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Culture War Roundup for the week of November 11, 2024

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I am not sure that the utility value concept is coherent.

So all the farmers quit one day and the rest of the economy stays the same, magically. People will likely decide that they want food more than they want shelter, move out of their rented buildings and spend their rent on what food there is to be had, establishing a utility value of food.

Except now the people running the waterworks also go on strike, and there is a water shortage. Very quickly, people decide that they would rather drink than eat. Nobody would waste precious water to irrigate crops.

And then some acute threat of violence looms, and people will trade their precious water so that they are not ripped apart by velociraptors in the next minute.

Depending on what their most urgent need is, that piece of bread is worth 1$, or a kings ransom, or nothing. So what should its utility value be?