Objects with present-day value: cash, gold coins, jewelry
Hmm, what if a future society could produce enough gold through advanced nucleosynthesis that it becomes a throwaway commodity like our current use of aluminum?
I’ve asked gold standard advocates this question, and I haven’t seen a good response. In fact, the question makes them uncomfortable because it generates cognitive dissonance. Basically they’ve adopted the Thomas Malthus position on gold, and the Julian L. Simon position on every other resource.
Yes, that could increase the supply of gold to some extent, but on its own I don’t think it would be anywhere near enough for gold to become “a throwaway commodity” like aluminium today.
A society that could do that could most likely do lots of other awesome stuff, too, and I’m not sure in such a post-scarcity society it’d be terribly important for the value of money to be stable anyway.
Hmm, what if a future society could produce enough gold through advanced nucleosynthesis that it becomes a throwaway commodity like our current use of aluminum?
I’ve asked gold standard advocates this question, and I haven’t seen a good response. In fact, the question makes them uncomfortable because it generates cognitive dissonance. Basically they’ve adopted the Thomas Malthus position on gold, and the Julian L. Simon position on every other resource.
There are more ways than nucleosynthesis to devalue gold through increased supply—asteroidal mining is another possibility that comes to mind.
Yes, that could increase the supply of gold to some extent, but on its own I don’t think it would be anywhere near enough for gold to become “a throwaway commodity” like aluminium today.
A society that could do that could most likely do lots of other awesome stuff, too, and I’m not sure in such a post-scarcity society it’d be terribly important for the value of money to be stable anyway.