The King Pawn in the Game of Life

Life is a mind game and money is our pawn. Although it is the most common today, paper money is only one of the thousands of different currencies that can be used to play the game of life. Although it will come as a shock to many, stones, bricks of gold, codes constructed by computers, and much, much more have been used as game pieces in the past and could still be in use today. The only qualification these items or concepts must possess is belief or faith from the beholder that the item holds value and therefore can allow you to play the game and maybe even win it. 

The current American currency is fairly complex because the paper is tangible yet the faith behind it is completely imaginary. It is obvious that money is touchable however the more questionable feature of money relates to its “imaginative” qualities. If thought about deep enough as achieved by Ira Glass in his Podcast https://www.thisamericanlife.org/423/transcript it is clear that money although visible to the eye is merely a figment of our imagination. In the podcast, Glass describes the objective of the Federal Reserve to “create” money. This is done in the following sentence: “ The Federal Reserve can create money any time it wants.” The article explains that since this money is “created” by agencies controlled by human beings these individuals have the ultimate power to add or take away money from the economy. This is proved in the podcast through an elaborate demonstration of the existence of inflammation in economies that use the American dollar. The creation of paper money however would have no impact on us, the consumers if we chose not to believe in it. Inflammation would not be a thing, and currency would not be a thing simply if we didn’t believe that paper money had value. Money is “created” because we have faith in its power, if we didn’t believe in it then all money is paper.

Another type of currency that is shocking to believe involves imagination is gold bricks. A demonstration of faith in currency can be found in the article Island of Stone Money by Milton Friedman. In this account, he describes the “imaginary approach” the US took in response to an issue with the French. They decided to take the gold owed to the French, place them aside, and mark them “ The Frenchs”. Therefore, even though the gold wasn’t physically in the French’s hands it was still believed that the gold was theirs. Like paper money, gold is a currency that wouldn’t be able to thrive without faith in the beholder. All currency is imaginary even if, like paper money and gold, it is also able to be touched.

The amount of faith we have in money has determined how sought after it is by human beings. For instance, paper money is very sought after therefore that must mean a lot of people believe that there is the value behind paper money. Mana Nakazora chief credit analyst for Japan at BNP Paribas claims that all the extra money Japan has been generating to combat inflammation is “ like morphine for the Japanese economy. Allowing more money to accumulate in the country of Japan has only grown the amount of faith the Japanese have in the power of money making them more eager to obtain it.

Anything can be used as currency as long as the beholder believes in its value, to prove this let’s look at arguably the most unconventional means for currency to exist; stones. As I mentioned before, these aren’t pretty gemstones, these are real-life stones. This specific stone system was used in an area of the Pacific Ocean called “Yap”. It is stated in the article https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/15/131934618/the-island-of-stone-money, that in this particular region, these stones were found and claimed to be used to make bigger purchases. Once these stones were traded they were never moved from their spot rather the new owner along with the previous owner merely “ believed” it was now the other persons and the transaction was done. Therefore the idea of the necessity of belief in the currency system by the beholders is verified and this example even further explained the true extent “imagination” can play in currency.

To further stress that in all its ridiculous this stone system truly worked in the Yap community Ira Glass highlights in a brief example in his Podcast https://www.thisamericanlife.org/423/transcript the nonchalant and accepting reaction of the new incoming government officials came to hold in the stone money system. She explains that German diplomats arrived in the Yap region and discovered their system and came to rely on it so heavily in citizen affairs merely based on the true faith the Yap citizens held and expressed in the system. Stones although physical money and bricks of gold are less believable in their ability to be a currency, yet they still work. This proves yet again that it takes only the belief currency in any form only takes a faith factor to be effective.

Not only can physical currency such as the paper dollar work with some faith but so can completely untouchable, imaginary forms of currency. Bitcoin one of the most common currencies of the modern day is, a completely fictional, digital system achieved through technology. In the article Bitcoin, the New Currency Anne Renaut describes in full detail the ranging benefits of investing in the digital currency of Bitcoin. She describes that “ it can be engaged with by anyone who has a computer or handheld device” and she also remarks that the currency can be used “ anonymously done without the use of a bank.” This article makes it evident that not only is Bitcoin used frequently but it also is easy and effective. Therefore this completely untouchable currency along with all others like it can truly work as a currency system. Once again, of course, as long as there is faith in the beholder.

References

Goldstein, J., & Kestenbaum, D. (2010, December 10). The island of Stone Money. NPR. Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/15/131934618/the-island-of-stone-money 

423: The invention of money. This American Life. (2017, December 14). Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://www.thisamericanlife.org/423/transcript 

Anne Renaut, A. (n.d.). Bitcoin: The New Currency. yahoo. Island of stone money :

Milton Friedman : Free download, Borrow, and streaming. Internet Archive. (1991, February 1). Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://archive.org/details/IslandOfStoneMoney Island of Stone Money by Milton Friedman

BNP Paribas USA: A premier global banking partner in the US. USA. (2021, November 11). Retrieved September 29, 2022, from https://usa.bnpparibas/en/