Conspicuous Production

Yancey Strickler posted an item yesterday about the wane of conspicuous consumption among wealthy people in Silicon Valley. But, as it turns out, conspicuousness hasn’t vanished. The post suggests that the Startup is the new conspicuous. Look at What I’ve Done.

The first comment on that thread introduced a term: Conspicuous Production. It struck a chord because I often behave this way. Many people do.

It’s a fascinating prediction for mainstream consumerism, with both valuable and inane consequences. I’m interested in more creativity and self-reliance for all, but the flip side are folks who will buy a Prius instead of a Gas Guzzler in order to do something for the environment without modifying other behavior that is wasteful (aside, last night, a friend clued me into a study that demonstrated that people who shop at organic markets also tend to leave their lights on at home while they’re away more often than average).

Another intriguing ramification is the production of data. Quantifying ourselves with Tweets and Tumbles and Check-ins is already popular, but I wonder how close to Felton we’ll get. I suppose we’re quickly moving to a point where we all commonly share good data. A massive frontier, I believe, is the development of interfaces that allow us to capture, share and read this kind of data. The kind that makes us look productive in a vast sense of the word.

All of these leads me to wonder, “Who will consume all of it?” My first thought is that it’s for ourselves.

by zachklein.