Standards of Measurement

Measurement is how we relate value to things that have worth to us. If something has more worth to us than the dollars that it costs, we buy it. Paul Hein raises some questions.

And simple curiosity would prompt one to ask why this inability to define one of the most basic units in society should exist. Why cannot "dollar" be defined with as much precision as "quart" or "pound?" The only conceivable answer, I think, is that "quart" and "pound" measure something. No one goes to the store to buy a quart, or a pound, but only a quart of milk, or a pound of potatoes. But "dollar?" Of what is the dollar a unit? In general, of course, the answer is money. And what is that? Once, it was silver, and for a while, gold. Today it is nothing.

Me - I'm just one of my circle of friends (ty:RLJ) that seem to be overwhelmed by rising expenses on a monthly basis. I look at the net flow of cash and attempt to make sense of cash in terms of carbon chemistry and get absolutely no where. Yet people are selling carbon credits which are the equivalent of a metric ton of carbon dioxide - 2200 pounds of CO2 per credit. Not the British currency unit pounds - it might cost a few of those pounds for your pound of carbon.

How many carbon dioxide equivalents are in a pound of flesh? Back of the envelope calculations say the net flux is about 2:3 - 10 pounds of body would contain 15 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalents. Gaining or losing weight is mostly water - your carbon percentage held would increase by dieting, but your total carbon would be about the same. If fact - the earth systems have to be net carbon neutral, unless we are importing carbon from somewhere else in the galaxy. So i wonder - when do we stop believing in hot air and get to addressing systemic problems of the manner by which we interact with reality?