Can Little Me Break An Industry
My last post was about giving a website to a local business. That evolved — we’ve now built two more: one for a friend who took over an underground bar, and one that’s literally our living room extension. We cycle there for coffee, know all the staff — it feels like home.
As a teacher, I was talking to a student who works for a large software company. He asked what I knew about AI and the internet. I mentioned building a few sites. He asked if they were for me and why I’d need more than one. I explained: my site, my husband’s site, our business site, both sons have sites… and I gave away three to local businesses. He was horrified — not at the number, or my strange obsession with AI, but that I gave them away. His logic: if people make money selling websites, I’m undermining their business by doing it for free.
This is a thinking problem.
Let’s break it down. This person believes little ol’ me, sitting in my living room in the arse-end of France, can undermine an entire industry by not charging. That suggests three possibilities:
- My sites are incredible (I’ll take the compliment, thank you).
- There must be a fundamental problem with the web-building industry.
- If this is how people think, the world is heading into the deepest, darkest hole imaginable.
Of course I’ll take the compliment that my sites are amazing. But seriously — if I can create something in my free time that others want, why should I have to charge? The basic concept of money is to define value so it can be transferred. If I think my site is worth a couple of cappuccinos, a huge smile, and the owner endlessly showing people his new site — that’s just as valid.
In a world where robots and AI can build (and do) almost everything, how do we define value? Suppose you eat at a restaurant once a week. Then you decide to eat at home because it’s too expensive — and you invite friends over. Do you have to pay the local restaurant to compensate for taking their business? No — that would be absurd.
So where does that leave us when we can increasingly do things ourselves — thanks to AI, and soon Optimus robots? Restaurants will have to change pricing. Without our jobs (most of which are being eaten away by automation and downsizing), we won’t have money for extravagance. Do they reduce prices to practically give meals away — or close entirely?
I don’t know where this leaves us economically. But I do know that if people think the current model will continue unchanged, they may be in for a nasty surprise. I also know that until that happens, I’ll keep giving things away for free if I enjoy it and someone wants it — not because I’m especially nice, but because community needs humanity, not just productivity.
The future is not only unwritten — it’s terrifyingly different from everything we know… and wonderfully exciting.
With love from a rainy corner of France,
Mirrie ✨