The economics of free things.

[AxiomSupport]

There is, and has been, a misconception about the economics of free things for a long while now, this movement or ideology started from the premise of government hand-outs to the least economically developed citizens. When we do talk about the economics of free things(which is rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a regulatory central agency distributing the wealth amongst its people.  However when it come to the free market this type of leniency is not available at all. Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).
New technologies however provide an opportunity for this gap to be closed. When a technology is in its infancy the interest for its development and widespread adoption from the creators is big enough to try and exchange portions of the value of their product for market depth. Put in other words and in regards to token economics, ICO's are so desperate for the widespread use and adoption of their product that they will literally give away portions of the participation of their product, in the form of tokens, in exchange for network effects and market depth. We now have an interesting concept formed from this: airdrops and the difficulty that this companies are going to have to achieve their  desired market depth.

The question then is:
How could some profit from the economy of free things, and what would the reaction to this opportunity, by the general public, be?

[1713562241]

1713562241

[1713562241]

1713562241

[sepeda karat]

economic free things for a long time now, this movement or ideology starts from the premise of the government handed over to the most economically advanced citizens. When we talk about the economy of free things (rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a central setting institution that distributes wealth among its people.

[Lorence.xD]

Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).

First post and its a spam with nonsense. Way to go.

Economy of free things? What is the relationship of this topic to Bitcoin or crypto currency digital transaction? Ideology or not, it is none issue on Crypto currency Digital transaction. A decentralized digital transaction, no control from any government is never correlate to the supply and demand of commodities in which vital for one economy of every country. The nature of investment in BITCOIN or Crypto mainly touch the aspect of Buying and Selling of the said project with no involvement of basic commodities.

[lucasxhy]

Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).

First post and its a spam with nonsense. Way to go.

Economy of free things? What is the relationship of this topic to Bitcoin or crypto currency digital transaction? Ideology or not, it is none issue on Crypto currency Digital transaction. A decentralized digital transaction, no control from any government is never correlate to the supply and demand of commodities in which vital for one economy of every country. The nature of investment in BITCOIN or Crypto mainly touch the aspect of Buying and Selling of the said project with no involvement of basic commodities.

I believe the post was in reference to token economics and the perceived value of things we get for free, not only in terms of price but also in terms of our attachment to things that we have obtained in exchange for nothing. It, in simple and vernacular language, tries to explain the value of tokens as a way to bridge the wealth gap that currently exist in the world. Additionally it ends with a question that opens up the debate on how we can try to monetise this concept. So not only does it have a lot to do with bitcoin, but its one of the basic ideas in which its distribution was based initially, of course this is just my interpretation and AxiomSupport will actually have to comment on it. It is cool if you don't get it though, not everyone can extract the core idea of simple texts easily and that is perfectly fine, maybe stick to being so annoyingly self righteous though, you seem to be good at that.

[AxiomSupport]

Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).

First post and its a spam with nonsense. Way to go.

Economy of free things? What is the relationship of this topic to Bitcoin or crypto currency digital transaction? Ideology or not, it is none issue on Crypto currency Digital transaction. A decentralized digital transaction, no control from any government is never correlate to the supply and demand of commodities in which vital for one economy of every country. The nature of investment in BITCOIN or Crypto mainly touch the aspect of Buying and Selling of the said project with no involvement of basic commodities.

I believe the post was in reference to token economics and the perceived value of things we get for free, not only in terms of price but also in terms of our attachment to things that we have obtained in exchange for nothing. It, in simple and vernacular language, tries to explain the value of tokens as a way to bridge the wealth gap that currently exist in the world. Additionally it ends with a question that opens up the debate on how we can try to monetise this concept. So not only does it have a lot to do with bitcoin, but its one of the basic ideas in which its distribution was based initially, of course this is just my interpretation and AxiomSupport will actually have to comment on it. It is cool if you don't get it though, not everyone can extract the core idea of simple texts easily and that is perfectly fine, maybe stick to being so annoyingly self righteous though, you seem to be good at that.

