this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2023
270 points (94.7% liked)

Simple Living

2494 readers
1 users here now

Live better, with less

Ideas and inspiration for living more simply. A place to share tips on living with less stuff, work, speed, or stress in return for gaining more freedom, time, self-reliance, and joy.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
inasaba@lemmy.ml
270
Your value is not determined by your productivity. (lemmy.ml)
submitted 1 year ago by inasaba@lemmy.ml to c/simpleliving@lemmy.ml
76 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

In a capitalist world, it can be hard to remember this. But despite what you are pressured to think, your value as a person does not come through what material value you create for others.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] inasaba@lemmy.ml 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Capitalism doesn't set your value as a human being.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I'm not sure the phrase "value as a human being" even has meaning.

[–] inasaba@lemmy.ml 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I'm sorry if you don't feel that human lives have inherent value.

[–] Didros@beehaw.org 4 points 1 year ago

Man, capitalism got me fucked up over this. Is value even the right word? Is value lost when someone dies? What about those who left some part of themselves behind vs those that don't? Does an artist lead a more valuable life than a ditch digger? Does a ceo lead a more valuable life than an artist? Are all lives equally valuable? Do we all truly have experience to share and beliefs to teach? Maybe. Society has never shown equal value to all, is it a worthy goal to value all life equally? Or is it silly to even make the attempt?

Lots of thoughts on this one that I'm not sure about.

[–] jerkface@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

How pithy. What is the unit of measurement for the value of a human? Whatever the unit is, every human is worth exactly 1.0 of them. It's just not a meaningful concept outside of capitalism. It's a confused way of talking and thinking about human relationships.