ANALY ZE T H I S !
As more and more aspects
of the enterprise are
mediated by software, those
in the business of
carefully creating content
(rather than digitally
distributing it) will be
increasingly devalued.
dependent on Amazon for much of their distribution and revenues are learning firsthand
that, as Lanier sharply points out, “information
supremacy for one company becomes, as a
matter of course, a form of behavior modification for the rest of the world.”
Packer’s article also describes an Amazon
culture that places a very low value on human
beings that are involved with development, promotion and distribution of books, placing its faith
in algorithms rather than editors and relying on
volunteer (that is, free) reviewers to take the
place of staff writers. All of this serves as a real
illustration of Lanier’s premise that as more and
more aspects of the enterprise are mediated by
software, those in the business of carefully creating content (rather than digitally distributing it)
will be increasingly de-valued and many forms
of employment that have long-term value to our
culture will subsequently perish.
ELIMINATING THE GATEKEEPERS
While Amazon’s efforts at actually serving
as a publisher have so far failed, it is clear
that we can expect them to continue to pursue the holy grail of “eliminating the gatekeepers” from the world of publishing by
producing its own original content. Indeed,
one comes away from Packer’s article with
the feeling that if Amazon’s founder and CEO
Jeff Bezos could eliminate the need for authors and publishers by replacing them with
automated content-generating software, he
would not hesitate for an instant.
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