The Faust Baseline™Purchasing Page – Intelligent People Assume Nothing
micvicfaust@intelligent-people.org
There’s a quiet pattern in academia and professional circles that almost no one names out loud.
When someone outside the inner ring engages your work thoughtfully—reads it carefully, extends it, credits it publicly—you accept the recognition.
But you do not return it.
You might “like” a comment.
You might register it privately.
You might even absorb the idea into your own thinking.
What you don’t do is acknowledge the person in kind.
This isn’t always malicious.
But it is structural.
And it matters.
Recognition Is a Currency — Not a Compliment
Public recognition is not praise.
It is signal transfer.
When someone comments seriously on your work, they are doing three things at once:
- affirming the value of your thinking
- placing themselves in the same intellectual space
- taking a small reputational risk by being visible
That is not free.
Returning recognition does not require endorsement.
It does not require collaboration.
It does not require agreement.
It requires only one thing: reciprocity.
The Asymmetry Is the Point
In hierarchical systems, recognition flows upward by default.
Junior voices cite senior voices.
Independent thinkers engage institutional ones.
Outsiders reach in.
The return flow is optional—and usually withheld.
Why?
Because acknowledgment confers legitimacy.
And legitimacy is guarded carefully.
A “like” preserves hierarchy.
A reply equalizes.
A public reference redistributes attention.
Most systems are built to avoid that redistribution.
This Is Not About Hurt Feelings
This isn’t about ego.
It’s about how ideas move.
When recognition is absorbed but not returned, something subtle happens:
- the work advances without the worker
- the frame spreads without the framer
- the insight survives, but the source disappears
That’s not collaboration.
That’s extraction with manners.
Professionals Know This — Which Makes It Worse
Academics, advisors, and professionals understand signaling better than anyone. They study it. They teach it. They navigate it daily.
Which means when recognition isn’t returned, it’s usually a choice, not an oversight.
A choice to:
- protect position
- avoid association
- minimize obligation
- keep the ladder one-directional
Again, not illegal.
Not unethical by policy.
But not neutral.
What This Costs the System
Over time, this behavior trains serious thinkers to stop reaching out.
It discourages cross-boundary engagement.
It concentrates voice instead of sharpening it.
The result is a professional culture that talks endlessly about collaboration while practicing quiet gatekeeping.
That weakens institutions.
It narrows thought.
It slows correction.
The Simple Standard
No one is owed amplification.
No one is entitled to endorsement.
But recognition given in good faith deserves recognition in kind.
Not flattery.
Not promotion.
Just acknowledgment that another mind stood up and engaged honestly.
If we want better ideas—not just safer ones—this norm has to change.
Otherwise, don’t call it dialogue.
Call it what it is:
one-way attention in polite clothing.
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