When intelligence and production become abundant, what remains scarce and valuable, and how should meaningful contribution be recognized?
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BOOK DETAIL · Civilization Science Series · 05
Meaning Economics
A New Framework for Value, Contribution, and Civilizational Meaning
A value-theory proposal for studying meaningful contribution, recognition, agency, trust, temporal depth, and non-price value when intelligence and production become increasingly abundant.
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Research overview
Markets communicate important information, but price, income, attention, and output do not exhaust value; meaning emerges through contribution, recognition, connection, agency, and continuity over time.
Key concepts
01Price value and non-price value02Meaningful contribution03Recognition and social legibility04Meaning density and meaning entropy05Temporal depth and continuity06Return on Meaning Impact as a proposed inquiry
02
Research architecture
I · Limits of price
What market measures explain—and what they omit.
II · Meaning crisis
Automation, abundance, attention systems, recognition failure, and value disconnection.
III · Meaning framework
Contribution, agency, relationship, recognition, time, and system connection.
IV · Measurement questions
Meaning indicators, construct validity, culture, uncertainty, and gaming risks.
V · Organizations and platforms
Mission, contribution recognition, AI, incentives, and public value.
VI · Civilizational meaning
Collective memory, legitimacy, intergenerational purpose, and stable pluralism.
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Method and evidence program
Open questions for review
- Q1
Can meaning-related constructs be operationalized without imposing one culture’s values on others?
- Q2
Which forms of recognition improve agency and contribution without creating surveillance or score dependence?
- Q3
Does proposed “meaning density” explain outcomes beyond established measures of wellbeing, trust, and belonging?
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Academic status and limits
This book is a published foundational research output. Its concepts, equations, classifications, and causal claims remain open to independent review, operationalization, counterexamples, replication, and revision.
Meaning Economics is a developing research framework, not a substitute for established economics, moral philosophy, psychology, or a universal ranking of lives and cultures.Intended readers
Economists, philosophers, psychologists, organization researchers, AI and platform designers, policy scholars, and readers studying human value in the AI era.
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Publication record
Suggested citation
Hu, Aurion. (2026). Meaning Economics. Civilization Science Series. Amazon Kindle edition. ASIN B0H1ZZY68P.
Errata and version record
No edition-specific public errata file is currently linked. Corrections should identify the edition, location, original text, proposed correction, reason, date, and effect on conclusions.