Gold hits $1500.00 an Oz. for first time.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Gold is highly conductive and really useful... in a phase of electronic circuit technology which is pretty close to becoming obsolete.

OH and it makes great fillings!

[Elder Iptuous]

Kai, i would imagine that there have been people that have shared your sentiment for thousands of years...

[Kai]

Kai, i would imagine that there have been people that have shared your sentiment for thousands of years...

The problem is that, evolutionarily, the scarcest resources have been the most valuable. So humans are wired to equate scarce with valuable, and apply it to all sorts of things, like gold, African diamonds (not the synthetic ones, because we can MAKE them), and other relatively rare metals and compounds. Plants and animals, too. Collection of rare materials and items has been a mainstay of visible power, and it often has nothing to do with aesthetics.

[Cain]

Coltan and lithium would be better investments. So would scrap iron.  So would taking enough LSD to believe scavanged shoelaces and mud are in fact gourmet spaghetti bolognese.

[ñͤͣ̄ͦ̌̑͗͊͛͂͗ ̸̨̨̣̺̼̣̜͙͈͕̮̊̈́̈͂͛̽͊ͭ̓͆ͅé ̰̓̓́ͯ́́͞]

Kai, i would imagine that there have been people that have shared your sentiment for thousands of years...

The problem is that, evolutionarily, the scarcest resources have been the most valuable. So humans are wired to equate scarce with valuable, and apply it to all sorts of things, like gold, African diamonds (not the synthetic ones, because we can MAKE them), and other relatively rare metals and compounds. Plants and animals, too. Collection of rare materials and items has been a mainstay of visible power, and it often has nothing to do with aesthetics.

What I think you meant, after thinking about this for a bit, is that the appeal of rare items doesn't have much to do with their intrinsic aesthetic value, like Phox said. Gold isn't prized because there's something inherently magical about yellowish shiny metal, it's that this particular shiny metal is scarce—I get your point there, I think. But, it's worth adding that we're also likely wired to choose mates based on aesthetics, and not only in terms of appraising one's health. Since displaying scarce objects is a cue about our social status, among other things, aesthetics are pretty thoroughly entangled with this "hoarding unusual shit" drive, though for extrinsic purposes.

edit: grammar

[The Good Reverend Roger]

and Roger's not here to go " gold bugs"

I don't really have to.  The jokes write themselves...If international currencies collapse, gold will just be a useless heavy lump that takes up valuable space that could be better used for ammunition, Cipro, and the vast quantities of amphetamines you will need to survive day to day.

Gold is about as realistic as those big fucking rocks with the holes bored in them that were once used in the South Pacific.

[Kai]

Kai, i would imagine that there have been people that have shared your sentiment for thousands of years...

The problem is that, evolutionarily, the scarcest resources have been the most valuable. So humans are wired to equate scarce with valuable, and apply it to all sorts of things, like gold, African diamonds (not the synthetic ones, because we can MAKE them), and other relatively rare metals and compounds. Plants and animals, too. Collection of rare materials and items has been a mainstay of visible power, and it often has nothing to do with aesthetics.

What I think you meant, after thinking about this for a bit, is that the appeal of rare items doesn't have much to do with their intrinsic aesthetic value, like Phox said. Gold isn't prized because there's something inherently magical about yellowish shiny metal, it's that this particular shiny metal is scarce—I get your point there, I think. But, it's worth adding that we're also likely wired to choose mates based on aesthetics, and not only in terms of appraising one's health. Since displaying scarce objects is a cue about our social status, among other things, aesthetics are pretty thoroughly entangled with this "hoarding unusual shit" drive, though for extrinsic purposes.

edit: grammar

Yes.

A prime example is the purchase of African diamonds over synthetic diamonds or cubic zirconium. These are all essentially the same in terms of shininess, refractive properties, even similar levels of hardness. Yet people still purchase the African diamonds precisely because they are scarce and expensive and therefore a sign of high status, even if jewelers have to use microscopes to tell the difference. Diamond is of course very useful in comparison to gold but African diamonds aren't purchased for industrial use either.

[Freeky]

and Roger's not here to go " gold bugs"

I don't really have to.  The jokes write themselves...If international currencies collapse, gold will just be a useless heavy lump that takes up valuable space that could be better used for ammunition, Cipro, and the vast quantities of amphetamines you will need to survive day to day.

Gold is about as realistic as those big fucking rocks with the holes bored in them that were once used in the South Pacific.

Which rocks were these?

