[mightybyte]

Excellent point. This is an excellent lead-in to teach kids that the value they place on things is not intrinsic. Once they start thinking this way, they will discover that by changing the value they assign to things, they can manipulate their amount of satisfaction and even the amount of power they possess.

Ironically, this comes full-circle to the article's mention of stepping outside rules that are bad. The kids can now say, "I don't have to assign more value to green legos just because your game assigns more points to them." Some things still do have a certain degree of intrinsic value, so this won't always work. But they have been empowered to the extent allowed by the value assignments of which that they have control.

BTW, startup founders use this type of understanding to prioritize ideas that have a better chance of success.

[boredguy8]

"BTW, startup founders use this type of understanding to prioritize ideas that have a better chance of success."

Can you elaborate what you mean? It sounds intriguing, but I don't fully understand it.

[mightybyte]

From my previous paragraph:

'The kids can now say, "I don't have to assign more value to green legos just because your game assigns more points to them." Some things still do have a certain degree of intrinsic value, so this won't always work. But they have been empowered to the extent allowed by the value assignments of which that they have control.'

By understanding when value is more subjective versus intrinsic, founders can choose to work on something where the value is more intrinsic. And if there's nothing with true intrinsic value, then they at least look for things where more people are likely assign value. Founders probably don't really think about it like this, they just look for something that people want. But it can't hurt to understand the characteristics of value at this lower level. If you can consistently find, create, or buy value, getting rich isn't too hard.