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| Value of a culture = Conditions that Persist? |
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| kojax |
 Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 12:02 am Post subject: |
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Forum Radioactive Isotope
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| marcusclayman wrote: |
Also, it would not be sad if we did think this way. It is natural not to want to protect things that don't need to be protected. Or at least to protect things as much as they need to be protected. Like if you have less water than someone else, you will naturally protect it more; assuming you are both of equal temperament, ability and circumstances. |
So, the amount that we're willing to pay for something is dependent both on its value, and the degree to which it needs protection. Maybe that's why war is so profitable. You're charging people for something that, absent a war, they might be getting for free.
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Air at the bottom of a coal mine, or underwater is worth a great deal. Compressed air used in industry, construction and inflation is worthwhile as well.
Breath is worth a great deal, if you don't think so stop breathing. Then think about, if you had to, how much you would spend to breath again. If it's given away for free, it doesn't loose its worth, we loose our need to purchase it. We might FORGET it's worth, but that doesn't make it any less worthwhile. |
I think I understand now. It's what you would be willing to pay if you had to, not necessarily what you are paying now. We can't really measure that in absolute values, though. It seems more accurate to describe it in terms of the percentage of a person's means that they would be willing to give. If we describe it in absolute values, then we will inevitably arrive at the conclusion that human beings who don't have money aren't worth anything. The air they breath clearly isn't worth very much, because they wouldn't be willing (or able) to pay a lot for it.
Maybe it just depends on what aspect of "worth" we are looking at. Could we relate this back to culture, since some cultures are able to pay more for the air they breathe than others? Here I'm more trying to examine our perception than the reality. The conclusion itself is clearly absurd, but it's logical given our assumptions. So,... something must be wrong with those assumptions. |
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| marcusclayman |
| Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 6:57 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
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"If we describe it in absolute values, then we will inevitably arrive at the conclusion that human beings who don't have money aren't worth anything."
No, because what you have is not a measure of what someone would pay for you. People purchase things and services. If you have no services to offer, then yes, to an economy you are not worth anything. But just because you have no things doesn't mean you have nothing to offer in the market.
Look at the entertainment industry, they aren't giving us things, but we are giving them a great deal of things for what they give us.
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| kojax |
| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 1:17 am Post subject: |
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Forum Radioactive Isotope
Joined: 27 Mar 2007
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| marcusclayman wrote: |
"If we describe it in absolute values, then we will inevitably arrive at the conclusion that human beings who don't have money aren't worth anything."
No, because what you have is not a measure of what someone would pay for you. People purchase things and services. If you have no services to offer, then yes, to an economy you are not worth anything. But just because you have no things doesn't mean you have nothing to offer in the market.
Look at the entertainment industry, they aren't giving us things, but we are giving them a great deal of things for what they give us. |
If that's the case, then having a valuable service to offer and having money are basically the same thing. It's like making a distinction between owning a gold watch worth 500 dollars, and just plain having 500 dollars. If my employer paid me in gold, or services, the IRS would still tax me for the value.
So, economic value is based on how much people with either money, or job skills, are willing to pay?
What would you say about a situation like where a number of people are terminally ill, but doses of the cure are in scarce supply? The amount of money any individual is willing to pay for that cure would be exactly equal to their net worth. If cures were more plentiful than disease victims, then normal market rules would apply and people would be paying only a reasonable price to get one. Is the cure more valuable because of its scarcity?
This leads to the conclusion that limiting the number of antidotes so that their price goes up is economically sound behavior. Suppose there are 500 victims. If 600 cures are made, the price per unit will be much lower than if there are only 400 cures made. If the price goes up by 51%, then those 400 will sell for more total money than the 600 would have. But.... does that mean the economy is better off? Is increasing the value of the 400 cures better than having 600 cures? (Remember that 100 people will die of disease in order for this to happen.) |
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| marcusclayman |
| Posted: Fri Feb 19, 2010 6:30 am Post subject: |
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no it doesn't mean the economy is better off
there really is no such thing as a better or a worse economy
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| kojax |
| Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2010 2:32 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Radioactive Isotope
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| marcusclayman wrote: |
no it doesn't mean the economy is better off
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Yeah. But it's kind of funny that our current models seem to make it look like it would be.
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there really is no such thing as a better or a worse economy |
What?!?!?!?!?!!?!?!?
The I guess we have all the more reason not to recognize "economic refugee" as a class of refugee. There's nothing for them to be a refugee from, if all economies are equally good. |
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