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> Gold is 'first place' and has been a symbol of value for most of our recorded history. Actually it has not. Not in Mesoamerican civilizations (Aztec, Mayans)

> Gold is 'first place' and has been a symbol of value for most of our recorded history. Actually it has not. Not in Mesoamerican civilizations (Aztec, Mayans). Also not for the Chinese, who used silver for currency (and gold for ceremonial purposes). Around the Mediterranean, gold became a currency 'only' around 500BC with the Lydians—which is a very long time after the first economic records we have, which take back to Ur III, the Babylonians (Hammurabi), Ancient Egypt. And when it was used, there were periods of economic stagnation due to its fixed supply: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine Letters of credit / bills of exchange were used in the Middle Ages. Most regular folks worked on credit for their day to day lives: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5,000_Years https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5,000_Years The gold standard only appeared in the 1800s: * https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249245.The_Power_of_Gold https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/249245.The_Power_of_Gold And it had all sorts of problems with it: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression * https://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/08/why-the-gold-standard-is-the-worlds-worst-economic-idea-in-2-charts/261552/ https://archive.is/https://www.theatlantic.com/business/arch...

itsalwaysgood 2y ago
I did not say anything about gold being used as a currency, just that it has always been recognized as valuable, divine, even. I think your references to China probably backs me up: it was used in ceremony for a reason. Using gold as a currency has many problems: chief among them is scarcity as you mentioned. Yet we want to pretend it will be different with Bitcoin?
- latchkey 2y ago
  > Yet we want to pretend it will be different with Bitcoin? Bitcoin is scarce, gold is not. For example, El Salvador just found trillions worth. It would take a majority of the miners to vote (by running a fork of the software) to increase supply, which goes against their own economics.
  - throw0101d 2y ago
    > Bitcoin is scarce […] Which is a bug: * https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral * https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2014/06/the-perils-of-bitcoin-as-currency https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2014/06/the-perils-of-bitcoi...
    - latchkey 2y ago
      How is it a bug? “Bitcoin is not affected by this because it is fundamentally different from popular currency.” The other arguments given are unproven and doubtful.
      - throw0101d 2y ago
        > How is it a bug? See the links in the post about the problems with deflationary currencies. See also the links of events that were made worse by finite/deflationary currencies; reposting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression
        latchkey 2y ago
        I did read the links and even quoted how one of them says bitcoin isn't affected. > the problems with deflationary currencies That's where you are mistaken, Bitcoin isn't a currency. How is it a bug?

itsalwaysgood 2y ago

I did not say anything about gold being used as a currency, just that it has always been recognized as valuable, divine, even. I think your references to China probably backs me up: it was used in ceremony for a reason. Using gold as a currency has many problems: chief among them is scarcity as you mentioned. Yet we want to pretend it will be different with Bitcoin?

latchkey 2y ago
> Yet we want to pretend it will be different with Bitcoin? Bitcoin is scarce, gold is not. For example, El Salvador just found trillions worth. It would take a majority of the miners to vote (by running a fork of the software) to increase supply, which goes against their own economics.
- throw0101d 2y ago
  > Bitcoin is scarce […] Which is a bug: * https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Deflationary_spiral * https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2014/06/the-perils-of-bitcoin-as-currency https://isps.yale.edu/news/blog/2014/06/the-perils-of-bitcoi...
  - latchkey 2y ago
    How is it a bug? “Bitcoin is not affected by this because it is fundamentally different from popular currency.” The other arguments given are unproven and doubtful.
    - throw0101d 2y ago
      > How is it a bug? See the links in the post about the problems with deflationary currencies. See also the links of events that were made worse by finite/deflationary currencies; reposting: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Bullion_Famine * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Depression
      - latchkey 2y ago
        I did read the links and even quoted how one of them says bitcoin isn't affected. > the problems with deflationary currencies That's where you are mistaken, Bitcoin isn't a currency. How is it a bug?