“Dear Kickstarter community,

I am a master student with a background in business administration from a respected university. I have worked out an amazing idea to make sure the world is a sustainable place to live and not one person in the world will suffer from hunger. Also, I am well on my way to beat AIDS and infant mortality. This all seems like great news, however there is a downside to it: in order for this project to succeed I do not need funds and therefore I do not need this platform, or you creative input. ‘Why?’ you may wonder. This is because Chris Anderson was right about one thousand years ago. “Every industry that becomes digital, eventually becomes free”. These were his famous words. With everything now being digital, everything is free. So will be my solutions to these global issues. All in all, I want to thank you for your previous commitments but your financial input is no longer necessary. Hakuna Matata.”

This is certainly an extreme outlook on the future but it could possibly be the last post on Kickstarter in the year 3000 if Chris Anderson’s theory proves to be correct. No more expensive investor management, no more creator incompetence and certainly no more failure to facilitate welfare-enhancing transactions by the market (1). Rather a shift in the economy “from a focus on only that which can be quantified in dollars and cents to a more realistic accounting of all the things we truly value today” (2).

However, for the next 986 years it would be more beneficial for your personal welfare to focus on generating (and/or funding) ideas suggested on Kickstarter and platforms alike. Even though the young systems of crowdfunding shows some flaws (but can you mention one system without flaws in today’s society?) and certain projects might not deliver on time (“84% of Kickstarter’s 50 top-funded projects missed their estimated delivery dates” (2)), it can still generate successful additions to current society. Because, lets be real, who would not want to be able to print their attire using the FROM1, a 3D-printer that is currently developed by researchers from the MIT Media Lab (3)?

Sources:

1. Agrawal, Ajay K., Christian Catalini, and Avi Goldfarb. “Some simple economics of crowdfunding”. No. w19133. National Bureau of Economic Research (2013).
2. Chris Anderson “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business”, Wired Magazine
3. Toren, M. (2014, March 19). 10 Crowdfunding Success Stories to Love. Entrepreneur. Retrieved April 29, 2014