I see the MySpace valuation thing as a symptom of human abuse of unprecedented prosperity. This modern western economy of ours has in recent decades created enough wealth that playing with money for its own sake is a game no less passionately adored than gambling. We live in the magic spell of modern media, the wizard we’ve created, whose interpretations of value are based on viewing individual humans as pawns counted in dollars. It makes me queasy to be one of a million pairs of eyeballs, worth X dollars based on my demographic information (which is collected by almost any entity I entrust with it).

We’re becoming so prosperous now, that billions of dollars in inflated value can be created and lost in the big money game without an economic ripple of consequence felt by the general populace. Meanwhile, of course, elements of our society which are bleeding with insolvency (such as medical care), are increasingly neglected.

In terms of web businesses, it is becoming a total yawn to talk about building profitable businesses in the old fashioned way when it is soooo much sexier to play with the wizard and buy magic, then calculate exactly when to jump with your golden parachute in case the bubble bursts.

Vera