Video on commodification of the mind

Interesting video of a law professor talking about how pharmaceutical co’s have set up these virtual marketplaces to get stuff done…

As companies learn the advantages of third-party, virtual labor, Jonathan Zittrain believes that the human mind is becoming commodified as a sort of “ubiquitous computer.” [link]

But aside from the “Prize” economy (what the hell is that? President elected by Lottery?) it makes me wonder about what these intellectual marketplaces become after a couple layers of generational cruft and regulation thrown into the mix?

A little like trying to find out what sort of laws an ochlocracy would have even if the definition of an ochlocracy seems to exclude any law aside from might makes right, which weirdly seems to translate into right makes right, as in, the right law makes the right judgment, which furthermore, contemporaneously, seem to generally fall under the Rights laws, and further furthermore, ? But I dont know enough about law, forms of government in history, or these marketplaces to have anything other than questions. Perhaps I should hit up one of these marketplaces and buy some brain. Apparently theyre only 1$:

The emerging prize economy, according to some labor market analysts, does carry the danger of being a further shift in the balance of power toward the buyers — corporations — and away from most workers.

Thousands of teams from more than 100 nations competed in the Netflix prize contest. And it was a good deal for Netflix. “You look at the cumulative hours and you’re getting Ph.D.’s for a dollar an hour,” Mr. [Reed] Hastings said in an interview. [link]