Rich men claimed their stake on your future and life using fiat. They wanted more than they needed and created an instrument to do so. Things aren't free, you are right.
Discussion
And you are right about the facts there are certain benefits (wether imagined or not) in participating in such a system. We eventually do share the benefits of each others labor aswell.
We are a trading species. There is really nothing more important to human prosperity (or to being human) than trade. That's why the corruption of money is so destructive.
Money makes us human. When money dies (or when some are able to corrupt it) civilization dies with it.
Appearantly (because of the hippies? Or maybe I should t picked it better) you are missing the point I was trying to make.
Fiat leads to scarcity and division, it makes things less free than it needs to be.
I don't disagree on things like trade, human cooperation and mutual benefits.
But tbh, money doesn't make us human. It facilitates trade, cooperation and with it civilised society. Had to say I think that felt grossly overstated.
It's almost not possible to overstate the importance of money. Trade & cooperation don't scale into any sort of civilization at all without money. Dunbar's number becomes a much more significant limit & knowledge ceases to flow between peoples. I highly recommend investing some real time into the subject. Bitcoin Audible has many great episodes on monetary theory & the history of money.
Again, I'm not disputing the value when it comes to trade and society.
Cooperation is a important aspect of humansociety (and I guess being human). Money facilitates trade and with it cooperation but the instrument itself definitely doesn't make us human.
I didn't disagree, just feels like it's overstated. If you think otherwise, your values about a lubricant of society (and perhaps society itself) differ from mine
Neanderthals were stronger & smarter than humans. What separated humans from other large primates was the tendency toward cooperation & trade.
Basically every society of any significance first used or worshipped gold & THEN became great. And eventually they destroyed their money & collapsed.
Look around. When money becomes corrupt people become stupid & hedonistic, when money collapses people become nightmarish animals that destroy each other.
Money is literally the lifeblood of human civilization. Billions would die without it.
I don't think the importance of money can be overstated. I think most people just do not understand that money & trade came before language. It is something on par with fire or the wheel. It's the beginning of everything.
This gives me the impression that your trying to prove your point by saying my 'misattribution' to the value of it is due to my lack of understanding. If that's the case, that's pretty arrogant.
I would argue the corruption of money directly correlates to human suffering, and the whole concept of aristocracy and control evolved in response to that.
They took debasing the King's coins very, very seriously.