Thank you this is quite on point, I try to explain how cryptocurrencies allow people to invest in the underlying asset directly instead of through a stock that represent s portion of the system, and how things like airdrops are a very interesting tool to help day to day people achieve financial independence. I tried through that example to show how the economics of free things which are usually viwed in a negative light can now be viewed in a different light, one of empowerment instead of entitlement, an you are very right in saying this is how bitcoins tarted! bitcoin give way for tweeting about it!

[carter34]

economic free things for a long time now, this movement or ideology starts from the premise of the government handed over to the most economically advanced citizens. When we talk about the economy of free things (rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a central setting institution that distributes wealth among its people.

Free economy in my idea is not controlled by the government neither is the resources there generated is distributed to the people. Such is controlled by economic index as provided but not controlled by the government. Hence, individuals struggle to survive on there own in such free economy just as bitcoin is being invested by the individual.

[DynamiteTNT]

Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).

First post and its a spam with nonsense. Way to go.

Economy of free things? What is the relationship of this topic to Bitcoin or crypto currency digital transaction? Ideology or not, it is none issue on Crypto currency Digital transaction. A decentralized digital transaction, no control from any government is never correlate to the supply and demand of commodities in which vital for one economy of every country. The nature of investment in BITCOIN or Crypto mainly touch the aspect of Buying and Selling of the said project with no involvement of basic commodities.

I believe the post was in reference to token economics and the perceived value of things we get for free, not only in terms of price but also in terms of our attachment to things that we have obtained in exchange for nothing. It, in simple and vernacular language, tries to explain the value of tokens as a way to bridge the wealth gap that currently exist in the world. Additionally it ends with a question that opens up the debate on how we can try to monetise this concept. So not only does it have a lot to do with bitcoin, but its one of the basic ideas in which its distribution was based initially, of course this is just my interpretation and AxiomSupport will actually have to comment on it. It is cool if you don't get it though, not everyone can extract the core idea of simple texts easily and that is perfectly fine, maybe stick to being so annoyingly self righteous though, you seem to be good at that.

That is a very interesting point

[Sidiq SP]

hopefully the concept of a new concept that is on offer can change the economy and make it better than the original, I am very sure the free economic tendency that has been gradually increasingly replaced with new technologies that fit with the development of the current era

[juanjoportable]

Free things are not really "free". They come at a cost, here some examples:
 - "Buy 3 and get 2 for free": You clearly paid for the 5, but you will maybe tell your friends about the offer, bringing more people to buy.
 - Youtube: free videos. You watch advertisements, you subscribe, you are the audience that will make more creator using Youtube instead of other platforms, you share videos with your friends, which brings them to Youtube.
 - Facebook: free account. You are giving them data like your interests, likes, so it can be used by advertisers paying Facebook to target people "like you". You invite more friends to join, or people join because you and the rest are already using it.
 - Free samples: they make you more likely to buy the product, mainly if you like it (for some people, even if they don't like it, they may feel like they "have to" buy it because they got some for free)
 - Free eBook: please enter your email and subscribe to out newsletter to receive the free eBook.
 - Free birthday present from a friend of family member, many times, are the reason why you will also buy a present for that person's birthday.
 - Free drink because a friend paid, you better pay the next round
 - Free social services (paid from taxes, probably yours too)
 
Regarding your main question:
How could some profit from the economy of free things, and what would the reaction to this opportunity, by the general public, be?

The "some" who could profit could be the general public themselves, or companies.
I could go broad as I did with the examples above, but I will focus on Cryptocurrency Airdrops, which is the main topic.

 - The reaction by the public is usually good when it comes to free Airdrops. To note that if they don't provide value in return to the project doing the airdrop, less airdrops will happen in future, so the general public can't just take the money and run, as this will only lead to no more airdrops in the future.

 - Getting 5 times more free coins doesn't make you feel 5 times better, which is why projects can get the best results by giving very little per person, getting much more people "on board" resulting in more people contributing by providing value to the project.

