Welcome To the 'Sharing Economy' 153
An anonymous reader writes "Thomas Friedman writes in the NY Times about the economy that's grown around Airbnb, a company built on helping people rent out their unused rooms to other users. He writes, 'Airbnb has also spawned its own ecosystem — ordinary people who will now come clean your home, coordinate key exchanges, cook dinner for you and your guests, photograph rooms for rent, and through the ride-sharing business Lyft, turn their cars into taxis to drive you around. "It used to be that corporations and brands had all the trust," added [CEO Brian Chesky], but now a total stranger, "can be trusted like a company and provide the services of a company. And once you unlock that idea, it is so much bigger than homes. ... There is a whole generation of people that don't want everything mass produced. They want things that are unique and personal."' Friedman refers to this as the 'sharing economy,' but a 'trust economy' seems more apt. He points this out himself: 'Afterward, guests and hosts rate each other online, so there is a huge incentive to deliver a good experience because a series of bad reputational reviews and you're done. Airbnb also automatically provides $1 million in insurance against damage or theft to nearly all of its hosts (some countries have restrictions) and only rarely gets claims. This framework of trust has unlocked huge value from unused bedrooms.'"
What !???!!?? (Score:5, Funny)
Someone actually reads Thomas Friedman as not satire? I thought the NYT just put him in for comic relief.
this is not sharing. (Score:4, Funny)
early on, we teach children to share. sharing does not mean, "yeah, you can have the ball but it's going to cost you" which is _exactly_ what this is. this is renting. it's even been made this into a business and they call these "sharing" places, hotels and motels.
sharing is communism. your children are communists.
Re:lasting awesomeness? (Score:5, Funny)
It's the same reason why communes work only on a very small scale.
This is something people misunderstand about Stalin. He's often portrayed as a murderous megalomaniac, but in reality he was just trying to keep the population small enough for communism to function properly.
It's kind of like when you shoot deer out of a helicopter for the good of the ecosystem.