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Life Subscriptions

go to a lifestyle shop, pick up statement cards from shelves of various lifestyles
  (+7, -2)
(+7, -2)
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Tickets are for saying where you are trying to go, not that you have paid for a journey.

I think this idea is worth billions.

Life subscriptions are a set of statements that you can make about your life. Examples are:

I drink X brand cola

I drink coffee once a day before work

I live in this suburb and drive this kind of car

I live 10 minutes from grocery stores

I eat out at a restaurant once week

I mountain bike in my spare time

I want to be a musician

I want to eat only vegetarian (or vegan) food

I want to win the lottery

I want to be a billionaire

I want to stay in Barcelona at the end of November

I want flight insurance, so I can fly if I want to in November

I want to wear Y brand garments

I want to weigh this amount.

I want to shop at X brand shops

Imagine a shop that is like a library or a bookshop. In each section there are statements, brochures, offers, prospectuses of various lifestyles on offer. You pick up cards from the shelves and take them to the front of the shop, you then load them onto your account. Some will charge you at this time, most won't.

Once you've loaded statements onto your lifestyle account, there's an app that you must use. This application stores the above statements as tickets. Tickets are entitlements to things you can do in the world, using the app as the way of signing into it.

The app shows me a calendar. On this calendar is my life scheduled according to my tickets. I can ask the app to go fast or go slow on different tickets. There is more than one way to get what you want from your lifestyle. For example, there is many ways to become a musician. A community of people who are musicians and people with tickets to becoming musicians can probably produce excellent content (articles, blog posts, guides, maps, learning materials). For some subscription statements, there is corporate sponsorship and that means free things. Companies would rather invest in a lifestyle on the platform rather than advertising and marketing that costs and does not have a guaranteed return. Some statement subscriptions give you free things or a guaranteed restaurant table at your favourite restaurant. There's a path to becoming or getting different things and they have a price tag.

There is also a feed which is like Facebook, except it's content produced as an outcome from your life statements. If you selected I want to win the lottery, then you would have lotteries advertising on your feed. The feed is designed to get you to where you are trying to go.

You use the app to access events, flights, buses, trains. You swipe entry with the app*. Each month you are charged a mixture of per usage fee and monthly subscription based on your usage of tickets. People can prepare plans for the community: Go to X library, Get Y book, Go to X event in your local area next week. Practice X until you are at Y, Go to Z local musician school.

You can set a budget for each ticket or all tickets together, or even both at the same time. I don't want to spend more than X annually on coffee.

* I think credit cards should be used to load credits for things, so I would make it so credit cards are linked to your subscription account.

The ticket of being a billionaire is a serious one. If you had this ticket, you would be exposed to a path of knowledge in order to become a billionaire. Articles in your calendar feed will talk about success and motivate you to do things you wouldn't do before. It would be based on biographies and memoirs of billionaires.

chronological, Oct 27 2019

Laas https://www.youtube...watch?v=IFe9wiDfb0E
Welcome to Life: the singularity, ruined by lawyers [Voice, Oct 28 2019]

Hyper reality https://www.youtube...watch?v=YJg02ivYzSs
Short film about hyper reality [chronological, Apr 26 2020]

[link]






       Hey, welcome to the Halfbakery!   

       Also //I think this idea is worth billions.// [marked-for- tagline].   

       [xenzag] or [bliss] are probably best placed to comment, as they are the ones with actual lifestyles. If you get a critique from [8th], consider it an endorsement, like those you get on a UK driving licence.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 27 2019
  

       I'm bunning this, but not because it would work. Let's take the "musician" packet. What do I want to try? A flute, a piano, a guitar? There are hundreds of other instruments that could be in my packet. Whichever one or two or three I eventually settle on, my packet will have hundreds of items I'll never be interested in. How will I learn? Do I have the dosh to a private tutor? Do I want to watch Youtube videos? Maybe go out into a park and busk every weekend? Whichever way I choose there are hundreds of possibilities that I won't be interested in at all.   

       So why would I want to pay for thousands and thousands of things that I'm never going to use when instead I can just go directly for the service or store I want and buy the one thing I'm interested in?   

