http://www.romeconomics.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Subjective-theory-of-value.png

### "Oh God, oh God oh God oh God.... where the fuck did I put it? I'm screwed... Oh God, oh God..."

These were the words I remember distinctly muttering to myself in a panicked frenzy in the wee hours of the morning in [Samarra, Iraq](http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/samarra.htm). My team, along with our Iraqi Army Scouts and some 101st Airborne Infantry guys were sitting in running Humvees loaded and ready to go. We were headed to a local airfield to board helicopters to launch [Operation Swarmer, the largest Air Assault operation since the Vietnam War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Swarmer).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Operation_Swarmer.jpg

Only right now, they were waiting for me.  As I was doing my final equipment checks before rolling out, I realized that I didn't know where my night vision goggles were. We were going on a night mission.

## Panic, fear, and terror sunk in. Then came the nausea. 

I was frantically searching every inch I had walked inside [the relatively small building which was our little fortress in the corner of the city](https://jeffemanuel.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/how-they-live-a-guided-tour-of-most-of-patrol-base-olson-in-samarra-iraq/). Interestingly, it was at one time a casino resort frequented by Saddam Hussein. 

That didn't matter at all at the time because I was holding up our team from a very important time hack because I lost something of extreme value for the mission at hand. Without it, I would be a liability to the team instead of an asset. 

## How does this story relate to Steem? 

### There seems to be a great disconnect in this growing community over the differences between __objective value__  and __subjective value__.

[The objective value of my night vision goggles was around $3,000 USD](https://www.amazon.com/ATN-PVS7-3-Night-Vision-Goggle/dp/B000WGQ9YI). Millions of these devices have been made over the years, and have been in the hands of millions of soldiers all over the globe. There are many like them and the technology to produce them is relatively simple. Hence, supply and demand on market factors dictated that the objective value of those goggles was a fraction of what some Steem authors have been earning lately. 

### The subjective value of those goggles __TO ME__ in those frantic minutes was __FAR__ more valuable. 


https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/AN_PVS-7_Cyclops.JPG/1920px-AN_PVS-7_Cyclops.JPG

At the time, I would have given a months worth of paychecks (~$5000 USD at the time) to have those goggles in my hand so I could have gotten back out to my team in my truck so we wouldn't be late. There was an added fear that it wasn't just misplaced but actually __LOST__ which would have been much, much worse. Lost or misplaced sensitive items in the military can stop entire training events if a single one of these serial numbered items goes missing. This added to my fears. 

Not only does value change from person to person, but it also changes from moment to moment. A post about travelling to foreign countries may seem worthless to one person, but for someone who has never traveled outside of their own town, these sorts of posts maybe a chance to escape, if only for a few moments. 

### This is __valuable__. 

Had someone came up to me during those frantic moments and told me to chill out and relax. What is $3000 in the grand scheme of things? Quite literally a speck of dust from 30k feet. But at the time, my credibility, reputation, and name was on the line. Hell, the safety of my team was also on the line. The $3k price tag of those goggles was a pittance compared my reputation on the team. 

## Steem is not in the business of defining value -- it is just a platform, nothing more. The community decides value based on the aggregate of individual values. 

If you find yourself frustrated and agitated about what the community is aggregating value towards, the question from a rational actor _should be_ 'Why does the community find this valuable? How can I contribute that same value in exchange for those aggregated rewards?' 

### If you're not asking these questions, you're doing yourself and the community a disservice. 

If there is a social experiment that is even remotely analogous to Steem, I'd love to hear it. But I get the sense with each passing day that we are in totally uncharted territory here. Everything we do will provide data to learn from. How we deal with the root question of value allocation will most certainly echo in the years to come. 

Given the struggles of so many people to find value in their own life, the importance of answering these questions grows more and more each day. 

### Take heart that there are places in this world where the simple expression of ideas is objectively and subjectively valued enough to be rewarded with something that can actually buy food, water, and shelter. This is a total paradigm shift from what humans have lived with for centuries. We live in interesting times...

_Main image from [ROM Economics](www.romeconomics.com)_

UPDATE: Thanks to @busser I realized I never closed the loop on my lost goggles story! I found a random set of goggles laying in one of the gear lockers, purely at random after saying a number of prayers.... and then, like the total jackass I am, I found __my__ goggles in a gear backpack full of 'sensitive site exploitation' kit, used to identify bomb residue and take pictures of documents, people we detained, and any computer equipment that we found. I was extremely relieved and I don't think I told anyone this story up until now. Not even my team knew what the hell I was doing running around inside frantically... super poker-face that night :)