The Wave original survival show 'The Community 2: The Invisible Hand' is generating significant buzz as it approaches its finale. According to Wave, the program has ranked first in weekly viewership across all genres and has maintained the top spot for new paid subscriptions for five consecutive weeks since its debut, demonstrating its exceptional popularity.
'The Community' is a social experiment survival show where participants with different resources and powers compete for survival through trade. While Season 1 focused on ideological conflicts within society, Season 2 shifts its gaze outward, creating a framework resembling international power competition.
The initial resources allocated to each team reflect the unequal realities of the international order. The White team, with the additional issuance rights of the reserve currency 'Gem,' the Red team, which excels in producing 'Credits' as both capital and opportunity, and the Blue team, which secures the survival resource 'Life,' all engage in trade using their respective currencies. In the latter half, the Gold team emerges with the newly transparent currency 'Gold,' while the Black team, a hidden trader, profits from the costs of war and arms sales amid conflicts among residents.
Dollar Power Struggle: White vs. Gold
The most intense competition within this community centers on the currency market. The 'Gem' held by the White team serves as the reserve currency, settling the final prize of 200 million won. The key lies in the asymmetry of issuance power and information. Other residents are unaware of the issuance volume of the Gem, and its value fluctuates based on the White team's control.
The White team's position evokes the image of the United States, which holds more than half of the world's reserve currency. The process of expanding issuance rights through technological development to establish digital currency mirrors the institutional restructuring of a hegemonic power seeking to solidify its monetary control.
However, a challenger has emerged to disrupt this hegemony: the Gold team. Their 'Gold' is a transparent currency with real-time issuance totals.
The emergence of Gold, in response to the opacity of the reserve currency, recalls China's recent efforts to expand alternative payment systems outside the dollar. China has been developing the yuan-based payment network CIPS.
According to the Atlantic Council, the average daily transaction volume of CIPS has exceeded 790 billion yuan since the end of February, surpassing last year's average. The yuan has become the second most used currency for trade finance after the dollar this year, although approximately 80% of global trade finance is still conducted in dollars.
Discussions about de-dollarization have also spread to the BRICS nations led by China and Russia. The U.S. has warned against these movements using tariffs as leverage. Last January, President Trump warned that if BRICS pursued a currency to replace the dollar, a 100% tariff would be imposed.
In response to the perceived threat, existing teams have devised strategic countermeasures. In a leader meeting in Episode 7, a proposal was made to allow the use of Gold in platforms and markets, but this proposal was blocked by the Blue, Black, and White teams, which required the agreement of three out of five leaders.
The effort to prevent the emerging currency from entering practical consumption platforms reflects the dynamics of maintaining power, reminiscent of the established 'petrodollar' system and the Western financial sanctions that excluded Russian banks from SWIFT in 2022.
Survival and Production: Blue vs. Red
While the financial power lies with the White and Gold teams, the Blue and Red teams hold the keys to survival and production activities. The Red team, with its overwhelming efficiency in producing the essential asset 'Credits,' controls labor production and opportunity capital.
An interesting aspect is the setting of 'pollution levels' associated with Credit usage. If the cumulative pollution level of regular Credits reaches a critical point, the entire community suffers. However, there exists a 'clean Credit' that the Red team can obtain, which prevents this from happening even if its efficiency decreases.
This reflects the global dilemma between fossil fuel systems that emit carbon for short-term growth and renewable energy policies that grapple with transition costs and speeds. It raises questions about whether to secure survival at the expense of the environment in the era of climate crisis.
In contrast, the Blue team initially holds an absolute advantage with 30 Life assets. With a limited supply of Life, the Blue team, having secured a large amount of survival rights in advance, evokes the political influence of powerful nations that leverage humanitarian aid or relief funds to control weaker nations.
In this unequal structure, participants form alliances for survival. In Episode 5, the internal division of the Blue team and the Red team leader Maiyar's manipulation of the rules exemplify this. Maiyar's chilling proposal to Blue team leader Pete, asking, 'Are you willing to visit this wonderful new world where leaders live forever?' starkly illustrates the ruthless nature of international politics, where self-interest and pragmatic survival can lead to the dissolution of alliances.
The Invisible Hand: Black
The most chilling aspect is the presence of the 'Black' team, which absorbs the wealth of the entire game while concealing its identity. On the surface, Black appears to be a grocery trader, but its true source of income comes not from grocery sales but from 'profits generated from arms sales during wars and conflicts.'
For Black, peace is a loss, and conflicts among residents translate into significant business opportunities. The mechanism of maximizing private profits by supplying weapons during escalated conflicts while controlling Gem transactions through the platform resembles the modern international political 'military-industrial complex.' Black presents itself as a neutral market provider but, in reality, induces conflict and charges for costs, embodying the ironic meaning of the 'invisible hand.'
'The Community 2: The Invisible Hand' presents a microcosm that transcends a simple game of winning and losing. Those who hold the power of currency issuance, opportunity capital, and life-and-death decisions, alongside the invisible hand profiting from arms sales, engage in fierce transactions and betrayals that encapsulate the current global power struggle.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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