Introducing the Problem-Solving Theory of Value

New Discourses

Education

4.8 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 13 February 2026

⏱️ 59 minutes

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Summary

The New Discourses Podcast with James Lindsay, Ep. 192 What makes something valuable? How do we determine value? One hypothesis on value is famously forwarded and relied upon by the Marxists. It is called the "Labor Theory of Value," and it insists that labor is what transforms raw materials into something "humanized" and therefore of value. Therefore, in this theory, labor is what makes something valuable. Of course, this theory has not proved to be adequate for economic purposes, which is just another part of why Marxism is an abject failure even as an economic doctrine (aside from everything else). The question, however, remains. In this fun episode of the New Discourses Podcast, host James Lindsay takes a casual stab at a different answer: a problem-solving theory of value. This would be the idea that value is determined in relation to a good, commodity, or service's capacity to solve problems for people, particularly their consumers. Join him on this exploration to think about some things in a new, different way. Latest from New Discourses Press! The Queering of the American Child: https://queeringbook.com/ Support New Discourses: https://newdiscourses.com/support Follow New Discourses on other platforms: https://newdiscourses.com/subscribe Follow James Lindsay: https://linktr.ee/conceptualjames © 2026 New Discourses. All rights reserved. #NewDiscourses #JamesLindsay #theory

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, everybody, it's James Lindsay, and you are listening to the New Discourses podcast.
0:24.0	And I want to talk about something like, again, I'm doing another one of these off-the-cuff episodes where I don't have like notes. I don't have a plan. I'm not reading you anything. I'm going to talk to you about something I've been thinking about for a very long time. it's a weird thing that it's like I've thought this way for so long that I just thought people
0:39.0	thought this way and apparently people don't think this way or maybe not enough of them do or
0:43.5	don't understand it but I it's like one of those you know when you're a fish you don't recognize
0:47.7	the water kind of metaphors I just thought this was obvious but it's a very important way
0:53.2	to frame yourself to go through life and circumstances.
0:57.4	This is actually going to be a podcast sort of about economics, which is not my field. It's not something I talk about.
1:03.0	I did some looking. I haven't tried to just more disclaimer. I haven't tried to develop this. Like I'm not an economist or whatever. I have not tried to develop this theory at length. I haven't tried to develop this. Like, I'm not an economist or whatever.
1:13.7	I have not tried to develop this theory at length.
1:16.0	I haven't sat down and worked it all out.
1:21.4	You get to ride in this episode of the podcast in my thought process with me.
1:23.2	And so this is provisional.
1:27.2	If I wanted to be formal about it or would have written it up and I didn't write it up, I'm talking to you about it. But I just got invited right before I'm recording this. I got invited onto a friend's podcast and we ended up talking and I ended up hitting, you know, the conversation went to a place where I was like, I'm going to say this. And he's like, jaw hanging open. Like, oh my God, that's gold. He's like, people need to hear that.
1:44.6	And young people need to hear that in particular.
1:47.3	So I thought I'd bring it up.
1:49.7	And it's about value.
1:51.2	It's about what is value?
1:52.2	Where does value come from?
1:53.3	Now, I could get really deep with this and I don't want to go there because it gets
1:56.1	super weird about what value judgments actually are.
1:59.8	I've got a really longstanding, again, very inchoate philosophy
2:03.6	about this. But where do we like economic value? Where did where do we derive economic value from?
	...

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