 - Projects can profit by getting data from the general public, with their permission, on exchange for the "free" airdrop.

 - Projects can profit from social proof, so they are able to say "we already have 10000 people on our community". However, if the community is not active it is an issue. The project has to find the way to make the community give value on exchange for the free airdrop, more than their email. Their actual attention (who reads emails?) would be enough, so that people learn of the news from the project and get more engaged with time.

I hope that kind of answers the main question, looking forward to see how the debate continues.

Something interesting:
When given the option, would prefer an Iphone 3 for free than an Iphone X for 100 USD.
However, if the Iphone 3 is 5 USD and the Iphone X is 100 USD, most people will choose the iPhone X this time, which is more rational.
Great video in Spanish which shows this happen, with cheap/expensive chocolate: https://youtu.be/xmiL94yx28U?t=10m
The video is for free

Enjoy it.

[TexMiners]

"Free" is never actually free, unless part of it could be from nature (rain, sunlight, etc.)  Handouts, subsidies, freebies, marketing giveaways, welfare, etc. all have a cost that's typically part of someone's budget.  If that budget belongs to a government, that "free stuff" needs to be paid for, and that burden typically falls upon the taxpayers. 

Now, move that discussion over to crypto, and you have coins being produced with Proof-of-Work, Proof-of-Stake, Masternode rewards, and things like Airdrops:

• As we all should know, Proof-of-Work requires computational power, which consumes electricity and the cost of the hardware.
• PoS and Masternode rewards are simply a function of the blockchain code and network participation, with minimal effort to run a wallet and a little more effort for Masternodes.
• As for things like Airdrops, these are typically budgeted by the token's dev team, specifically for marketing purposes.
  

The other part of this discussion needs to address the value of these "free" things.  When someone has something with inherent value or utility, is that value lessened if there was little or no effort/cost to receive it?  If the "thing" has value but no utility, is there a reason to keep it or sell it?  Is it the responsibility of the distributor of the "free stuff" to educate the recipient about its value and/or utility?  In the end, there are going to be people out there that want "free stuff" regardless of its value or utility. 

[Eternu]

Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).

First post and its a spam with nonsense. Way to go.

Economy of free things? What is the relationship of this topic to Bitcoin or crypto currency digital transaction? Ideology or not, it is none issue on Crypto currency Digital transaction. A decentralized digital transaction, no control from any government is never correlate to the supply and demand of commodities in which vital for one economy of every country. The nature of investment in BITCOIN or Crypto mainly touch the aspect of Buying and Selling of the said project with no involvement of basic commodities.

I believe the post was in reference to token economics and the perceived value of things we get for free, not only in terms of price but also in terms of our attachment to things that we have obtained in exchange for nothing. It, in simple and vernacular language, tries to explain the value of tokens as a way to bridge the wealth gap that currently exist in the world. Additionally it ends with a question that opens up the debate on how we can try to monetise this concept. So not only does it have a lot to do with bitcoin, but its one of the basic ideas in which its distribution was based initially, of course this is just my interpretation and AxiomSupport will actually have to comment on it. It is cool if you don't get it though, not everyone can extract the core idea of simple texts easily and that is perfectly fine, maybe stick to being so annoyingly self righteous though, you seem to be good at that.

Thank you this is quite on point, I try to explain how cryptocurrencies allow people to invest in the underlying asset directly instead of through a stock that represent s portion of the system, and how things like airdrops are a very interesting tool to help day to day people achieve financial independence. I tried through that example to show how the economics of free things which are usually viwed in a negative light can now be viewed in a different light, one of empowerment instead of entitlement, an you are very right in saying this is how bitcoins tarted! bitcoin give way for tweeting about it!

Must admit that this is interesting, and to be hones I never thought about this before. But I am not sure if airdrops and some small giveaways could help someone achieve their financial independence. Because almost everything that is given for free, has low value. Yes, in the future that free stuff could be worth much more, but chances for that are low. Also not to mention that those giveaways demand some thing in return, which benefits that company in the end, which means its not totally free.
But I guess it could be a starting point for better future. Also you are correct that this way more people are able to participate in giveaways, or lets just say in getting free things. So lets be optimistic a bit, and hope that this course of actions can lower poverty and things like that. 

