wood for sheep?

      • gimsy@feddit.it
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        10 months ago

        The same can be said for banknotes, they are quite useless as paper, they are mostly valuable because people see them as valuable and perceptions can change

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          Right, which is why using gold for a currency replacement is folly. They’re both valued based on something other than their real world applications, so if you trust one to stay relevant, you should probably trust the second as well.

      • droans@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yes and no.

        Gold has been used as a currency historically for many reasons. It’s inert. It has a low melting point. It’s malleable and easily divisible. It doesn’t tarnish. A piece of gold from 2,000 years ago will be the same weight today as it was then. It also is attractive, which gives it value for jewelry. And, importantly, it’s predictably rare and can be mined.

        Today, it’s also valuable for electronics. Its inability to tarnish makes it fantastic if you need a connection to be corrosion resistant.

        There’s a reason gold still holds its value even though it’s not used for currency anymore.

        • CucumberFetish@lemm.ee
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          10 months ago

          Gold’s value isn’t tied to its usefulness. Based on statista, less than 7% of global gold use is for “technology”. The rest of it goes to jewellery, investments and banks.

        • Ookami38@sh.itjust.works
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          10 months ago

          The quantity you need for gold to be as useful as it’s going to be in whatever application short of aesthetic/monetary value is so low that it just doesn’t make sense for its value to be tied to its actual use. So little gold is used for “real” applications that if that was driving its valuation , it’d be probably 10% as valuable as it is. That’s what people mean when they say it isn’t useful.

      • Johanno@feddit.de
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        10 months ago

        If they produce mass H2 burning cells gold and platinum will rise in price drastically