You missed a big advantage of gold: it’s so dense you can verify that a piece of gold is real just by weighing it, because very few materials are even close to the density of gold. For most of human history, it was impossible to substitute another material for gold, and even now, the materials that are denser than gold are radioactive and/or more expensive than gold.
Comment on Trek Club
teft@startrek.website 9 months agoWhat value does gold have other than it doesn’t rust and it looks pretty?
It’s the same thing essentially. Latinum looks pretty and can’t be replicated therefore it’s a good currency.
lolcatnip@reddthat.com 9 months ago
Bonehead@kbin.social 9 months ago
Gold is used in a variety of applications. You're likely holding a device filled with gold right now. Even before the computer revolution, is was still used in medical applications. There are tons of uses for gold that don't involve currency.
teft@startrek.website 9 months ago
Yes it does have applications nowadays but when good was used as a monetary store we didn’t have electronics. Good was mainly used because it is shiny, easily workable, rare, and never corroded.
Bonehead@kbin.social 9 months ago
It was shiny, easily workable, and didn't turn your skin green. As a jewelry metal, it was much more valuable than as a currency. It had uses other than just money...