Subjective theories of value have no problem with this. Value is created in people’s heads (after all, sentient beings need some motivating element in their cognition to act at all) and manifests-particularly as exchange value-in their interactions. If people value things in the virtual reality-and are willing to engage in exchanges in the wider economy for them-then such things have exchange value arising out of people acting on their subjective valuations.
Some might see a problem in this, in that the economy might fail to value things promoting human needs adequately, thus creating a shortage of essential goods. What would it mean then, to be "rich" in things which everyone valued, if one was starving or unable to get medical care, etc.?
We see similar patterns. Labour-theory-of-value analysis obsesses over economic motives even more than Catholicism does over sexual ones. So the former excoriates freedom for capitalist acts between consenting adults even more than the latter does freedom for sexual acts between consenting adults. The former holds capitalist acts to be defilers of objective value as the latter does non-reproductive sexual acts. (It is worth noting that environmentalism is also developing a structure of taboos and defilements.*) Both the labour theory of value and Catholic natural law theory being manifestations of the way that objective theories of value cannot but help deprecate the subjectivity of our thoughts, feelings, aspirations and wants: hence the oppressive nature of objective theories of value.That's an extremely good analogy, and one I never considered before
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Some might see a problem in this, in that the economy might fail to value things promoting human needs adequately, thus creating a shortage of essential goods. What would it mean then, to be "rich" in things which everyone valued, if one was starving or unable to get medical care, etc.?
Yes, this is theoretically possible ( ... )
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http://xkcd.com/386/
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