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The rub is in "gold just works". It doesn't just work, there are reasons it has retained value for so long and reasons it might not forever. The intrinsic valu

by mxwsn 9y ago

The rub is in "gold just works". It doesn't just work, there are reasons it has retained value for so long and reasons it might not forever. The intrinsic value of USD is it's the only currency you can use to pay taxes to the US government. The intrinsic value of gold is its industrial/commercial uses. The intrinsic value of bitcoin is a nearly incorruptable transaction ledger while also being trust less. None of these things "just work", some or all will fail eventually.

Manglano 9y ago
Gold in industrial applications will probably be used at atomic-scale in integrated manufacturing processes sometime within the next three years. If you look at an ATX motherboard from 2009 with an Intel processor and a MacBook Pro mainboard from 2017, the amount of material consumption to create a similar product has fallen dramatically. You can actually see Moore's Law, it's kinda beautiful.
conanbatt 9y ago
Again with the pay taxes thing. The duty to pay taxes cannot be the value of the usd. Lowering taxes would depreciate the coin!
lallysingh 9y ago
Not just taxes. The dollar says "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." Useful to have when you're getting sued.
bicubic 9y ago
> and reasons it might not forever Is there historical precedent for something to be as widely accepted as gold, which isn't considered valuable today?
- notdonspaulding 9y ago
  Aluminum was once worth more than gold. https://gizmodo.com/how-aluminum-cost-more-than-gold-1575564897 https://gizmodo.com/how-aluminum-cost-more-than-gold-1575564...
FLUX-YOU 9y ago
>The intrinsic value of USD is it's the only currency you can use to pay taxes to the US government. This isn't intrinsic value. The government can conceivably decide USD is worthless (it won't, probably ever, unless the US collapses). USD relies on the US government for value. Being able to burn money to start a fire would be intrinsic value. Same for gold's conductivity and its other industrial uses. They are physical properties.
- DSingularity 9y ago
  I think its a stretch to say that the US gov will decide USD is worthless. So the expected intrinsic value is as he stated, the power of the US government to levy taxes. I would also include the domination of the USD in oil trade as another intrinsic value.
  - paulgb 9y ago
    Intrinsic value is a term with specific meaning going back to the days of commodity money. I don't disagree with your point, but by definition the things you mention are not intrinsic value in the monetary theory sense.
Lordarminius 9y ago
>The intrinsic value of gold is it's industrial/commercial uses.... Excuse me ?

by mxwsn 9y ago

Manglano 9y ago

Gold in industrial applications will probably be used at atomic-scale in integrated manufacturing processes sometime within the next three years. If you look at an ATX motherboard from 2009 with an Intel processor and a MacBook Pro mainboard from 2017, the amount of material consumption to create a similar product has fallen dramatically. You can actually see Moore's Law, it's kinda beautiful.

conanbatt 9y ago

Again with the pay taxes thing. The duty to pay taxes cannot be the value of the usd. Lowering taxes would depreciate the coin!

lallysingh 9y ago

Not just taxes. The dollar says "This note is legal tender for all debts public and private." Useful to have when you're getting sued.

bicubic 9y ago

> and reasons it might not forever Is there historical precedent for something to be as widely accepted as gold, which isn't considered valuable today?

notdonspaulding 9y ago
Aluminum was once worth more than gold. https://gizmodo.com/how-aluminum-cost-more-than-gold-1575564897 https://gizmodo.com/how-aluminum-cost-more-than-gold-1575564...

FLUX-YOU 9y ago

>The intrinsic value of USD is it's the only currency you can use to pay taxes to the US government. This isn't intrinsic value. The government can conceivably decide USD is worthless (it won't, probably ever, unless the US collapses). USD relies on the US government for value. Being able to burn money to start a fire would be intrinsic value. Same for gold's conductivity and its other industrial uses. They are physical properties.

DSingularity 9y ago
I think its a stretch to say that the US gov will decide USD is worthless. So the expected intrinsic value is as he stated, the power of the US government to levy taxes. I would also include the domination of the USD in oil trade as another intrinsic value.
- paulgb 9y ago
  Intrinsic value is a term with specific meaning going back to the days of commodity money. I don't disagree with your point, but by definition the things you mention are not intrinsic value in the monetary theory sense.

Lordarminius 9y ago

>The intrinsic value of gold is it's industrial/commercial uses.... Excuse me ?