As time has progressed, mankind has developed the concept of currency grealty. The world of money has come a long way as well as the way money is handled and dispersed throughout the cities. People in the world today deposit all their paper money into banks, which are run by computers. A simple figure on a screen is now the world’s giant carved stones of the islanders of Yap.
When looking at the islanders of Yap, one could see a much simpler version of how the entire world operates today. The islanders achieve status based on their rock carvings similar to the way the people of today achieve status based on money earned. The thought of this seems unusual, yet makes sense. The islanders floated to an island and sculpted giant wheels, much how we in the US go to a job and perform a certain skill. Some might say that it isn’t fair that one person with unlimited resources could just get a bigger boat, thus being able to take on a bigger rock. However this is another similarity to today’s currency as with the process of how a Japan leader “ordered the Bank of Japan to fire up its printing presses without limit and has promised to pump 12 trillion yen ($134 billion) into public works and other government projects.” More rocks could be brought to the island, just like more money can simply be printed.
Furthermore, an even more recent advancement is the “Bitcoin”. It was created in efforts to save the economy and it is completely online based. Despite its hopeful attempt and its supporters, the Bitcoin may become a “monetary alternative for drug dealing and money laundering,” There is no physical presence of the money, only an understanding that it is somewhere else. This evolution of currency shows the possible negative and positive effects advancements mankind is making.
Americans put faith in the value of a piece of paper, just like the Islanders of Yap put their faith in a giant limestone rock. We are many more centuries advanced yet we model so much of our economy much like theirs, indirectly of course. This abstract concept of money seems to be surreal. How can we trust something that is simply printed and created out of thin air?
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Counterintuitive Fall 2022 
feedback
Feedback provided. —DSH
Hey, Ben,
P1. Time does not progress. Mankind might progress over time. Or, over time, man may have developed a more complicated concept of currency? Amazing, isn’t it? Four words in and already I’m messing around.
Now, beyond a more complicated concept of currency, what in the world do you mean by “the world of money has come a long way”? Your claim that cash distribution has changed is certainly valid; save that.
You sound very archaic when you say we deposit our paper money into banks, don’t you think? When’s the last time you took a wad of cash to the deposit window? Maybe Wawa does, but most of the rest of us use checks or automatic deposits and only withdraw enough cash to handle those needs a swipe card can’t handle. When you cite a specific physical object or activity, be sure it supports your claims: Money has come so far, you say, that we still handle paper currency? Hardly.
YES. That figure on the screen is where you’ve been headed. So what you meant is that yesterday we handled a lot of filthy linen with numbers on it and now we don’t even touch our money. It’s digits on a smart phone.
P2. Why “when,” Ben? Why “one”? Why “could”? There’s so much needless if/then here. “Looking at the Yap, we see a simpler version of today’s commercial transactions.” (See why that’s better than “how the entire world operates today”?
Do you mean their giant rocks are our big salaries? You’re allowed to say so. Or, since the salaries are invisible and the point of the rocks is their visibility, you could say their giant rocks are our McMansions. Or our Hummers.
—”The thought of this”? Say something.
I’m not sure I agree that sending a boat to carve fei is the same as going to work every day, Ben, (the Yap who sent those boats had to have actual jobs too, don’t you think?) but you make a very clever analogy between that expedition and the pumping of billions into the Japanese economy. That “manufacturing new currency” connection is valuable.
P3. I think I disputed your claim that Bitcoin was invented to “save the economy” on your Invention of Money post, Ben, and I’m back to dispute it again. Where did you find this information? “its hopeful attempt”? Your claims in this paragraph are very unclear.
P4. In response to your claim about rocks and paper, I’m going to say, “Sort of.” We all understand the only value of those tokens is that they’re accepted as forms of payment. If anything, we trust in the continuing mutual agreement that slips of paper represent markers or IOUs. And in answer to your question, I’d say, “Why do we trust when we buy a ticket online for a plane trip to Indianapolis and get nothing in return but a digital confirmation number, that the crew will let us board that plane?” The answer is: the first time, we don’t trust it much; it seems surreal not to at least have a printed ticket. But after a few flights, we hardly question the nature of the transaction anymore.
This is considerably better, Ben. P3 is still problematic though (there are so many strong claims to make about Bitcoin, especially after this week’s news. I hate to see you waste the paragraph).