[summitsummit]

i don't think the point of those mechanisms are to serve social good. i would regard that as a fundamentally incorrect position to hold.

the point is to make those that are advantaged by such tools to gain evergrowing more power over others. isn't that the whole history of human civilization? when's it ever been about serving a social good.

[ISL]

I have grain, Heather has cows, Sam has wood, Frank is elderly, Susan is a master carpenter, and Christian's kids need a larger house.

Finance is the glue that allows us to barter in parallel with the world and across time. It does enormous social good.

The alternative is going to the supermarket with some JavaScript to buy broccoli.

[et2o]

You should read Debt: The First 2000 years. This is a common but wrong idea. Barter economies have almost never existed.