The History of Money (From Barter To Bitcoin)

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY
↓ More info and sources below ↓
Thanks to IBM Z for supporting PBS. To learn more about the annual student contest, go to ibm.co/2nVdMtD . To learn more about IBM Z go to ibm.co/2nVagPR
Check out or friends from Two Cents for more great videos about money and finance! / @twocentspbs
Money. We all use it. But is it real? I mean, you can touch a coin or bill, but who decided that’s worth anything? And what about all those 1’s and 0’s getting swapped and traded by computers thousands of times per second? How are those worth anything? We trace the history of money, from physical barter to bitcoin, and discover that money isn’t just a lie we all agree to share, it’s been built on the back of technology and invention for millennia.
References: sites.google.com/view/inventi...
Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons:
AlecZero
Bob Rosset
Brent M.
Diego Lombeida
-----------
Join us on Patreon!
/ itsokaytobesmart
Twitter
/ drjoehanson
/ okaytobesmart
Instagram
/ drjoehanson
/ okaytobesmart
Merch
store.dftba.com/collections/i...
Facebook
/ itsokaytobesmartpbs

Пікірлер: 1 200

  • @besmart
    @besmart4 жыл бұрын

    The history of money isn't just a history of economics. It's a history of technology. Doing a history of technology video was a lot of fun. Let me know what you think!

  • @Person-ng5hp

    @Person-ng5hp

    4 жыл бұрын

    How did you post this 17 hrs ago

  • @zoltan87887

    @zoltan87887

    4 жыл бұрын

    Please do your homework about Bitcoin.

  • @TeunLos

    @TeunLos

    4 жыл бұрын

    The history lesson was cool, but u didn't define imaginary or fiction. Because e.g. one could argue that if you can use money, it's not fiction, its reality. So nice nice story, but it has plotholes :P

  • @EyesOfByes

    @EyesOfByes

    4 жыл бұрын

    I read a Swedish book by an economics journalist "What is money?" (Andreas Cervenka). He begins with (paraphrasing): "If a child asks a banker or economics professor what money really is, the adult in question will have a hard time giving an immediate straight to the point answer". This video explained it really well though. 2:35 Fun fact. I was 10 when I saw Dumb & Dumber here in Sweden 🇸🇪. I always thought the pieces of papers where just the plain old receipts. It was not until a few years ago I learned about the technical term "I Owe You". I think the Swedish term is #skuldebrev

  • @luvw.6038

    @luvw.6038

    4 жыл бұрын

    It was really good keep it up

  • @codykillir10
    @codykillir104 жыл бұрын

    I would be perfectly fine with a random cosmic ray turning my 24$ into 1048$

  • @wholeNwon

    @wholeNwon

    4 жыл бұрын

    $24

  • @imveryangryitsnotbutter

    @imveryangryitsnotbutter

    4 жыл бұрын

    You wouldn't like it if the $24 you paid for groceries suddenly turned into a debt of $1048.

  • @wholeNwon

    @wholeNwon

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@imveryangryitsnotbutter ??

  • @grodt88

    @grodt88

    4 жыл бұрын

    An Angry IS-6 inflation turning your 1000$ into 24$ worth papier in 40 years

  • @steevemartial4084

    @steevemartial4084

    4 жыл бұрын

    It could happen both ways though.

  • @dimitri_tsm
    @dimitri_tsm3 жыл бұрын

    "Money don't grow on trees" Well if everyone agreed that Leaves are the currency then it is

  • @chaitanyajagtap964

    @chaitanyajagtap964

    3 жыл бұрын

    Ya that's true

  • @bluelotus.society

    @bluelotus.society

    2 жыл бұрын

    People would be planting trees so quick..

  • @Think_Inc

    @Think_Inc

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@bluelotus.society Brilliant! What’re we waitin’ fo’?

  • @Reynning

    @Reynning

    2 жыл бұрын

    * Laugh at selling fruits *

  • @azraumunir3595

    @azraumunir3595

    2 жыл бұрын

    I don't think you have met Mr Beast

  • @poorplayer9249
    @poorplayer92494 жыл бұрын

    Those Mesopotamians were pretty advanced. The farmer is even wearing what appears to be a modern vision correction apparatus.

  • @weltschmertzz

    @weltschmertzz

    4 жыл бұрын

    Lol you're funny

  • @roninbayacal7857

    @roninbayacal7857

    4 жыл бұрын

    hhahaahha

  • @darthhades80

    @darthhades80

    4 жыл бұрын

    Well, obviously, he's a time traveller

  • @nuhafatimah4303

    @nuhafatimah4303

    3 жыл бұрын

    I love ur observation. Lol😂😂😂😂😂😂

  • @brentfisher902

    @brentfisher902

    3 жыл бұрын

    Meaning through the magic of capitalism he gets to pay to use his eyes/are a miracle for low vision hordes.

  • @Mark73
    @Mark734 жыл бұрын

    John Searle has a book called "The Construction of Social Reality" that talks about the kinds of things that are "true" only because humans agree that they are true. Money is one of them. Also laws, governments, sports rules, units of measurement, and more.

  • @nawarelsabaa

    @nawarelsabaa

    4 жыл бұрын

    I haven't read that, but that was also a very prominent theme in Yuval Harari's *Sapiens*

  • @ShezMarvalouz

    @ShezMarvalouz

    3 жыл бұрын

    I need this book!

