Why does the Human race use curency?

Recommended Videos

Eumersian

Posting in the wrong thread.
Sep 3, 2009
18,754
0
0
Humans always want things in return. There aren't enough charitable people out there to want to do things for free. That's why people began to barter or whatever. Somebody had more of one thing than they needed, and found somebody who wanted some of what they had. They would offer it to somebody else, if that person could provide them with something that they didn't have in return. Money developed with the growth of societies. As more and more things were moving around in trade, people began to need a standardized unit. With standardized trade units, i.e. currency, trade could be performed with more precision since currency was a standard unit of measurement for an items worth to another person. Notice how people always instinctively know how currency works.

Note: I made all of this up. I have no idea if it's true. The history of the use of currency is hazy. This is just my theory.
 

manaman

New member
Sep 2, 2007
3,218
0
0
The_root_of_all_evil said:
It lets you build the marketplace, set up trade routes and leads to Code of Laws.
That is the greatest response to this question I think anyone could have managed.
 

Lokithrsourcerer

New member
Nov 24, 2008
305
0
0
Money isn't a reward system as some of you have suggested it was a mechanic created to make trade easier instead of "I want on of your bacon sandwiches, I'll fix your roof in return"
u just get paid to fix the roof and then buy your sandwich with the money.

The problem essentially though is not with money itself or with "human greed" as many people suggest
it is the monetary and credit system especially used in the west and even more so in USA. where lots of "imaginary" cash is used which d evaluates currency at an exponential rate.

There is an alternative, to both capitalism and communism, but it would only work if the whole world adopts it at once and the required technology is probably not quite there yet

more info:

http://www.zeitgeistaddendum.com/ [http://www.zeitgeistaddendum.com/]
http://www.thevenusproject.com/ [http://www.thevenusproject.com/]
 

DemonicVixen

New member
Oct 24, 2009
1,660
0
0
Glaive_21842 said:
DemonicVixen said:
Isn't that just credit? We already have this. When i get paid, i can have my employer forward my "check" straight to the bank, no paperwork necessary. I can then pay for goods using a check card, once again removing the need for any form of paper transaction. I've just received and spent money, which can be given and spent again in the same way, that never existed physically. exactly the same as your "points" approach, except the "points" are called "dollars" or "Euros" or whatever.
Yeah basically, except you check does exist physically. Your boss has the paper version, and he/she gives you the "points" version, then eventually the physical version goes to the bank or wherever to be "recycled" back to customers, the banks, wages etc etc.
 

Dimensional Vortex

New member
Nov 14, 2010
694
0
0
Kiyotaki said:
How come we use currency, what if everything was free and done by charity workers?
Than everyone would be forced to become a charity worker. The problem with everyone being a charity worker (it was explained to me once) is that people will only do the jobs they want to do, say 60% of the population want to become a police officer than the other 40% do what they want, what person will be digging the graves? what person will be cleaning the schools? no one will be doing those jobs because they can do other jobs that they want.
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
2,246
0
0
Dimensional Vortex said:
Kiyotaki said:
How come we use currency, what if everything was free and done by charity workers?
Than everyone would be forced to become a charity worker. The problem with everyone being a charity worker (it was explained to me once) is that people will only do the jobs they want to do, say 60% of the population want to become a police officer than the other 40% do what they want, what person will be digging the graves? what person will be cleaning the schools? no one will be doing those jobs because they can do other jobs that they want.
Within the current plan, I'd agree. But there are other ways.
 

Dimensional Vortex

New member
Nov 14, 2010
694
0
0
Antari said:
Dimensional Vortex said:
Kiyotaki said:
How come we use currency, what if everything was free and done by charity workers?
Than everyone would be forced to become a charity worker. The problem with everyone being a charity worker (it was explained to me once) is that people will only do the jobs they want to do, say 60% of the population want to become a police officer than the other 40% do what they want, what person will be digging the graves? what person will be cleaning the schools? no one will be doing those jobs because they can do other jobs that they want.
Within the current plan, I'd agree. But there are other ways.
What do you mean? There are other ways instead of having everyone be a charity worker? Please elaborate on what you said.
 

SovietX

New member
Sep 8, 2009
438
0
0
Good luck finding billions of charity workers.

People like to feel worth. You feel like your someone when your paycheck arrives, you can feel all those hours of work in your hand as you go to cash it in and grab your cash. When you go to purchase something, its you saying "I Worked hard and now I shall play hard. See this money? I earnt it. It smells so good."
If any form of currency (Money or otherwise) did not exist, then a "Scratch my back and I will scratch yours." system would be introduced, and then basically people wouldnt be arsed doing anything at all.

