Let me start out by saying that nothing intrinsically has value.
In this entire world I have not found anything that has a value that matters to everyone universally. It is a difficult trick to think this thought and support materialism.
I don't intend to attack or hurt persons who adhere to materialism so please take this as your note if you are easily offended, reading on absolves me of any guilt for hurting you. It should also be noted that since a person is not their beliefs I shouldn't be able to hurt people by attacking materialism, but you never know.
Materialism relies on material value to defend a lifestyle. It hinges on the belief that you can own objects or ideas which possess value. The ownership of such objects which I call "stuff" is considered to be pleasurable.
The thing is that stuff is hard to own. Can you really own something if it can be stolen? I'll bypass that and say that no matter how much you believe you own stuff things outside of you may correct that perception. If something is stolen or destroyed your objective value is destroyed as well. The burnt husk of your cigar does not have the value of an unlit one. You pay for the cigar, then most likely you pay to dispose of it. Imagine if anything else was like that. You don't have to. The current average selling price of a car in the United States is around thirty two thousand dollars. In the past one hundred years we have learned that the average price an american gets back for their car when they get rid of it is what it is worth for scrap. Right now that is a few hundred dollars.
Where did that value go? It just stopped existing. The only place I can guess it went was time and services provided by the car.
This is where things get really weird in that you trade your time and service so you can afford to buy this stuff. So every day you get up and go to work you exchange time (a limited and precious commodity) for money (a limitless commodity). You cannot eat, drink, sleep on or receive any direct service or benefit from money. If the backing of the dollar failed tomorrow things in this country would become quite different.
Which brings to the conclusion: Possession of goods is only a proof of the ability to hold on to something. This is why the concept of digital piracy is so very silly. Inflation would be a sillier concept if it didn't ruin life for so many people.
In this entire world I have not found anything that has a value that matters to everyone universally. It is a difficult trick to think this thought and support materialism.
I don't intend to attack or hurt persons who adhere to materialism so please take this as your note if you are easily offended, reading on absolves me of any guilt for hurting you. It should also be noted that since a person is not their beliefs I shouldn't be able to hurt people by attacking materialism, but you never know.
Materialism relies on material value to defend a lifestyle. It hinges on the belief that you can own objects or ideas which possess value. The ownership of such objects which I call "stuff" is considered to be pleasurable.
The thing is that stuff is hard to own. Can you really own something if it can be stolen? I'll bypass that and say that no matter how much you believe you own stuff things outside of you may correct that perception. If something is stolen or destroyed your objective value is destroyed as well. The burnt husk of your cigar does not have the value of an unlit one. You pay for the cigar, then most likely you pay to dispose of it. Imagine if anything else was like that. You don't have to. The current average selling price of a car in the United States is around thirty two thousand dollars. In the past one hundred years we have learned that the average price an american gets back for their car when they get rid of it is what it is worth for scrap. Right now that is a few hundred dollars.
Where did that value go? It just stopped existing. The only place I can guess it went was time and services provided by the car.
This is where things get really weird in that you trade your time and service so you can afford to buy this stuff. So every day you get up and go to work you exchange time (a limited and precious commodity) for money (a limitless commodity). You cannot eat, drink, sleep on or receive any direct service or benefit from money. If the backing of the dollar failed tomorrow things in this country would become quite different.
Which brings to the conclusion: Possession of goods is only a proof of the ability to hold on to something. This is why the concept of digital piracy is so very silly. Inflation would be a sillier concept if it didn't ruin life for so many people.
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