Quote:
Originally Posted by Orruar
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I wasn't debating the notion of where value comes from. You went off on quite a tangent to attack that straw man. I was pointing out the reason why the value structure of diamonds is the way that it is, and that changing the value structure in a world where the production of diamonds is unchanged is probably impossible. Yes, diamonds by themselves only have value because we as people perceive them to have value. But the structure of value is mostly independent of our value judgments and primarily rooted in the physical properties (non-fusability, variability of size) of diamonds.
Take an analogy: Cars are the same in regards to their structure of value. You'll have a hell of a time selling a left half of a car for half the price of a whole car. And just saying "we could change our values so that isn't so" isn't likely to change that fact.
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i get that. and that doesn't take away from the behavior of value being attached via a human or humans. this isn't dueling banjos, but a material notion being argued against a behavioral.
that's a bad analogy though because a car is, at base, a tool with a desired function.