[andriarto]

i think this is just a matter of switching payment methods. many companies are implementing ico to market their products by means of payment in the form of their own coins. and i think that key to success is sale of their products, to introduce them to investors they allocate marketing funds one of them through bounty program, and even then only 2% - 4% of ico result

[kendedese]

the economy is a very serious thing because it is concerned with the welfare of society. you can see many countries that have serious problems with the economy.

[sunanbonang]

economy is not free, it takes a lot of money and a long time to create a stable economy. but in this case I do not find the connection between economy and bitcoin.

[Hydrogen]

There is, and has been, a misconception about the economics of free things for a long while now, this movement or ideology started from the premise of government hand-outs to the least economically developed citizens. When we do talk about the economics of free things(which is rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a regulatory central agency distributing the wealth amongst its people.  However when it come to the free market this type of leniency is not available at all. Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).
New technologies however provide an opportunity for this gap to be closed. When a technology is in its infancy the interest for its development and widespread adoption from the creators is big enough to try and exchange portions of the value of their product for market depth. Put in other words and in regards to token economics, ICO's are so desperate for the widespread use and adoption of their product that they will literally give away portions of the participation of their product, in the form of tokens, in exchange for network effects and market depth. We now have an interesting concept formed from this: airdrops and the difficulty that this companies are going to have to achieve their  desired market depth.

The question then is:
How could some profit from the economy of free things, and what would the reaction to this opportunity, by the general public, be?

I guess one potential method of profit is invoked by the permaculture and off grid movement. At some point productivity and technology could advance to being able to support greater than subsistence level standards of living with a minimal effort. The cost of living and travel could decrease to a point where that value could be produced relatively for free, without a big sacrifice of time and effort in the form of work or having a job being necessary to support oneself or ones family.

An example might be the cost per watt of solar panels decreasing to a point where electricity becomes plentiful and cheap. The improvement of 3d printers and CNC manufacturing machines becoming low enough for people to produce their own products which could in turn decrease manufacturing costs to a point where goods become extremely affordable. Basically a reversal to the trend we've seen where wages have flatlined while the cost of food, energy, goods services, etc, have become inflated.

Also the trend of off grid living where people have strove to be more independent and self sufficient could reduce labor pools in job markets and have an eventual net effect of raising wages again, as employees have greater difficulty finding workers.

Of course, some of these things might not occur for centuries if they happen at all. But any type of positive trend which shows people the raw potential for improvement or what avenues might lead to better living standards could go a long way given how many have lost hope in existing institutions and leaders to provide for them.

[keycellko]

When you think about the economics, really, because of free things we are able to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor. In everything we do, we pay for things, especially for technology. We buy our phones, laptop, we pay for internet, and all other things. Who can afford to buy these but those who have money. With the advent of "free things" these are made affordable and available to most people. Free wifi gives access to internet to those who can't get their own internet at home. Free airdrops gives tokens to those who can't buy from icos.

[Cynooza]

There is, and has been, a misconception about the economics of free things for a long while now, this movement or ideology started from the premise of government hand-outs to the least economically developed citizens. When we do talk about the economics of free things(which is rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a regulatory central agency distributing the wealth amongst its people.  However when it come to the free market this type of leniency is not available at all. Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).
New technologies however provide an opportunity for this gap to be closed. When a technology is in its infancy the interest for its development and widespread adoption from the creators is big enough to try and exchange portions of the value of their product for market depth. Put in other words and in regards to token economics, ICO's are so desperate for the widespread use and adoption of their product that they will literally give away portions of the participation of their product, in the form of tokens, in exchange for network effects and market depth. We now have an interesting concept formed from this: airdrops and the difficulty that this companies are going to have to achieve their  desired market depth.

