On Sun, Jul 22, 2001 at 08:36:08PM +1200, K.Feete wrote:
> Well, um, what do you mean by "value"? It's not a constant, you
> know, like, say, the US dollar. (Which isn't all that constant
> either, come to think of it....) One man's trash is another man's
> treasure, right? So, if value fluctuates, what is it fluctuating
> in response to? The goal of the person, business, or country, of
> course- and therefore goal-setting is a more important component of
> decision-making than cost-benefit analysis, because without a goal
> you've no starting point.
>
> You *can't* determine the value of a decision without cost-benefit
> analysis in some form, as stated above; but cost-benefit analysis is
> not the only step or even the most important step.
In a world of 6B. people, the goals and emotions of many people
will often be in conflict with each other. Goals and emotions vary
considerably from person to person, but logic and numbers are relatively
consistent between people. So, the best way that I have seen to make
decisions and to allocate resources that affect lots of people is to
use some sort of cost/benefit analysis. Sometimes, it will break down
because the value people place on certain things (eg., lives) will vary
dramatically. But even then, I think _attempting_ to quantify it is a
better way to communicate a point of view to someone from a different
culture or worldview than saying, "I just feel that this is priceless!"
--
"Erik Reuter" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.erikreuter.com/
