry cash and I don't join cash
is useful for industry and I don't have
a frequent shopper card at the local
market I just want my anonymity I don't
want you know there's a value that's a
place you're not willing to pay yeah to
just you