What's mine is mine?
15/05/2017
In my article Invest in Flexibility I wrote briefly about how the overwhelming adoption of pay-as-you-go services is leading to the synchronous shift in the mechanism that governs investment on an individual level. Elaborating just a level deeper on this phenomena brings about a really interesting insight.
How many things do you use that you don't own?
Coming inexorably with service-based systems, comes the reality that a lot of the thing thats we use day to day we do not own. That car you just drove using a car-sharing system? The bike you ride to work? The phone you pay for through a plan? The music you listen to? The house you rent? These examples, being those that are already a norm in the lives of many, make up a list that is by no means exacerbated. Infact the list is continuously growing with services emerging to supply household appliances (Bundles), clothes (AirCloset) and much more.
So, the question arises, as this list of objects we use but we do not own ever expands: what does it mean to own something, will our current definition of a possession suffice in the near future?
My forecast
What I find interesting about this phenomena is how the societal mentality will react.
Undoubtedly, shared-economy service-based systems will increase in number and widen their range across numerous sectors. However, I too believe that human-nature will concurrently revolt to our dispossession. Being instinctively possessive creatures, we'll enduringly desire to own.
Hence, my speculation is that there will be space in the market for sharing services and the traditional own-outright marketplace alike. Rather than being squashed by service-based systems, there will be a demand for a traditional market - for those people that want to keep it real - that will, quite paradoxically, thrive off of the disposessive nature of our service-based society.
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