mandag 15. mars 2010

The value of Geir?

Today I had to think of the question "what makes a human valuable?" again. From earlier in the blog, it seems like opinion of people is crucial when it comes to defining the value of a human. Is some peoples opinion more valid than others? I did not know...

Pierre Bourdieu has written a book called "Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste". I have not read it... Anyway, he writes about economic and cultural capital (+ social capital). Economic capital is basically money. Cultural capital that what is acquired through childhood and knowledge. Social capital means access to certain social circles. Bourdieu also made a visual representation with cultural capital on an X-axis, and economic capital on a Y-axis to describe people.

I am going to use this to give an argument why the value of Geir is minimal, but yet the opinion of Geir is more valid than other people. (note: I am not going to use his terms correctly)

On Geirs X-axis I put: 1 for being able to play violin + 1 for being able to play guitar + 1 for being able to play piano + 1 for knowing some martial arts (qwan ki do)+ 1 for 2 years of art school (painting, ceramics, costumes, woodcarving+++), 1 for having some insight in how the Greek philosophers were thinking + 1 for anthropology + 3 for crating the book + 1 for insight in the function of different electrical artifact + 35 for all other thing I am to lazy to list up= 45 cultural capital.

On Y-axis I put 5.

On Z-axis I put: 7 for my friend Jakob, 5 for my brother Krille and 12 for the rest of my family= 24.

Visually it would look like this:





Cultural capital is "stored" in the brain as memory that has been created by electrical signals that causes change in the structure in the brain. Similar signals are used to "get" the memory back. Man is not like machine: memories get lost. Properties that are not maintained will decay. Geirs cultural capital will decay.

When speaking about social capital Geir would prefer to have a girlfriend. I guess in our society one have the opinion/conception that one will meet "romance-material" on places like club and bar. I think of such places as not optimal to find romance, and I have the idea that I would be dependent on more everyday- surroundings and coincidence to find romance. It has happened a few times where I thought a woman was interested in Geir under everyday -surroundings (school, sports), but for some reason it seems like that interest were very brief. Another aspect is of course the type person Geir is: who could find interest in a person that has minimal value? That would have to be an absurd person.

Anyway the conclusion is that Geirs cultural capital will decay, his social capital will not increase, and a possible graph for the value of Geir over time X would look like:





And the reason why Geirs opinion is more valid than others? I think it is the cultural capital is more valid than social and economic capital in most contexts.

7 kommentarer:

  1. Since it is a cube, is not the value of Geir X*Y*Z? 45*5*24= 5400 (unit)^3? If Geir got a girlfriend, then the value of Geir would increase: social capital + 10... 45*5*34=7875 (unit)^3 = a 50% increase in value.

    Geir is single= no person will ever understand women, not even women

    SvarSlett
  2. I was not sure should multiply the numbers. If X, Y or Z = 0, then the sum will also be zero. Y=5 is close to 0, and if I had to live on an island all alone, or woke up from cryogenic freeze chamber and no other humans were alive, then Z would also become 0.

    SvarSlett
  3. Maybe I was a bit quick to calculate social capital. Maybe the social capital in a person varies... Jakob 3-5. Krille 4-7 something like that.

    SvarSlett
  4. I think X*Y*Z works since Y will always be minimum 1 and Z will also be minimum 1: you will always have the company of yourself.

    SvarSlett
  5. Jeg så på avstemingen at det var noen som ikke var fornøyd med Geir? Er det noen som ikke vet hva de har stemt, eller er det noen som ikke er fornøyd med Geir som liker å følge med på bloggen din? Må i så fall være anonymus som har stemt...

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  6. Muligens noen som stemte bare for kødd. Om jeg tar feil har jeg ikke noe imot at vedkommende påpeker årsak til misfornøyelsen.

    SvarSlett

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