NationStates Jolt Archive


"Priceless"

Lt_Cody
06-03-2006, 23:51
Can something be so valuable that a "price" cannot be placed on it? (price being not limited to monetary values) Or does everything have its price?
Achtung 45
07-03-2006, 00:06
Well one could argue that theoretically nothing is priceless because money controls everything. All the things you might think would be priceless, like love aren't. Ask someone if they'd give up their spouse, bf/gf or whatever for $900 trillion. If they were smart they would. It'd be naive to say some things are priceless.

However, one could also argue that money is just a worthless piece of paper or metal fabricated by humans, so in that respect, everything is priceless. I'm sure someone will find some exceptions/flaws to those arguments (such as war, perhaps), but that's basically what it is, and I'm not going to pick a side.
Europa alpha
07-03-2006, 00:09
yus. Priceless.

the look on Michael Portilo's face in the election where labour pwned him.

AHAHAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHaaaaa TORY BASTARD
Smunkeeville
07-03-2006, 00:09
I am not sure. My kids have made things that are priceless to me, I wouldn't trade them for any amount of money in the world, but I have to admit the "fair market value" on most of those things would probably be around 30 cents. (if that much)
Secluded Islands
07-03-2006, 00:11
All the things you might think would be priceless, like love aren't. Ask someone if they'd give up their spouse, bf/gf or whatever for $900 trillion. If they were smart they would.

i dont think so. love is priceless. if someone was really in love they would never give it up. not for any price. at least thats how i feel about it...
Neu Leonstein
07-03-2006, 00:14
That depends on how you calculate the real value of things.

Strictly speaking, I'm partial to the idea that nothing has a true price, and that everything is simply worth as much as you value it. Which is what the "market price" really is. And that does allow for priceless things - mainly if you simply don't want to sell for any amount because the thing means so much to you.

But then there are some concepts that have been developed by other schools of economics. Marxists have the Labour Theory of Value (I don't think that would allow for anything priceless either), Greenies have a thing called "Existance Value" (meaning that we put a value on a piece of nature although we never use it or look at it, simply because it's there), Feminists might complain that cow milk is valued higher than a mother's milk and so on and so forth.
New Granada
07-03-2006, 00:16
I think that certain things are priceless to certain people and institutions.

I would wager that the Louvre and other museums would be unwilling to sell certain pieces of their collections regardless of the offering.

I think the best definition of priceless is "not for sale."
Europa alpha
07-03-2006, 00:17
my love for my ex is priceless. (24 hours till the operation goes ahead! all her mates and mine are gonna swoop in for the kill woot!)

anyway, i wont lie, i was a womanising bastard.

"Its not working out, you dont think my opinion me-"
"Yeh sure we're finished whatever, LAURA! go out wimme!"

"Sure"

ect ect.
i broke up with someone by post it once.



But after i met her i was like "wow... shes the one man..."
and even tho she isnt conventionally attractive i really like her.

My love for her is priceless and since i met her i cant actually kiss another girl without feeling dirty.
shes either really really cleverly bastardly evil, or my soulmate.
personally i hope its both.
Achtung 45
07-03-2006, 00:26
i dont think so. love is priceless. if someone was really in love they would never give it up. not for any price. at least thats how i feel about it...
But really, if you think you've found the perfect match for you, you probably have. But out of over 6 billion other people in this world, there's bound to be someone else pretty close, and you'd be $900 trillion riccher (in my scenario), but I was merely presenting two general sides to the argument as how I see it, and I could argue each equally as well, so I'm not going to pick sides.
Good Lifes
07-03-2006, 00:29
I guess it matters if you're conservative or liberal. With conservative control we sell national parks, we sell the air, we sell the water, we sell the future economics of our children, we sell our sons and daughters, we sell the poor, we sell health care, we sell life, we sell death..............
Forfania Gottesleugner
07-03-2006, 00:29
This question is excruciatingly simple. "I am priceless". Thats it, think about it. There is no price on your existence because if you do not exist than you cannot reap any benefit of payment. Your personal existence is priceless to you. You can say that you would die for this or that or that some people commit suicide but that is a different matter. As far as you are concerned all of existence ends when you do. Therefore dying for a cause is meaningless because there is no longer a cause once you are gone. Ending your existence for something does not show it has a price it merely ends your existence and negates any payment. Payment is a required part of price and so there can not be one without the other.


You could present an argument that the state of non-existence is the payment but I will leave that to anyone who wants to.
Neu Leonstein
07-03-2006, 00:33
You could present an argument that the state of non-existence is the payment but I will leave that to anyone who wants to.
Not to forget the utility gained from suicide...
Secluded Islands
07-03-2006, 00:34
As far as you are concerned all of existence ends when you do. Therefore dying for a cause is meaningless because there is no longer a cause once you are gone. Ending your existence for something does not show it has a price it merely ends your existence and negates any payment. Payment is a required part of price and so there can not be one without the other.


