| The Best Things in Life are Free | |
|---|---|
| Tweet Topic Started: Jul 6 2009, 11:17 PM (81 Views) | |
| Linda | Jul 6 2009, 11:17 PM Post #1 |
|
removed
Edited by Linda, Feb 23 2012, 09:55 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Linda | Jul 6 2009, 11:47 PM Post #2 |
|
removed
Edited by Linda, Feb 23 2012, 09:54 PM.
|
![]() |
|
| Raye | Jul 7 2009, 12:03 AM Post #3 |
|
Linda should really take a course in Microeconomics... Firstly, opportunity cost. Secondly, does marginal benefit exceed marginal cost? Thirdly, there is no such thing as a free lunch. (= Thank you, Mr. Lilly. |
![]() |
|
| Matteo | Jul 7 2009, 12:18 AM Post #4 |
|
Some thoughts: pick them apart at your leisure, folks. I’ve more or less just thrown them together – they aren’t entirely the way I view things, but more or less – some of it is just argumentation, devoid of any personal basis. I think you miss the point when you differentiate between monetary and intrinsic value. Diamonds are priced highly not because they are rare, but because they are rare, AND they are useful. Value is entirely in perception. A diamond ring is valuable not because it is rare, but because we use it to symbolize something we have been led to value, and because we have been led to believe that diamonds symbolize those things better than, say, copper and tin. But a diamond’s value is tied to its price – monetary value is related to intrinsic value. Something worthless monetarily is also worthless in an intrinsic sense. Now, you might raise air here, and you have a valid point. But does oxygen actually have a value? Biologically, yes, but to us in a conscious way? Can you even identify it? How does oxygen smell, relative to nitrogen? And if we choose to attach a monetary value to something - say, if we began charging people based on how much air they breathed - we can influence its intrinsic value too. If, as a society, we swallow the notion of paying for our air, we put, at long last, a human value on air, rather than a biological one. Because nobody looks at a hamburger and says: "Behold, energy enough for me to last 28 hours, and maybe find a mate and procreate, thereby furthering my biological purpose!" Value is a societal construct, not a biological one. (Biology has its own form of “value,” but I think it ceases to apply in a society more complex than a solitary ape in a cave. Once we stop acting based solely on ourselves, and start to factor in others, we have to factor them into value, too, and simple biological equations no longer apply.) A monetary value, remember, is - in a free market, at least - a stand in for demand, and thereby for popularity. So, making something cost more is analogous to going out and telling all your friends how wonderful it is. And the value goes up. Because where's the intrinsic value in shoes? In protecting the feet? The value is there because we've decided we need to protect our feet. If we were convinced otherwise, or brought up barefoot, the only role shoes would play would be fashion, and we might think of them as useless - or, alternatively, as the high of self-expression. But it's all in perception. Intrinsic value doesn't exist independent of context - of people, of society, etc. Oh, and making something free? I think you have to remember that value is relative – if I can have an apple OR an orange, that changes the way I value oranges. Because every orange is now worth -1 apples. |
![]() |
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Psychological Discussion · Next Topic » |






5:47 PM Jul 10