R1155

[Yorkie]

Thats the point i was trying to make earlier, it's all subjective (I keep using that word but don't really know what it means) and/or relative.
Lawrence.

It's an interesting point - subjective decisions are those that cause us to choose one make or model of car over another, sometimes paying thousands more for a make that we believe is of superior quality and reliability when there is no solid evidence to support that preference, and indeed, might be a lot of objective evidence to show that it was not the right decision. Why do people buy bottled water, and not only that, prefer one brand over another, when in blind tasting tests they wouldn't have a clue which was which? A subjective, rather than objective, decision. Water comes out of the tap, but many pay more per Litre than they do for petrol yet complain about petrol prices. Suppose they had a tap at home to dispense petrol at minimal cost - would they still buy it from a filling station in preference, believing it was a better product?

Without getting into religion, the definition of 'faith' is 'a firm unshakeable belief in something without proof or evidence'. That faith may be a preference for a brand of something above all other brands based purely on a subjective view. Having formed that view, we reject any evidence that might cast doubt on our views, and grasp at every morsel that reinforces them.

From our early school years we've been shaped by a culture that assigns high value to “objective knowledge” (right and wrong answers to mathematical problems, laws of science, verified by experiments, historical and geographical facts and so on. And we've also been conditioned to apply a low value to “subjective knowledge” based on feelings and emotions.

I'd assert that the decision for the guy who bought the R1155 for £1,000 was entirely subjective. He wanted one, he was determined to get one, and now he has one. For him, and for the seller, as with any transaction, it was a 'double coincidence of wants'. He wanted his radio and got it - the seller wanted to maximise the price at which it would sell, and he did so. Both happy with the outcome no doubt.

The dictionary outlines the meaning of words as they are commonly understood and defines ‘objective’ as:

i) 'Not influenced by personal feelings, interpretations, or prejudice; based on facts; unbiased: an objective opinion.

ii) Intent upon or dealing with things external to the mind rather than with thoughts or feelings, as a person or a book.

iii) Being the object of perception or thought; belonging to the object of thought rather than to the thinking subject

Of, or pertaining to something that can be known, or to something that is an object or a part of an object; existing independent of thought or an observer as part of reality.

The dictionary define ‘subjective’ as:

i) Existing in the mind; belonging to the thinking subject rather than to the object of thought.

ii) Pertaining to or characteristic of an individual; personal; individual: a subjective evaluation.

When I went through my 'Eddystone phase' it was almost wholly a subjective decision - a triumph of nostalgia over common sense - acts of pure indulgence motivated by pride of ownership. As a teenager, I'd pressed my nose against a dealer's window yearning to own one, but never having the means to do so. I hoped that one day when I was much older, maybe I would be able to afford one, or perhaps even two. By the time that day arrived, the radios were of course long since obsolete but it didn't stope me buying not one or two, but a dozen or more till I ran out of space - sometimes two of the same model - 940s for example. One of the odd things I discovered, is that many Eddystone users were more concerned about originality than performance, perhaps because they make little use of them as actual receivers. Hence, leaky caps or resistors which are way out of spec would be left in place, and when it came to disposing of them, they'd be described as 'in original unmodified condition'. If it works - if only after a fashion - that's even better, so long as it hasn't been 'meddled with'. The only objective aspect of this phase was that when I came to my senses and one by one disposed of them, I got far more than I paid for them, but really, that was fortuitous rather than planned.

Just my subjective ramblings and opinions - feel free to differ or ignore, according to taste:D