Wednesday 24 October 2018

Value and worth, are they the same thing


Subject: Value and worth are they the same thing.

Twitter is becoming the barometer of opinion from Donald Trump to Elon Musk and a substitute for what is taking the place of rational debate. The instant throw away comment is seemed by the Twitter audience as reason to become over excited as if the tweet were a proper measured of an opinion of someone they hate or admire.

This short handed commentary has become for many a substitute for the real thing, (a proper thought out exposee of what a person thinks about a subject)  but which for many is just too hard to digest in its detailed format.

And so our diminished attention span is accommodated by short hand. Unfortunately shorthand is best understood by the person writing it since, by its very definition shorthand leaves out the guts of the proposition. All we are left with is the vague idea of what the person thinks, which in the case of Donald Trump is probably a blessing but with a mind like Elon Musk it leaves much to be desired.
Bitcoin and the crypto currency platform which seeks to transfer value using a different format to normal currency has fluctuated enormously over the years of its inception and provided speculators with spectacular gains which themselves feed the frenzy. The move against the traditional consortium of banking house controls used ostensibly to curb fluctuations in the currency market has also skewed global wealth into the hands of a few. The proposition  of trading a currency, (a red rag to a bull for many), the crypto is seen as a more pure form of trade unsullied by control. The block chain was the device which gave these currencies respectability, a sort of trading house which electronically keeps track of crypto universe and acts as a balancing factor in the day to day trade.
I of course balk at even the concept of trading currency. I see it as amongst the greatest ill in the financial system on a par with derivatives at least. The trade between the super fast computers which have been cobbled together to exploit the minute time difference measured in nano seconds between the stated value of one currency against another and the ability of some to exploit this difference, racking up enormous profits seems to me to be obscene. It's pure manipulation and has nothing to do with real worth.
But then real worth is a fast depreciating commodity these days. The word worth is used as a comparative. Is it worth a visit. Is it worth my time. And of course the worth in money terms I put on something. If worth is a comparative should it not more accurately describe our attitude to wealth and poverty. Should we not see through this obsession of distinguishing our values by attaching a designer label to everything and rather see mankind, or at least the ones we see around us as having a far greater value, far greater worth than the Bitcoin in our electronic wallet.

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