i noticed he was giving a talk in the area and he published a book. maybe i'll check it out from the library.
the merchant class gets a bum rap everywhere, or at least in communist china, feudal japan, and (for Jews) in 20th century europe. probably only justified when we are talking about greed at Wall Street levels.
they're like managers. and glue logic.
the interconnecting structure that lets everything work.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glue_logic
In electronics, glue logic is the custom electronic circuitry needed to achieve compatible interfaces between two (or more) different off-the-shelf integrated circuits. This is often achieved with a few cheap 7400- or 4000-components, or, in more complex cases, a CPLD or FPGA; the falling price of the latter two devices, combined with their reduced size and power drain compared to discrete elements, is making them common even for simple systems.