End of Ownership: Life in the Shared Economy

The sharing economy's influence has grown to the point that it touches nearly every aspect of modern consumer life. New business models and an array of tech platforms have spawned a next-generation socioeconomic ecosystem in which home repair, media and entertainment, taxi service, vacation rentals, and just about everything else is available from a smartphone app. But to what end? As the shared economy grows, so do fundamental questions of privacy, civic duty, power, and unintended consequences (not to mention taxes). This session puts a gimlet eye on the seemingly boundless future of the collaborative economy.