
Ask HN: Is value subjective? - ParameterOne
I just want to get an idea of what the HN community thinks about this.  Personally I think value <i>is</i> subjective.  I would also add that I believe reality is also subjective due to the personal nature and perspective of the individual.
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taprun
Imagine that you have two people with the exact same amount of money. One
hasn't had any water in 3 days, the other just drank a gallon of water.

Do you think they'd place different values on a glass of water? Do you think
they'd interpret the glass of water differently?

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barongrounds
If the second person knew of the existence of the first, he could buy the
glass of water and sell it to the first, pocketing any difference. Their
perceived values should be similar.

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dragonwriter
No, there should be an equilibrium market price in dollars thst they both pay
if they are participants in a shared market. That doesn't mean the _value_ to
each is the same.

Of course, the fact that they have access to that shared market also changes
the value to each of them from that in the original hypothetical.

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barongrounds
I think we have a difference in vocabulary. I would say value and equilibrium
market price refer to the same thing, but you are saying it is the particular
use it has to the individual which is of course not quantifiable. Assuming the
person who's had no water has access to a functioning market they will only
pay market price. Arguing about them perceiving it to have a higher value
seems like a pointless philosophical argument.

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hacknat
> reality is also subjective

This is a big leap. While I agree that value is subjective, that doesn't make
reality subjective. Reality is the medium through which our subjective
experiences are negotiated. We are all more or less seeing and hearing the
same events. Of course our interpretation of them can vary drastically, but
that doesn't mean that what "actually" happened is different.

Can a human fully get at the "objective" truth? Probably not, but we can
negotiate pretty close to it, and the more we all hammer away at the same
thing to perceive what is going on with it, the more likely it is that our
generalized observations are pretty close to what is "actually" happening.

Edit:

You can view our perceptions of reality as an evolutionary process. Those of
us who have interpretations of reality that most closely align with "what is
really happening" will probably survive more over the long run. There are, of
course, exceptions, it seems like humans have defense mechanisms in memory
that help survival, so a perfectly clear picture of reality can, sometimes, be
detrimental to human health (especially mental health).

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dragonwriter
Value is sort of the _defining example_ of subjectivity.

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mkempe
No. Breathing is not "subjective". Shelter and food are not subjective values.
Freedom is a necessity of living as a proper human being. It all relates to
your standard of value. For humans, life under the guidance of reason, or
range-of-the-moment emotionalism? for grass, growing with sun, water, and
nutrients; or death in darkness, drought, or lack of CO2? etc.

As for reality being subjective -- do you look before crossing the road? when
was the last time you jumped naked from the top of a skyscraper? would you
enjoy a plate of plutonium for breakfast?

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savethefuture
Just because you believe you can not, does not mean you can not. "Reality" is
processed in our head, everything is/can be subjective if you so choose. If
you choose to believe something else then its your choice again.

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AnimalMuppet
So do you believe that you can do some of mkempe's examples? Do you believe it
strongly enough to try to give us a demo?

If you really believe that you can, and you try, you're going to get a very
painful demonstration that reality does not match your beliefs. And if you
don't believe it enough to try, you're just shooting your mouth off.

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savethefuture
You are way off topic, I never said I believed in random nonsense and that
magic fairies exist. I said we interpret reality in our head and everything is
subjective to our own reality.

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Red_Tarsius
Reality is objective. You can't pray cancer away and denying global warming
doesn't make it disappear. Reality goes on with or without your consent. To
some extent, physical actions can affect your environment.

The millenial narrative tells you that, eventually, reality will align with
our best wishes. False. We must be ready to accept and deal with truths of any
kind, no matter how ugly they are.

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hacknat
I'm not sure how you're addressing the question. I don't think anyone would
disagree with you that reality is "objective". Our perception of it is far
from objective though.

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tmaly
I think value is totally subjective. Mises had this brilliant way to think
about value in his book Human Action. Where you can use ranking or ordering of
things to measure value.

On reality, I tend to think of it as some form of state machine, but this
could very well be a leaky abstraction. We all start with a different set of
inputs and experiences. How we view what we each call reality is largely
shaped by these.

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savethefuture
Value is generally subjective, especially when dealing with bartering or
trading, but things such as currency, have agreed upon values.

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savethefuture
And after you edited your question, if you want to bring reality into the mix,
then yes, everything is created by yourself. You assign value or purpose or
meaning to everything.

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tlex
If you're thinking about accounting value, then no, value is not subjective.
On the other hand, in marketing, value is something perceived by the
customers, thus subjective.

Read more:
[http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/value.html](http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/value.html)

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bjourne
The dictionary definition of value is that it is subjective, isn't it? I
believe it is. Worth, on the other hand, is objective. Value happens to be of
Latin origin and worth of Germanic.

