Severance and Extension: The Gravity of Commodification
- Masaya
- 3 days ago
- 10 min read
Preface: Price—The Possibility of Comparison
Every day, we compare everything. Annual income, educational background, follower counts, market value—the delicate marriage of a Bach melody, wine, and blue cheese is inherently incomparable. Yet, in the market, both possess a price and thus become comparable.It is commodification that enables this violent comparison. We place distinct things, which should be incomparable, onto the same scale.
In the modern era, everything is sucked into the one-dimensional measure of price and reorganized as comparable numerical values.The suffocation of the modern age lies in this relativization of human beings and the pursuit of value through numbers.If we feel a sense of asphyxiation in this society brought about by sanitized and ethical progressivism, it is likely because this gravity of relativization defines us.
This paper views money as a "dimensional reduction device for relativization" and analyzes its operating principles. Upon this foundation, it examines the dynamics of value as a binary opposition between Severance and Extension. Severance is the dynamic that tears an object from its context through the application of a measure; Extension is the dynamic that maintains the object within its relationships through the reservation of the measure. Finally, based on commodification, I will reinterpret Marx's concept of alienation to reveal the logic that covers the modern era—the logic of Severance.
Note that this paper is limited to presenting the premises, not the entire theory. The multi-agent model of how individual faith-behaviors accumulate into collective stability, and the concrete design of "faith-based securities," will be discussed in a separate paper.
I. Commodification as a Consequence of Dimensional Reduction by Price
The Projection from Value to Price
First, let us distinguish between "Value" and "Price."
The value of an object originally possesses a multidimensional structure including quality, context, relationship, and temporality, each forming a unique topology. However, the market forcibly collapses this rich manifold into a single dimension: the real number axis of price.
Money is a social apparatus that projects the rich value-space of objects onto a real number line using price. While supply and demand explain the relative fluctuations between projected prices, the operation of projection itself precedes the market mechanism. This paper discusses not the fluctuation of individual prices, but the structure of projection from value to price itself—the ontological dimension.
The establishment of such a projection mapping requires three conditions in stages:
First, Commodification
—Everything must belong to a common type and be positioned within the same exchange system.
Second, Pricing
—A globally defined evaluation axis must exist, possessing the ordinal structure of price.
Third, Relativization
—Any two objects must be comparable, and their order must be consistent.
Commodification enables pricing, and pricing enables relativization. The number line composed of real numbers (prices) is the most efficient device satisfying these three conditions.
Money and Price: Information Loss via Dimensional Reduction
Commodification—the projection from value to price—inevitably entails information loss due to dimensional reduction. The mapping from an n-dimensional value space to a one-dimensional price space irreversibly erases vast amounts of qualitative information. The market behaves as if "commodity prices express all value information," but in reality, much is lost. If price contained all information, Amazon pages would list nothing but prices.
However, the problem is not the one-dimensionalization of price itself. This dimensional compression is indeed efficient.The true problem lies in the fact that the measure of price functions as the sole absolute value standard, marginalizing all other scales of value.From the Bible to a single apple, the essence of the divine power of Plutus (the god of wealth), who aligns everything on the same straight line, lies here.
By what dynamics does this dimensional reduction operate, and by what dynamics is it resisted?Dimensional reduction is a mathematical metaphor for the dynamic of Severance. When Severance erases time, relationships, and context, the dimensions of the value space are reduced.The next chapter examines this dynamic of Severance and the opposing dynamic of Extension.
II. The Dynamics of Severance and Extension
In this paper, the dynamics regarding value are captured as the binary opposition of Severance and Extension. Severance is the dynamic that positions an object in a measurable space through the application of a scale, stripping it from its inherent context.Extension is the dynamic that maintains the object within relationships through the reservation (withholding) of the scale, attempting to preserve the multidimensionality of value.
Commodification by money and the market economy are the institutionalization of the dynamic of Severance, while gift-giving and faith embody the dynamic of Extension.Modernity is characterized as the era where Severance has gained dominance over Extension in terms of computational efficiency.
1. The Dynamic of Severance
1.1 The Logical Structure of Severance
The essence of Severance lies in the application of a scale (measure).
To apply a scale is to position an object within a measurable space. Once measurable, it becomes comparable; once comparable, it becomes exchangeable. To be exchangeable means the object is stripped of its unique context and becomes substitutable with any other object. This is Severance.
Application of Scale→Measurability→Comparability→Exchangeability→Severance
Conversely, if the scale is refused, immeasurability is preserved, incomparability is maintained, and the object remains "embedded" in relationships.The application of a scale is established by erasing the dimensions of meaning that were immeasurable.