  • @markbevelock599
    @markbevelock5994 жыл бұрын

    So you just covered my entire half-year course in high school in 10 minutes.

  • @ikrar26

    @ikrar26

    4 жыл бұрын

    U learn about history of money in 6 months ? Damn u need to talk to ur teacher.. its not efficient

  • @justcallmeSheriff
    @justcallmeSheriff4 жыл бұрын

    So Fallout was right on the money with using bottle caps as a medium of exchange!

  • @girlsdrinkfeck

    @girlsdrinkfeck

    4 жыл бұрын

    not far off from how usa treats money ,so outdated ! i cant beleive in usa they still use cheques and mag stripe cards and wireless payment is rare

  • @justcallmeSheriff

    @justcallmeSheriff

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@girlsdrinkfeck My local bank sent me my chipped card last year. By then, I had already listened to a podcast about how chips will soon be outdated

  • @Vyseblues

    @Vyseblues

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@girlsdrinkfeck we're catching up with the rest of the world. Our cards have changed quite alot in the past few years. The mag strip is still on there but it's hardly used anymore. Most card readers use chip pay. Which in most cases you can still enter a PIN. Some banks also offer tap pay with their cards in addition with chip and mag strips. My guess is this may be a transitional time period where the old still exists until everyone catches up.

  • @girlsdrinkfeck

    @girlsdrinkfeck

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Vyseblues yh we had chip pay since 2002 here and NFC contactless pay around 2015

  • @girlsdrinkfeck

    @girlsdrinkfeck

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@justcallmeSheriff thats why we had chips since 2002 and NFC cards in 2015 for contactless payments , of which over 90% of stores implement

  • @luiztomikawa
    @luiztomikawa4 жыл бұрын

    Thumbnail: "I'm not real" Me: "Yeah, you're a dollar."

  • @appmenezes

    @appmenezes

    4 жыл бұрын

    But if a Dollar is also 4 Real, is it more real than dollar?

  • @GvinahGui

    @GvinahGui

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@appmenezes *mind blown* 🤣

  • @GiovaniMoreiraG

    @GiovaniMoreiraG

    4 жыл бұрын

    Real means "royal", not "real" lol

  • @nesddyx7634

    @nesddyx7634

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@transit-future _spanish?_

  • @seilaessecanalnvaitervideo6414

    @seilaessecanalnvaitervideo6414

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@nesddyx7634 no real is the brasil currency in brasil we speak portuguese not spanish

  • @cfltheman
    @cfltheman3 жыл бұрын

    For something that is essentially imaginary, people sure do value it very much, even more than the lives of other people.

  • @Accidental26

    @Accidental26

    Жыл бұрын

    What to do tbh, other ppl give u what u need and want by sending them those imaginary numbers

  • @FoodRecipes108

    @FoodRecipes108

    Жыл бұрын

    And i give my life my hours my consciousness for money.

  • @thembamahlangu9028

    @thembamahlangu9028

    Жыл бұрын

    It is an imaginary medium to get one real things - money buys you land, food, even buys you time, to say it is not real is false

  • @sbsnate2312

    @sbsnate2312

    11 ай бұрын

    Money is an abstract you can exchange for tangent value. It's not imaginary.

  • @duchi882
    @duchi8824 жыл бұрын

    *Money is a Tool for trade* Built mainly on Trust for the Buyer and the Seller A Fictional Value valued enough to be true

  • @imveryangryitsnotbutter

    @imveryangryitsnotbutter

    4 жыл бұрын

    Capitalizing the Nouns and Adjectives in my Sentences helps me pretend to seem Highly Educated.

  • @lucasbudega

    @lucasbudega

    4 жыл бұрын

    There's nothing fictional about the favors/goods you can redeem with money.

  • @alexwang982

    @alexwang982

    4 жыл бұрын

    The most valuable thing in the universe!

  • @besser-nicht

    @besser-nicht

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@lucasbudega until the seller do not want this money because no one trust this currency anymore.

  • @sunnyjoseph558

    @sunnyjoseph558

    3 жыл бұрын

    That fictional thing is more valued than environment. What the ** ? One day we will realise that it is fictional and planet is real.

  • @SentientMeatbag
    @SentientMeatbag4 жыл бұрын

    3:29 Here's a useless fact: this is a 1 cent Dutch guilder coin from The Netherlands. It was discontinued in the eighties, worth about 0.003 USD at the time.

  • @iamdave84

    @iamdave84

    4 жыл бұрын

    Though I imagine the inside of the mould would have appeared as a mirror image of the coin's face... 🤔

  • @RH-xm5uk

    @RH-xm5uk

    3 жыл бұрын

    And this one cent has Queen Wilhelmina on the other side. And this edition, with Queen Wilhelmina on the other side was only issued in one year, 1948.

  • @thatswhat-she-said5881
    @thatswhat-she-said58812 жыл бұрын

    It's so complicated yet so simple

  • @albevanhanoy
    @albevanhanoy4 жыл бұрын

    "Fewer people = Fewer errors" And this, people, is why self-driving cars are inevitable.

