Maybe We Are Measuring Value Wrong
2803 sats \ 16 comments \ @kepford 29 Nov 2023 bitcoin
This isn't a new thought, not even a new thought for me but I was just reminded of the idea. We tend to measure things in monetary values. Maybe sats or dollars. But that measurement misses something. How much is x worth to me. In most of the world, people earn fractions of what a software developer in the west earns.
Some earn less that $30 a day. I don't even think about $30. But I'm thinking about it wrong. I'm thinking about it in fiat terms. What if you think about money in relation to your work and time. This is a day of my life. What is nothing for me might be a massive thing for someone in different situation.
10,000 sats in current market terms isn't much. If your time preference is low, it is much more valuable. If you only make 80,000 sats a day it is probably even more valuable.
What if we started thinking about wealth and income in terms of how many days can I live in my current lifestyle without working? That changes things doesn't it?
Just a thought.
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766 sats \ 0 replies \ @josh 30 Nov 2023
Value is such an interesting concept. It’s both relative and absolute, concrete and abstract, and amorphous, all at the same time.
Is value defined by the price of some basket of goods and services in the United States? Of course not. On the Internet, there are no borders, and value doesn’t see borders either.
I see value as being defined by opportunity cost. For a particular good or service, what is the opportunity cost of investing in it? Where else could that investment be put to use? If there are many opportunities, it’s worth less, and if there are few, it’s worth more. This explains why a lottery ticket is worth more to someone with few opportunities, and less to someone with many. What might be rational for one person might be seen as irrational by another, but the value of the lottery ticket exists nonetheless.
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130 sats \ 9 replies \ @DarthCoin 29 Nov 2023
But that measurement misses something. How much is x worth to me. In most of the world, people earn fractions of what a software developer in the west earns.
Very good thought. Same things are described in the book Praxeology by Knut Svanholm.
Or you can listen the audio reading of the book on the Axioms of Liberty podcast.
Very good book.
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394 sats \ 6 replies \ @kepford OP 29 Nov 2023
New podcast as well. This deserves more sats.
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0 sats \ 5 replies \ @DarthCoin 29 Nov 2023
not to me, to them, Knut and Axiom
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0 sats \ 3 replies \ @kepford OP 29 Nov 2023
Is Knut a bitcoiner?
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220 sats \ 1 reply \ @DarthCoin 29 Nov 2023
LOL he's the one that wrote this book https://bitcoinbook.shop/products/bitcoin-everything-divided-by-21-million He have also a good podcast: https://fountain.fm/show/8mtm16R4kmG8LwjASUok
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 30 Nov 2023
I wish this was the dumbest thing I did today.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 29 Nov 2023
Duh, of course he is...
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 29 Nov 2023
Already have and will send more after I listen.
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 29 Nov 2023
You know what, I've heard this book referenced before and I know a bit about Praxeology. For sure I need to read this book :)
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford OP 29 Nov 2023
Thanks, I'll check it out. Though my reading list is already out of hand.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @SN023 30 Nov 2023
Almost what I was thinking about. Hope this is not a "stupid" question. How will we measure the value of bitcoin when all existing fiat and currencies are gone, only bitcoin existing as a means of payment. And I think you somewhat answered my question.
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10 sats \ 0 replies \ @shado_op 29 Nov 2023
It's a good thought. Most of us are running to stand still, all over the world. Like the old Boomtown Rats song; It's a rat race, and we've been caught!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @chungkingexpress 30 Nov 2023
It is a thing. The unit in economics is known as "Utility", and is measured using "Utils".
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @BitcoinIsTheFuture 30 Nov 2023
Solid perspective, right on!
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0 sats \ 0 replies \ @nullama 30 Nov 2023
You can't put a fixed value to time itself, because that is subjective. Fiat is used as a proxy for that.
Imagine this. A bus driver in Germany probably gets paid more than a bus driver in India. But at the end of the day they can roughly pay for the same amount of stuff for their work in their respective countries.
Now, of course there will be differences in how much you can get in both countries, because it's a complex system, with each country having different laws, incentives, etc. But at the end of the day, it is how people live and think about work.
Fiat is just a proxy to capture this idea, because time valuation changes over time. An inexperienced 18 year old would value their time less than an experienced worker in their 40s. Also, some people intrinsically value their time more than others.
That's why fiat (or bitcoin, or any kind of money) is used for exchanging goods and services instead of time.
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