Topic: On "intrinsic value" and why it actually means "subjective value" - page 2. (Read 6129 times)

So, coke is it and it is coke? Tautology.


If A is required for B's survival AND B prefers to survive, then B must acquire A. Thus, A is has value to B.

Intrinsic is entirely redundant here. The question of survivability is still a matter of personal preference.


What's the difference between a property and an intrinsic property? Malleability is simply a property of gold.

I'm going back to bed lol

Sorry, I hadn't read your post   I can't think of an argument against that; however, intrinsic value when applied to gold makes little sense, which is where I often see it coupled.  It has some handy qualities but nothing we couldn't live without.

Hypothetically, a pill that absolved the body of a certain type of cancer would have an incredible amount of value.

However, because I have a cancer-free body, as do my peers and relatives, I prescribe it no value.

Thus, the value of said pill would be subjective.  The objective value would be the cost of production.

I have no idea where people got this "intrinsic value" stuff from.  Something has value because we prescribe it value.  That is all.

intrinsic is its atoms. intrinsic means its real, either atoms or photons. intrinsic's value == weight or energy.

bitcoin is not real, it's just some numbers that ppl agree on. so no, its not intrinsic, sorry.

From https://economicsandliberty.wordpress.com/2013/04/14/the-myth-of-intrinsic-value/

The Myth of "Intrisic Value"

Many folks make the argument that Bitcoin has no “intrinsic value”. What they fail to realize is that no thing has “intrinsic value” – not even gold. No thing has value in and of itself. Value is a verb. In order for something to have value it must be “valued” by someone.

Value is subjective.

Bitcoin is not “backed” by anything and neither is gold. Neither has to be backed by anything. Some people value gold for what it is and what it allows you to do with it. Some people value bitcoin for what it is and what it allows you to do with it.

Bitcoin is a new commodity created to serve the market demand for a better medium of exchange (https://economicsandliberty.wordpress.com/2011/06/22/bitcoin-a-new-commodity-created-to-serve-market-demand/).

Aristotle wrote in his politics, roughly 2300 years ago


http://www.gutenberg.org/files/6762/6762-h/6762-h.htm

All value is subjective: http://wiki.mises.org/wiki/Subjective_theory_of_value

Philologically, you are absolutely correct.

It would be nice if the world worked that way...

As it is, using the language as it is spoken and commonly understood is much more useful.  Especially when trying to explain some of the finer points of the complexity that is bitcoin.

What is "intrinsic"?
According to Mirriam Webster: "belonging to the essential nature or constitution of a thing". We are talking about something absolute. The absolute property of a thing.

And what is "value"?
Here it is said to be "relative worth, utility, or importance". This is relative. The relative relation someone has with a thing.

So when someone says "intrinsic value", do they mean that something relative (value) can be absolute (intrinsic)?

Well, you see, "intrinsic value" is simply what a gold lover would call "intrinsic property that I value". Gold has intrinsic properties that are worth some people's time and effort. But if this gold lover would be stuck on a desert island thristy and hungry with nobody to help him or trade with, he would probably have no interest whatsoever in gold. Even though it is a powerful metal and conducts electricity.

So when people say "instrinsic value" what they mean is "intrsinsic property for which people usually assign value, but not everyone and not always". I call that subjective value.

See, if you gave me a piece of gold, I'd hold on to it. Not because I need it. I'd hold on to it because I know someone else will want it. Maybe that someone else wants it because they want to make a piece of jewlery. But even though I don't make jewlery, I still understand that this piece of gold has something intrinsic about it that makes it valuable to someone else.

The same can be said about sheep (for shepards), peanuts (for elephants), dollars (for coke sniffers), and bitcoins (for anyone with a computer or smartphone).

If you ever want to say "intrinsic value" ever again, please instead say "subjective value". And from now on you can say that bitcoins have "subjective value", because I personally am willing to give you work or money for them.