  • @Max_Matrix

    @Max_Matrix

    4 жыл бұрын

    And I am Ironm- oh sorry wrong person

  • @liammorgans7329

    @liammorgans7329

    4 жыл бұрын

    Not until they fully upgrade/rebuild the current road systems. According to a couple of ai expers that we’re on Rogan, it’s actually very far off, if not impossible due to the mixture of people driving cars and automated cars using the same road. I personally would rather take my chances driving my own car around bad drivers than to drive around an ai or be driven by an ai. Even if there is technically “less accidents” that’s because most people are bad drivers. I am not a bad driver. Self driving cars are a form of communism. The best drivers have the same chance as the worst drivers I say let the bad drivers crash so evolution continues

  • @albevanhanoy

    @albevanhanoy

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@liammorgans7329 This is wrong on so many levels. No matter how good a driver you think you are, you'll never be as good as an AI. An AI has a reaction time of a few nanoseconds. Can you claim the same? An AI never feels tired, can you claim the same? An AI never feels stressed, never gets sick or drunk, can you claim the same? An AI is part of a network of communicating AIs on the road, giving each others real-time information on traffic and their own intentions. Can you say the same about you and other drivers? It's like if a human could be on the phone while driving with every other conductor in the world simultaneously, but without all the problems of being on the phone while driving. Also, no, it's not a form a communism, and I have no idea how you can possibly come to this conclusion. There's just not a single link. Finally, when you say, "let the bad drivers crash", please dude, have some dignity, you are talking about real human lives. Plenty of accidents have happened to very good drivers. To people just like you. People like you who are now dead, but we can save many more using that technology.

  • @liammorgans7329

    @liammorgans7329

    4 жыл бұрын

    Please read my comment thoroughly before questioning my dignity, thanks. I said it’s not possible yet according to ai experts. Because the road is a mixture of people drivers and ai. If they make a road purely for automated cars, then I will use it. But until then, I’m gonna listen to what the ai experts say regarding its flaws due to things ai can’t account for. I explained how it’s linked to communism, either argue what I said or don’t, pretty weird to say you don’t see the connection when I just explained it.. Again, please take the time to read comments before you respond and question someone’s dignity. Very lazy of you. just wasting both our time to feel morally superior without actually presenting rebuttals to my actual arguments. Time is precious my friend. Show some dignity by considering the time others have to put into conversations too. Just joking, I just wanted to question your dignity for jokesies.

  • @albevanhanoy

    @albevanhanoy

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@liammorgans7329 The dignity comment wasn't about your argument, but specifically about the "Let the bad drivers die" comment. That was a really, really untasteful thing to say, and you totally deserved to be called out on it. At least admit it instead of acting all butthurt about it... I literally rebutted _everything you said_ and all you can say is "hurr durr you didn't read me." I think it's you who didn't read my rebuttal. An AI _is_ a better driver than you are already. I've explained it. You argument of authority about so called "experts" doesn't hold any ground without a source. The limitations are not technical, they're purely legislative. That's the only reason why they'll take a few years to become the majority of cars at all.

  • @lenn939
    @lenn9394 жыл бұрын

    The ledger of cryptocurrencies isn’t “somewhere in the clouds,” it’s stored on every computer that runs a node in the network.

  • @arthas640

    @arthas640

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah but computer run on electricity, and theres electricity in clouds because that's where Zeus stores his thunderbolts when hes busy having sex with random women while pretending to be various wild animals.

  • @WhompingWalrus

    @WhompingWalrus

    4 жыл бұрын

    @imshippyupup Plenty of people misunderstand what it means when something's done "in the cloud". It's literally just someone else's computer, or many of them. Saying BTC is stored "somewhere in the cloud" leaves the average person thinking it's all hinging on trusting some confusing... something, somewhere, that only experts can really understand, and may be of dubious authenticity. The whole point of BTC is that everyone has a shared ledger of it. The point of a metaphor is to help someone understand something. If a metaphor is likely to leave the listener with an incorrect understanding of the matter at hand, then it's a bad metaphor. You can clarify the tricky bits of a bad metaphor without hating metaphors entirely.

  • @connorconnor1631

    @connorconnor1631

    2 жыл бұрын

    r/iamverysmart

  • @ed5339
    @ed53394 жыл бұрын

    Why am I watching a video about something I don't have lol

  • @tribaltree5381

    @tribaltree5381

    4 жыл бұрын

    Learn ;)

  • @srpenguinbr

    @srpenguinbr

    4 жыл бұрын

    for the same reason why I watch romantic movies even though I suck at flirting jk lol, I hate romantic movies

  • @garethdean6382

    @garethdean6382

    4 жыл бұрын

    You watch pornography don't you?

  • @srpenguinbr

    @srpenguinbr

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@garethdean6382 LMAO, MUCH BETTER EXAMPLE

  • @MrKross-tc9yy

    @MrKross-tc9yy

    3 жыл бұрын

    You can watch a video about a black hole, but you don't have a black hole! (well, at least, you shouldn't)

  • @XinGraves13
    @XinGraves132 жыл бұрын

    This just reinforced my hatred for money. It's not even real, yet it determines virtually every aspect of our lives.

  • @JeremyWS
    @JeremyWS4 жыл бұрын

    I'm an accountant. Fun fact: the computers that banks use are still glorified calculators.

  • @lajya01

    @lajya01

    4 жыл бұрын

    If it's not broken, don't fix it.

  • @karasu178

    @karasu178

    4 жыл бұрын

    I mean, all computers are glorified calculators...

  • @Cythil

    @Cythil

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah. Computers are nothing more then calculators with automatic memory management built in. That is all you need. Able to do arithmetic and logical operations and store those values in some ways.

