For the record: I really like Chris Anderson, and I believe he’s running one of the best print magazines ever created. Wired is a a key defense witness in the trial against print magazines—and I’m not just saying that because I’d like a byline in the publication someday. I really am a subscriber, a fan, and a perfect geeky match to their target demographic.
My biases set aside, however, I can’t help but think that Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek has seeped too far into the brains of geeks like Chris Anderson. No, that doesn’t mean that I think Anderson’s brain is a flaky, buttery cheese croissant.
Let me explain: In the Star Trek utopia, humankind abolishes currency and profit, banding together for the common purpose of reaching the stars. In other words, everyone works for free.
Roddenberry doesn’t elaborate how division of labor or distribution of wealth and status works (or doesn’t) in this new society (or maybe he does and I haven’t watched enough Star Trek) but the idea is beautiful nonetheless—placing self-enlightenment and the betterment of all humankind as keystone societal objectives paramount to money.
So, when reading Anderson’s latest book Free: The Future of a Radical Price, or his recent interviews, or even other great reviews of his book, I can almost hear Andrew Courage’s opening theme music, with William Shatner’s voice rising above the cacophony of horns and percussion to say, “Free—the final frontier…”
"Set phasers to FREE!"
What’s markedly different about Star Trek free versus Anderson free, however, is the motive behind it. Anderson’s Free proposes entrepreneurs and businesses perform acts of economic prestidigitation in order to trick people into paying because they think they’re getting something for free at the beginning. There’s no higher moral ground, no common goal, no source of pride or motivation to the model.
And that’s why, much like his earlier book The Long Tail
Maybe I was wrong—perhaps Star Trek hasn’t seeped in far enough.
Judge for yourself: Get Free for free, available in audiobook and eReader formats, at Chris Anderson’s website, http://www.thelongtail.com
Ron, I too am a fan of Wired but a skeptic of both the Long Tail and the Radical Price. Thanks for slicing through much of the seductive big-ideas to their thin essence. I’d like to hear Chris Anderson answer some of these criticisms …