4 ms·

The Economics of Pricelessness

• tormeh 12y ago
  This is awesome.
• Terr_ 12y ago
  > This gives us four types of transaction [...] Is there a fifth? I'm reminded of a saying (attributed to the Inuit): "Gifts make slaves, just as whips make dogs." (IIRC I saw it in Debt: The First 5000 years) Where does that fit? At first blush, it looks like it's a pure-"trader" view of things (rejecting the idea of gifts) but I think it's actually assigning a "priceless" value to a shared idea... The idea that every member of the community is self-sufficient enough that gifts aren't necessary. > The transaction is also a cousin of what Clifford Geertz called deep play with reference to betting patterns in Balinese cockfighting. Oh, wow, I'm having flashbacks to a writing class in college where we had to critique that Balinese Cockfighting thing. Maybe it was just bad curriculum/prompts, but I've always carried around a "WTF was that shit" chip on my shoulder against that paper.