Currency = Good
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
2,246
0
0
Dimensional Vortex said:
Antari said:
Dimensional Vortex said:
Kiyotaki said:
How come we use currency, what if everything was free and done by charity workers?
Than everyone would be forced to become a charity worker. The problem with everyone being a charity worker (it was explained to me once) is that people will only do the jobs they want to do, say 60% of the population want to become a police officer than the other 40% do what they want, what person will be digging the graves? what person will be cleaning the schools? no one will be doing those jobs because they can do other jobs that they want.
Within the current plan, I'd agree. But there are other ways.
What do you mean? There are other ways instead of having everyone be a charity worker? Please elaborate on what you said.
The world is more than capable of providing for us all. If we use our knowledge properly. But this is not so at this point in time. Others in this thread have pointed to the alternative, you must only seek it.
 

Mcupobob

New member
Jun 29, 2009
3,449
0
0
Because I only care about I, myself, and family and friends also me. I try to be a good person and help where I can If I am giving the chance to judge them, but I can't then I just fall back on the assumption they're bastards.
 

Biscotti187

New member
Aug 12, 2009
65
0
0
why is looking to forward self interest necessarily unfortunate, its human and we all do it even its just so you can eat the next meal after "guarding" a museum for 8 hours
 

Dimensional Vortex

New member
Nov 14, 2010
694
0
0
Antari said:
Dimensional Vortex said:
Antari said:
Dimensional Vortex said:
Kiyotaki said:
How come we use currency, what if everything was free and done by charity workers?
Than everyone would be forced to become a charity worker. The problem with everyone being a charity worker (it was explained to me once) is that people will only do the jobs they want to do, say 60% of the population want to become a police officer than the other 40% do what they want, what person will be digging the graves? what person will be cleaning the schools? no one will be doing those jobs because they can do other jobs that they want.
Within the current plan, I'd agree. But there are other ways.
What do you mean? There are other ways instead of having everyone be a charity worker? Please elaborate on what you said.
The world is more than capable of providing for us all. If we use our knowledge properly. But this is not so at this point in time. Others in this thread have pointed to the alternative, you must only seek it.
Right there is the problem. If we ALL use our knowledge properly, how many people do you know that probably wouldn't use their knowledge properly, I just quickly came up with a hypothesis that majority of the world won't use their knowledge properly to make it so the world is more than capable of providing for us all. The current system with money isn't great but it works and that is all we need, the problem with money is that it often leads to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Not to go on a rant about how bad money is but it is practically always the people with the most money who run the country or influence the lives of a lot of people in the country, but I guess it is better than the world crumbling due to people doing what ever jobs they want and then calling it charity.

P.S. With the charity idea that the forum starter had said, can you see how easily it would be abused? I could continuously ring pizza delivery men to run to my door with 10 pizzas each and I could eat all that I want and not have to give them anything except work at K-Mart, you see the jobs in the charity system are disproportionate to one another yet would be all viewed as equals because they are charity.
 

Willowcat362

New member
Dec 23, 2010
4
0
0
Rome had a system where slaves did the manual labor, but also earned wages so that they could eventually become citizens. We have robots in this day and age that have and can COMPLETELY remove the manual labor aspect of society. but then money would be worthless, because everyone could have food, shelter, amenities, etc. for free. Which doesn't make rich people feel good about THEIR wealth. systems are designed to propagate themselves, but when has there been a SINGLE system that has without a doubt not been changed?

We use fiat currency today, and before that it was dollars backed by gold. before that, bank notes that could be exchanged for worth. The romans and most other primitive yet sophisticated societies used coins which held their own value as denoted by the government. Tribes used to use barter, and before that, the hunter-gatherers survived by "hunting", and "gathering" what they needed and moving on before an area became unusable. So, why do we still use currency? The system hasn't collapsed yet. It'll happen soon, either hyper-inflation, or out-right socialism. Every dollar they "pump" into the US economy is NOT helping the problem. It is devaluing your savings, because the more of something there is around, the less rare it is, and therefore the lower its cost to procure.

Goods hold their own value against the dollar, not the other way around. prices don't go up, the value of your money is going down. A loaf of bread at the supermarket is $2.00, and an ounce of gold is $1,400.00. Bread prices seemed to be going up too. does that mean the value of wheat and other foods are going up too? imagining that gold is the standard, and seeing as its "value" continues to rise(this is a lie, the value of the dollar is going down which makes it seem to be increasing.) Ask yourself, is there more or less gold in circulation in today's age? There are a few gold mines still pumping out gold, so the supply HAS to be increasing. why is the value going up? Perhaps because the economy is failing? That is a catchall phrase for people who underestimate the machinations of our economic system.

our money value is designed to go down continually, in the understanding that stagnant supplies of currency is bad for population increase. But I've strayed. The reason we have money, and as part of it, a system of economics, is to regulate the supply of goods and services. one without money cannot procure said items, and one with Bill Gates-esque amounts can do as they please. how does one make several billion dollars? by taking that money out of circulation. and how does one continue to use money that is out of circulation? There is a theory that the money will be used right away, but that is a lie. how many people do YOU know spend exactly their savings within several weeks of getting it?

