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Also have a read of David Graeber's "Debt: The first 5000 years". This "central banking" was invented way before sanitation, and is older than the currency itse

by sparkie 13y ago

Also have a read of David Graeber's "Debt: The first 5000 years". This "central banking" was invented way before sanitation, and is older than the currency itself.

rsync 13y ago
But that same book also has a very succinct and useful definition of money - remember the scenario wherein thieves are stealing from you and you need a token to show to the thieves to prove you've already been stolen from that day ? And then those tokens become valuable themselves ? I thought that explanation was quite interesting but was unsure of its value in describing the real world. BUT THEN, I remember the description in Zinns _Peoples History of the United States_ wherein he describes exactly that scenario: Columbus wanted gold out of Haiti. There was none. They told the natives to get it anyway, and gave them copper necklaces to indicate that they had fulfilled their gold tribute. "Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death." So ... to whatever degree this picture of money is accurate, and it appears that it is more accurate than I thought after simply reading "Debt", and to whatever degree central banking is a continuation of that process ... I would have to look askance at central banking, yes ? [1] http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.html http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.ht... (see paragraph that begins "But too many of the slaves died in captivity")
- kaybe 13y ago
  Hm, those tokens appear in Terry Pratchett Diskworld books.. so there is a historical foundation to it. Interesting.
  - williamcotton 13y ago
    Imagine that, successful artists being well grounded in the lessons of the past...
MaysonL 13y ago
Given that he wrote this in that book: "The greater the need to improvise the more democratic the cooperation [within companies] tends to become. Inventors have always understood this, start-up capitalists frequently figure it out, and computer engineers have recently rediscovered the principle … Apple Computers is a famous example: it was founded by (mostly Republican) computer engineers who broke from IBM in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, forming little democratic circles of twenty to forty people with their laptops in each other’s garages." I wouldn't trust any part of anything in the book.

by sparkie 13y ago

Also have a read of David Graeber's "Debt: The first 5000 years". This "central banking" was invented way before sanitation, and is older than the currency itself.

rsync 13y ago

But that same book also has a very succinct and useful definition of money - remember the scenario wherein thieves are stealing from you and you need a token to show to the thieves to prove you've already been stolen from that day ? And then those tokens become valuable themselves ? I thought that explanation was quite interesting but was unsure of its value in describing the real world. BUT THEN, I remember the description in Zinns _Peoples History of the United States_ wherein he describes exactly that scenario: Columbus wanted gold out of Haiti. There was none. They told the natives to get it anyway, and gave them copper necklaces to indicate that they had fulfilled their gold tribute. "Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death." So ... to whatever degree this picture of money is accurate, and it appears that it is more accurate than I thought after simply reading "Debt", and to whatever degree central banking is a continuation of that process ... I would have to look askance at central banking, yes ? [1] http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.html http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Zinn/Columbus_PeoplesHx.ht... (see paragraph that begins "But too many of the slaves died in captivity")

kaybe 13y ago
Hm, those tokens appear in Terry Pratchett Diskworld books.. so there is a historical foundation to it. Interesting.
- williamcotton 13y ago
  Imagine that, successful artists being well grounded in the lessons of the past...

MaysonL 13y ago

Given that he wrote this in that book: "The greater the need to improvise the more democratic the cooperation [within companies] tends to become. Inventors have always understood this, start-up capitalists frequently figure it out, and computer engineers have recently rediscovered the principle … Apple Computers is a famous example: it was founded by (mostly Republican) computer engineers who broke from IBM in Silicon Valley in the 1980s, forming little democratic circles of twenty to forty people with their laptops in each other’s garages." I wouldn't trust any part of anything in the book.