What are badges?

at the bottom of my profile page it says:

Badges
● Famous Question × 3 ● Notable Question × 4 ● Popular Question × 5
● Scholar × 1 ● Commentator × 1

what does any of that mean? why would I want badges? how would I earn badges? can I hock them at a pawn shop?

Your badges are marks of your merits

Ok, JohnSUN, thanks for your response - I understand what badges actually ARE and what each one means… but why do I CARE about badges, merits???
why does the system keep track, do people ever pay attention to any of that stuff? can other people view the badges I have earned so far? can people get onto my profile to view my history here?

The presence of your badges shows that you are not an accidental visitor to the resource, which limited himself to one question, received an answer and left forever - you are an active member of the community

You don’t have to take care of the badges - they simply accumulate over time, signal your activity and usefulness, add credibility to your answers (you must admit that the answer from the veteran looks more convincing than from the beginner).

And yes - your history can be viewed. Does it bother you? Did you do something unworthy, which should be ashamed?

why does the system keep track

Because this is what they call meritocracy.

There are no badges in any LO component (Writer, Calc, …).

In case this is not the answer you expect, edit your question and retag it to better identify the topic.