[BabylonHoruv]

and Roger's not here to go " gold bugs"

I don't really have to.  The jokes write themselves...If international currencies collapse, gold will just be a useless heavy lump that takes up valuable space that could be better used for ammunition, Cipro, and the vast quantities of amphetamines you will need to survive day to day.

Gold is about as realistic as those big fucking rocks with the holes bored in them that were once used in the South Pacific.

Which rocks were these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones

[Freeky]

Oh. You learn something new every day

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Kai, i would imagine that there have been people that have shared your sentiment for thousands of years...

The problem is that, evolutionarily, the scarcest resources have been the most valuable. So humans are wired to equate scarce with valuable, and apply it to all sorts of things, like gold, African diamonds (not the synthetic ones, because we can MAKE them), and other relatively rare metals and compounds. Plants and animals, too. Collection of rare materials and items has been a mainstay of visible power, and it often has nothing to do with aesthetics.

What I think you meant, after thinking about this for a bit, is that the appeal of rare items doesn't have much to do with their intrinsic aesthetic value, like Phox said. Gold isn't prized because there's something inherently magical about yellowish shiny metal, it's that this particular shiny metal is scarce—I get your point there, I think. But, it's worth adding that we're also likely wired to choose mates based on aesthetics, and not only in terms of appraising one's health. Since displaying scarce objects is a cue about our social status, among other things, aesthetics are pretty thoroughly entangled with this "hoarding unusual shit" drive, though for extrinsic purposes.

edit: grammar

Copper was once more prized than gold in North America, because it was harder to find.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

and Roger's not here to go " gold bugs"

I don't really have to.  The jokes write themselves...If international currencies collapse, gold will just be a useless heavy lump that takes up valuable space that could be better used for ammunition, Cipro, and the vast quantities of amphetamines you will need to survive day to day.

Gold is about as realistic as those big fucking rocks with the holes bored in them that were once used in the South Pacific.

Which rocks were these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones

Yup... that's just as retarded. 

[Elder Iptuous]

in the 1855 paris exposition a bar of aluminium was displayed next to the crown jewels.  before it was discovered how to cost effectively extract it,  it was worth more than gold.

In thinking about the antipathy displayed here towards gold, i think it may have to do with the circular nature of a medium of exchange's logic.
Gold is valuable solely because people want it, and people want it, solely because it is valuable.  this is all that is necessary for a medium of exchange.  of course, it has some other properties that also make it a good medium, but the bootstrapped agreement among people that it is valuable is entirely sufficient, and the fact that it has remained this way for so long just cements the deal.
But in a group that prides itself on rationality, this circular logic is odious.  i can get that.  but it doesn't change a thing...  my little treasure chest will always be a liquidable asset.  As my used car salesman uncle used to say, "there's a butt for every seat", but right now i enjoy having mine parked in it.

a note on the money from the island of Yap....  (which were not used as a day to day medium of exchange).
since they were not portable, they stayed where they were despite who the current 'owner' was.  they'd be sitting there on the side of the road and everyone would know it belongs to villiage X.  when someone was married off, or someone was unjustly killed, etc. and one villiage had to pay off another, they would give ownership of the stone, and everyone just knew that possession was passed along, even though the stone remained where it was. 
The most interesting example is a stone that was being transported from the island where it was quarried to the island they inhabited, and it sunk in the ocean off the shore.  you couldn't even see it.  but the elders of the villages got together, and decided that it was a good stone, was constructed properly and passed QA, so it was completely viable, despite the fact that it lay at the bottom of the ocean, where they couldn't see it.  so it entered into the economy and served perfectly well for its purposes.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

In thinking about the antipathy displayed here towards gold, i think it may have to do with the circular nature of a medium of exchange's logic.

I have no antipathy towards gold.  It makes fine jewelry.  My antipathy is towards people who not only believe it has magical powers that will work where other currencies fail, but who also insist on evangelizing about it.

[BabylonHoruv]

and Roger's not here to go " gold bugs"

I don't really have to.  The jokes write themselves...If international currencies collapse, gold will just be a useless heavy lump that takes up valuable space that could be better used for ammunition, Cipro, and the vast quantities of amphetamines you will need to survive day to day.

Gold is about as realistic as those big fucking rocks with the holes bored in them that were once used in the South Pacific.

Which rocks were these?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones

Yup... that's just as retarded.  

I liked how one of them fell out of the boat and sunk to the bottom of the pacific, but because they knew it was still there they still traded it.

ETA Ippy already said this, but it's still cool.