You could present an argument that the state of non-existence is the payment but I will leave that to anyone who wants to.

i give my life for someone. the cost is my life, the payment is the other persons survival. its not meaningless, because while i was alive, it ment everything to keep the other person alive. therefore, my death had a meaning...
Ashmoria
07-03-2006, 00:38
is it too hokey to say the life of my son?

there is no money that could possibly ease the devastation of losing a child
The Eagle of Darkness
07-03-2006, 00:42
All the things you might think would be priceless, like love aren't. Ask someone if they'd give up their spouse, bf/gf or whatever for $900 trillion. If they were smart they would.

Depends on the person. I, personally, would not, for several reasons. Like, what use is $900 trillion? What am I going to do, buy London? No, just gain an awful lot of false friends and then get robbed. Thanks, no.

I've /never/ seen the attraction of having vast amounts of money. There's a limit to how much you can spend, and most of what you'd buy, you wouldn't want. Okay, so you'd be able to never do a day's work in your life. What exactly are you going to /do/ with that free time, having given up the one you love to get the money?

Thanks all the same, no. I'll stick with my girlfriend. However, this being Earth, you can probably find a few billion people to take you up on the offer.

Conclusion, in terms of money: For many people, everything has its price. But not everyone. As far as non-monetary terms go: There is a price for everything, even if it's expressed in terms of time.
Forfania Gottesleugner
07-03-2006, 00:54
i give my life for someone. the cost is my life, the payment is the other persons survival. its not meaningless, because while i was alive, it ment everything to keep the other person alive. therefore, my death had a meaning...

You missed the whole point. You cannot in any way, shape, or form prove there is existence beyond yourself. As far as you know when you die existence stops. This is a pretty common philisophical notion and there are various ways to try to prove it one way or another. But the point is that when you die there is no existence left for you. At this point there is no way for you to percieve anything and so while it may have meant everything to keep the other person alive, they are not alive anymore because there is no existence. Assuming they live on after you cease to exist is merely an assumtion. You see what I mean? Your death could result in the end of all existence because you are no longer there to experience it and you cannot be sure that any of it is entirely independent of yourself. So the other person does not survive and you get no payment for ending your existence. Therefore there can be no "price" on your own existence.
Secluded Islands
07-03-2006, 01:10
You missed the whole point. You cannot in any way, shape, or form prove there is existence beyond yourself. As far as you know when you die existence stops. This is a pretty common philisophical notion and there are various ways to try to prove it one way or another. But the point is that when you die there is no existence left for you. At this point there is no way for you to percieve anything and so while it may have meant everything to keep the other person alive, they are not alive anymore because there is no existence. Assuming they live on after you cease to exist is merely an assumtion. You see what I mean? Your death could result in the end of all existence because you are no longer there to experience it and you cannot be sure that any of it is entirely independent of yourself. So the other person does not survive and you get no payment for ending your existence. Therefore there can be no "price" on your own existence.



what about the person who is alive because of my death. would they tell you my death had no meaning? i may not know after my death if it had meaning. but i knew before my death that it would. thats how i see it. you can say im wrong...
Holyawesomeness
07-03-2006, 01:31
Nothing is priceless because it all is tied to the economy in some way or another. Even my own existence cannot be said to be priceless because even though that may be how I would value it other people could easily say I am worth some set amount of money. Truth be told money is a fair trade for a life so long as it is a large amount, 1 man is not worth a hospital in most instances, nor is 1 man usually worth a supercollider or anything of that nature, 1 man is usually not worth medical assistance and education to 20 others. Money provides all of the previous things and all of them are more valuable than the average life.
Lt_Cody
07-03-2006, 02:15
This question is excruciatingly simple. "I am priceless".

Are you? How many times have you put yourself at risk from injury or even death? Remember, "price" is not limited to mere dollars and cents ;)
Demented Hamsters
07-03-2006, 02:23
The Sun.
PasturePastry
07-03-2006, 04:50
The Sun.

You want to buy the sun? Sure! I'll sell it to you. I'll even throw in the North Star for free.

Good luck enforcing your property rights.;)
Undelia
07-03-2006, 04:53
Pfft. Of course everything has its price. Anybody who disagrees with that is either foolishly naïve, mentally retarded or lying to themselves
Potarius
07-03-2006, 04:55
You want to buy the sun? Sure! I'll sell it to you. I'll even throw in the North Star for free.

Good luck enforcing your property rights.;)

Sirius for free? PFFF, nobody is that stupid!
Good Lifes
07-03-2006, 04:58
You want to buy the sun? Sure! I'll sell it to you. I'll even throw in the North Star for free.

Good luck enforcing your property rights.;)
But can you show clear title?

Actually, this reminds me of those people that sell naming rights to the stars. Why haven't they gotten thrown in for fraud?
Potarius
07-03-2006, 05:03
But can you show clear title?

Actually, this reminds me of those people that sell naming rights to the stars. Why haven't they gotten thrown in for fraud?

Probably because everybody knows it's blatant, and that people who are that stupid deserve to have their money taken away?