Three weeks ago we launched AskForIt.com. The central concept at the core of Ask For It is “borrowed desire” from the philosopher and cultural anthropologist Rene Girard’s Mimetic Theory.
Here’s the story behind the idea. I am a part of a music group. People are always asking us to record another ablum. We thought how nice it would be if we knew what songs our fans wanted us to record so that we’d know the album would find a ready market from the day it hit shelves. We could deliver exactly what our fans wanted, making them happy, and we’d sell more albums, making us happy. I soon realized there wasn’t an easy place for consumers to share what they wanted and organizations to receive feedback directly from their audience.
That insight, joined with some crowd-sourcing business ideas Andy Jennings (co-founder) had kicked around with me for a few years, let to me feverishly writing up a business plan for Ask For It that same day.
I approached the other founders right away (the other two being Brent Jensen and McKane Davis). McKane heard the idea and reminded me that we owned that domain name to askforit.com (a name my Dad had bought years before); my jaw hit the floor. We already had the perfect domain for the concept.
We all signed a letter of intent the day after that, and things grew from there. Our team consists of three of the top programmers and UI designers around, and me, the jackass of all trades who is basically keeping the development altogether. Serendipity struck and we brought in a few others partners who have key competencies in the area of consumer advocacy.
We quickly realized the idea of Ask For It had value for a widerange of asks– from political requests to corporate promotions to product improvements. Everyone has something they want to see happen.
As a group, we discussed how we could affect real change and we developed the advocacy process, which is one of the most unique features of the site. We realized the world needs this type of a platform.
In college I was a philosophy major. For the last few years I have read the philosophy of Rene Girard, including his remarkable insights into how people learn. We learn by imitating others. And we even learn our desires by observing and then modeling the desires of others. In fact, we had seen this at work at Scrapbook.com, so and I knew it could be a powerful force for good if it harnessed good desires.
Ask For It would essentially become a platform of desires. A cauldron of them, where the best (most mimetic) ones would “bubble up”. A place where you could come, see the desires of others, and “borrow” them, or appropriate them to yourself. If we could build the tool correctly, we could channel mimetic desires into viral requests – specific, actionable, requests.
So we designed the platform with that in mind.
Fortunately, the four original founders have some startup experience and could bring the skills tothe table needed to get Ask For It off the ground. It’s been a great ride so far.
If you want to learn a little more about mimetic desire, here’s info from a couple of posts I made at Quora on the topic.
Mimetic desire is a desire that arises because one sees an Other possessing or desiring something. It the absence of the Other’s desire, there is no mimetic desire (i.e. it is desire that is “imitating” the desire of an other). This desire is sometimes called “borrowed” desire because it does not originate in oneself, but rather originates in the other. Human beings learn by imitation, including imitation the desires of Others. This can be dangerous because when two humans desire the same object they can engage in rivalry, which leads to violence. Humans are always at risk of falling into the mimetic trap, wherein an example (or “Model”) that one imitates quickly becomes a rival. Mimetic desire can also be very good (and usually is, think parents and children, mentors and students, etc.) provided that people do not become rivals.
Mimetic Desire is pervasive. Desires are not Appetites. Appetites arise from biological need or drive and Desires do not (though an appetite may specifically attach itself to something and become a desire).
Clearly, in the absence of Others we may desire something, but there is a notion that the very things we desire are desired because we have learned from others (previously) that they are desirable.
Here’s a quick (probably dumb, or poor) example. I imagine myself in a post-apocalyptic world. I am lost in the desert and without water, dying of thirst and looking for something to drink. I know the rest of mankind to be dead, yet see something sparkle in the distance, identify it as a diamond, feel a desire to possess it, divert myself from my pursuit of water (my biological appetite) and pocket the diamond. Where did the desire come from (especially one which overwhelmed my appetite, and overwhelmed my better judgement, causing me to work against my best interest)? Was it not the borrowed desire of others, long before, still working on me? The thought that Others would find it desirable and therefore, I must? Girard would say that the felt desire was not consciously manufactured, but a residual vestige of the natural process through which we learn desire … by observing what others desire.
Certainly, things which satisfy appetites may be more desirable, but why this thing and not that thing? After playing basketball, I can have my thirst quenched by drinking water, but instead I *must* have Gatorade. Why? Because I must “Be Like Mike” … Once I have taken Michael Jordan as my Model (in a Girardian sense), I desire what Micheal desires … In trying to be like Mike, I am trying to appropriate his essence, what he is … I appropriate even his desires …
And here’s the rub – if there’s only one Gatorade left, and Mike and I reach for it simultaneously, very quickly my Model can turn into my Rival, precisely because I have borrowed even his desires from him.