Attention Economy
Concept
The unifying principle that binds Red Bull and Elon Musk is attention economics: The idea that in a world moving toward post-scarcity,1 the attention of human beings becomes increasingly valuable.
And not just “valuable,” but in extreme cases, much more valuable than goods and services. For instance:
In 2020, Tesla delivered 499,550 cars. Tesla’s market cap is currently $661.57 billion. Let’s compare that with the Big Four’s numbers for 2020:
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2. The Attention Economy
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</svg>The unifying principle that binds Red Bull and Elon Musk is attention economics: The idea that in a world moving toward post-scarcity,<a href="https://plus.thebulwark.com/p/red-bull-elon-musk-and-matt-gaetz?r=37wyg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web#footnote-1-34835914" target="_self" rel="" style="color: #fff;font-size: 14px;">1</a> the attention of human beings becomes increasingly valuable.
And not just “valuable,” but in extreme cases, much more valuable than goods and services. For instance:
In 2020, Tesla delivered <a href="https://ir.tesla.com/press-release/tesla-q4-2020-vehicle-production-deliveries" rel="" style="color: #fff;">499,550 cars</a>. Tesla’s market cap is currently $661.57 billion. Let’s compare that with the Big Four’s numbers for 2020:
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So, you know, you could revolutionize supply chain logistics and vehicle reliability. Then you could make several million cars and trade them to consumers for money.
Or you could have a memelord as your CEO. They’re equally valid business plans.
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So, you know, you could revolutionize supply chain logistics and vehicle reliability. Then you could make several million cars and trade them to consumers for money.
Or you could have a memelord as your CEO. They’re equally valid business plans.
Critique
Market Cap is not the same as value produced. Obviously, the 50x more cars that major automakers produce create much more value to society, albeit with apparently higher pollution [1] than Tesla.
Market Cap is one measure of value, but that is only perceived value.