I think that part was included just to illustrate the more baroque manifestations of commercializing relationships. The main point that I took away was that com

I think that part was included just to illustrate the more baroque manifestations of commercializing relationships. The main point that I took away was that commerce itself (commodity-based, transactional, impersonal/disconnected) is a lousy model for dealing with human relationships, which are personal, unquantifiable, and literally connections.