The question then is:
How could some profit from the economy of free things, and what would the reaction to this opportunity, by the general public, be?

What is the point in shrinking the gap between the rich and the poor, while in free market conditions all income levels get richer? Wealth is just a representation of how much good you produced for the others.

[Eternu]

economy is not free, it takes a lot of money and a long time to create a stable economy. but in this case I do not find the connection between economy and bitcoin.

If you can't find connection between bitcoin and economy than you should look closer, or maybe you are just blind. When first ban of crypto in China happened,  partially it was because crypto had affecting country's economy.  There are many ways in which bitcoin and economy are connected.

[christogonus]

 In the world where everything goes decentralized, hmmmmm, very interesting. Recently the era of cryptocurrency just emerged from no where and the boom is already at it's peak. it was like a joke when satoshi Nakamoto established the bitcoin project, the funnies part of this bitcoin project was that many people call it nonsense and now people who formerly regarded bitcoin as nonsense are seeing a lot of sense in it, and not just that millions of people are now Rich because of bitcoin. now after widely accepted as a means of currency exchange and payment that different companies started creating their own different coins and decentralized platforms. Really the crypto era has seen the greatest light and investment by many millionaire investors and the coin market caps has experienced a  great investment volumes recording Billions of US Dollars. well this is an era that no one would want to miss, it is a fast moving train that would carry along every serious human. many who were not able to join initially have regretted missing such great opportunity, and now we see millions of people running to their laptotp and smart phones to login to their internet to do one thing or the other in the sphere of cryptocurrency.   if you look around there are many thousands of people who has taken themselves as crypto hunters. this set of people are always online looking for every airdrop form to fill, and as well you can see the whales who are there making investment in one crypto project or the other. yes is true that the crypto era has transformed many lives and this is the more reason that everyday is a new project development. well many people are waking up from their sleep to be a part of this 21st century transformation. may i remind you that the different between your poor self and your wealthy friend is because your wealthy friend always take action for every opportunity he or she comes across and many a times invest as much as he or she can, but your poor self will keep on procrastinating and would always say later, let me tell you that time waits for no one, you have every time now to take the best action of your life and be like your wealthy friend. crypto is the era of the day and you can't afford to miss every opportunity in the crypto industry.

[audaciousbeing]

There is, and has been, a misconception about the economics of free things for a long while now, this movement or ideology started from the premise of government hand-outs to the least economically developed citizens. When we do talk about the economics of free things(which is rarely) we usually associate it with the idea that it involves a regulatory central agency distributing the wealth amongst its people.  However when it come to the free market this type of leniency is not available at all. Day to day people don't have access to stocks or derivative markets for example, and that helps to increase the gap between the rich and the poor(which in turn requires the intervention of the aforementioned central authority).
New technologies however provide an opportunity for this gap to be closed. When a technology is in its infancy the interest for its development and widespread adoption from the creators is big enough to try and exchange portions of the value of their product for market depth. Put in other words and in regards to token economics, ICO's are so desperate for the widespread use and adoption of their product that they will literally give away portions of the participation of their product, in the form of tokens, in exchange for network effects and market depth. We now have an interesting concept formed from this: airdrops and the difficulty that this companies are going to have to achieve their  desired market depth.

The question then is:
How could some profit from the economy of free things, and what would the reaction to this opportunity, by the general public, be?

What you have painted is a situation of an ideal economy where people are expected to do things for the benefit of the society in other to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor based on how they deem it fit but one the issue of airdrop most times it does not work that as selfish people have infested that area of development in this economy where someone who does not have any plan whatsoever to develop and make the token worthwhile just seat behind the computer, create something then push it out to the populace. What happens next is for it to be pushed so that it can be listed after wish the developer cash out at the expense of other people.

Again, the reason why I won't subscribe to airdrops as solution to this is because the percentage of the amount intended to be distributed is just a fraction of the total amount which does not solve the problem the ideal situation sets to achieve but also to still make the rich richer and the poor, maybe a drop that does not change their situation one bit.