8 ms·
>What is a "unit of human work" Money, obviously? > Why are people paid differently for the same work? Do you want me to do a crash course on history of econ
by onion-soup 9y ago
>What is a "unit of human work"
Money, obviously?
> Why are people paid differently for the same work?
Do you want me to do a crash course on history of economics in a HN comment?
- AronTrask 9y agoI think the issue is that there's nothing obvious about the labour theory of value: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_the_labour_theory_of_value https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticisms_of_the_labour_theor...
- subroutine 9y agoI was hoping you would say that. Do you not realize the circular logic you're using to define "money"? Q. What is money? A. It's a unit of human work. Q. What is a unit of human work? A. Money. If you cannot provide a concrete definition of either 'money' or 'a unit of human work', I have no idea how valuable 1 of your 'moneys' are. Let's call your money 'CRYPTOS'. One may assume 'a unit of human work' is like a person doing some defined task for 1 hour; and the value of 1 CRYPTO is established as number of CRYPTOS (1) you would be willing to give someone for doing that task for 1 hour. Naturally, for this to work, there would also need to be someone willing to perform this task for exactly 1 CRYPTO per hour; and nobody willing to do it for less. Is that basically what you are talking about when you say 'money' is 'a unit of human work'? Above you scoff at the idea of money representing a unit of 'value', and say that value is subjective. So let me again point out the obvious - people paid different amounts of money for the same work. If you pay people different amounts for the same 1 hour of human work, then a unit of human work isn't always worth same number of CRYPTOS. So explain to me precisely how you are defining 'a unit of human work' and how it equals X amount of 'money', without introducing some subjective concept of value or worth.