From: johnny moral (johnnymoral@hotmail.com)
Date: Fri Jun 04 2004 - 16:12:00 BST
Hi Marsha,
That's an interesting way to think about value through time...
I wonder why those tool patterns haven't evolved toward DQ and become remote
controls or cell phones or something useful? Why are they still old tools?
Because they are patterns and patterns repeat themselves into the future,
creating the present, where they sit on a coffee table.
Their value is that they stayed as they were expected, the pattern repeated
itself as it was expected to.
I suppose you are thinking of their value as tools, or as collectables, and
that sort of value can be put into the terms I'm using in this thread, too.
If, as I've been saying here, value is expectation being realized, or
patterns repeating, then the high value of them as collectables comes from
the expectation being realized that other collectors will agree they are
worth some large amount of cash. Their value is precisely how strong that
expectation is. And their low value as tools comes from not expecting them
to be able to do anything useful today, or to probably break if they were
actually used.
In fact, if we expect them to break if we were to use them, then there is
high value in them meeting that expectation and breaking. That sort of
value isn't a monetary value, it isn't a material value, it is a moral
value, a value that comes from feeling that the universe is ordered and
predictable. That value is greater than the monetaryl value of the tool, no
matter how valuable the tool is. I don't know how much people would pay for
the universe being ordered and predictable, but I suspect a lot. After all
a dollar is only as valuable as the expectation that someone will give you a
dollar of stuff for it.
Johnny
>Greetings,
>
>A friend keeps on a center table in her LivingRoom a container filled with
>esoteric tools from the 19th Century. These tools contain an antique
>patina, but are in pristine condition. The present function of these
>collected tools is to promote conversation. Guests try to guess the
>original use of each item. Their original function, for the most part, is
>no longer recognizable.
>
>Any one of these tools might add an interesting twist to this discussion.
>I hope. Anyway, I wondered about their value through time.
>
>MarshaV
_________________________________________________________________
MSN 9 Dial-up Internet Access fights spam and pop-ups – now 3 months FREE!
http://join.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200361ave/direct/01/
MOQ.ORG - http://www.moq.org
Mail Archives:
Aug '98 - Oct '02 - http://alt.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/
Nov '02 Onward - http://www.venus.co.uk/hypermail/moq_discuss/summary.html
MD Queries - horse@darkstar.uk.net
To unsubscribe from moq_discuss follow the instructions at:
http://www.moq.org/md/subscribe.html
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Fri Jun 04 2004 - 16:13:56 BST