On Wed, 21 Oct 2020 02:48:23 +0100
The Natural Philosopher  wrote:

> On 20/10/2020 22:50, Ahem A Rivet's Shot wrote:
> > On Tue, 20 Oct 2020 21:57:50 +0200
> > Deloptes  wrote:
> >
> >> There are many problems related to backing up with gold, but as I said
> >> it is not about gold but any value.
> >
> >  Right but the principle source of value is not rare metals it is
> > human activity. Using rare metals does not scale naturally to the real
> > source of value.
> >
> That is not the point. Gold can not be multiplied infinitely. Paper
> money can. It needn't be gold. Cowrie shells will do.

 This is the point gold or cowrie shells or silver or any other
physical medium does not naturally scale to the actual source of value and
thus has to be constantly revalued as the population increases, technology
improves and in general value production increases. This is why coinage
started as pure precious metals and wound up as brass coloured steel.

 Paper money can be scaled to match the actual production of value
(that it can also be scaled independently of that value is, I agree, a
problem) but no fixed resource can scale appropriately or inappropriately.

> The technical need is for a mutually agreed  proxy for value that is
> relatively indestructible and cannot be manufactured infinitely.

 Why ? Nobody uses such a thing any more, for most of my life and
the sky has not fallen in. As far as I can see we need a medium of exchange
whose quantity reflects the quantity of value available without constant
revaluation.

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