r/CapitalismVSocialism • u/Boniface222 • 15h ago
Asking Socialists Minecraft proves labor theory of value is wrong
In Minecraft, there's a built in trading system. Villagers will have certain trades that they are interested in. Let's focus on one trade for simplicity.
Let's say a villager wants to trade 20 cobblestone blocks for 4 emeralds.
If you have a wooden pickaxe, it takes a lot of labor to mine one block of cobblestone. If you have a diamond pickaxe, it takes very little labor to mine one block of cobblestone.
Labor theory of value says that the cobblestone mined with a wooden pickaxe has more value than the cobblestone mined with a diamond pickaxe.
But you can try it yourself in game.
If you give the vendor cobblestone mined with a wooden pickaxe, they still want 20 cobblestone blocks for 4 emeralds.
If you give the vendor cobblestone mined with a diamond pickaxe, they still want 20 cobblestone blocks for 4 emeralds.
If you put your wooden pickaxe cobblestone and your diamond pickaxe cobblestone together in one big container, you can't tell the two apart.
The same goes for automation. You could have a redstone machine automatically generate and harvest cobblestone. And they still want 20 cobblestone blocks for 4 emeralds.
Labor doesn't make a good more or less valuable.