insomniac thoughts

[juldea]

Money is weird. Like, the theory of it all. I go to work, and when I leave, they don't give me Wealth. They give me a piece of paper that says that their bank is going to transfer a balance to my bank. But the balance doesn't mean anything either... it's numbers on a sheet of paper, in a computer, nothing I can hold. Someone could theoretically just up and say that the computer says zero now, and there it all goes... But that's not weird, that's the thing, it's what we've all come to deal with as normal. We don't hold our wealth anymore, we don't have it tangible... We let our possessions be taken from us and spread around and used by others, and then we wonder why we don't ever feel in control of our lives...

Segue.

Hypothesis: the American (Western?) emphasis on breast size rather than hip size for attractiveness of a (female) mate is indicative that our society is no longer worried about perpetuating itself through breeding, but instead worried about feeding those that we've bred. In other words, it's an evolutionary response to overpopulation. Discuss.

I feel like I'm on the edge of an ephiphany tonight, rolling around bed in my insomnia, plagued with newfound knowledge of humanity's dark sides (thank you Uris)... It's probably just the ramen and ice cream I had for dinner.

Comments

[oakleaf-mirror.livejournal.com]

Money in my opinion is an idea.

Exactly! It's a consensual medium of exchange that we've agreed upon.

It is not even backed by gold.

But why is gold better? We've collectively decided that gold has a high value, yet it's useless for directly satisfying the needs of living. We can't eat it, wearing it provides no warmth or protection, and it's a poor building material. It's only the collective idea of its value that allows us to exchange it for other things.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I once asked londo, who know quite a bit about economics actually, why gold is the standard for money. Sadly, I don't remember exactly what he said.. but Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard) says: "...it is believed by historians that gold's high value for its utility, density, resistance to corrosion, uniformity, and easy divisibility made it useful both as a store of value and as a unit of account for stored value of other kinds."

Just for the practical answer to this problem, but not the psychological one. Gold is just as 'Worth'-less as pieces of paper, when you get down to it...

[tlluria.livejournal.com]

except that it's much prettier around your finger (neck, wrist, etc)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ick! Silver for me. :)

[tlluria.livejournal.com]

on a more serious note, doesn't the wording on the bills have something to do with this entire discussion? my brain is too snotted up to actually do more than reference it, but does anyone remember the wording and can somebody draw a better connection from it to this discussion than i can right now?

%P

[juldea.livejournal.com]

not quite sure what you're referring to...

this

[tlluria.livejournal.com]

"FEDERAL RESERVE NOTE"

and this

"THIS NOTE IS LEGAL TENDER FOR ALL DEBTS, PUBLIC AND PRIVATE"

and this (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_tender) though for the life of me I can't remember what the argument/theory was.

more proof that I shouldn't try to intellectualize when sick ...

Re: this

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Oh! I get you now.

Yeah, but those are just words on the paper. I don't have the power to make them true if someone else, with power, says they're not. *shrug*

[belladonna1015.livejournal.com]

I totally agree.