• Maeve@kbin.earth
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      2 days ago

      Yes, or backed by actual PMs or other high-value assets. Which actually makes me wonder if those aren’t fiat, too, considering artificial scarcity (De Beers and diamonds, for example).

      • rockSlayer
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        2 days ago

        Beer is a legitimate currency, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise

        • Maeve@kbin.earth
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          1 day ago

          The way water supplies are currently (mis)handled, you’re not wrong. Beer was developed as a sort of sanitation method, iirc.

      • BlueMonday1984@awful.systems
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        2 days ago

        Which actually makes me wonder if those aren’t fiat, too, considering artificial scarcity (De Beers and diamonds, for example).

        I can see an argument for considering them fiat. The value of “high-value assets” (e.g. gold) comes from the assumption they’ll retain their value even if things get drastic, not from being immediately useful (e.g. alcohol) or necessary to survive (e.g. water).

        PMs

        Zero clue what the acronym means in this context.

          • BlueMonday1984@awful.systems
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            1 day ago

            Ah, right. Yeah, I can see your point. If it isn’t necessary to survive (e.g. food, water), or it doesn’t have an immediate use case (e.g. ammunition), its probably some form of fiat.

            • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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              1 day ago

              Not really related but perhaps entertaining titbit, in the metro 2033 video game series they use high quality ammo as currency. Cant recall if this also happened in the book.

              • anton
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                4 hours ago

                Cant recall if this also happened in the book.

                They certainly paid in bullets.

                I stopped reading when the vibe shifted from post apocalypse to fantasy, but that was probably meant to be the madness induced by the darkness and not a genuine change in setting. I should probably go find the book and keep reading.

                Edit: I really like fantasy and the dangerous outside mutants or whatever they where also fit the vibe but when the protagonist had a weird connection to the tunnel it didn’t sit right with me.

                • Soyweiser@awful.systems
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                  10 hours ago

                  Yeah it gets really weird in the end very EE (Eastern European) sf. (Which often has a bit more fantasy elements in it, compared to more western europe (ignoring psionics here, which despite being fantasy is so ingrained in our idea of SF it doesnt really feel like it) SF. Not that I mind. I read a lot of 70s SF so I found the no fantasy stance slightly odd. Also quite bleak which is also common in more EE SF I heard). I digress. The other things made more impact so I forgot if it was also in the book. Which I enjoyed so you could try going back.

                  • gerikson@awful.systems
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                    8 hours ago

                    I wonder how much of “the cyberpunk movement” in SF was authors getting sick and tired of “woo” psi powers etc. For me personally it really felt like a breath of fresh air.