option value

Compiled with AI assistance and selectively reviewed. Please consult the cited passages; the books remain the authoritative source. About this companion

Editorial synthesis · provisional

Definition

Option value is the value of preserving access to worthwhile future possibilities rather than prematurely foreclosing them. In the cited Askell–Neth discussion, concern for the future can increase this value alongside the value of information. The author connects it to revisable world-making but does not identify that expected-value argument with an obligation to preserve every possible future.

Explanation

RB3 introduces option value after distinguishing the persistence of consequences from their predictability. Limited forecasts need not imply indifference to the future: learning and keeping valuable alternatives available can themselves matter. The source presents that connection within the decision-theoretic debate, retaining its named authors and scope.

The author’s further criterion concerns viable plurality, participation and the capacity to revise arrangements. This is not derived merely by multiplying hypothetical beneficiaries or invoking uncertainty. Even a strong forecast cannot on its own authorize removing standing, exit or correction from those affected by an irreversible commitment.

Compossibility expressly permits rationing, prohibition and burdens where some projects destroy others’ viability. Preserving options therefore does not mean preserving everything indiscriminately. The entry keeps the value of access distinct from the separate ethical question of how costs, losses and possibilities should be distributed and repaired.

Scope and attribution

Retain the narrow source-grounded subentry without inventing an operational valuation formula.

AB — The Actual Book

Option value accompanies information value within an explicitly limited expected-value argument.

Occurrence locators: 197; Notes: 249.

RB3 — The Real Book, Volume III: Murmurations

Preserving valuable access differs from retaining every possible future.

Occurrence locators: 190, 264.

Background used in the editorial explanation

Named theories and mechanisms are distinguished from neighboring background, homonyms and the author’s own synthesis. Reproduced AI passages retain their separate voice.