The Human Quest for Value

Sunday October 13th, 2013

This is a subjective, non-scientific idea of mine. I haven't done any research to confirm it. I believe scientific research could support it (or disprove it) if undertaken, so I suppose it is a hypothesis.

Definition of value

In the following I define "value" as the sum of things that a person finds valuable and meaningful in their life. "Meaning" for my purpose is synonymous. Here, saying that something "has value" is exactly the same as saying that something is "meaningful".

Some examples of value are money, property, reliable friendships, reliable family relationships, and power in politics or business or other organizations or networks of people. Another very important value is one's own belief and confidence in themself to protect or increase their own value, for example through intelligence, political power, physical strength, resilience (the ability to survive hunger, emotional abuse, physical harm, etc.), strategic advantage, or even irrational confidence, as in believing their good luck is reliable.

But for all things that have value, different people will place more value on different things, and will see their own value differently as a result. (Two people may observe a person and quantify their total value differently, because those two people find different things more or less valuable.)

The primary human objective is value

Okay here's the important part:

People primarily seek value. People seek value more than anything else. When they lose value or hope of attaining value in the future, they despair, and many or possibly all who commit suicide do so for this reason. Many survive even though they are "poor" (even though they feel they lack value) because they find ways to distract themselves, through books they enjoy very much, television, games, drinking and partying, etc.

Some who seem very poor financially do not despair because they are "wealthy" in other ways. For example, it's my impression that people in the third world are frequently joyful in spite of desperate poverty, because they are rich in reliable family, friends, and community.

There is no single way (money, property, fame, success) to attain value, and you may find yourself miserable because, though you have huge quantities of something most people consider valuable, you may be destitute in other areas that you value very highly. It is important, before seeking to attain more of a thing, that you first seek to understand yourself and what will really bring more meaning in your life.

Reason to work more

(Here I use "work" in the sense of being productive, however that might be expressed. Not necessarily just the kind where you do a job and get paid.)

I feel like our society spends more time than it should finding ways to distract itself. I hope more people find ways to pursue increasing and protecting their value. I believe everyone will become more productive and everyone will benefit as a result. I believe that an increase in an individual's value will empower them.

I think there is a lot of work to be done beyond our day jobs. I think too many people stop after they do the minimum work needed to maintain the status quo. I believe that an increase in value will lead more people to spend more time doing good work beyond the bare necessities.

There is an incentive for people to spend more time working to attain value and less time distracting themselves. The value that can be attained through this work stays with us at all times. It is an assurance and a source of happiness throughout every day. The possession of value is a lasting source of enjoyment and emotional stability, and ideally a catalyst for further work that benefits everyone.

The danger of possessing value

When a person has attained great value, there is risk involved. If the thing or things they value are taken away or destroyed, they will find themself intensely distressed. In such a situation it is important to have inner value, confidence - strength and power that is actually physically attached to your body and probably more importantly your mind. The closer to your mind you can keep a large amount of value and power, the more difficult it is for that value to be taken from you, without actually taking your life (at which point you will have no use for value or power anyway).

So the ultimate way to protect oneself against despair is to have a strong mind.

Once in that situation where everything else has been taken away, having hope that it can all be saved or re-acquired in some form is also vital, because if one possessed it in the past, that implies that it is valuable and important to them. They will want it again, even if they have enough self-value to survive without it for a long time.

Feelings of value from emotional, relatable stories

Stories (in film, television, books, and games) that are interesting and believable, and have relatable characters who possess immense value (super powers, personality and charisma, skill, leadership, political power, great strategic positions and the savvy to execute on it) are highly pleasurable and strongly grab and hold our interest. The characters we relate to need not have great value throughout the whole story. In fact they may find themself very low at some points, which makes them more relatable because we have all at times, and maybe at the time we are experiencing the story, been very low ourselves. From the low points where we connect with the characters, to the high points where we experience the often ecstatic expression of value, we the audience get a taste of what it would be like to have such value ourselves. We live vicariously through the characters, and emotionally we feel that we have great value ourselves.

Conversely, when a character we relate to experiences loss, we mourn also because it is as if we had the same loss ourselves. Sometimes the audience gets angry at the writer because they feel that it is the writer's job to make them feel good.

Further, if the character later recovers from their loss, the audience may experience an even more ecstatic emotional high.

This kind of storytelling is compelling because the emotional experience can be so intense. But it is also a temporary feeling of value that only lasts as long as the audience is living through a character.

Learning some science or math makes a person more intelligent. Going hiking with family can strengthen our relationships. Having a productive conversation about politics with a neighbor can help get better officials elected (both by you and your neighbor). Experiencing an emotional story does none of these.

However, relatable emotional stories are not without value. It may kindle an urge in the audience to seek real value in their own life so they can experience it non-vicariously. And as mentioned earlier, for those experiencing feelings of low value in their life, distractions like this may actually help prevent despair. They may help to keep a person going through the hard times, and survive to experience more value, hope, and better days.

The trick, then, is in balancing these distractions with activities that help us to increase and better protect the things we value in real life.

Example: Job

In the story of Job, all of Job's children and almost all of his servants die, and he loses all his possessions. Immediately he gives up all hope for his own life and believes that he will soon die:

Then he fell to the ground in worship and said: "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised."

I remember finding Job interesting when I read it years ago. Check it out.

Example: Elysium

In the recent film Elysium, I think I start to connect with Max when he is low - in his poverty, powerlessness, and then desperate injury. It is then exhilarating to experience his strong will, the power of his robotic exoskeleton and futuristic weapons, and strategic skill.

Example: Gravity