# Doc Searls Weblog · Attention is not a commodity

<http://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2022/09/18/attention-is-not-a-commodity/>

- Host: [blogs.harvard.edu](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/hosts/blogs.harvard.edu/)
- Saved: September 22, 2022 (2022-09-22T12:02:02Z)
- Record: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/1574901e2494/
- JSON: https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/1574901e2494.json

## What Jamie wrote

[Doc Searls](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doc_Searls) agreeing, and decomposing, some concepts in Scott Galloway's [most recent posts](https://www.profgalloway.com/attentive/). Searls takes objection with the metaphor of attention as a commodity.  He suggests it is "dehumanizing", which I suppose he is right. 

In general I liked his perspective, but I also thought this statement about the current state of the web was so well stated.

> At this point in history it is almost impossible to think outside of platformed living. But the Internet is still as free and open as gravity, and does not require platforms to operate. And it’s still young: at most only decades old. In how we experience it today, with ubiquitous connectivity everywhere there’s a cellular data connection, it’s a few years old, tops.

I also like his reminder that we are all still so early. There is still so much experimentation. It’s easy for us to just think that the web has settled on what it is. But it isn't.

> So, what can we do?
> 
> The simple and difficult answer is to start making tools for individuals, and services leveraging those tools. These are tools empowering individuals with better ways to engage the world’s organizations, especially businesses.

There is so much more to explore. So much more to build. So much more to discover.

I love that. 💛

## Facts

- Kind: [Page](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/kinds/page/)

## Appears in

- [WT227: Weekly Thing #227 / Attention, Minnedemo, Learning](https://weekly.thingelstad.com/archive/227/), Featured

## Same host

- [Doc Searls Weblog · Will our digital lives leave a fossil record?](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/c90c15e2097c/) (blogs.harvard.edu, May 21, 2020)
- [Doc Searls Weblog · Time for advertising to call off the dogs](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/60033120dbe3/) (blogs.harvard.edu, August 23, 2020)
- [How the cookie poisoned the Web - Doc Searls Weblog](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/da5104098962/) (blogs.harvard.edu, May 20, 2021)
- [Three thoughts about NFTs](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/a9cceea635ff/) (blogs.harvard.edu, March 3, 2022)
- [Is Mastodon a commons? · Doc Searls Weblog](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/7708341838d5/) (blogs.harvard.edu, February 9, 2023)

## Saved the same week

- [Crucial Questions from CEOs and Boards](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/9f0a5ce54f5f/) (philvenables.com, September 22, 2022)
- [Take Care of Your Blog](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/e5a9b7dc6fb4/) (robinrendle.com, September 22, 2022)
- [More resilient and user-controlled than AWS: Colin Evran's vision for Filecoin](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/4808d38a765f/) (cointelegraph.com, September 22, 2022)
- [DAOs are not corporations: where decentralization in autonomous organizations matters](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/679fb3f80c8d/) (vitalik.ca, September 22, 2022)
- [IYK - POAP Card](https://links.thingelstad.xyz/links/003efe246e4c/) (iyk.app, September 22, 2022)

## Elsewhere

- Wayback Machine: https://web.archive.org/web/*/http://blogs.harvard.edu/doc/2022/09/18/attention-is-not-a-commodity/