  • @lajya01

    @lajya01

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@karasu178 I think he meant that banks still use very simple computer programs (COBOL and assembly) from the big mainframe heydays.

  • @GAPIntoTheGame

    @GAPIntoTheGame

    4 жыл бұрын

    HMQ are you assuming their gender?

  • @twinkjamm
    @twinkjamm4 жыл бұрын

    Man I thought I was crazy i tried to explain this to my family and they looked at me like 🤔 what are you talking about

  • @33s60

    @33s60

    4 жыл бұрын

    You have a dumbass family then

  • @emmavg3070
    @emmavg30704 жыл бұрын

    Joe: How money do you have? Me: uhh 69 cents, Ah you know what that means, I don’t have enough money for chicken nuggets :(((

  • @princessnunafart
    @princessnunafart4 жыл бұрын

    Why can’t we have these discussions in school instead of how Egyptians stirred the brain?

  • @perseus5056

    @perseus5056

    4 жыл бұрын

    @tzar 1917 no such this as "nonsense" we're all interested in different things

  • @perseus5056

    @perseus5056

    4 жыл бұрын

    @tzar 1917 okay..... So much for entertaining simple minded person

  • @freedomdude5420

    @freedomdude5420

    3 жыл бұрын

    Two words John Rockefeller, I don’t want a nation of thinkers, I want nation of workers.

  • @skysight1553

    @skysight1553

    3 жыл бұрын

    Oh i wanna know how Egyptian stirred the brain

  • @Gal2100

    @Gal2100

    3 жыл бұрын

    I mean all of these school subjects are important, just these discussions need to be added as well. Learning about Egyptians and history help to learn about culture and stops some people being ignorant

  • @SaberStrike-p2
    @SaberStrike-p24 жыл бұрын

    I have exactly 70 cents (AUD) which means I can only afford exactly one soft serve from maccas.

  • @jerry3790

    @jerry3790

    4 жыл бұрын

    Assuming the machine is not broken

  • @Versuffe

    @Versuffe

    4 жыл бұрын

    Jerry Rupprecht always is go to kfc mate it’s opposite of mc Donald’s good always works it is positive

  • @SaberStrike-p2

    @SaberStrike-p2

    4 жыл бұрын

    There's an ice cream machine at kfc? I've never seen one before...

  • @jonathanspaulding3771

    @jonathanspaulding3771

    4 жыл бұрын

    Wtf is a macca?

  • @penguin-tc1cx

    @penguin-tc1cx

    4 жыл бұрын

    Jonathan Spaulding It’s a nickname for McDonald’s said by Australian people, kind of like how people will say Mickey d’s or mcd’s etc

  • @brasil914
    @brasil9144 жыл бұрын

    Joe: Money is not Real. Me a Brazilian: Hold up.

  • @marcospark610

    @marcospark610

    4 жыл бұрын

    Guess he is wrong there...

  • @jackier.3246

    @jackier.3246

    4 жыл бұрын

    ikr the first thought that I had

  • @CanalSensum

    @CanalSensum

    4 жыл бұрын

    I didn’t understood... is it cause REAL is the Brazilian money?

  • @marteumar8429

    @marteumar8429

    4 жыл бұрын

    Canal Sensum Sensum channel yeah.. Brasil money is called ‘real’

  • @thenameproblemhasbeenfixed7041

    @thenameproblemhasbeenfixed7041

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@transit-future why are you talking about spanish and it is real.

  • @terohannula30
    @terohannula304 жыл бұрын

    Money as a social construction, it is not "real" but socially accepted as one. Though it has it's artefacts, it doesn't exist outside human conventions, The meaning is emitted by humans. This holds for many other phenomenon.

  • @supaflylob
    @supaflylob4 жыл бұрын

    this is actually the best explanation for cryptocurrency ive ever seen

  • @veganchaatparty
    @veganchaatparty4 жыл бұрын

    Joe, you are super awesome...you can't make this any simpler....beautifully explained, amazing scripting and editing.....super awesome and super thanks!!!!

  • @wholeNwon
    @wholeNwon4 жыл бұрын

    In the stone age, I used a kind of high speed camera that had a 16K (yes, K) HDD. It was huge, took about 5 min. to spin up to operating speed and cost $30,000 ! Amazing how far we've come.

  • @helder1340
    @helder13404 жыл бұрын

    The success of this channel is proportional to the intelectual value that it delivers. I'm glad that those fiat currencies and technologies allowd me to watch your content.

  • @zacharysaunders2100
    @zacharysaunders2100 Жыл бұрын

    Dad: "Money doesn't grow on trees son!!" Son: "Yes it does, you gotta sell the tree!"

  • @scudder991
    @scudder9914 жыл бұрын

    Fascinating & engaging summary for how money came to be and how it works. Thank you!

  • @avkashpanwar3847
    @avkashpanwar38473 жыл бұрын

    I love how in 7:31, the binary number is actually 24 without the 1! It's Ok to Be Smart has great attention to detail!

  • @ArlenKundert
    @ArlenKundert4 жыл бұрын

    Awesome of you to plug “Two Cents”. They’re awesome!

  • @Oosystem
    @Oosystem4 жыл бұрын

    The problem now, is people forgot "money" is nothing without the "real things".

  • @BlackBanditXX

    @BlackBanditXX

    4 жыл бұрын

    Except while what's being traded are sometimes physical goods, what the money stands in for isn't so much the goods themselves, but the labor that went into making them. Really, money is labor.

