Phase I: gathering
For most of the history of man, at least in the West, we have been gatherers. More was always better, because there was never enough. So we built stocks and pickled meat. It was a boost to society and it made sense. In the East, there was a different way of dealing with shortages: fewer desires. To make this tangible, think about your collection of mp3's in the 1990's in the early days of Napster: hard disk space wasn't a constraint anymore, but it took ages to get that song - if it wasn't a fake. So you were collecting them as if you were getting free vinyl. It's not long ago.
Phase II: selecting
When there is abundance, you don't need to worry about provisions anymore and you can start selecting the best. Actually, you need to start selecting, because space becomes an issue. Think about a wardrobe full of cheap clothes: you can get them easily, but which one you take are the result of careful selecting on many days of shopping. On your pc, it's weeding out the songs you gave a rating below 3 stars. They got in your way. There are very popular books with advice on how to sort, filter, clean up - and they are popular only because in practice it is a pain. The on-demand economy is also in this basket: you ask a question on some forum or platform, and you select the best offer for a task - or people self-select and provide you with an offer. It's certainly smart and it may have some use, but many will find that old fashioned ways of giving a quick call to some friends work better (that will be phase IV).
Phase III: receiving
At some point, you stop managing yourself. Your subscribe to Spotify to bring back the good old days of the radio. Sure, you can search anything you want at any point, but you don't spend all days searching. You got fed up with the stress of the rebates and walk into the shop you trust by name and you take what's in store. You subscribed to a brand to save time on gathering or selecting, because of affluence and other priorities. You become a receiver, you experience what life has to offer - but you traded utility for comfort. Part of the peer-to-peer economy is in this stages, whenever it is based on preclassified options, such as the availability of a car or a room: you don't care what car or what hotel you're in: you take the service and enjoy.
Phase IV: connecting
The connection-phase is the end of exogenous supply. The advice you get from your store is restricted by the knowledge and training of the shop assistant and she's not your best friend. Hence you get some average advice. When connecting, you employ your network for all choices at the same time. Imagine you have a talk in a pub. In three hours time, you've discussed twenty subjects and learned from it. Now imagine you need to learn this yourself by watching documentaries, reading books, attending seminars. It will take much longer. The human race becomes a living encyclopedia in which every persons limited received input becomes a contribution to the whole, and the more exchanges take place, the better will be the feedback you get on just about any topic.
If this seems obvious and nothing new, imagine the change in mindset that is needed to give up control on the supplies? It is tremendous, and that is why people are hesitating, sticking with old habits, and losing themselves in abundance and subscriptions. But you can never read enough magazines to follow the news and be aware of the different opinions - however you'll cover much more when you just connect to other people. It is an investment that is very similar to buying and listening a physical music album today: of course you miss out on opportunities, and even shuffling between tracks may be a pain, but you get a message with intention and depth that has been made for you to discover. This experience is the same as sitting in a pub with one friend. There are many others around on Facebook, that are potentially more interesting, but ultimately this direct and personal connection will guide you more profoundly and in a more meaningful way.
Phase V: augmenting
For markets where phase III applies, life can be made a little easier by applying automatic filters. It means someone else, or a machine, does the selection for you. You still need to select or adjust the filters. Augmentation is similar, but it is not as restrictive as the filters. Augmentation is Google Glass, or some apps that already exist and provide real-time information that augments reality. Think about a satnav system that suggests interesting sights along the way, but then applied to the people around you, the nodes in the information network that connect the dots in a more creative way than any computer can. While they have the engine to do this, you have limited information about them and they have limited storage capacities. Augmenting the reality means that we will have bionic minds that do not filter out information, but add information as we are being connected with others. There is a very nice and non-digital example of augmenting reality that has been tried out in Austria (Pumpi-pumpe it is called): you just put a sticker on your letterbox with some items or services you possess and are willing to lend. People may not be searching anything precisely, but by being around and taking up all kinds of information, including maybe knowing you or having an interest in knowing you, they may want to use your gourmet-set for a evening with friends. Even better, maybe you'll be invited.
