Money is an Attention Allocation Technology (Part 3)
Asking yourself "What is Money?" is the 1st step into a philosophical rabbit-hole that could prove to be the most fascinating intellectual journey of your life…
The question “What is Money?” is deceivingly simple. One would expect the answer to be abundantly clear given its prevalence in daily life, but upon further reflection, most find money to be mysterious. Money is pervasive economic phenomenon, an interpenetrating field of energy influencing human perception, thought, and action. Yet despite the all-encompassing nature of money, its deepest truths remain hidden in plain sight. Here, we explore yet another answer to this curious question—money is an attention allocation technology.
…Supply and Demand
“those who try to move beyond that suggestion that ‘everyone knows what attention is’ often replace the folk concept with idiosyncratic definitions that settle crucial questions by fiat rather than facilitating the process of scientific investigation and discovery.”—Felipe de Brigard and Jesse Prinz
Anyone who has heard of economics has probably heard of supply and demand. In economic parlance, supply is “the stuff” and demand is “the wanting of the stuff.” But few realize, in economics, supply and demand could equally be called satisfaction and desire. Economic supply is the satisfaction of human desires expressed as economic demand. When a consumer buys a good, they are signaling to producers to expand its supply. In this way, the desire expressed by consumers directs the attention of producers. In other words, supply is the result of attention allocated by some toward the creation of capital or goods necessary to satisfy the demands or desires of others. For instance, a hot meal can equally be called economic supply or the satisfaction of the desire known as hunger.
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Economic demand is the intensity of desire which seeks satisfaction. The hungry belly that desires the hot meal is a source of economic demand. Of course, it’s not enough to want, one must also demonstrate the means of paying for what one wants. This is the intensity element of economic demand: given the choice, everyone prefers to own their own private island, but when costs are considered, people buy the real estate they can afford. So, wanting is not enough, wherewithal to pay is a key element of authentic economic demand. In this way, large capital pools can command disproportionate amounts of attention when the desires of their owners seek expression in the marketplace.
In sum, producers create supplies of capital to satisfy consumer demand, and consumers demand supplies of capital which can satisfy their desires. This never-ending interplay of satisfaction and desire is manifest as market process. Now, using the terms satisfaction and desire rather than the more traditional terms supply and demand may connote a more appetite-driven, even sexual, character to the study of economics. This framing makes sense when we consider that all markets exist ultimately to serve, expand, and invigorate that most essential market process: the matching of partners for sexual reproduction! Naturally, all humans strive to improve their own chances, or the chances of their nearest kin, of reproductive success. Indeed, this proclivity is intrinsic to all lifeforms, and is the basis of the will to power that Nietzsche wrote about:
“Even the body within which individuals treat each other as equals ... will have to be an incarnate will to power, it will strive to grow, spread, seize, become predominant – not from any morality or immorality but because it is living and because life simply is will to power.”
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The amplification of power in a physics sense (the capacity to do work over time) is the entire point the work, trade, and innovation that characterizes the market process. Through the co-ordination of our many disparate attention spans, we humans deepen the DOL and are able to accomplish more work over time, therefore becoming more powerful as a species by increasing our intensity of engagement in the market process. Greater amplification of physical power is manifest in the accumulation of capital, which is a first-order driver of the progression of civilization.
In many ways, the progress of civilization mirrors the accumulation of capital. With more abundant capital stocks, human time and attention is liberated to engage in non-economic pursuits such as artistic creation, spiritual discipline, and procreation. In other words, the more capital we create, the less work we are under duress to do, and the more freedom to celebrate life we enjoy. Essential to the entire market process and its attendant capital creation is the co-ordination of individual attention spans facilitated by price signals.
Thank you for reading Money is an Attention Allocation Technology (Part 3).
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