To borrow a phrase from a eloquent Quest 4th year, Rachel Botsman is the “physical embodiment of my Question”. Botsman simple thesis persuasively argues that humans are evolutionarily wired to share and cooperate, despite the man-made capitalistic, egotistical culture that has emerged in the past century. Furthermore, tribes and “smart mobs” are emerging now more than ever (Seth Godin explains this phenomenon here). “Collaborative consumption” responds to the idea that we don’t actually want to own more “stuff”, we just want the services and experiences each “thing” provides. For example, rather than a CD, we want the music and entertainment of a CD. She proposes that ownership is an outdated concept. Botsman identifies four societal events that have catalyzed the emergence of this new consumption trend:
- A renewed belief in the importance of community
- Peer-to-peer social networks and real-time technology
- An increased awareness of environmental concerns
- A global recession to shock consumer behaviour
I did not choose this TED talk as my “idea generator” purely because it was one of the first hits when you search “TED” and “collaboration”. This TED talk connects many different academic disciplines and societal phenomena, such as the environment, science and technology, human psychology, economics. Like many of the TED talks, Botsman’s lecture epitomizes the interdisciplinary study that all Quest students should aspire. In addition, collaborative consumption offers a very useful application of collaboration that serves as strong evidence for relevance of my Question.
This TED talk gave me a lot of clarity on a wide range of topics, but a couple questions remain:
a) Does collaborative consumption suggest a dramatic shift in our economic system, from a monetary-based economy to a reputation-based economy that recognizes the Earth’s limits? Does collaborative consumption support economic “degrowth”?
b) How can we reverse the deeply engrained culture of egotism and individualism? To what extent is this possible? To what extent is self-interest in our human nature?
c) What are the limits to collaborative consumption? Would it be possible to eventually make private property an obsolete concept? What would be the political implications of this type of economic reform?
Interesting post and interesting quetions. Personally I do think that collaborative consumption is directly linked to degrowth. It is one effective way of tackling it. How to change things is a hard question but I firmly believe that education and schooling can and will play an important role in making things better for future generation – or let’s hope so. Finally, the last question is great: I suppose that would mean politics could focus on other things like protecting the environment… Thanks for your inspiring post.