Information Asymmetry

That is the power between the rich and the poor. Information. In the middle ages, you could say that strength was measured in the power of arms, but it was not true. It was just that the powerful had more access to learning materials than the poor. Nowadays, it is the same thing. The rich have social networks that is far beyond the power of the poor. As well, they have some resources available that would not be available to the poor. It would take a lot of the resources of the poor to equate to the resources of the rich. However, there are ways around that.

The Internet is one of the best use of the information flattening. Fortunes have been made on it because it has the power to distribute information and communication, so that the information asymmetry between the poor and the rich is not that great. The information asymmetry is there only if one closes his or her eyes to the truth.

The Internet helps because now the only difference between the rich and the poor is 2 things instead of 3. It used to be resources, information/knowledge and social network. Now information has been stripped. Resources can also be acquired through loans, and that brings it to 1.5 things. Social networks. Also information. All that one is required to do now, is to never stop learning.

New Worlds

Every day, it is a struggle. It is a fight to get up, and face the day again. The unseen world expects nothing of you. It is a comfort, and while it may not be happiness that it grants, it gives contentment. Sometimes I wonder if I could stay in bed all day and live in that world of dreams where everything happens but nothing ever changes. There are no consequences for actions, nor is there any pleasure gained from any achievements there.

Each person has a world inside their head. A paradigm. A world-view. Different people see things through different eyes. One of the recent manga I've read is Mirai Nikki. It describes a bystander with an observer mentality forced into a fight to the death. He's portrayed as almost an extreme introvert. And yet, I find that observers, by their very nature, need to be participators. Otherwise, they will not be around to observe. The internet, as a voyeur/stalker tool, isn't advanced enough yet. Observers, by their need to record, will join things. Maybe not actually do a lot, but they will be there.

The Tipping Point has several pages in there that describe cool people as the extroverts with a devil-may-care attitude. In a way, I may say that I have that mentality. And it may be true. My world-view is certainly different from most other people. And I could care less, or else I'd align my world-view towards the general public. But I also don't have the overwhelming compulsion to extrovert and party hard. I do have the desire to find out about other people's world-view though. It is strange enough that I have yet to meet any similar people. But then again, I guess I just haven't met enough people.

Sometimes I wonder if I'm two different people. Two different mentalities. Fused into one. Similar to a facade or a mask, but more than either. Two aspects of the same person. That isn't that strange is it?

Regardless, I think that David Wu is right. That we may learn about a lot of things through books or experience, but all we're doing is to prove something that we already know instinctively in our hearts. Reading the Tipping Point and other business books so far certainly feels so.

Till I see you in my dreams, my dear Valkyrie.