In the previous chapter, we explored how a post-scarcity economy shifts the utility function toward identity - each person's primary sense of self. But such an economy involves many factors beyond status games: risk management, disaster prevention, and basic goods for those who can't or won't participate in status competition.

Positional status goods exist in many categories that interact in complex ways. Some categories create detrimental status games with envy as an externality. Others enable conspicuous contribution—status tied to meaningful creation. Supporting both basic goods and status goods requires building and maintaining complex infrastructure.

This chapter sketches a way of thinking about these dynamics, but needs further contributions. It is more technical than other chapters, and might not be wholly coherent, but its intention is to set main arguments, supporting data and a direction of more research.

I. The Structural Foundation: The Economy as a Stage

The economy is not a factory; it is an abstract place of enactment - a theatre of sorts, in non-trivial sense of this word. We build the physical structure (The Stage) so that the actors can perform the play (Human Experience).

Economic systems evolve through two distinct phases. Side 1 (The Platform) is the rational conquest of scarcity to create a safe foundation. Side 2 (The Performance) is the utilization of that surplus to maximize human expression and meaning.

The error of modern economics is treating Side 1 as the goal. The error of modern culture is trying to live in Side 2 without maintaining Side 1.

The Five Categories of Goods

The hierarchy is defined by the function the good serves in the "Stage/Performance" dynamic.

Category Function Role in the Theory Status Dynamic
1. Basic Goods Survival The Floorboards. Essential stability. If these are absent, the civilization collapses. Neutral or Negative Status: Means of survival.
2. Infrastructure Goods Structure The Machinery. Technology, Capital, Infrastructure. These exist to lower the cost of survival and expand the range of possible experiences. Instrumental Status: Valued for competence. Invisible until it breaks.
3. Consumptive Status Goods Signaling Props & Frames. Tangible markers, uniforms, instruments, and items. On their own they can be exclusionary. Zero‑Sum Status: when detached from contribution.
4. Contributive Status Goods Expression The Play. Art, Experience, Community, Discovery, Leisure. The telos (end goal) of the economy. Positive-Sum Status Externalities: "I create it, and we all experience it".
5. Most Digital Entertainment Retreat The Fillers. Those purely virtual goods that result in no physical world utility or cultural impact. Virtual Status: For those who want to retreat from the status games of the physical world.
6. Administrative Bloat Friction The Drag. Bureaucracy, compliance, and overhead that serves no end-user function. Negative-Sum: A tax on all other categories.

Basic Good (Category 1) is defined more or less as:

  1. Its function is biological survival and safety (e.g., food, shelter, basic hygiene) that in any moment are needed right now.
  2. It yields diminishing returns on status and utility - once survival is secured, more of it does not add meaning, only maintenance.
  3. It is the "Floorboard" - essential for the game to happen, but not part of the play itself.

Infrastructure Good (Category 2) is defined more or less as:

  1. It serves as instrumental infrastructure (e.g., factories, transport, software tools) that lowers the cost of Basic Goods or enables Status Goods.
  2. It is valued for efficiency and leverage rather than intrinsic enjoyment.
  3. Status derived here is Competence-Based—often invisible when working, but critical. It relies on the "pride of function".