  • @Sanntii7

    @Sanntii7

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@BlackBanditXX no

  • @allhumansarejusthuman.5776

    @allhumansarejusthuman.5776

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@BlackBanditXX no. It should be representation of value or labor but it is not. Otherwise you would be paying about 2 grand for a brand new luxury car. Thats a high end cars labor value, about 2 grand.

  • @stephenolan5539

    @stephenolan5539

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@allhumansarejusthuman.5776 Not if you consider things such as the labor involved in making the smelter to smelt the metal to make the car.

  • @NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

    @NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@stephenolan5539 That was already paid for before the car manufacturer received the metal parts.

  • 4 жыл бұрын

    Let's just stop at thinking that gold is valuable. I mean, sure it's somewhat rare, but it's already strange to add an imaginary value to a piece of metal found in the ground. Money itself is not that different from it.

  • @selvasuriya001

    @selvasuriya001

    4 жыл бұрын

    Anything human want becomes valuable :D

  • @2111jade

    @2111jade

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah. How is gold considered valuable. Yeah. They say it's rare but like so what? Why after that? Like why is a hundred pounds of gold worth X amount of dollars in the 16 hundreds vs a hundred pounds of gold being worth X amount of dollars in 1986?

  • @shaunpcoleman

    @shaunpcoleman

    2 жыл бұрын

    @@2111jade Because gold is shiny! People are like crows, we like shiny things,

  • @VforVanish
    @VforVanish4 жыл бұрын

    Would be cool to explain what is inflation and why it matters.

  • @oliver_siegel
    @oliver_siegel4 жыл бұрын

    Wow this was the best KZread video I've seen in a while!!! Thanks for this mind-blowing information

  • @Fausto_moh
    @Fausto_moh4 жыл бұрын

    I'm sitting here balancing my accounts and transferring money between banks like its nothing and in fraction of seconds, all while watching this video and it blew my mind. What a time to be alive.

  • @gjfkhvjzjsxbq

    @gjfkhvjzjsxbq

    Жыл бұрын

    This did not age well...

  • @crystalz1839

    @crystalz1839

    Жыл бұрын

    @@gjfkhvjzjsxbq yeah banks arent doing great rn

  • @42_10_
    @42_10_4 жыл бұрын

    Joe : How much money do you have? Me : what money? I'm broke as a joke man

  • @AfrahAfzal1997

    @AfrahAfzal1997

    4 жыл бұрын

    It's all make pretend anyway. If the ones controlling the world nullify the value of paper currency, we're all gonna be broke.

  • @1984Logic

    @1984Logic

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@AfrahAfzal1997 Or Rick Sanchez

  • @tigerstudios
    @tigerstudios4 жыл бұрын

    This is a great video!! I always knew that money was represented by gold, but I learned a lot more from watching this video. Thanks!!

  • @TunkPotterSV
    @TunkPotterSV4 жыл бұрын

    Nice to see a great channel endorsing another great channel

  • @CarFreeSegnitz
    @CarFreeSegnitz4 жыл бұрын

    Modern monetary theory: why have we agreed on a particular currency? The theory suggests it's because a central authority wants you to pay them in that currency. Now everyone wants a bit of that currency so they can pay the central authority.

  • @DeRien8
    @DeRien84 жыл бұрын

    It's just too convenient. Every time I try to do a thought exercise for a society without currency starting from necessity barter (because without specialization, society moves at a creeping pace) it just gets too complicated not to develop and use a system of representative value.

  • @PJ3232PJ

    @PJ3232PJ

    4 жыл бұрын

    what if everything is from everyone? no need to barter

  • @DeRien8

    @DeRien8

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@PJ3232PJ at least on current Earth, natural resource availability is not uniform, and neither is individual need/want for items or services. If we tweak the scenario to remove scarcity and include an unlimited labor force, the solution becomes less practical. Maybe the biggest problem is just human greed and consumption

  • @besser-nicht

    @besser-nicht

    4 жыл бұрын

    its easy but not now. Because we have to do things to get things.

  • @zs9652

    @zs9652

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah the only way a society without money evolves is for that society to be comprised of aliens with a psychology leaning towards group think/hive mind.

  • @user-qq4zb1yt5r
    @user-qq4zb1yt5r4 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for the great video :) I recently visited one of the money printing facilities in Fortworth Texas, and the experiences was absolutely mind blowing. It made me think about what really is money and what's all about it. Ih and by the way, at 4:49 when the 12th century Chinese economy is explained, a Japanese drawing was used in the video.

  • @helldronez

    @helldronez

    4 жыл бұрын

    thats kind of racist jokes but okay xD i am asian too, i am Indonesian

  • @JoeNoshow27
    @JoeNoshow274 жыл бұрын

    The technology changes, but the dynamics stay the same. A currency invented by powerful people who force us to believe the currency itself actually matters.

  • @RicardoPetinga
    @RicardoPetinga4 жыл бұрын

    Thousands of years developing ways to use it more efficiently and now we have to abolish it. Could have spent that time actually building an equitative and horizontal decentralized society, but alas, better late than never. At least we now have the means to not have to worry about scarcity. You know, other than capital-imposed scarcity.

