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...
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