This YouTube video series made me so interested in seeing “Penn & Teller: Bullshit!” that I want to buy Showtime to see the whole series in Hi-Def (or rent the DVDs of the series from NetFlix). That’s an interesting statement about the current power of small, grainy videos on the internet to drive sales of a more expensive versions of the same product in a nicer setting. Will it last, though? Everything will move online/desktop rather than delivering DVDs. Think about it: broadband speeds will improve; Adobe Flash will begin handling hiigh definition; processor speeds and graphics cards will be able to keep up with it all; and hand-held hiigh definition video cameras’ prices will come down.

Quick stock implications ~ Netflix’ and video entertainment companies’ supply chain will eliminate DVD manufacturing and shipping. As a bonus to the consumer, you don’t have to give out personal information like your home address. This will help Netflix drive down costs and complexity but more importantly, will make them a prime retailer of premier digital video. And, circularly, it puts them in direct competition with YouTube. Will copying-from-Netflix-and-uploading-to-YouTube become the giant killer of profitability in video entertainment? It’d be great from a consumer perspective if you can watch everything you want on YouTube 99% of the time and only 1% of the time having to buy it from Netflix. (to be a nice intern citizen, you’d want to then upload it to YouTube) Then again, how great would it really be from the consumer perspective if we can get everything for free, but we don’t want any of it because it’s all crap?

I think we become producers instead of media consumers when (or if) we get there. We begin to produce instead of consume. Think about it. There is a rich void that we have a need to fill. Digital cameras and personal digital screens are creating a means to fill it.

What is so wondrous is that void we are filling. We fill it with our idea of what needs filling. Others do the same from their perspective. If we all do it honestly and purely, then we create a vibrant tapestry where the threads are our combined efforts. Since “efforts” may sound vague, picture a few things you and a friend contribute to your worlds. Are you interested in politics and talking about that? Are you working in technology and building things others will use? These are not only our pastimes and careers but “how we choose to live our lives.”

Rephrased, this could be a question: how then, shall we live? This is the motto of my alma mater, The College of the Holy Cross. It comes from the Cross’ founders and backbone, the Jesuits. It is a personal challenge and a spiritual revelation.

I love the yin and yang of this question-answer set.

“How then, shall we live?”
“We choose how we live.”