Dark
The Death of Brian
What a bad lumber jack, not even hitting in the same spot and its almost at the top. He’ll get like no wood from that.
The Giving Tree
Being useful is overrated.
What is utility?
Must it be measurable and quantifiable?
And even if it needn’t, can it exist otherwise in an economic system that requires quantified value in all things?
What a thought provoking question.
I’d argue utility can exist outside of measurable systems but is defined by the measurements made within a system.
The measurements then determine with arbitrary values the utility of an object.
For instance, take two early human weapons: A wooden spear, and a club.
How would you rate the utility of each? By a varying degrees of ways, but they have different uses; a spear can hunt animals and has good penetrating power through flesh, a hammer can stun or knock out an animal, or drive a nail or stake.
But which of the two is the better use of the wood? That I believe, is at the core of your question.
The answer is both. A non-zero-sum system where both are valued for different purposes and no-one is the greater, or lesser thereof.
The tree might ask, “useful to whom?”
It may ask itself, how did I get here?