  • @khoichau8316
    @khoichau83163 жыл бұрын

    Great video! I never made the connection between how the development of money has always been linked to advances in technology

  • @MilkyMailman
    @MilkyMailman4 жыл бұрын

    Yoooo finally someone recognized yap!! My home island

  • @nehadjm
    @nehadjm4 жыл бұрын

    It was a different time! So funny and so accurately describes the whole video

  • @seanp4644
    @seanp46444 жыл бұрын

    A really great book I'm reading right now talked about this 2 chapters ago from where I am, it's called Sapiens, and it looks at the history of humanity through different aspects as humans gained control of the planet. I would definitely give it a read, the money chapter in particular was super super interesting

  • @rainynight02
    @rainynight024 жыл бұрын

    Except technology isn't why money exists. Money exists because humans needed a means of exchange other than direct trade of goods. Technology enhanced and made money more usable, but it didn't create it.

  • @RationalAndFree

    @RationalAndFree

    4 жыл бұрын

    Other means of exchange can be done which do not require money. Many societies have operated without money but instead operated upon something simular to gift economies. Money isn't intrinsic nor a requirement to operate economies of scale. It's just the most deployed.

  • @pedrolmlkzk

    @pedrolmlkzk

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@RationalAndFree those societies were not complex enough to need money, when you get to a certain degree of economic development money is indeed needed

  • @RationalAndFree

    @RationalAndFree

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@pedrolmlkzk that's goes against the historical records. Also,economic development is just a fancy way of saying haven't gotten the same sense of value as us. Using your own culture as a the basis of what is considered the end goal is both entirely circular and also pretty colonialist in its underlying assumptions.

  • @bradmodd7856

    @bradmodd7856

    4 жыл бұрын

    Well, if the wheel and the spoon are invented technology, money is too. So there goes your argument. My work here is done.

  • @gg3675

    @gg3675

    4 жыл бұрын

    1) that’s technology. Saying technology didn’t invent agriculture, the human need to have a stable source of food did wouldn’t really be right. These things *are* technologies. 2) direct trade of goods isn’t really how Paleolithic economies worked. The exchange was basically a pretty complicated social network of shared reliance’s rather than “you give me shoes and I give you a shirt” barter.

  • @gyozakeynsianism
    @gyozakeynsianism4 жыл бұрын

    Joe - this is great! You are branching out into the scienceverse of Sciencenomics! One thing I should mention is that we can't trade in gold for dollars because we left the gold standard in 1933. Before then, consumers really could take dollars to the government and trade them in for gold (and vice versa), which played an important function in the maintenance of the value of the currency against other currencies. It's a kind of very, very conservative monetary policy (which may have also cased the Great Depression - just sayin'). You can read the whole fascinating story in works by Barry Eichengreen of UC Berkeley, particularly "Globalizing Capital."

  • @BThings
    @BThings4 жыл бұрын

    This is focused on money, but it makes you think about all the other arbitrary things we make up but attribute value to, like the little squiggles of writing, or even the sounds of vocalized language itself. I love the abstractions that help civilization function! ☺️

  • @veldawells2839
    @veldawells28394 жыл бұрын

    Wow! Video blew me away. Staggering how far imaginery money has come! Thank you.

  • @jaydon225
    @jaydon2254 жыл бұрын

    "Nigerian Prince". My Nigerian heart is broken!!! 😭😭

  • @nyxlawal9105
    @nyxlawal91054 жыл бұрын

    Money is basically something we invented to satisfy our selfishness. If we didn't expect things in return from others after doing them favours; money wouldn't exist, as we wouldn't need a way to record how much and how many people owes us things. Not to say that money isnt important(I mean it helped the human civilization advance and will help it future advance), but it was something we invented just to ensure we somehow, get back the things that others owe us.

  • @sheddingmyvelvet
    @sheddingmyvelvet4 жыл бұрын

    i swear pbs digital has some of the best channals on youtube ever

  • @Mariopreciado
    @Mariopreciado4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks, very interesting, and I am learning some Korean with the subtitles ;)

  • @landopolaroid9157
    @landopolaroid91574 жыл бұрын

    Me: praying some cosmic force somehow changes my balance on my bank account to millions of dollars accidentally.

  • @tamago1704
    @tamago17044 жыл бұрын

    "how money do you have?" DONT ASK!

  • @leaf16nut

    @leaf16nut

    4 жыл бұрын

    much?

  • @rasputxn9260

    @rasputxn9260

    4 жыл бұрын

    Even english language left you

  • @noriluka8325
    @noriluka83254 жыл бұрын

    Such an amazing video! Thank you 😇

  • @SmajdalfFrogi12
    @SmajdalfFrogi124 жыл бұрын

    Great One! I thoroughly enjoyed it.

  • @danidosie
    @danidosie4 жыл бұрын

    Thank you for these amazing educational videos! I practice my English listening comprehension skills and i learn soo much!☺️

  • @va7sab

    @va7sab

    4 жыл бұрын

    left lots out like the fed reserve and its all being run criminals ....

  • @LolSnimci

    @LolSnimci

    4 жыл бұрын

    Im also on the train but for German language.

  • @wholeNwon

    @wholeNwon

    4 жыл бұрын

    these

  • @danidosie

    @danidosie

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@wholeNwon thank you for correcting me

  • @wholeNwon

    @wholeNwon

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@danidosie You're welcome. I always found it very helpful when others corrected my French, German and English. Often the important subtleties of syntax, grammar and diction still escape me.