1.2 The Mechanics of Severance
Severance as the application of a scale possesses three properties. Commodification by money satisfies these conditions without omission.Exchange is the form of value transfer in a state where Severance is complete.
At time t, if the price of commodity A equals the price of commodity B, an exchange occurs. The past is not questioned, the future is not considered, relationships are anonymized, and context is nullified. Everything is reduced to the current price and concludes here and now. This immediacy and completeness are the essential characteristics that distinguish exchange from other forms of value transfer—gifts, loans, and faith.
Temporal Severance—Exchange reduces everything to the judgment of equivalence "here and now." The history the object has traversed, the future it might head towards—these are compressed into the moment of transaction, leaving only the current price or the result of the exchange.
Relational Severance—The unique relationship between seller and buyer is erased. Who made it, who sold it, who bought it? These questions become meaningless in the market, and subjects are reduced to anonymous economic rational agents.
Contextual Severance—The rich aspects of the object—religious meaning, artistic value, emotional bonds—are compressed into the single dimension of price. Stripped of context, the object is juxtaposed on the same plane of price as any other arbitrary commodity.
Commodification is the social institutionalization of this triple Severance. And money is nothing other than the device that executes Severance most efficiently—a semiotic system expressing value as context-free real numbers.
1.3 The Dominance of Severance
Why does Severance become dominant over Extension?
First, Efficiency. Comparing multidimensional values requires consensus building across multiple axes. "How does this apple compare to that orange in terms of nutrition, taste, and convenience?"—Such multidimensional judgments are difficult to agree upon, and even if agreed, require enormous costs. One-dimensionalized price dramatically reduces this complexity.
Second, Anonymity. Severed commodities become tradable with any stranger. While gift-giving presupposes a specific relationship and faith presupposes a specific community, exchange presupposes the absence of a relationship. Anonymity is the condition that enables market expansion.
Third, Standardization. A system of measures, once established, promotes standardization itself. Legal tender, accounting standards, price displays—such standardization normalizes Severance and marginalizes unsevered value as "something not yet measured."
Through these dynamics, Severance acquires computational efficiency and superiority over Extension. Gift-giving and faith were marginalized not because their value is inferior, but because during secularization and modernization, they could not compete with the efficiency, scalability, and standardization of Severance (or commodification).
2. The Dynamic of Extension
2.1 The Logical Structure of Extension
The essence of Extension lies in the reservation (holding back) of the scale.
To reserve the scale is to delay the immediate positioning of the object into a measurable space. If measurement is delayed, comparison is suspended; if comparison is suspended, exchange is withheld. To withhold exchange means the object remains in its inherent context and is maintained within relationships. This is Extension.
While Severance compresses everything into an immediate judgment of equivalence, Extension stretches out time, relationships, and context, attempting to preserve the multidimensionality of value.
However, Extension has degrees. If the scale is merely reserved temporarily, it is eventually reclaimed by measurability. When the scale itself is refused, Extension shifts to a qualitatively different stage—Transcendence.
2.2 The Mechanics of Extension
Extension takes three forms corresponding to the three dimensions of Severance.
Relational Extension—Relational Extension "connects" person to person. Its essence is not material value, but the debt relationship born between parties, symbolized by the gift. It does not demand immediate return but simultaneously creates an obligation to return. Value is remembered as a totality of relationships: who gave to whom, when, in what context—and whether it was returned or unreturned. Past actions sustain relationships through time as current debt and as the expectation of future return.
Temporal Extension—Temporal Extension "bridges" the present and the future. While exchange relies on the pure present, Temporal Extension links present value with future value. Value is extended along the time axis, and immediate completion is refused. However, unlike Relational Extension, Temporal Extension does not require specific relationships. It is anonymous; the value does not change regardless of who holds it. Temporal Extension extends time, but does not generate a connection between people.
Contextual Extension—Contextual Extension "holds" value within a context. In exchange, context is compressed into price, but in Contextual Extension, the object's religious meaning, communal value, and transcendent significance are maintained. The object of Contextual Extension makes no sense apart from its context. By making the context itself the source of value, it resists Contextual Severance.
2.3 Faith: The Limit Form of Extension
Faith is the form where Extension reaches its limit.
The three forms of Extension all function as resistance to Severance. However, Relational Extension can eventually be reclaimed into measurable value in the form of a return gift. Temporal Extension is subordinate to the external scale of market price. Contextual Extension can also be exposed to relative evaluation within a community.
They are all a reservation of the scale, not a refusal of it.
