CarlofTime

Thanks for doing the AMA!

I have one problem with what you are suggesting, and that the current way that the global market is set up really puts small business at a disadvantage. Why? Because it costs money to make all of your products to sell and it takes money to advertise it.

Lets take the "Regular Joe invents a tool" example. And I'm talking about tomorrow. He invents the tool tomorrow. He goes to the patent office and patents the idea. It's his now, and no one else can make it. A large auto manufacturer sees the idea and says, "Oh hell, we can make those easy." So they negotiate a deal with Regular Joe and they buy it from him and he retains 60% sales. They cover the cost of producing and advertising and Regular Joe gets the satisfaction of the product hitting the shelves and helping mechanics globally, while making some profit off of his invention.

Now lets put it into your idea. TOMORROW! (Not in a dream world were big companies don't exist and everyone starts from scratch.) Same thing happens at the start. Regular Joe invents the tool. He doesn't go to the patent office because it doesn't exist. Instead he goes to a good friend whose got a bit of money. They make a prototype with that little bit and go to a manufacturer to estimate the cost for pre-production. Then they go to an advertisement agency where they get the cost estimated for advertising. Then finally they go to retail stores and get estimates to stock the store with their product. All is in line and golden. Problem is, the large manufacturer already heard about the product and is already shipping out their high quality, name brand tools. Regular Joe knows that this is friendly competition so he is okay with it. Nothing like competition to get the blood running. So his friend and him finally cover the costs for the manufacturing, advertising and stocking. Problem is, they've only got their tool in 100 stores only across half the nation. The Large Manufacturer? You guessed it. 4,000+ stores, potentially global, with a reliable name behind their product and at a lower cost because of efficiency and low cost of production. Regular Joe invented it, and it's a great product, but nobody knows who he is or gives a fuck. They want a reliable instrument that will last through tough jobs and the company they purchased from hasn't let them down before. Regular Joe's tool tanks and lost a shit ton of money when he could've just sold the patent to the large company and sequestered some of the funds himself for inventing the thing in the first place. Thoughts?

What do you do for a living? Like, how do you pay your rent?

I'm writing a comic book which I'll be proposing to investors in about 2 months and I really want to have the lore down. It specifically has a lot to do with Religion and how it worked it's way through history, with a bunch of artist flair (of course) and fiction.

What would you suggest, to someone interested, would be the best place to find a concise summary of the worlds religions and the basic tenants of those religions? (Preferably one source where I could browse through them) :D

Also, thanks for doing this. AMA's are beast.

Who are you?