The very idea of money has begun to fascinate me. I am researching now some books to read about the creation and standardization of money and while I am still in the early stages I am seeing a lot of histories of money in the west not so much about money as it was developed in ancient China or anywhere in the Americas.
What is money? It is a symbol; it represents something. To have money is to have wealth; to have surplus. That is a powerful concept. It is no coincidence then that money as a symbol, as a tangible thing, originated in the very place where humans learned how to create a sustainable food source and thus a constant surplus? This expands what the symbol "money" represents to/for the human experience.
"Money isn't everything
but everything makes me want it."
De La Soul
Recently Tom brought Douglas Rushkoff to my attention. He has written a book recently called Life Incorporated where he discusses the effects of the corporate mentality on the society at large [explained here] (in areas not related to corporations). In the context of his book he discusses the establishment of "the coin of the realm" and the dawn of corporate thinking. It is an interesting take on how we stopped (or were forced out of) believing in barter and started believing in the dollar [clip here].
More soon...
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday, July 20, 2009
Numismatics: Part One
I have written and rewritten this post many times. It began as a post about the future of money and what that means for the plausibility of community currencies. This naturally lead me to to the history of money and what the history of money meant for community economics.
And so I embarked on a self guided tour of numismatics.
The first question I asked was: How long has currency existed?
Well currency has existed for quite some time. The Sumerians first used commodity money as a means of accounting. The Babylonians are credited with the first sort of economic systems. From there the Ancient Egyptians created the first minted coins and this spread to Greece and then to Rome and so on and so forth.
That question being answered made me wonder. While money as a physical thing and commonly accepted concept has been in use since the essential dawn of civilization when was it that money became the dominant provider of survival for individuals? That is to say, when did we stop herding goats and start hoarding money?
The Sumerians were practicing agriculture and domesticating animals, and they had a form of currency, but this currency seems to be a sort of side note. The economy of the currency at large played a parallel role to the economies of communities (towns, areas, etc...). This seems to have remained true up through Egypt, Greece, and Rome. While there was royalty and a sort of aristocracy that were a part of all of these cultures the aristocracies surplus seemed to have been based on certain virtues whether they be academic, artistic, heroic, or pious. Those of the "working classes" gave to these people because of their virtues.
I am having a bit of trouble finding resources on this topic specifically, not just on the history of money but how money and its related economies worked with/along side the local merchant/specialized craft economies.
The first road block in the discussion of community currencies is the problem of plausibility; people often think you are crazy or that the goal of community economics and alternative currencies set themselves up for an unachievable goal. My natural response is "We used to operate this way." However my knowledge on the actual history of this was rudimentary to say the least. This next series of posts will focus on the history of money and its larger worth within the society it existed in during all its historical manifestations.
Please suggest any reading you think is appropriate!
And so I embarked on a self guided tour of numismatics.
The first question I asked was: How long has currency existed?
Well currency has existed for quite some time. The Sumerians first used commodity money as a means of accounting. The Babylonians are credited with the first sort of economic systems. From there the Ancient Egyptians created the first minted coins and this spread to Greece and then to Rome and so on and so forth.
That question being answered made me wonder. While money as a physical thing and commonly accepted concept has been in use since the essential dawn of civilization when was it that money became the dominant provider of survival for individuals? That is to say, when did we stop herding goats and start hoarding money?
The Sumerians were practicing agriculture and domesticating animals, and they had a form of currency, but this currency seems to be a sort of side note. The economy of the currency at large played a parallel role to the economies of communities (towns, areas, etc...). This seems to have remained true up through Egypt, Greece, and Rome. While there was royalty and a sort of aristocracy that were a part of all of these cultures the aristocracies surplus seemed to have been based on certain virtues whether they be academic, artistic, heroic, or pious. Those of the "working classes" gave to these people because of their virtues.
I am having a bit of trouble finding resources on this topic specifically, not just on the history of money but how money and its related economies worked with/along side the local merchant/specialized craft economies.
The first road block in the discussion of community currencies is the problem of plausibility; people often think you are crazy or that the goal of community economics and alternative currencies set themselves up for an unachievable goal. My natural response is "We used to operate this way." However my knowledge on the actual history of this was rudimentary to say the least. This next series of posts will focus on the history of money and its larger worth within the society it existed in during all its historical manifestations.
Please suggest any reading you think is appropriate!
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