I just finished reading a very well-written, ingenious, and thought-provoking paper by Eric Goldman, “A Coasean Analysis of Marketing” (Santa Clara Univ. Legal Studies Research Paper No. 06-03) I’m flattered he tried to make use of attention economics. However, I do not agree with its conclusions, nor indeed some of its premises. I also do not believe he has taken what I have argued fully into account. Here are some cavils. Goldman takes it for […]
And the Winner is… myself! Months ago I announced a contest for general terms for; a) someone in the act of paying attention to someone else; b) the person receiving that attention. Reluctantly, I must award myself the grand prize, which is: a an all-expense paid visit to my own mind. (Convenient, that.) Term (a) is hereby declared to be AUDIENT, an existing English word meaning a member of an audience, but which I intend […]
If Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination in ’08, wins the election and runs for re-election, by 2016 no one under 50 will ever have voted in a presidential election without a Bush or a Clinton. (If she doesn’t win, will it be because Obama surpassed her as a rock star. Or because Gore has an Oscar?) Like the Danish kings alternating for over 400 years between the names Christian and Frederick, our Presidents just […]
As you may have noticed, I have been suffering, lately especially, from blogger’s block. Probably most people who ever started blogs do. However, true bloggers instead suffer from blogolalia, or perhaps blogorrhea, running off at the keyboard uninhibitedly. This dramatizes the simple fact that most of us are quite addicted to the use of language, to uttering utterances, whether or not we have anything to say. We like attention, and the easiest way to seek […]
Attention is asymmetric at times. It can flow out of the system, as when the living pay attention to the dead. I was very painfully reminded of this just recently. Ten days ago, a very close friend of mine died by her own hand; six days after that I found myself driving down the hill on which I live heading for the cemetery at which I would help choose a plot for her. It was […]
Back in 1968, Peter F. Drucker in The Age of Discontinuity [New York, Harper and Row] invented the term “the knowledge economy” to describe where he saw American society heading. By this he meant that more and more people were making use, not of knowledge simply, which everyone has always used, but rather that kind of knowledge that can be systematically acquired through taking college and university courses, as well as possibly by further specialized […]
There is only so much attention (available from other humans), and many or most of us want more than we have. In order to get attention one needs to express or do something — let us say, perform in some way. (This can be putting forth information, but that is not particularly what, e.g., a trapeze artist does.) The more attention we get in comparison with the attention we pay in putting together our total […]
I personally have not turned on my TV in months. I have to admit one problem is that I cannot abide commercials. But I have some subscriptions to premium, commercial free channels. About a year ago I realized I could watch most of their programs whenever I chose, using the cable system’s “on-demand” feature. But that has made TV rather like paintings in the local art museum. I can always go and look at the […]
I have decided to use another blog of mine to cover the Iraq situation and perhaps other politics without an obvious link to the Attention Economy. If the topic is of interest please go there . I should add however, that one reason differing opinions on Iraq are now getting exposure is that that is now an excellent way to get attention. Even before the war began, dissent to the prevailing wisdom was one way […]
I have added yet one more draft installment to Chapter 3 of my book, covering many topics having to do with how attention works, how we pay att to things that emanate from more than one mind or from no mind, along with how attention relates to reputation, recognition, information, time, style, etc. Also, a new draft of the whole chapter is here.