Amen.
All the religions I’ve been exposed to are “monetized” via “because of” not “with”. That is, it’s free to attend a service, but the paraphernalia cost. Throw in extra special gear around annual traditions, some cool songs, and a passionate community and we’re talking a self-sustaining ecosystem.
Eternal life.
Historically, this was only within the reach of a few chosen individuals. Perhaps another realm the internet will democratize?
But if my documents (saved in proprietary formats) from a just few years ago won’t open on today’s technology, what are the chances they’ll open in next century’s technology?
This is why unsexy plain text and XML are the most valuable formats in the long view.
my 8 inch floppy disk full of plain text data probably has something to add to this discussion. i’ll get back to you.