LTV defence

[wpc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Paul Cockshott)]

It seems to me that Barkley is demanding too much of a theory of value.

Remember what values are in formal terms. They are a set of coercion
operators that map usevalue types onto a single scalar type.
Thus the value of corn is a function of form (corn -> value),
that of horses a function of form (horses -> value).

Because these functions can be approximated as linear, we can
invent a set of constants CornValue, HorseValue etc such that
the operation of multiplication models function application, so that

4 horses x HorseValue = Z units of value

In this, the value-constants act like the constants of nature
in physics. So c acts to transform time into distance, etc.
For this to work c must not only have a scalar value 3 x 10^8,
but also a dimension ms^(-1), meters per second. Similarly
HorseValue must have a dimension units of value per horse.
These value coercion operators appear in the form of prices
so we have $ per horse etc.

This sort of function has a low information content. Even if
one assumes that values or prices could be known to arbitrary
precision, we are still dealing with a single dimensional space.
In fact values and prices are only accurate to 6 or 7 bits of
precision.

These 6 or 7 bits are all that economic calculation based on
values has available to it to encode the conditions of production
of a commodity. The conditions of production are at least a
vector of inputs, and if one takes cognizance of social, natural
and ecological factors, they are something more complex than
a simple vector. It follows that bourgeois economic calculation
indeed any calculation based on a value theory, is information
destroying. Out of all of the complex conditions that go into
producing horses we are to be left with perhaps 7 bits of magnitude

and 3 of exponent. What our work and that of others such
as Shaik indicates is that, considering only the magnitude bits,
6 of the seven are already accounted for by labour content.
We are left with a 1 bit signal to encode all the other things
that you want value to depend upon : time, land, ecological
relationships. I do not deny that each of these may contribute
some fraction of a bit, but that is precious information.

So long as one is talking about value, one it talking about a
form of economic calculus that is massively information destroying.
The channel only has a certain bandwidth, there is a limit to
what you can put on it.

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Paul Cockshott , 		WPS, PO Box 1125, Glasgow, G44 5UF
Phone: 041 637 2927		wpc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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