  • @vasectomyfail442
    @vasectomyfail4424 жыл бұрын

    who else remembers the graphite "chunk-chunk" machine that made copies of your credit card in the 80s ?

  • @AdrianParsons

    @AdrianParsons

    4 жыл бұрын

    The company I worked for (starting in 2000) had them on hand as a back up in case the power went out. I lost power enough times over the years but never got to/had to use the imprinter.

  • @brentfisher902

    @brentfisher902

    3 жыл бұрын

    That would be a way to use credit cards in a world without gunpowder, engines, or electricity.

  • @allhumansarejusthuman.5776

    @allhumansarejusthuman.5776

    3 жыл бұрын

    Yup!

  • @nathanaelimmanuel5762
    @nathanaelimmanuel57624 жыл бұрын

    lmaooo love how you included that fun fact about yap!!! here is another fun fact their stone money was cut from quarries that are on my island (Palau) and then transported via outrigger boats to yap, another fun fact, us Palauans use clay beads that were given to us by the Spanish conquistadors in the 1500s they were used as door curtains and strung in long rows. their worth is determined by their size and color (in order from most valuable to least Yellow, Orange, Red, Blue, and Green.) our women wear them as necklaces and they are given from their husband's family as a sort of dowry. and you (traditionally) could only marry within your social/village class.

  • @eviladmiral
    @eviladmiral4 жыл бұрын

    I have a background in finance/economics, and 1) this was a great, factually correct video; 2) can you guys please, please release a t-shirt with that “magic of accounting” graphic from the end of the video? Thanks!

  • @ke5112
    @ke51124 жыл бұрын

    Well done. I would love to see a basic financial literacy channel along the same style lines as your science videos. Kids - and adults - need it desperately as it is neglected in schools.

  • @ydderynnad

    @ydderynnad

    Жыл бұрын

    The Plain Bagel (Richard Coffin) fits that bill.

  • @ronallan8680
    @ronallan86804 жыл бұрын

    Pumpermentals 🙌🏻 Love it!

  • @RJavierYepesDeV
    @RJavierYepesDeV4 жыл бұрын

    Great! Quito-Ecuador 2020

  • @ront9063
    @ront90634 жыл бұрын

    Also just the fact that there is an exchange for what value is it's an amount of work that a person does to give value

  • @scienceforalll
    @scienceforalll4 жыл бұрын

    What is money 💰 ? I had this question all my life. Thank you for explaining it 😊 Can you make a video on how to do reascerch on any topic it will be really helpful 😁

  • @Ceelvain
    @Ceelvain4 жыл бұрын

    5:41 I'm so disappointed that there's no real morse message there. :(

  • @MasterGeekMX
    @MasterGeekMX4 жыл бұрын

    Even some videogame "currencies" have a sort of real value exhange rate, like second life's dollars, World Of Warcraft gold, even Team Fortress 2 crate keys and metal scraps.

  • @ems7623
    @ems7623 Жыл бұрын

    It's amazing how much we allow such an arbitrary system to govern our lives and values

  • @icedcoffee8561
    @icedcoffee85614 жыл бұрын

    surely this video will collapse the economy... I'm waiting

  • @damianlow302
    @damianlow3024 жыл бұрын

    this video creates some fascinating philosophical and sociological questions.

  • @CommunityToursAustralia
    @CommunityToursAustralia4 жыл бұрын

    Very nice intetesting presentation

  • @johnchatz
    @johnchatz4 жыл бұрын

    you earned my like with this video nerd.well done

  • @tachiebillano6244
    @tachiebillano62444 жыл бұрын

    “Shared delusions of value.” Love it.

  • @issamkayssi9187
    @issamkayssi91874 жыл бұрын

    Read Saifedean Ammous' The Bitcoin Standard

  • @evilhenny
    @evilhenny3 жыл бұрын

    Really cool, I would have appreciated a M1-M4 technology approach at some point would have been where he was headed.

  • @erfanpurnama
    @erfanpurnama3 жыл бұрын

    Joe: "How much money do you have?" Me: "Is this personal attack or something?"

  • @jandideriksen7847
    @jandideriksen78474 жыл бұрын

    "10's of ..... megabites" that was funny. :-)

  • @videotaper2272

    @videotaper2272

    3 жыл бұрын

    I can top that... I've still got some 100MB ZIP disks around here... :-D

  • @NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

    @NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@videotaper2272 I still have 5-1/4" floppies holding - hold on to your solid-state ass - hundreds of _kilobytes!_

  • @videotaper2272

    @videotaper2272

    3 жыл бұрын

    @@NoActuallyGo-KCUF-Yourself I've got 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 inch floppies too. Though most (maybe all) of the 5 1/4 discs are for my Commodore computers.

  • @tribaltree5381
    @tribaltree53814 жыл бұрын

    I may have gained braincells now

  • @Arcaryon
    @Arcaryon3 жыл бұрын

    There are some channels where the community is much more entertaining and, dare I say, smart than others and to this day, this amazes me as they all exist on the same side.

  • @margodeheij8976
    @margodeheij89764 күн бұрын

    I was very surprised to suddenly see an ancient Dutch guilder cent in your film. I still have some of those in a jar somewhere, along with stuivers, dubbeltjes, kwartjes and guldens from when we changed to euros. Of course, cents hadn't been used by then for quite a while, since making a cent cost 3 cents lol. Nostalgia :)

  • @globaldigitaldirectsubsidi4493
    @globaldigitaldirectsubsidi44934 жыл бұрын

    If humanity has reached a point of efficiency where scarcity of economic desires is overcome, money will decline to a similarly symbolic role as today´s monarchies before declining altogether.

