The Long Tail of the long tail is DIY. Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail and editor for Wired, has a new book due to drop in October of 2012 called Makers: The New Industrial Revolution.
In the book Anderson outlines what he believes to be the next frontier of innovation: Do It Yourself technology. The combination of open source design and 3-D printing leave potential for thousands of new products to me made and manufactured in homes of hobbyists. Will all these inventions be a hit? Absolutely not. But we do end up with a sort of long tail of products- hundreds of thousands of new niche items designed for niche purposes.
If this craze takes off, Anderson believes we could be at the threshold of a resurgence in American manufacturing. He even goes on to intimate that such a surge could grow the world economy. While these are lofty claims, he none the less points out a very interesting potential source of growth.
What do you think? Does the next large change in TFP come from someone's garage? Does the next Tesla live in a cul ds sac?
Also- here's Alan Rickman making tea in slow motion to the Inception Soundtrack
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