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https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/aluminum-common-metal-uncommon-past https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/aluminum-common... Aluminum used

https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/aluminum-common-metal-uncommon-past https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/aluminum-common... Aluminum used to be more valuable than gold. Then we discovered cheaper ways of processing the ore. Aluminum is so cheap now that people throw away aluminum cans everyday (hopefully in the recycling bin) People rarely throw away gold like that although some does get tossed in electronic devices. If we found a way to decrease the cost of gold mining by 1000X then maybe people would throw it away like aluminum.

tschwimmer 4y ago
You folks are arguing past each other. As it turns out, the price of something is determined by two factors: Supply and Demand. Imbalances in supply and demand cause changes in price.
benj111 4y ago
If you have one thing then the price should be whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay, if you have a million things, it's whatever the the millionth highest bidder is willing to pay. Thus the more of a thing you make, the less valuable each thing is. This works, because the total value of $things sold increases. But that 1, or those million people buying the thing have to be willing to pay something. An aol disc isn't worth anything, even now that they are probably exceedingly rare (I'll bet someone's flogging them on ebay though) because still no one wants them. Aluminium and gold have fundamentals because they have a use. Some random coin, not so much, not even as a coaster.
- lizknope 4y ago
  I think crypto currency should have a value of 0 But the value of gold would change if mining got easier
  - lanstin 4y ago
    Because the supply curve would shift. And a base value of zero is way different from any positive value, in so far as it can drop 90% an infinite number of times, but something with some use aside from exchange will drop only till it hits the market price of that use.

tschwimmer 4y ago

You folks are arguing past each other. As it turns out, the price of something is determined by two factors: Supply and Demand. Imbalances in supply and demand cause changes in price.

benj111 4y ago

If you have one thing then the price should be whatever the highest bidder is willing to pay, if you have a million things, it's whatever the the millionth highest bidder is willing to pay. Thus the more of a thing you make, the less valuable each thing is. This works, because the total value of $things sold increases. But that 1, or those million people buying the thing have to be willing to pay something. An aol disc isn't worth anything, even now that they are probably exceedingly rare (I'll bet someone's flogging them on ebay though) because still no one wants them. Aluminium and gold have fundamentals because they have a use. Some random coin, not so much, not even as a coaster.

lizknope 4y ago
I think crypto currency should have a value of 0 But the value of gold would change if mining got easier
- lanstin 4y ago
  Because the supply curve would shift. And a base value of zero is way different from any positive value, in so far as it can drop 90% an infinite number of times, but something with some use aside from exchange will drop only till it hits the market price of that use.