[Modern Indulgences Issue 1] Is Evaluation a Currency? — Deconstructing the 'Okada Evaluation Economy'

How has the 'Evaluation Economy Society' proposed by Toshio Okada transformed in the modern SNS society? We will read the structure of evaluation both poetically and institutionally, covering the illusions of freedom and fairness, invisible labor, and the reconstruction through connection with PoP-UBI.

🔰 Introduction: An Era Where Evaluation Becomes Economy?

'Follower count equals value,' 'The person who goes viral wins'—haven't you felt that atmosphere at least once? Now that being evaluated is beginning to hold power 'like money,' we may already be living within an 'Evaluation Economy Society.'

Toshio Okada is the person who first proposed this concept. In this article, we will examine how Mr. Okada's theory is currently received and what problems it harbors, while attempting to redefine evaluation.

📈 1. 'Evaluation' Expands, Value Becomes Hollow

In the SNS era, evaluation has been 'visualized' through numbers. However, this has conversely accelerated 'performances to get numbers,' creating a phenomenon where sensational posts and radical remarks are 'evaluated.'

The paradox where sincere contributions and intrinsic values that should be there are 'buried in numbers' stands before us.

🧮 2. Is Evaluation Truly 'Free'?

'Everyone has a chance to be evaluated'—this is sometimes said, but in reality, there is a large asymmetry. This is because many 'invisible premises' such as easily evaluated language, cultural literacy, physical attractiveness, and network connectivity are involved in the visualization of evaluation.

For example, even with similar content, if a 'person with influence' states it, it spreads, while if an 'unknown person' says it, it gets buried. This structure is reinforced by platforms, and algorithms prioritize the visibility of those 'already evaluated,' while conversely making those with 'scant evaluation' harder to see.

Thus, the illusion of 'freedom of evaluation' transforms into the reality of 'disparity in access to evaluation.' We must face the fact that evaluation is not free, but rather a
product of cultural traffic bound by structures of judgment and distribution.

This structure threatens the essential fairness and diversity of evaluation, while simultaneously driving those who cannot meet the condition of being 'worthy of evaluation' into permanent silence. It is a society of selection by numbers, wearing the skin of a 'free society.'

🏗️ 3. Neglect of the 'Invisible Foundation'

In the modern evaluation economy, visualized contributions—such as posting on SNS, creating video content, or attention-grabbing presentations—tend to be evaluated preferentially. On the other hand, labor that supports the physical foundation (agriculture, logistics, infrastructure, nursing care, etc.) or steady and plain care work (daily childcare, nursing, cleaning, community activities) is difficult to visualize and tends to be excluded from the circuits of evaluation.

This signifies a reversal phenomenon of 'surface and foundation' in economic value. The fundamental activities that support our lives are what become invisible, and superficial value is created through 'performances of visualization'—this composition is closely linked to the capitalist media economy.

Mr. Okada's vision that 'evaluation creates a new economy' lacked a warning against such media bias. As long as evaluation is dominated by 'loudness of voice,' it is not the value of information, but a fame capitalism determined by 'who said it,' and it could even be called an oligopolistic empathy economy rather than democratization.

If we aim for a truly sustainable evaluation economy, we must institutionally re-evaluate the value of this 'invisible foundation' and question the very structure of visibility and reward.

🧠 4. The Limits and Deconstruction of Okada's Theory

Mr. Okada perceived that 'evaluation naturally arises from trust.' However, there is a danger in regarding the concept of evaluation as 'neutral.'

Evaluation is always a construct that depends on institutions, culture, power, and language. Even whether one can possess words that are evaluated is socially defined.

Furthermore, the acts and narratives that are evaluated are always biased toward what is 'visualized,' while 'untold experiences' and 'acts of silence' are institutionally pushed outside the scope of evaluation. This is not merely unfair; it carries the danger of undermining the structural diversity of society.

What is important here is a deconstructive perspective. Redefining evaluation not as a 'currency,' but as a 'poetry of relationships' and a 'space for response.' This means providing an institutional place for 'unevaluated silence' and 'untellable existence'.

In other words, evaluation should be a 'network of institutionalized accountability,' not something defined by numerical values, but a dynamic structure generated within relationships. This provides the ideological foundation to redesign evaluation not as a monolithic value axis, but as 'layered narratives'.

🧾 5. Toward Redefinition: Connection with PoP-UBI

PoP-UBI (Proof of Personhood + Universal Basic Income) is a concept that integrates proof of existence based on 'being human' with a sustainable distribution mechanism. By applying this to the redesign of the evaluation economy society, we can overcome the polarization between the 'evaluated' and the 'unevaluated'.

📌 Evaluation is 'Proof,' Not 'Currency'

In Okada's theory, evaluation was viewed as having currency-like value that is exchangeable, like money, but in PoP-UBI, we perceive it as 'proof of existence itself.' In other words, the fact that someone's actions or contributions have been 'responded to' by others connects to that person's social reality. This composition also shares common ground with trustless contribution verification in DAOs (Decentralized Autonomous Organizations) or the design philosophy of decentralized identity.

📌 Evaluation is a 'Story,' Not a 'Number'

In the design of PoP-UBI, evaluation is not just points or numbers, but is stored as a narrative record that tells 'what contribution was made' and 'within what kind of relationship it was established.' This turns contribution history into a story and makes it referenceable as 'living proof,' which can be developed into a mechanism that functions as a qualitative indicator even in DAO governance.

For example, 'hard-to-evaluate activities' such as caregiving, interpersonal support, and daily interactions can also become subjects of recording and evaluation within this narrative structure. This is a democratization of evaluation, and at the same time, a structural transformation that can be called the 'poeticization' of evaluation.

📌 Institutional Place for Silence and Deviation

For those 'unevaluated existences' that were rarely mentioned in Okada's theory—namely, the silent, the non-narrating, and the deviant—PoP-UBI enables an institutionally responsive design. This is a shift in the ethical paradigm where evaluation arises not only from 'activity' but also from 'being,' and it is a structure rooted in the premise that 'it is okay to exist'.

In Foucaultian terms, this structure is also a new implementation of 'biopolitics.' That is to say, it possesses an institutional stance where living is the premise of evaluation, rather than living in order to be evaluated.

🧠 Future Significance Born from Connection

While inheriting the idea from the Okada evaluation economy that 'evaluation creates value,' PoP-UBI aims to reinforce that mechanism ethically and institutionally, evolving it into a 'society where evaluation reaches everyone' and a 'society where evaluation intersects like poetry'.

This connection is neither mere social security nor economic incentive. It is confirmation of existence through evaluation = the design of being together, and that is precisely what can be called the evolved form of a human-centric evaluation economy society.

Evaluation is not a record, but a trace of relationships. Through PoP-UBI, it can finally remain within the system as a 'trembling presence'.

🎯 Conclusion: To Transform the Evaluation Economy into a 'Space for Narrative'

Evaluation is no longer currency, nor is it justice.
It is a 'kind of voice' that sways within relationships.
It is like 'poetry' that holds the margins of narrative, which cannot be reduced to numbers.

If we are to reconstruct the evaluation economy, it must be designed as 'institutional poetics'—
a new structure where people resonate, talk, and respond to one another.