We’ve always lived with an understanding in the importance of shared value. If you experience something incredible, you can’t help but wish the same for others around you. We’ve always been able to even give the item providing the value to someone else for consumption. And why not? It’s yours to give, isn’t it?
Several years ago, we first started to realize the negative impact that sharing assets can bring about. Most specifically, technology essentially eliminated a revenue model from an entire industry. The entertainment industry, namely music and movies, witnessed P2P networks stealing profits directly from their pockets. There has been both a frantic pivot from the industry and a constant argument on what is right and wrong regarding sharing digital assets.
In my eyes, I see a divide in this ongoing situation. Let’s slice it between perishable and nonperishable assets. After all, a nonperishable good can ultimately establish everlasting value by being consumed over and over again. On the contrary, a perishable good limits itself to being shared. Either it’s given away to someone else in its entirety or a small portion of it is. To make this separation clearer, you can define the sharing of a perishable item as a gift and the sharing of a nonperishable item as a borrow.
The concept of borrowing something has never been foolproof. No matter what side of the arrangement you’re on, there is an immediate sense of discomfort. You either feel responsible for the well-being of something that isn’t really yours or you fear that the person on the receiving end will forget to return it. It’s far from bulletproof, but it’s a daily transaction that just comes second-nature to us.
We as humans love to share EVERYTHING.
But when will sharing not be right anymore? As aforementioned, digital assets have ruined an entire revenue model for an industry, and if technology continues to run its course, the same will happen for others.
I think that’s why solutions like the Intellilock handgun are getting so much press. The concept of fingerprint enabling any type of asset is an interesting one. Whether the item itself is perishable or nonperishable, only an owner of an item is entitled to consume it. Share your experiences all you want – just make sure others are consuming their own goods.
This all started last year when Apple announced that the iPhone will have fingerprint detection within it. Although they didn’t make the functionality a mandatory one, it was a major eye-opener for technology. If one person rightfully owns something, perhaps they should be the only person that gets to experience in in the custom way they have configured it.
The debate will continue while tech engineers try to invent ways to short-circuit unlawful distribution of assets. In the meantime, keep sharing what you’d like with your family and friends. It will only be a matter of time before they won’t be able to interact with that good in the same way that you can.