My talk was on how entrepreneurs should look at completely different models of organisation, wealth distribution and ownership in order to avoid the inevitable inequality that arises from Western models of capitalism.  Ironically, it's in America that we're seeing these new models spring up as credible alternatives to command and control organisation.

A very eclectic mix of people with Nick Tadd epitomising the edgy, frontier nature of the atmosphere and ambience at the event.

The good news is that my hosts at JobsGoPublic and Career4Me presented on my behalf.  But here is the point I wanted to make.

The recent announcement by the Conservative Party's plans to cut the benefits of people on incapacity benefits is in some respects laudable because there are no doubt (statistically) some cheats, slackers and chancers on the list of 2.6m claimants.  But why such an emphasis on the supply side of the jobs equation? What's being done on the demand side, you know, to actually create work.  This presentation argues for the economic stimulus of an emerging form of work that has the potential to become the most dominant form of work within a generation.

As an aside, one of things that strikes me with all the political coverage right now on the EU is that politicians never, ever question the validity of their underlying organisational models.  In other words, it isn’t about ‘Broken Britain’ it’s about ‘broken system’.  Companies and governments won’t survive in their present form without decentralising some or all of their decision making.  But we can't go there can we?

"The number of people online who click display ads has dropped 50% in less than two years, and only 8% of internet users account for 85% of all clicks, according to the most recent "Natural Born Clickers"

Shock horror.

In 2006 academics reached this conclusion a while back, as far back as 2006 but Techcrunch picked it up earlier this year here.  Their research is based on the analysis of large datasets from Youtube, Flickr and others and concluded that the current model is unlikely to survive, principally due to lack of trust. Forrester predicted this scenario as early as 2002.

Isn't it interesting that banner ads are really broadcasts.  They don't speak with a human voice or meet a specific need.   Despite all the warning signs, brands still broadcast while consumers connect and they continue to 'preach' to people whose attention is focused elsewhere.  So the £1.75 billion size of the online ad market is a total waste of money.

So where's it going?  There's a glimpse of the future of advertising here - Pick 'n' mix business.

The relentless pursuit of profit, systemic corruption, and rapacious greed is ruining us.  Humanity has to evolve very quickly to a state of cooperation between individuals, companies and nation states where there is a continuous, fair exchange of value, rather than the notion of "I win. You lose", as the default position of business and government.

A steady state economy can only be built and sustained by peer-to-peer, open source styles of organisation and production.

Among the messes and the waste capitalism brings about, human sufferings are not the least and they always accompany the destruction of the labor resource. How many broken hopes, wrecked feelings of self-worth are provoked by the precariousness of employment to which a majority of young employees are now compelled! The first steps into adult life become an obstacle course that goes on and on ...

Read the whole thing.

This is clip of the exchange she had with her boss.

“Think of how stupid the average person is, and realise half of them are stupider than that.” - George Carlin

Each table presented their findings in turn and after summing up from the event chairman we all went home. Thoroughly enjoyed the experience (and the excellent bottle of red wine - thank you!) and professional, friendly approach taken by the BCS. Here's a summary of my talk;

• In bringing together experts from various disciplines this debate aims to find answers to the following questions:
• What are the ethical risks of using SN's?
• We’re in completely new territory
• Business 1.0 to Business 3.0
• Unintended consequences of human behaviour
• Consumers/citizens acts of piracy, file sharing, devaluation of previously viable industries
• Twitter’s role in the Iran
• Unintended consequences of government behaviour
• Routine, wholesale spying on citizens, e.g. Echelon, RIP etc
• Use of Terrorism act by local government
• Reputational risk
• Individual, organisational (e.g. Nokia in Iran)
• We all have skeletons in the cupboard!
• Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.
• When do those risks outweigh the benefits SN's can bring?
• The genie’s out of the bottle.  Is it too late?
• What’s the prize?
• Self-organisation (e.g. Open Source)
• Peer-to-peer production as a replacement of 200 year old industrial model of work
• A new era of openness & transparency - Higher trust societies, lower transaction costs (the cost of distrust)
• How do we control SN's ethical risks without stifling the benefits?
• If we regulate SN’s they will become very boring places
• Help not hinder – create a code of ethics, kite mark, quality marks etc
• Ground breaking 2002/3 paper – The Augmented Social Network

My position

The sociological and economic benefits of social networks far outweigh the ethical risks associated with their widespread use.  And in any case, just about every government, ISP and intelligence agency in the world will be recording your every word, 'like', comment and Tweet.

This one for example is shot in the streets (some where in Britain) and dialogue centric;

...and this one uses a clever combination of animation and music;

Got give it to you guys, admire your tenacity and spirit.  Keep 'em coming.