       And welcome to the Bake Halfery. Use the coat rack at your own risk, your free half ton of custard is in the welcome packet, and mind the bears.
Voice, Oct 27 2019
  

       So it’s an app that tells you how to live?
RayfordSteele, Oct 27 2019
  

       Lifestyle, I don't even have a life. What the hell? Also, I tried but the idea was too long. I need the condensed version or someone to tell me in 10 words or less what it's about. Thank you.
blissmiss, Oct 27 2019
  

       I think this is a very clever idea. It basically takes the consumerist market economy (wkte) and re-packages it as a lifestyle app. So basically it is marketing fluff re-packaged in a layer of marketing fluff. Almost genius I would say.
pocmloc, Oct 27 2019
  

       //I think this idea is worth billions.// But, alas, now unpatentable.
MaxwellBuchanan, Oct 27 2019
  

       // I need... someone to tell me in 10 words or less what it's about. //   

       Sell books focused on attaining goals. Include coupons and app.
Voice, Oct 27 2019
  

       Hi [chronological]. It's a bit too I want , isn't it. Rather than we want, society wants, the natural world wants.
wjt, Oct 27 2019
  

       Hey. Welcome eh.   

       I hitched a ride with a vending machine repair man,
he says he's been down this road more than twice.
He was high on intellectualism,
I've never been there but the brochure looks nice.
Jump in, let's go.
Lay back, enjoy the show.
Everybody gets high, everybody gets low,
These are the days when anything goes.
Everyday is a winding road.
I get a little bit closer.
Everyday is a faded sign.
I get a little bit closer to feeling fine.
  

       Life as as Service (LaaS).
Cuit_au_Four, Oct 28 2019
  

       Do you really want to outsource all your decision-making to an app? It's a short step from this to mandatory consumption of corporate- owned life-paths which consist entirely of consuming branded experiences.   

       And is this even possible to implement? The Internet doesn't know what movie I should watch next, let alone when I should not watch movies.   

       [+]
sninctown, Oct 28 2019
  

       Life as a Service, that's an abbreviation I could get behind
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       You could use futures markets to buy and sell contracts to fulfil people's lifestyles.
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       Voice, I hope that there would be regular surveys on the app. The app does market research on you for just you! It does the market research so you get the life you want.   

       Please pick which instrument you are most interested in. (tiles of instruments) Please pick which kind of music you are most interested in performing. (tiles of music genres)
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       wjt, that's where group lifestyles come into play, if you want to save the world by being vegetarian, there's a social network aspect to your feed and calendar. You're going to the same life destination with a group of people.
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       >> Do you really want to outsource all your decision-making to an app? >>It's a short step from this to mandatory consumption of corporate- owned life-paths which consist entirely of consuming branded experiences.   

       I want corporate owned life paths because they make society safer. I think jobs should be part of the life engine. You get a package life from the brochure such as being a vending machine restocker and it gives you these benefits. You can afford this lifestyle but not this one.   

       Life is pretty complicated and stressful. You're not outsourcing thinking to the app, you're outsourcing the risks to economies of scale.
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       RayfordSteele, it tells you what you need to do to get what you want.   

       You have to formulate what you want though which is where you do you decide how you want to live.
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       //corporate owned life paths// Sounds like an episode of Black Mirror.
xenzag, Oct 28 2019
  

       //You have to formulate what you want though//   

       My app will be called "AutoChoice". The app scrapes your friends networks and monitors your activity levels, diet, and patterns of behavior constantly in real time from birth onwards. It generates a recommended and an alternative life-path, with two buttons on screen marked "normal" and "alternative". You only have to press one of those buttons, and the app automatically interfaces with [chron]'s system. You can change your mind at any time and press the other button. No other user action or choice is needed.
pocmloc, Oct 28 2019
  

       In ten words or less:   

       Load wants on account; Lifestyle given to you via app
chronological, Oct 28 2019
  

       Hey chronological! Welcome! Yes, understand the idea, yes, good idea, probably some details to work out. [+].   

       Brace yourself for people poking holes in it. Don’t give up!   

       Hey, and don’t take it personally
Frankx, Oct 28 2019
  

       //corporate owned life paths because they make society safer//
Sp: make society more boring. It will quickly become an arms race, with the richest company being the one to provide all the "choices"; eg: you say "I want to have a smart watch", but Apple have pumped millions into the system, so you (and everybody else) are only offered and receive an Apple iWatch.
The system adds layers of complexity that are not required. If I want to go mountain biking, I could go to your outlet, get subscription, let App tell me that I can go or whatever. Or I could forget all that & just go biking!
neutrinos_shadow, Oct 28 2019
  

       As much of what we want out of life involves some kind of competition for it, I'm not sure how the app will resolve the tragedy of the marketplace or tell the user how to have a better resume than the competing user for the same position.   

       No app can tell you how to be a billionaire, other than in vague, generic terms like "be a leader. Take risks. Do what others don't want to concentrate on."   

