Scytale wrote:
TLDR: beauty is absolute, wealth is relative
I struggle to see how you can say this. Having zero money or resources is a pretty absolute statement. Having "no beauty" is a matter of taste.
Zero money is literally the only absolute one when it comes to money.
If a thing brings me a lot of money, then "a lot" is relative to my wealth and how much I make in other ways. Which means if every thing would give "a lot" of money, it would no longer be "a lot".
If trade run A gives me 500 credits and all the other ones 5, then A is a good run. If all trade runs give 500 credits that doesn't make them all good - it just makes credits worth less.
The number itself is the same, yes, but the number doesn't mean anything without economical context.
On the other hand, if I say a system is pretty, then it doesn't need another one to compare it to. It's just pretty. Having 2 pretty systems doesn't make each only half as pretty.
(if it did, we wouldn't still be salivating at each LT screenie
)