This is classic dis-intermediation, where if it is atoms you are after then you will pay a premium, especially in an energy constrained future. If you are competing on bits alone then you had better be sure that your bits are better, and that all hinges on the human inputs described above.

You might want to check out the work of Dr.David Wiley on openness in education. One point that he makes is that expression of expertise has value attached to scarcity, as in the publishing of physical books, or lucrative key-note speeches, but expertise in itself is non-rivalrous and radically abundant. When you share your expertise, you don’t lose anything, and when it is duplicated and shared it actually increases in value. I guess this is what draws me to Education, that there is no limit to what can be learned, and it has the ability to enrich and transform lives for the better. Is a profit motive mutually exclusive to these aims in the service of education? I don’t think so, but it will be along these lines that the new institutions are drawn, and those that fight to the bottom on price will ultimately lose. (see the encarta price curve of death)