Most put the money in banks, under the idea that your "money" is safe there. or even that you can make money by keeping it in their hands. if you are extremely experienced with speculation and economy, which usually means you have VERY LARGE SUMS OF MONEY ALREADY, then yes, this is a good way to gather even more. but the continuation of money and circulation when companies have billions or even trillions of dollars is through the credit system, which brings in money through interest. Interest accrues through transactions, and is the lowest-powered money you can find. it isn't actually worth anything,but it IS a promise to pay someone something, and a little extra for the transaction holder who pays first. This post is too long as it is, though, so I'll leave on this note. Fiat economies have no boundaries for money value. inflation occurs no matter what you do, and is only sped up by banks and government bailouts. printing more money is what took out Germany's economy, along with gross debts. taking that as a DIRECT example, exactly how much "money" do we owe a certain superpower nation to the west in the US? China is playing with their economy to increase the value of their dollar by subsidization to make our debts to them worth even more, even as our ability to pay them back lessens with the dollar's value. check out www.zeitgeistmovie.com if you want something in-depth.
 

Antari

Music Slave
Nov 4, 2009
2,246
0
0
Dimensional Vortex said:
Antari said:
Dimensional Vortex said:
Antari said:
Dimensional Vortex said:
Kiyotaki said:
How come we use currency, what if everything was free and done by charity workers?
Than everyone would be forced to become a charity worker. The problem with everyone being a charity worker (it was explained to me once) is that people will only do the jobs they want to do, say 60% of the population want to become a police officer than the other 40% do what they want, what person will be digging the graves? what person will be cleaning the schools? no one will be doing those jobs because they can do other jobs that they want.
Within the current plan, I'd agree. But there are other ways.
What do you mean? There are other ways instead of having everyone be a charity worker? Please elaborate on what you said.
The world is more than capable of providing for us all. If we use our knowledge properly. But this is not so at this point in time. Others in this thread have pointed to the alternative, you must only seek it.
Right there is the problem. If we ALL use our knowledge properly, how many people do you know that probably wouldn't use their knowledge properly, I just quickly came up with a hypothesis that majority of the world won't use their knowledge properly to make it so the world is more than capable of providing for us all. The current system with money isn't great but it works and that is all we need, the problem with money is that it often leads to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Not to go on a rant about how bad money is but it is practically always the people with the most money who run the country or influence the lives of a lot of people in the country, but I guess it is better than the world crumbling due to people doing what ever jobs they want and then calling it charity.

P.S. With the charity idea that the forum starter had said, can you see how easily it would be abused? I could continuously ring pizza delivery men to run to my door with 10 pizzas each and I could eat all that I want and not have to give them anything except work at K-Mart, you see the jobs in the charity system are disproportionate to one another yet would be all viewed as equals because they are charity.
Yes it relies on a premise for people to do for others before themselves. Its not the way society has taught it. But it is an alternative.
 

Canadamus Prime

Robot in Disguise
Jun 17, 2009
14,334
0
0
yamitami said:
canadamus_prime said:
My former boss was telling me one time that currency has it's origins back in the time when the feudal lords would literally own your ass (if you were a peasant). Not only that, but apparently the lords would actually demand tributes in blood from the peasants. This, of course, proved to be problematic, so instead it was arranged that the peasants would give the lord a percentage of the goods they produce (since most of them were farmers).
.....No, money was around long before feudal Europe. I'd have to check to be sure but I'm pretty sure it pre-dates Mesopotamia. The reason why currency came into play is because trading tokens was a lot easier than trading goods. Ever have to do one of those extended fetch quests where the stonemason wants a new hammer which you can get from the blacksmith but he wants a chicken, which you don't have, and then you find out the baker has a chicken he's trading but he wants a specific kind of herb... on and on. That was daily commerce before coins.
I didn't say feudal Europe, did I? To be honest, I'm not even sure it was feudal anything. I just know there were lords involved and they demanded the life blood of the peasantry, and the peasants would give goods in exchange for being allowed to live. ...or something like that. I'm not even sure I'm getting it right, it was just something my former boss was telling me about one time.
 

MercurySteam

Tastes Like Chicken!
Legacy
Apr 11, 2008
4,950
2
43
Straight from my Economics book:

1. A store of value
2. A standard of value
3. A standard of deferred payment
4. A medium of exchange

Currency is good for all these things, unless you live in Zimbabwe.