What is "value?" What gives something "value?" What makes a thing "valuable?"

I got to thinking about how the whole idea of something having value is pretty meaningless unless there is awareness and demand attached to that sense of value.

Most people probably believe they know what "value" means, but it's not as simple as it seems.

You can have an idea, or a project, or an object, each of which might objectively seem plentifully valuable in a tangible and intrinsic sort of way, but if there's no real demand for it then the actual value is no more than any given person is willing to pay for it on any given day.

Consider certain allegedly "priceless" antiques, valuable in the sense that they are extremely old and possibly one-of-a-kind… but that doesn't really amount to anything if nobody wants them.

Similarly, you can have an artist who pours their heart and soul and thousands of hours into each piece of work, but if nobody is aware that they're actually creating this work it doesn't really have any value even though somebody can look at it and say "that should sell for thousands of dollars!"

Consider something like antique silver cutlery or serveware, created by highly skilled Master Silversmiths, perhaps 200 years ago!

Sounds like it might be valuable, but chances are it has little value beyond the silver melt value... because few people in our modern world has an actual need for actual silverware and few people value it as a collectible.

Meanwhile, in the Cryptosphere...

There's little rhyme or reason to "value."

Consider our own Hive token... a "stake" in a thriving project that has constant new development, and compare it to another blockchain token that's "valued" 10 times higher but has nothing to offer but hype and vaporware. Where's the logic in that?

Consider how the vast majority of Hive-Engine "tribal" tokens may start out with great fanfare, but invariable end up becoming nearly value-less.

Tell people they can "earn" something and they'll want that something, setting up a dynamic in which the value is gradually driven down because there are 20 sellers for every one buyer.

Value can be a really difficult thing to assess in the world of crypto... and here we have an additional "wrinkle:" If liquidity is a problem, the "on paper value" may bear little relation to what you can actually sell something for, if you tried.

Sometimes, it all just makes my head spin!

=^..^=

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