> It's all zero-sum. But this is the same as "conservation of energy". Everything is zero-sum, and yet we still do stuff. > It doesn't create wealth. Well I

> It's all zero-sum. But this is the same as "conservation of energy". Everything is zero-sum, and yet we still do stuff. > It doesn't create wealth. Well I have two answers for this. One is simple: these are financial products, and people need those. The other answer is a question: what is wealth ? Or, what is value? And these questions are like koans, they are both profound and also without solution. Wild price gyrations on exchanges going back hundreds of years are testament to this.