Jeroen van Baardwijk wrote:
>
>> No, money is just a unit of value. Thus, for anything that
>> has a value, that value can be converted into units of
>> dollars.
>
> How do you convert an emotional value into dollars?
>
Let me take this - please correct me if I'm wrong,
because there may be 20 years since I read this - Bog,
I guess I'm old :-)
For every single sentient being, there are things
that are worth more than others. This value is
*totally* subjective, changes with time, and probably
isn't logic, so that someone may prefer A to B, B to C,
and C to A. However, this creates, for each sophont :-),
a scale of values - again, a personal and subjective value.
Things become interesting when you compare the values
of two different sophonts, because sometimes P1 may
find A more valuable than B, while P2 finds B more
valuable than A - and this is the basis of commerce.
It's upon this axiom that the _science_ of Economy tries
to be built: how to predict what P<i>, for i varying from
1 to 6 Giga, will do based on each one's own personal,
subjective, individual and usually illogic pseudo-ordering
of values.
So, answering your question.
An emotional value *can* be converted in dollars, based
on how much you are willing to pay [or receive] for it or
for not having it.
For example, my pleasure of making a joke values more
than the cost I usually pay for being misunderstood O:-)
Alberto Monteiro
