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Gold can't exactly get more or less valuable over time. It is a rock. We have no practical uses for it. My impulse to point out that it's a very useful metal i
by ehvatum 7y ago
Gold can't exactly get more or less valuable over time. It is a rock. We have no practical uses for it.
My impulse to point out that it's a very useful metal is tempered by my surprise that only 10% of gold production goes to applications where gold does something other than look golden or just exist as a physical store of value. It seems a little silly. Gold mining is quite destructive; environmentalists should fly around the world, giving speeches on the worthlessness of gold, but where's the glamor in that?
- roenxi 7y agoYeah, it would have lots of uses if we had industrial quantities of it. > Gold mining is quite destructive; environmentalists should ... If it makes you feel better, it is common for gold to be found as an enriched layer sitting on top of a copper deposit. So a big chunk of gold mining isn't gold-for-gold's sake, it is something mined on the way to a much more practical substance - copper. Actual gold mines doing environmental damage are a thing (cyanide ahoy!) but the footprint is small and hopefully not important.
- linuxftw 7y agoWait until you hear how destructive lithium mines are. There are lots of towns in the western US polluted by the mining industry.