this post was submitted on 06 Dec 2024
72 points (95.0% liked)

Ask Lemmy

27231 readers
2415 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected]. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Gold has a lot of practical applications now (although is of course still treated as a 'precious' metal of value), but hundreds of years ago it was just a shiny metal. Why did it demand value, because of it's rarity? Why not copper, because it was too easily found? What made it valuable ahead of other similar metals?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

It was valuable because enough people accepted that it was valuable. It's really that simple. Our money is backed by "the full faith and credit of the US government". What is that really worth?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

This begs the question “why did enough people start accepting that it was valuable?”

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 weeks ago

When a few rich people say this is valuable the government has to protect their property because the government works for rich people. Once the government agrees then everyone else has to play along whether they think it’s valuable or not. Think crypto or fine art. You think bitcoin is stupid and worth nothing yet two rich people agree it’s worth 100000 then government enforces property rights. So as long as you fall under said governments jurisdiction that bitcoin is valued at 100000 whether you believe it or not.

load more comments (1 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)