Standing is the license to matter. Two people can make the same argument, ship the same work, or raise the same objection, and have it land completely differently depending on who is allowed to be taken seriously.
Standing is a form of power precisely because it is usually invisible. It hides inside words like credible, qualified, and professional, which feel like descriptions of merit but often function as descriptions of position.
Why it becomes the binding constraint
When capability was scarce, standing rode along with it — being able to do the thing was most of the battle. As capability becomes abundant, that coupling breaks. The scarce thing is no longer the ability to produce but the permission to count. Standing detaches from skill and becomes the real gate.
Where it comes from
Standing is manufactured, not natural. It is produced by credentials, by affiliation with recognized institutions, and by visible track record. The first two are transferred — you borrow standing from an institution — and they are exactly the channels that favor whoever started with access.
That raises the question the next page takes up: if the old machinery of standing is weakening, can a fairer version be built on purpose — one that doesn’t just recreate the same gates?