Keith is of course wrong both in the specifics and in the general... The largest and fastest growing consumer good (both elite and mass) is the "experience industry" including packaged mass travel at one end and individual thrill seeking adventure travel at the other (bungee jumping).
The market/demand for this is likely insatiable this side of impossibly expensive transportation costs... If nothing else China will drive this market both internationally and internally. The lovely thing about the "experience industry" as compared to any of the other "iconic goods" is that the demand for it can never be satisfied--once you've climbed the tallest 5 peaks there are always another 10 waiting in the wings, more Disneylands to visit, the Grand Canyon then the predator icons in Zurich and Manhattan and even the anti-bit tax palaces in Silicon Valley... (there, I did it too and raised you one Ed ;-) M -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of pete Sent: Saturday, October 30, 2010 5:35 AM To: RE-DESIGNING WORK, INCOME DISTRIBUTION,EDUCATION Subject: Re: [Futurework] Both schools are wrong On Fri, 29 Oct 2010, Keith Hudson wrote: > At 12:32 29/10/2010 +0200, Chris wrote: > >Keith challenged: > > > Find me a new consumer product that's highly desirable by the > > > rich, very expensive -- say, equivalent to what the car was in the > > > 1910s/20s -- but capable of repeated phases of mass production > > > until it reaches down to everybody in due course. > > > >How about space tourism? > >Mark Shuttleworth paid 20m, now it's getting cheaper... > > About as attractive for most as bungee-jumping I'd suggest (and that's > free!). > > Keith Where did you get that idea? It is both popular and lucrative. People line up for the opportunity, as they do for sky diving, etc. They do have one day a year at the operation on the gorge near Nanaimo where they offer free jumping as a promotion, but only if you agree to jump naked. If space travel was a cheap as bungee jumping, the planet would be rapidly emptied (assuming destinations which such a condition would allow to be constructed). -Pete _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework _______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] https://lists.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
