Alphaverse.com

News Corp. Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch set the Internet abuzz Monday after an interview appeared online in which he said the company is considering blocking Google from being able to search its Web sites. “I think we’ve been asleep” is what he said. Echoing accusations of “parasitism” and “kleptomania” that other News Corp. execs have levied against Google for featuring their content on Google sites, Mr. Murdoch said search companies “steal our stories”.

Well, I guess I’ll quit quoting him now before I get sued… this article has been posted on Wall Street Journal for free, yet…

My reaction is that of formal logic.  Here’s what the old and conventional establishment Murdoch overlooked.

1.) Digitalization of information

• Premise 1: digital media is more efficient (from the world of atoms to the world of bits) → (true)
• Premise 2: news=information. information (i.e news) is/has been/can be digitalized ≡ a fact → (true)
• Premise 3: digitalized information is easier to: a.) store, b.) distribute, c.) produce, d.) reproduce → (true)

∩ Argument: digital media is factually more efficient! → logically valid and all premises are true.

Murdoch seems to agree with this, so far so good.

2.) Democratization of information

• Premise 4: production of information (i.e. Twitter, YouTube, the Net) is democratized, and is more efficient (i.e. individuals, PC, mobile phones, versus typemachines, pencils, paper, journalists in hotels etc.) ≡ (true)
• Premise 5: distribution of information is democratized, and is more efficient (i.e. geographic distances are irrelevant, time between production, transport en distribution closes to/is miliseconds, wordwide ≡ (true)

∩ Argument: democratized digital information distribution & production is more cost-effective then conventional → logically valid and all premises are true.

Thus, by inference:

→→ Logical deduction: If digital information is factually more cost-efficient (which is true), and its production & distribution is democratized (which is true), then it is logical to say that digital media IS econimically more efficient and cost-effective!

∑→ Logical conclusion: If it is so that the feasibility of an economic model demands superior efficiency and cost-effectiveness over its rivals (as dictates the ‘economic theory’), then it is logical to conclude that, in the long term, the business model of the digital media will be superior of that of the conventional media.

It is, therefore, only logical that Murdoch and Co. will lose. Right?! It’s formal logic.