  • @kauhanen44

    @kauhanen44

    4 жыл бұрын

    Humanity _has_ reached that point. The rich just cling to their imaginary numbers because they show that they have exploited the most workers.

  • @RicardoPetinga

    @RicardoPetinga

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@kauhanen44 Thank you. Someone needed to say that.

  • @maythesciencebewithyou

    @maythesciencebewithyou

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@kauhanen44 Even if by a miracle all the rich got morals and decided to change that, a majority of people wouldn't want it. Too many have bought into money. It's the poor who want to become rich or at least better than their neighbor or at least better than the homeless guy who wouldn't want the money system to change. The people who wasted their life working for others, making others rich, would be opposed to it, as they would feel cheated. Giving up money would mean they've wasted their life. It's the old people who are used to and have invested too much of their time in this who would opposed to it. They wouldn't want "the moochers", the "social parasites " who haven't worked as much as them or even worse, simply haven't earned as much as them until now, to be suddenly equal. People are petty. Sadly, many don't want others to have it better. They want others to suffer as much as they did or even more. Even the poor like to have someone below them.

  • @stridedeck
    @stridedeck4 жыл бұрын

    He left out MMT: Modern Monetary Theory which brought money into existence from the government decree that you must pay your taxes with my newly created money which is your debt to my services I provide.

  • @Cythil

    @Cythil

    4 жыл бұрын

    Yeah this is often forgotten which I feel is a reason why a lot of people think Fiat currency is more imaginary then it really is. There are consequences for not paying your taxes. And the government only accept you paying it in there preferred currency after all.

  • @stridedeck

    @stridedeck

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Cythil ----Yes, and paying your taxes and your house/rent is the measuring stick for all other consumption prices, just as the ond market determines all the prices for all the other financial instruments.

  • @Cythil

    @Cythil

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@stridedeck Also maybe not so odd that a lot of currencies that are not backed up by the government tend to be very unstable.

  • @stridedeck

    @stridedeck

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Cythil That's because essentially their debt is towards the U.S. government or the government of the currency (EURO). At the mercy and whims of the foreign government's policies and actions, becomes unstable if they are substantially different from each other. In that situation, the government creating the currency is not vulnerable, the one relying on the foreign currency is!

  • @Cythil

    @Cythil

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@stridedeck Well, I was more referring to crypto and that like. But government that do not have faith in there own currency tend to experience a lot of inflation to. The good old trying to print you way out of debt rather then collect it from you tax payers.

  • @richardcaldwell6159
    @richardcaldwell61594 жыл бұрын

    Great, as always. Note that cryptocurrencies consume a huge amount of electricity. Towns with loads bumping up against capacity have had to limit or ban mining.

  • @NoName-de1fn
    @NoName-de1fn4 жыл бұрын

    Thanks for acknowledging I'm smart in the beginning of the video.

  • @AngryKittens
    @AngryKittens4 жыл бұрын

    I would like to buy this car for three pebbles.

  • @GvinahGui

    @GvinahGui

    4 жыл бұрын

    @@Ozzymandius1 , I'll take one and a half if you also give me a hotdog with extra mustard

  • @petshopcacao
    @petshopcacao4 жыл бұрын

    Since i’m a child i always thought that money was not real and if we decided that our new money was rocks i’d be rich.

  • @MichaelDavis-wx3pw
    @MichaelDavis-wx3pw4 жыл бұрын

    Hats off for the Connections reference! James Burke sparked my lifelong love of learning

  • @besmart

    @besmart

    4 жыл бұрын

    The G.O.A.T.

  • @SerenityFeueropal
    @SerenityFeueropal4 жыл бұрын

    Great video! Care to make one about where new money comes from?

  • @FrostedSapling
    @FrostedSapling4 жыл бұрын

    Why you gotta ask such a depressing question at the start, I’m trying to relax

  • @shrinidhi14
    @shrinidhi144 жыл бұрын

    This is whole story of money!Wow?!😀👍 Thank you, Joe!😁

  • @pedrolmlkzk

    @pedrolmlkzk

    4 жыл бұрын

    well yes, but actually no

  • @pedrolmlkzk

    @pedrolmlkzk

    4 жыл бұрын

    or, if you are feeling brave today, dare to read a book about the matter

  • @Hortonscakes
    @Hortonscakes4 жыл бұрын

    Haha! Love the catan reference 💯💯💯

  • @The_Viscount
    @The_Viscount3 жыл бұрын

    Money does not define a person's character worth. All it defines is the power you have in society.

  • @maindepth8830
    @maindepth88304 жыл бұрын

    Him: how much money do u have Me: £-100

  • @tomrulz444
    @tomrulz4444 жыл бұрын

    Long Bitcoin Short the Banks

  • @SmartVideosJarkaWatched
    @SmartVideosJarkaWatched Жыл бұрын

    The word "control" was originally a term used to describe the use of multiple ledgers to verify accounts. That came to mind when you started talking about Bitcoin-etc.

  • @benparkinson8314
    @benparkinson83144 жыл бұрын

    Very interesting indeed. With the notion of stored value coupled with the notion of intrinsic value there could be a management solution... Hmmm how to negotiate this idea into non-fiction?...