3 ms·

Other things that are surprisingly less than 100 years old include electronic music, Germany, Croatia, capitalism, the end of slavery, worker's rights, fiat cur

Other things that are surprisingly less than 100 years old include electronic music, Germany, Croatia, capitalism, the end of slavery, worker's rights, fiat currency, central banks, stock markets as more than a niche thing, and so on.

mbil 2mo ago
What year do you think it is
- stevecoalbear 2mo ago
  2026
imjonse 2mo ago
While there was legal slavery in some countries well into the second half of the 20th century, capitalism and workers' rights movements are definitely older than 100 years.
__MatrixMan__ 2mo ago
Didn't the Dutch East India Company go public in 1602? Also, in ancient Rome, coinage with Caesar's face on it was traded above its bullion value. They'd kill 1/10th of your population repeatedly until you agreed to this (such was the origins of the word "decimation"), and then they'd buy their dinner from you with caesar-face coin and move on to the next village tomorrow. Now that you have some caesar-face coin, you have some incentive to continue upholding its inflated value, and the tax collectors will show up later and re-apply threats of violence to ensure that you continue to do so. That sounds like fiat currency to me. Also, the federal reserve was established in 1913. Dude, I'm all for framing the status quo as mutable, but maybe do a bit of research.
- Kon5ole 2mo ago
  >Also, in ancient Rome, coinage with Caesar's face on it was traded above its bullion value. They'd kill 1/10th of your population repeatedly until you agreed to this (such was the origins of the word "decimation") Decimation has it's origin in a military punishment for insubordination or cowardice. Where did you get the fiat currency idea from?
  - __MatrixMan__ 2mo ago
    I learned it in latin class. It looks like I may have gotten it a bit wrong. It's not that they killed every tenth member of whatever village they were adding to the roman empire that day, but rather than they conscripted some of them as soldiers and then killed every tenth of those who didn't obey. I think the currency point stands though: value the money our soldiers carry, tax collectors will be along for it shortly, welcome to the Roman Empire.
    - Kon5ole 2mo ago
      >I think the currency point stands though: value the money our soldiers carry, tax collectors will be along for it shortly, welcome to the Roman Empire. Well OK but a decimation was no small thing, it was documented to have happened just a few times in Roman recorded history. I'd hesitate to think they employed such measures just to push the ur-Euro, especially since it doesn't seem like it would be a very effective incentive compared to the utility of the currency itself. "I fished for a few weeks and got these coins that last forever and are easy to carry and now I can buy a horse at the horse market!" So the currency decimation thing smells like a myth/exaggeration to me, but I admit it's just a hunch.
alecbz 2mo ago
> Germany The HRE for several hundred years could probably seen as a proto-Germany.
exegete 2mo ago
Depends on what you mean by “end of slavery” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century

mbil 2mo ago

What year do you think it is

stevecoalbear 2mo ago
2026

imjonse 2mo ago

While there was legal slavery in some countries well into the second half of the 20th century, capitalism and workers' rights movements are definitely older than 100 years.

__MatrixMan__ 2mo ago

Didn't the Dutch East India Company go public in 1602? Also, in ancient Rome, coinage with Caesar's face on it was traded above its bullion value. They'd kill 1/10th of your population repeatedly until you agreed to this (such was the origins of the word "decimation"), and then they'd buy their dinner from you with caesar-face coin and move on to the next village tomorrow. Now that you have some caesar-face coin, you have some incentive to continue upholding its inflated value, and the tax collectors will show up later and re-apply threats of violence to ensure that you continue to do so. That sounds like fiat currency to me. Also, the federal reserve was established in 1913. Dude, I'm all for framing the status quo as mutable, but maybe do a bit of research.

Kon5ole 2mo ago
>Also, in ancient Rome, coinage with Caesar's face on it was traded above its bullion value. They'd kill 1/10th of your population repeatedly until you agreed to this (such was the origins of the word "decimation") Decimation has it's origin in a military punishment for insubordination or cowardice. Where did you get the fiat currency idea from?
- __MatrixMan__ 2mo ago
  I learned it in latin class. It looks like I may have gotten it a bit wrong. It's not that they killed every tenth member of whatever village they were adding to the roman empire that day, but rather than they conscripted some of them as soldiers and then killed every tenth of those who didn't obey. I think the currency point stands though: value the money our soldiers carry, tax collectors will be along for it shortly, welcome to the Roman Empire.
  - Kon5ole 2mo ago
    >I think the currency point stands though: value the money our soldiers carry, tax collectors will be along for it shortly, welcome to the Roman Empire. Well OK but a decimation was no small thing, it was documented to have happened just a few times in Roman recorded history. I'd hesitate to think they employed such measures just to push the ur-Euro, especially since it doesn't seem like it would be a very effective incentive compared to the utility of the currency itself. "I fished for a few weeks and got these coins that last forever and are easy to carry and now I can buy a horse at the horse market!" So the currency decimation thing smells like a myth/exaggeration to me, but I admit it's just a hunch.

alecbz 2mo ago

> Germany The HRE for several hundred years could probably seen as a proto-Germany.

exegete 2mo ago

Depends on what you mean by “end of slavery” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century