Does value only have to do with scarcity? What about human life?

Gold is something we value, time is something we also value and


human life is another thing we value.





Is gold more or less scarce than life?


Do we value gold more than life or life more than gold?





Do we have different reasons, guidelines other than scarcity, to value


life, gold or anything else?





So, what other reasons/ideas do we base value or worth on?|||Gold has no "real" monetary or human value other than its practical value. That is, its value as an object or material to construct something like either jewelry or electronics, or dental fillings.





The thing is, humans ascribe value to gold in terms of currency, and in fact it is only worth what someone will pay for it. Likewise its value might be equal to the labor and material needed to extract it from the earth.





But if currency has no value and gold has no added value because currency is valueless, then gold itself has no real value other than its intrinsic value for practical uses and the value of whatever it takes to mine it.





So in that sense of the word, monetary value of gold is elusive and quite frankly, contrived. It is a creation of a marketplace governed ostensibly by the laws of supply and demand and a third factor, called greed.





Human life has value but it is not subject to commerce. Because life has value, time within that life has value.





Therefore, one could argue that human life and time are more valuable than gold, however, gold does require human beings and time to find and extract.





But because people are paid for their time and labor and must be living in order to provide labor, they might trade that for gold or money or food, or whatever.





But does Gold have more value? No. Is gold more scarce than life? No. There's more gold above ground today than in all of recorded human history up to 1849.





I think the guidelines for gold are likely aesthetics (jewelry) or whatever else it can be used for, like incorporated into some necessary product.





Value or worth is largely based upon the same principles of supply and demand, but the application of those principles are different as divided between material things (gold) and human life and time which are living things (human value).|||I think scarcity is probably it.





Do we really value life that much? Not if it's only a few million foreign people, then we can carpet bomb them into the stone age and no one minds that much. Or at least the people who do mind are outnumbered by the people who think it's cool.|||It has to do with what is revered for whatever reason. Virtuous acts have value even if they might not be scarce at times.|||scarcity only increases value of something that is in demand -- it doesn't confer value onto things no-one wants.


For example, you can draw an ugly-one-of-a-kind painting, and it will not be worth as much as a Warhol print, which there are many of.





Value for some things such as food and shelter have some reasons behind them, but for many things, value is completely arbitrary with no rhyme or reason behind it. If you want something, it's valuable.|||well thats not really an easy question to answer because its all about opinion. some people value water even though there are oceans of it. some people just don't value life at all and would gladly accept a dollar in exchange for someones life. so basically the only way to sum up what we base value or worth on is to write down everything in existence. ever heard the expression one mans junk is another mans treasure? if you name it, guaranteed someone out there values it more than anything. value isnt just based on scarcity. it could also be based on need, demand, or even just want. you gotta remember we're all different|||You have to ask "to whom is this or that thing of value, and how much of a priority is it in importance"?





Values to humans are values to a single human being, living, needing freedom from tyranny, safety and presumable a game plan of priorities, goals, abilities, life-positive investable "capital" of all sorts and physical capability to do something about creating those goals.





That's why in psychology, safety and earned self confidence--as well as self-control and non-addictive behavior--rate as Man's highest priorities; because without these, one can't do or be certain of anything.





The highest value other than or beyond basic safety, emotional normative non-addiction, and earned self-confidence is trained capability at important creative efforts; added to "liberty" expressed through rights, this means you as a normative (perfectly-good-enough) being have powers by which to achieve whatever you want; but you then need permission from a non-totalitarian society's government, so you can do something about your chosen purposes, your desired step-by-step program, your (hopefully) realistic) Plan to make yourself happier: by investing lost capital to earn a profit; and then to enjoy some sort of emotionally, mentally or physical state real property, conditions, future possibilities, riches, personal relations, etc.





Trust in your own mind and its realism, meaning knowing how to define and evaluate scientific categories--comes first.


With liberty and basic honesty about how you're doing--it's most of what you need beside liberty under Law.|||Gold is not scarce, lots of people has some either in jewelery, teeth, or coins. Humans are not scarce either. We do value our own lives and those of our friends and family.


As for gold I wish they would release it from the bricks at fort knox, and use it to plate the statue of liberty. or something near ground zero.|||Dear Nickel: Scarcity is a man-made condition. It is made on purpose out of greed, to create FEAR. Fear of lack, fear of scarcity is what creates demand. If gold were held without value, we would find it lying on the ground everywhere. Anything can be made scarce, including things considered worthless. Diamonds are nothing but pieces of carbon. Did you know diamonds are purposely kept scarce by those who control the market? There are enough diamonds on this planet to flood the market and make them abundant. There is also sufficient gold in the world, it just hasn't been mined or discovered yet. Those who want to maniplate us, to control our level of fear, so as to create demand, know this is true. Capitalism is based not on supply and demand, but rather on scarcity. No wonder we find supplies scarce and expensive in the world. Commodity prices are set on speculation, which is really a level of fear tranlated into dollars. Prices are fixed on projects (which are estimates) and this creates the supposed level of scarcity that drives demand. Nobody in the commodities market wants too much available, because this drives down prices and relieves demand. If there are too many pigs, or beef steers or chickens, they kill them en mass and this creates scarcity. If there is too much orange juice, they tear down the trees that create too much at once. If there is a cure for cancer, they hide the formula, so that pharmacautical companies and the medical profession can keep on making money. If there is too much money, they create inflation to devalue it and thus reduce supply. If there are too many cars, people won't pay the exhorbitant prices and demand drops, corporations loose money and this results in fear that they may go out of business.





What does have value are the things which are intangible...such things as the value of life in every form. Who has the right, to set a value on a single human life? Every human is different, and that means, every human being is priceless. Only those who are self-appointed think they have such rights, when in fact, they take liberties that are not theirs. Worth is always self-established. The way we treat our world and each other, says something about our value system of worth. We have not done a good job of this, because war and misery and suffering on this planet have never been rightfully addressed. We use words like peace, to mean "US" have it all regardless of others. Peace for US so we may have all of it, while the others be damned.





When we place no value on life in any form because we believe in our heart of hearts, that it is priceless...when we share everything we have with others, and give freely without expectation of profit or return...we will have learned the true meaning of living and being alive. Many say this is idealism or idyllism, but I say it is a reality, only one step away begging that it be done. We are experiencing the pain caused by FEAR of loss, fear created by man made scarcity - it wouldn't be happening except we have lost our true sense of what really has value - that life in EVERY FORM, is priceless and requires love.|||It's all about money. We value gold more than anything, I know I do.