       There are enough people who read spam and the Motley Fool and publications like it though that you could feasibly make a few bucks on this idea. It would have to organize and calendarize, perhaps with a Gantt chart, the best self-help books and planning classes into a project stream based on your selected goal(s).   

       If the app were connected to something like Amazon, they could derive a marketing benefit driving sales with items needed for your goals advertised on promotion at key times during your journey.   

       Where the secret sauce of your app comes into play is the optimization of your several goals to work together simultaneously as we semi-multitask our way through any given day.
RayfordSteele, Oct 28 2019
  

       I think I already have the half-baked subscript till my consciousness is relinquished back to spacetime's control. No app necessary.
wjt, Oct 31 2019
  

       I was going to bun it, then I was going to bone it. I don't know. The part that's absolutely horrible about this idea is the whole outsourcing of life decisions. That's one of those "top 5 things wrong with the world today"   

       On the other side, what I find very intriguing is the auto scheduling and randomish nature of it.   

       For this to have any merit it has to be strongly rooted in personal decisions. And I'm not talking about the illusion of decision that marketing will inject into this, I'm talking about real decision that's not influenced by market factors.   

       Today I'm feeling skeptical and I think any marketing team that gets hold of this will bastardize this in the worst way possible. If you ask 10 companies to help you to become a billionaire, musician or even something benign as get better score on a test they will all clammer to help you achieve the goal, but it won't be advice in your interest. ... ok [-] it is then. If you want life advice ask real people, don't ask soul-less corporations.
ixnaum, Nov 13 2019
  

       I figure the company that creates the platform decides the involvement of different companies. It's a marketplace   

       It should be though that in order for a company to be on the platform, people wanted them to be there. The ads have to be relevant.   

       Some decision making is above and beyond most people. Someone has to tell you what you need to do to get you what you want. One person does not know how to manufacture every part of a car, the knowledge and specialisms is spread between many different people.   

       This is the digital almanac for the future.
chronological, Nov 13 2019
  

       Out of curiosity, what statements would you pay money for regarding your life?
chronological, Nov 13 2019
  

       I'd probably start with my wife's credit card statements.
MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 13 2019
  

       // ads have to be relevant... people decide //. Nope, not going to go well. Never has. Like you said it's a billion dollar idea and the way to get a slice of the pie will be monetize the heck out of this. In fact one of the tips / steps on how to become a billionaire is to sleezily separate consumers from their hard earned money by monetizing Life Subscriptions to the max.
ixnaum, Nov 14 2019
  

       //monetizing Life Subscriptions to the max.// That's something I can vote for.
MaxwellBuchanan, Nov 14 2019
  

       ixnaum, I hope people would get lots of free things by simply having a life subscription with tickets from various large companies.   

       People won't care how monetized this idea is if they get free things or if the steps that they are following are causing good things to happen to them.
chronological, Nov 14 2019
  

       I want to live 10 minutes walk of:   

       a train station, a job, a school, a supermarket, a cafe   

       How much would this cost me? Can you imagine all the algorithms and searches and queries you would need to implement this as a life subscription? You would have to be a technology company.
chronological, Nov 14 2019
  

       [+] WTAGIPBAN (Even if we conclude it's not a directly good idea, though I think it probably is, the discussion it's sparked is certainly good.)   

       // [xenzag] or [bliss] are probably best placed to comment, as they are the ones with actual lifestyles. //   

       Interestingly, they were the two I suspected wrote it—until I saw how long it was! (And the billionaire bit.)
notexactly, Nov 14 2019
  

       [CH], if you post links to The Competitor's Product, we shall be forced to punish you; you will only be allowed plain digestive biscuits with your tea instead of chocolate ones.
8th of 7, Mar 30 2020
  

       A day may come when we give you a choice of plain, milk, or dark chocolate digestives with your tea. BUT IT IS NOT THIS DAY !
8th of 7, Mar 30 2020
  

       // do without Twiglets //   

       No Twiglets ? Like, NO actual Twiglets, whatsoever ? NO TWIGLETS ....?   

       OK, sorry, we take it all back. You can have the whole Fox's Assortment tin, and the Quality Street too... you've suffered enough already.   

       Cheer up, where there's Marmite, there's hope...
8th of 7, Mar 30 2020
  

       If your lifestyle consists of eating twiglets, you could subscribe to a package which means you never run out of twiglets.   

       it'll send you a tub every month.
chronological, Mar 31 2020
  

       Sounds like rather draconian rationing ...
8th of 7, Mar 31 2020
  

       I can just imagine an online shop for lifestyles.
chronological, Mar 31 2020
  
      
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