Johnny Lee and the GDP
I had stumbled across Johnny Lee in some early searches for information on Arduino and do it yourself electronics projects. Johnny Lee has created something of an Internet following for his work with the Nintendo Wii controller, when he realized that the controllers were cheap and housed some pretty sophisticated electronics. Using his own time and skills, he developed a few fantastic projects using the $40 controllers as a source of electronic hardware, and published his procedures free of charge online on YouTube. He also posted some related software and detailed information on a website, so others could develop similar projects based on his research.
I was just sent a link to a recent TED conference video that showcased Johnny Lee and his findings, and it struck a chord. No so much because of the novelty of his invention, but because of the fundamental shift in innovation and social behavior that I believe it represents.
I was probably thinking about grand social context because I had just finished reading Dan Ariely’s book Predictably Irrational, which highlights a series of experiments and findings of the sometime irrational behavior of humans in social situations. While this may seem far removed from Johnny Lee and his Wii experiments, have patience and keep reading.
Dan had identified two basic exchange formats on which we as humans interact on a daily basis. The first and most familiar to the good ole USA is the traditional market exchange, in which we exchange our time for money, or our money for goods and services. Beaurocracies love this type of market because the total value can be tracked, documented and taxed. The second is a social exchange, in which we share goods and services with no money exchanged. Tough to tax.
What is surprising is how fundamentally different these exchanges are, and how we are motivated to contribute to each. In one experiment, Dan Ariely staged an incident in which a researcher was attempting to move a couch from moving van. The researcher would ask for help from people walking by, and most would gladly pitch in. Kind of asking for a favor. This is an example of a social exchange in which we are willing to give our time away free to strangers because it sustains some sort of invisible, untrackable social exchange. Give a little, get a little. Maybe somewhere in the back of our minds, we imagine getting similar help from a stranger when we find ourselves in need.
What was interesting (and a common theme of Predictably Irrational) was as soon as the researcher offered money for the same assistance, fewer people were willing to help. For all we have been taught about work, GDP, and the almighty American dollar, we are generally better motivated by social exchanges than market ones, and often deliver better results. This was due to the fact that applying a dollar value to a social service suddenly makes us think in terms of dollars. $2 to help move a couch isn’t even minimum wage, we may think. But we would do it for free.
Irrational, right?
This sort of open exchange is exactly what I’ve been trying to identify in all of my ramblings. Open source software development, YouTube and all of the people that have chipped in to create the Arduino and similar open source projects is exactly the kind of things that can be created under a free market exchange of social favors. The reason open source technology has the potential to be so much better than traditional market driven development is because is completely motivated by these social forces, with no dollars involved. Kind of a primitive drive that transcends money, and leaves everyone more satisfied with their contribution to the world.
O.k, so Johnny published his findings online for free. Under a traditional market approach, he would have sold his idea to a developer and the technology would have been kept under wraps until it was sold to the market. But as a social exchange, Johnny published his findings on YouTube and got to sleep at night knowing he had helped a lot of people develop the technology for their own use. Try to put a dollar value on that kind of development, and it get’s kind of foggy. So Johnny gave it away, and in a sense, he has become a hero, a celebrity, and with his recent TED conference interview, an inspiration for the futurists and builders of tomorrow.
Considering our dire economic market, it is kind of inspiring to realize that there is a stronger market underneath, that never really went away. The untrackable, untaxable, and often overlooked social market is something to consider. This is the same market that kept people thriving during great economic depression of the 30’s. Considering the social problems that have become more prevalent in the last 20 years, I suspect we may be coming out of a social depression, which is vastly more catastrophic to our outlook and well being than a falling Gross Domestic Product.
It is surprising how satisfying it can be to help anyone with just about anything, without considering dollars, market forces, time equivalents or any of the other drivel we have been taught to relate to. It’s just as suprising to find out who steps in to help when you really need it most.
So hats off to Johnny Lee and all the future contributors to the new social GDP.
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July 16, 2009 4:25 pm
By ben, July 17, 2009 @ 5:11 pm
Johnny Lee is a bit of a god. Although it’s a bit sad that even though Electronic Arts said they’d add it into their game Boom Blox, they pulled it out later. ( http://www.joystiq.com/2008/04/15/head-tracking-feature-pulled-from-boom-blox/ )