Making Money Virtually as Development Tool
Josh Klein, The Guardian | September 23, 2010
Social networks are on the verge of connecting to financial services providers to turn virtual money earned online into the real thing. ++ It is hoped that this will promote the rise of a new meritocracy, where individuals can turn their knowledge into cash. ++ However, the scheme also lends itself to criminal abuse, as evident in the increasing role it plays in money laundering. ++ Once a viable online financial system becomes established, it will help overcome “the geographic inequality between the first world and the third world.”
Wed, Nov 17th 2010, 17:10
Karl Josef Gstettner
- payment for knowledge will not inevitable lead to a new meritocracy. Based on history there will be an "elite" society, some time-to-time distributors and some experts in niche-fields.
- how to prove the correctness of any information/knowledge? In concrete questions you may find concrete answers fast but for any further field of discussion the judgement / provement will take to long.
- how far is the responsability of the distributor? If there are mistakes, error or just wrong guesses - and based on them any action will follow - can the originator be sued therefor? Reminds me on the discussion of responsibility in software security bugs....
- to close the gap between first and third world will not be doable with a financial system for delivering informations and knowledge. As questions are more based on local issues, where is the need to get inputs from the other side of the world?
- trust. Whom to trust in a virtual world? How far may I ask my questions frank and open without let them go and spread all over the world without control, so they may be used by others to gain all the glory? :) Is this not the origin of all this NDAs which are growing that fast in nearly every company?
Overall, this is an interesting topic... will then e.g. wikipedia become a commercial paltform? Maybe....