Faith becomes the limit form of Extension when it refuses the scale itself. Salvation, sanctity, transcendence—these cannot be measured by price, nor can an order be defined. Because the scale is not accepted, value in faith remains incomparable and is completely protected from the logic of exchange. God's scale is unknowable to humans and is therefore incomparable.
Salvation is not something to be measured "someday." It lies on the further shore of measurement. Through this refusal, value shifts from fluid extension to immovable fixation.
Just as exchange is the pure form of Severance, faith that refuses the scale is the limit form of Extension. Just as time, relationships, and context are all erased in exchange, in this limit-faith, they are all preserved—as immeasurable things.
It should be noted that this paper characterizes faith by the negative definition of "refusal of measurement." This may appear agnostic from the perspective of secular society (science and the market). While this paper focuses on commodification or the refusal of scale application, I must add that faith is originally a life-world experience rooted in bodily practices such as worship, gathering, and meditation.
2.4 The Vulnerability of Extension
Why is Extension placed in a subordinate position to Severance?
First, Inefficiency. Because Extension attempts to retain multidimensional value, the cost of consensus building is high. The appropriateness of a return gift, the sharing of value—these rely on tacit knowledge and communal context, making standardization difficult.
Second, Contextuality. Extension presupposes specific relationships or communities. Relational Extension requires a relationship between parties; Contextual Extension requires the existence of a community. This contextuality cannot compete with the scalability of the anonymous market.
Third, Recoverability. Both Relational and Temporal Extension can ultimately be recovered into measurable value. Implicit calculation works in the form of expectation of return, subordinating them to the external scale of market price. Extension delays Severance but does not transcend it—except for faith, which refuses the scale.
Due to these vulnerabilities, Extension is placed in a computational disadvantage against Severance. However, this disadvantage does not imply the worthlessness of Extension. Extension preserves what Severance cannot acquire because it is efficient, precisely because Extension is inefficient. That inefficiency is the condition that enables the preservation of meaning and connection.
The dominance of Severance and the fragility of Extension—what consequences has this asymmetry brought to modern society? The next chapter approaches this question using Marx's concept of alienation as a clue.
III. The Structure of Alienation
Marx focused on production relations, but this paper reinterprets alienation from the perspective of Severance and Extension. Capitalism brings fundamental anxiety because the essence of commodification lies in "Severance."
The modern subject, by being "severed" from all contexts such as land, blood ties, and community, obtained ultimate freedom. However, that was synonymous with losing the foundation of all meaning. The floating sensation of not being embedded in anything—this is the true nature of alienation.
Severance is the stripping away from all contexts. To be embedded in nothing is ultimate freedom. Yet, simultaneously, it is ultimate alienation and loneliness. The modern subject gained freedom by being released from all relationships, but at the same time lost the foundation of all meaning.
Today, for us who are alienated, money is also an existence that temporarily connects our floating selves to the world. However, it is merely a point-like connection. Once the transaction ends, the connection is broken. Money is a device that momentarily reconnects the severed subject.
Pre-modern existence—death and suffering—has lost its raw reality in the clean, purified modern age. Instead, we must face commodification, alienation, and nihilism. While death and suffering are "there" as external realities, alienation is internalized within our own cognitive structures.Alienation is embodied Severance. We are born as severed subjects and view the world through severed cognition. To face alienation means to fight against secular perception.
IV. Conclusion: The Possibility of Faith-Based Securities
Economic activity unfolds in the tension between the two principles of Severance and Extension.
Severance brings efficiency but steals meaning and breeds alienation. Extension preserves meaning and relationships but sacrifices efficiency. The violence of capitalism lies in the fact that the dynamic of Severance overwhelmed the dynamic of Extension, tipping this tension toward the unilateral victory of Severance. Enlightenment and scales swallowed everything, and we, who have embodied alienation, cursed ourselves with the name of Plutus.
Living as a severed, alienated subject is ultimate freedom, but also ultimate loneliness. We must face the unprecedented existential reality of our own commodification and alienation.
Our mission is to recover the Blind Plutus Extension—to recover time, relationships, and context.However, this is not to deny Severance. Extension must coexist with the efficiency of Severance.As Weber said, "The ultimate and most sublime values have retreated from public life either into the transcendental realm of mystic life or into the brotherliness of direct and personal human relations." We must make the economy, and ourselves, not into commodities, but into something human.
The "faith-based securities" we propose are an attempt to implement the efficiency of Severance and the limit form of Extension (faith) into the economy. The concrete design for this will be discussed in a separate paper.
