When a child is born, it values its mothers breast above anything else (if the child is male, valuing breasts is likely to stick with him till he dies). As the child grows up and learns from its suroundings, it realizes what people are placing value on and how that value is measured. Sooner or later it is being taught the concept of exchanging paper for items and of doing something (service) to avail itself of that paper.
I am quite sure that it is pretty hard to argue with the above, at least in a Western World setting. I now propose that it is not the individual that initially places a value on something, but that instead it accepts the value someone else has placed on it without question. The next time that child might be wondering about the value of things, and most importantly, if "it is all worth it", he or she is likely to be in a backbreaking job, bogged down by insurance and mortgage payments and forced to accept the value others place on items. The alternative is to live in a cave (but make that a cave that is public property or you'll be told how much value the cave has in terms of property tax), or to pack your things and retire to Southeast Asia ;o) Seriously, I agree with you, in theory. Unfortunately, in practice things tend to be quite a bit different than that, and the only way to really freely place a value of your own on items and make your own choices is by having enough items others place value on (gold, cash, property, blonde virgins, camels, sheep (NZ), etc.) and being able to exchange whatever you need for those. It is fairly easy to abstract humanity and preach lofty ideals, publish great concepts and thoughtful comments, mainly because it's free of charge to muse. It is far harder to actually have humanity conform with your ideas, and harder still to convince them that they are wrong and should change their attitudes. In the end, the fact that people are herd animals and that every learning process starts with copying renders much of the philosophical writings through the ages pretty obsolete. Sad, but unfortunately true. While that might not apply to some or maybe even most of the people on the list, the majority of the inhabitants are born followers and need others to go along with them and someone to tell them where to go to. Cheers, Robert. budget & privacy website hosting http://www.cyberica.net e-commerce & e-business services http://www.cyfrocash.com budget domain registrations http://www.u2planet.com --- You are currently subscribed to e-gold-list as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Use e-gold's Secure Randomized Keyboard (SRK) when accessing your e-gold account(s) via the web and shopping cart interfaces to help thwart keystroke loggers and common viruses.
