>please don't try to argue about the value of gold coming from its physical properties
I understand why you would want to discount from the conversation the very things that make gold valuable; but I don't have to let you move the goalposts. Gold has properties of corrosion resistance (store of value), rarity, and desirable qualities(such as its color and weight, using it in jewelery to attract mates) which allows it to be a medium of exchange, and the fact that it is easily separated from other metals by its low melting point, not to mention its luster is different from other base metals used for currency, makes it easy to use it as a unit of accord for payment of taxes and such. These properties are unmatched by other more common, natural materials-- that humans have long recognized it as unique and rare on Earth merely raises its intrinsic value to human society. Ya can't eat gold as a person, after all.
(lest you think me a gold bug, I don't have any gold and actively recommend that humans not possess it except where they actually need the properties in question. I do the same for fiat currency too. They're all just tools for getting by in life)
r2_pilot|1 year ago
I understand why you would want to discount from the conversation the very things that make gold valuable; but I don't have to let you move the goalposts. Gold has properties of corrosion resistance (store of value), rarity, and desirable qualities(such as its color and weight, using it in jewelery to attract mates) which allows it to be a medium of exchange, and the fact that it is easily separated from other metals by its low melting point, not to mention its luster is different from other base metals used for currency, makes it easy to use it as a unit of accord for payment of taxes and such. These properties are unmatched by other more common, natural materials-- that humans have long recognized it as unique and rare on Earth merely raises its intrinsic value to human society. Ya can't eat gold as a person, after all.
(lest you think me a gold bug, I don't have any gold and actively recommend that humans not possess it except where they actually need the properties in question. I do the same for fiat currency too. They're all just tools for getting by in life)