IWCD187: The New Oil Is Ideas

Hey there!

So last night I came across the following video:

I thought it was a great one to cover because I do indeed see this occurring, especially with AI-based tools like #ChatGPT entering the arena.

But why is this statement true in 2023?

Ideas are the New Oil: How the Battle for Information Control Shifts Power to Individuals in the Digital Age

Over the last decade, people have been saying "data is the new oil." 

That's because the past 20-30 years has been about digital infrastructure building, involving companies like Google/Facebook/Amazon taking monopolies over the flow of our data.

So those who controlled that flow, controlled the "oil" (a synonym for wealth). 

This was control of the "Information Highway," which began with the efforts of the Internet itself. 

This is similar to civilizations and nations who controlled the flow of transportation and movements either via roads (Mongols/Chinese) or oceans (British/Dutch/Portuguese). 

For the oil analogy, you can see how control of oil reserves over the last 50 years led to absurd amounts of wealth for those particular nations. A result of the Industrial Age in the 20th century.

Ideas are now becoming the "new oil," because the battle for information control has been relatively settled by today's largest tech companies.