Homesteading the Noosphere and the Theory of Exchange Modes

A Consideration of the Relationship between Eric S. Raymond’s “Homesteading the Noosphere” and Kojin Karatani’s “Theory of Exchange Modes”

From “Homesteading the Noosphere”(Japanese translation):

Most of the methods of human organization are adaptive behaviors in response to scarcity and desire. Each method has separate means of acquiring social status.

• Means of Acquiring Social Status

• The simplest method is the command hierarchy. … The allocation of scarce goods is carried out by a central authority backed by military force. … Social status is mainly determined by the ability to access coercive power.

  • This is Exchange Mode B.

• Our society is primarily based on exchange economy. … The allocation of scarce goods is done decentralized through exchange and voluntary cooperation… Social status is mainly determined by the control of things (not necessarily material).

  • This is Exchange Mode C.

• … There is a completely different third model that is not well recognized by anyone other than anthropologists. This is the gift culture.

  • Gift culture is an adaptation to abundance, not scarcity. … Social status is determined not by what you control but by what you give away.

    • Original English: Gift cultures are adaptations not to scarcity but to abundance. … In gift cultures, social status is determined not by what you control but by what you give away.
    • Related: Wealth is not measured by how much you have, but by how much you can give (Larry Wall).
  • Is this Exchange Mode A?
    • It is closely related to Exchange Mode A in terms of gift culture.
    • However, it seems like a low-resolution expression to identify it as Exchange Mode A.
    • The point that it is an adaptation to abundance, not scarcity, is important.
      • The exchange in the era when Exchange Mode A was born was the exchange of tangible goods.
      • The invention of technology gave birth to digital goods.
      • Digital goods have a low cost of replication, so they become abundant as soon as they are created.
    • From the invention of the printing press to the advancement of the internet, the cost of replicating and transporting written words has decreased.
      • This led to the emergence of the academic community, a community of knowledge exchange.
      • Knowledge exchange is also a form of exchange.
      • The replicable nature is similar to digital goods.
    • These can be considered as the birth of a new exchange mode.
      • Uncertain whether to call this Exchange Mode D, as the boundary between A and D is not clear.
      • Kojin Karatani seems to find a greater meaning in Exchange Mode D, so summarizing a grand plan into something smaller.
      • Personally, I don’t believe that the diverse range of exchange activities can be classified into the four frameworks of A to D.

: Translated from Cultivation of the Nowhere Sphere and Exchange Stylistics

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