🥲 Bad Incentives Ruined the Internet

A big part of why the world is in this unholy mess (pick one...) is because we have created a global business ecosystem that’s almost entirely dependent on hacking human neurochemistry and encouraging and amplifying whatever content will capture the most eyeballs for the longest amount of time, whether that’s music or news or social posts or video,... See more

Where are we going? Money online has largely failed to stand up to our needs as Internet humans. It does not feel engaging. It does not unite communities. It is not social.

Part of the issue is the strong focus on distributing financial reward in exchange for participation. It’s a well established belief that reliance on extrinsic motivators, especially financial ones, are not enough. User's intrinsic motivation, and, specifically, perceived enjoyment, is a more explanatory variable of continued use.

There is also the question of whether ownership actually crowds out intrinsic incentives to use a product, causing users to engage with products in a more mercenary, transactional (and likely temporary) way.

When you think about it on a people level, this danger becomes clear. If those who have been willing to participate in peer production purely for the societal benefit are no longer interested given its financial nature, then we lose the people who are most likely to pursue impact over hype. But if we can do it in a way that allows more of those peo... See more

All of this erodes the value of ‘traditional’ media companies and cultural institutions since individuals will be more able to provide proof of passion without branded legitimization and artists will be able to fund their creative endeavors by selling proof of passion to their engaged communities. There will also be major downsides to transforming ... See more