The concept of how remixing changes the world is something that is intuitively grasped by many, but the details are often a bit foggy, making practical contributions to the remix economy less prevalent than preferred.

So let me break it down for you.

The fundamental concept is to combine a whole bunch of external things to create something original. You know, sort of like how you combine a whole bunch of ingredients to create a wholly original meal.


Examples:

1. Combining a whole bunch of RSS feeds of YouTube channels you watch to create your own branded video channel. As the web and digital media progresses, you'll then be able to insert ads into your channel, and syndicate it far and wide. The next CBS isn't CBS -- it's YOU! I've tried to do this with Kid Mercury Video News Channel and Kid Mercury Music Channel, as well as the guitar lessons channel.

2. Technology companies looking to create a cool web service should look first to see how they can accomplish their objectives through the use of open source applications and APIs. Personally, my business is built very much on this concept; we push all technology needs out of the company, and our technology strategy is dictated not by what we want, but what ecosystems around us are capable of doing. This is a hugely important distinction that I believe is at the heart of how remixing/open source production changes things.

3. The big game changer, the game changer to end all game changers, is when this concept is applied to the economy via the currency markets. Currency exchange rates are at great volatilities all around the world; we've never really seen anything like this. It's impossible to do international business when exchange rate risk is so high; companies are forced to find ways to hedge against exchange rate risk. In hyperinflationary economies like Argentina at the turn of this century, that meant pricing their books in multiple currencies, and avoiding recurring expenses in a currency that they thought would appreciate relative to theirs.

Ultimately, this will lead to "remixing currencies" -- creating a composite currency whose value is based on a formulaic synthesis of existing currencies (i.e. 25% US dollar, 15% British pound, 40% gold, etc). Futures and stock market traders that trade the dollar index -- which lets you bet whether the dollar will rise or fall against a basket of currencies (which is essentially functioning as a composite currency) -- will be familiar with the concept.

The size of this change is epic. Monumental. It introduces a world of new opportunities, coupled with a world of new risks (though all things considered it's a significant upgrade to our current world.....not like that's hard, but worth noting nonetheless). Tomorrow, I'll get into how the economic need to create new currencies changes finance and accounting.