Skip to content
  • Categories
  • Recent
  • Tags
  • Popular
  • World
  • Users
  • Groups
Skins
  • Light
  • Cerulean
  • Cosmo
  • Flatly
  • Journal
  • Litera
  • Lumen
  • Lux
  • Materia
  • Minty
  • Morph
  • Pulse
  • Sandstone
  • Simplex
  • Sketchy
  • Spacelab
  • United
  • Yeti
  • Zephyr
  • Dark
  • Cyborg
  • Darkly
  • Quartz
  • Slate
  • Solar
  • Superhero
  • Vapor

  • Default (No Skin)
  • No Skin
Collapse
Code Project
  1. Home
  2. Other Discussions
  3. The Back Room
  4. What makes things appreciate?

What makes things appreciate?

Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved The Back Room
question
10 Posts 5 Posters 0 Views 1 Watching
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as topic
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
  • W Offline
    W Offline
    wolfbinary
    wrote on last edited by
    #1

    After seeing the stock market do it's little tantrum of up and down, what makes something worth anything at all? Isn't it just what people think it's worth? If that's the case then how do people make things priceless?

    L C 2 Replies Last reply
    0
    • W wolfbinary

      After seeing the stock market do it's little tantrum of up and down, what makes something worth anything at all? Isn't it just what people think it's worth? If that's the case then how do people make things priceless?

      L Offline
      L Offline
      Lost User
      wrote on last edited by
      #2

      If you think about it (which I rarely do) nothing has intrinsic value, except what an individual will put on it. If I find a shiny rock on the beach and someone offers me £1,000,000 for it, it's still a rock from the beach. Gold is only a lump of metal, why is it worth more than lead? Especially since there is an infinite amount of it (sorry, couldn't resist that ;) ).

      txtspeak is the realm of 9 year old children, not developers. Christian Graus

      W I 2 Replies Last reply
      0
      • L Lost User

        If you think about it (which I rarely do) nothing has intrinsic value, except what an individual will put on it. If I find a shiny rock on the beach and someone offers me £1,000,000 for it, it's still a rock from the beach. Gold is only a lump of metal, why is it worth more than lead? Especially since there is an infinite amount of it (sorry, couldn't resist that ;) ).

        txtspeak is the realm of 9 year old children, not developers. Christian Graus

        W Offline
        W Offline
        wolfbinary
        wrote on last edited by
        #3

        Richard MacCutchan wrote:

        Especially since there is an infinite amount of it

        Very funny :laugh:

        Richard MacCutchan wrote:

        If you think about it (which I rarely do) nothing has intrinsic value, except what an individual will put on it.

        That's exactly my point. Why do humans value shiny things like gold, silver, diamonds, etc and not people when there can only be one of me and only one of you ever to exist?

        L T 2 Replies Last reply
        0
        • W wolfbinary

          After seeing the stock market do it's little tantrum of up and down, what makes something worth anything at all? Isn't it just what people think it's worth? If that's the case then how do people make things priceless?

          C Offline
          C Offline
          Christian Graus
          wrote on last edited by
          #4

          The value of everything is based on how much people want it. The stock market falls when there's panic, and rises at least in part because people start to buy in b/c stocks have fallen. The whole thing is not based on reason, not entirely.

          Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

          W 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • L Lost User

            If you think about it (which I rarely do) nothing has intrinsic value, except what an individual will put on it. If I find a shiny rock on the beach and someone offers me £1,000,000 for it, it's still a rock from the beach. Gold is only a lump of metal, why is it worth more than lead? Especially since there is an infinite amount of it (sorry, couldn't resist that ;) ).

            txtspeak is the realm of 9 year old children, not developers. Christian Graus

            I Offline
            I Offline
            Ian Shlasko
            wrote on last edited by
            #5

            Very true. Value is entirely subjective... Things are worth what people think they're worth. The most interesting effect of that is, I think, the stock market. It's all a big psychology experiment... Everything is worth what people think it should be worth... The old "Perception is reality" line is 100% true.

            Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
            Author of Guardians of Xen (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novel)

            1 Reply Last reply
            0
            • C Christian Graus

              The value of everything is based on how much people want it. The stock market falls when there's panic, and rises at least in part because people start to buy in b/c stocks have fallen. The whole thing is not based on reason, not entirely.

              Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

              W Offline
              W Offline
              wolfbinary
              wrote on last edited by
              #6

              Christian Graus wrote:

              The whole thing is not based on reason, not entirely.

              This is where I get very miffed, but I guess its more of a moral issue than anything else.

              Christian Graus wrote:

              The value of everything is based on how much people want it.

              How does this apply to the value of people? I'm not sure it does.

              C L 2 Replies Last reply
              0
              • W wolfbinary

                Christian Graus wrote:

                The whole thing is not based on reason, not entirely.

                This is where I get very miffed, but I guess its more of a moral issue than anything else.

                Christian Graus wrote:

                The value of everything is based on how much people want it.

                How does this apply to the value of people? I'm not sure it does.

                C Offline
                C Offline
                Christian Graus
                wrote on last edited by
                #7

                wolfbinary wrote:

                How does this apply to the value of people? I'm not sure it does.

                Well, I felt it was implicit that we're talking about things that can be traded for cash. People cannot be bought in the sense of property, or at least, they should not be able to be.

                Christian Graus Driven to the arms of OSX by Vista. Read my blog to find out how I've worked around bugs in Microsoft tools and frameworks.

                1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • W wolfbinary

                  Christian Graus wrote:

                  The whole thing is not based on reason, not entirely.

                  This is where I get very miffed, but I guess its more of a moral issue than anything else.

                  Christian Graus wrote:

                  The value of everything is based on how much people want it.

                  How does this apply to the value of people? I'm not sure it does.

                  L Offline
                  L Offline
                  Lost User
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #8

                  wolfbinary wrote:

                  How does this apply to the value of people? I'm not sure it does.

                  People do indeed have a value. They sell their labour and others purchase that labour. The value is that which meets the argument of supply and demand. This is one of the principles of a market economy. Yet economics is something many think they know, but, in reality, to answer that requires a degree of vagueness. Here are some GoogleBooks for you to read, should you be so inclined. (note they are previews, not all pages are viewable) ... Debunking economics: the naked emperor of the social sciences By Steve Keen[^] The Gorbachev factor By Archie Brown[^] Have a look at Chapter 5 where the politics of Economic reform of Soviet Union from Command economy to market economy caused many headaches. Introduction to international relations: theories and approaches By Robert H. Jackson, Georg Sørensen[^] [edited - fixed typo's]

                  modified on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 5:29 PM

                  1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • W wolfbinary

                    Richard MacCutchan wrote:

                    Especially since there is an infinite amount of it

                    Very funny :laugh:

                    Richard MacCutchan wrote:

                    If you think about it (which I rarely do) nothing has intrinsic value, except what an individual will put on it.

                    That's exactly my point. Why do humans value shiny things like gold, silver, diamonds, etc and not people when there can only be one of me and only one of you ever to exist?

                    L Offline
                    L Offline
                    Lost User
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #9

                    wolfbinary wrote:

                    there can only be one of me

                    Yes, but could I exchange you for a week on a Greek island?

                    txtspeak is the realm of 9 year old children, not developers. Christian Graus

                    1 Reply Last reply
                    0
                    • W wolfbinary

                      Richard MacCutchan wrote:

                      Especially since there is an infinite amount of it

                      Very funny :laugh:

                      Richard MacCutchan wrote:

                      If you think about it (which I rarely do) nothing has intrinsic value, except what an individual will put on it.

                      That's exactly my point. Why do humans value shiny things like gold, silver, diamonds, etc and not people when there can only be one of me and only one of you ever to exist?

                      T Offline
                      T Offline
                      Tim Craig
                      wrote on last edited by
                      #10

                      Diamonds used to be fairly rare until the mines in South Africa. Then de Beers controlled the supply for about a century and had a very good ad agency. Now the Russians control the supply and have kept the price high during the slump by not releasing a single stone for the last couple of years. Gold actually has a number of industrial uses as does silver.

                      You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists.

                      1 Reply Last reply
                      0
                      Reply
                      • Reply as topic
                      Log in to reply
                      • Oldest to Newest
                      • Newest to Oldest
                      • Most Votes


                      • Login

                      • Don't have an account? Register

                      • Login or register to search.
                      • First post
                        Last post
                      0
                      • Categories
                      • Recent
                      • Tags
                      • Popular
                      • World
                      • Users
                      • Groups