The Value Riddle

One way to determine the truth in a statement is to put forward an extreme example of said statement. This is often done in mathematics and physics as a first test of some hypothesis. It can also be used to determine the truth of a value statement in economics. As an example, we have this riddle that I came across in the comment section of this ZeroHedge article. The assertion made in the post is that maths has value in an economic sense of the word. Hence Bitcoin has value. The riddle put forward by Cogito_ergosum goes as follows:

"BTC shills, riddle me this. Who desperately needs a math puzzle? If I own all the BTC in the world am I a rich or a poor person??  If I own all the oil in the world I am rich, same for gold or silver....but why is BTC's math so valuable that if I own it all, people will sell their land and produce for a math puzzle that I alone own????"

Truth is that no-one desperately needs a math puzzle. Bitcoin has zero value. The statement put forward in the article is false. Maths does not possess inherent economic value.

Sphinx

By 20100409_korinthos16.JPG: Jean Housen derivative work: JMCC1 (talk) - 20100409 korinthos16 b.jpg - cropped/retouched, CC BY 3.0, Link