What is the value of an apple?
At first glance, the answer seems simple. One euro. Two euros. Whatever the market says.
But that answer only exists because we have decided to quantify the value.
Without a price, the apple does not lose its value. It simply returns to what it always was: something experienced, something personal.
To one person, it is delicious. To another, it is irrelevant. To someone hungry, it might be everything.
So what is its true value?
There isn’t one.
Value vs Price
We often confuse two very different things:
- Value — what something means to someone
- Price — what is required to access it
Value is natural, personal, and ever-changing.
Price is demanded, imposed, and system-dependent.
Value exists regardless of scarcity.
Price exists because of it.
And more than that:
Price does not just depend on scarcity—it demands it.
An apple has value whether there are ten of them or ten million. But its price does not behave the same way. As availability increases, price falls. If abundance becomes overwhelming, price collapses entirely.
So for price to retain meaning over time, availability must remain limited.
Not necessarily by intention. But by necessity.
This is the hidden dynamic:
Value can exist in a world of abundance.
Price cannot.
We can never have a truly abundant world with prices.
And because everything in a monetary system is priced, the system cannot move toward true abundance without undermining itself.
Scarcity, therefore, is not just a coincidence that happens within the system.
It is something the system, over time, requires.
The Hidden Dependency of Price
For a price to hold, something must be limited.
If good apples are everywhere—free, abundant, accessible—then no one will pay for them. The price collapses. Not because the apples lost their value, but because scarcity disappeared.
This reveals something fundamental:
Price is not a measure of value.
It is a measure of scarcity.
But it goes even deeper than that.
The moment something is priced, it enters a system that depends on scarcity to function, meaning – uphold prices.
And because everything in a monetary system is priced, scarcity is not an accident within that system—it is inevitable.
Not always immediate. Not always visible. But structurally unavoidable.
If true abundance emerges, prices lose meaning. And if prices lose meaning, the system itself lose meaning and begins to fall apart.
So the system must, in one way or another, preserve or recreate scarcity over time.
The Systemic Tension
Here is the paradox we live inside:
- We are moving toward increasing abundance (technology, automation, energy)
- Yet we still organize access through price
But price requires scarcity.
So what happens?
The system must, in one way or another, preserve or recreate scarcity—or risk losing its own foundation.
This is not necessarily intentional. It is structural.
A system built on price cannot function in true abundance.
The Meaning of “Priceless”
Think about the things we call priceless:
- A sunset
- A kiss
- Time with someone you love
Why are these priceless?
Not because they lack value.
But because they cannot be priced without destroying what they are.
They are:
- experiential
- non-transferable
- abundant in essence
They exist outside the logic of exchange.
And yet, they are often the most meaningful parts of life.
The Priceless World
What happens when abundance expands further?
When energy is effectively limitless?
When production is automated?
When access becomes technically trivial?
In such a world, prices do not fall.
They disappear.
And when prices disappear the system can not remain, and we are left with something we have almost forgotten how to navigate:
True Value.
Not as a number.
But as experience, meaning, and human connection.
A Different Way of Seeing
Perhaps the question is not:
What is the price of this?
But:
What does this mean to me?
Because in the end:
Price depends on scarcity.
Value does not.
Closing Reflection
The things that matter most in life do not lose their value when they become abundant.
They only lose their price.
And maybe that is not a loss at all.
Maybe that is the beginning of something else.
A world where what truly matters is no longer filtered through what can be sold.
A world that is, quite simply…
priceless.
Imagine this
In Waking Up – A Journey Towards a New Dawn for Humanity, the former billionaire Benjamin Michaels wakes up in a future where the price tags are gone. At first, the world feels impossible. How can anything work if nothing is bought or sold? But as Ben is guided through a society built on access, stewardship, and abundance rather than trade and ownership, he begins to confront a deeper question: what if price was never the real value at all?
If you want to step into that world through Ben’s eyes and experience a future where what matters most is no longer for sale, this story is for you.
👉Please share this article if it resonates. I thank you.
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