[Robotbeat]

Money is fundamentally community based. It is based on exchange with your neighbors and colleagues and peers and anyone you do business with. You’re not getting away from the entity representing that community from exerting some control over it.

Precious materials like gold are probably the best you can get as the material itself has some value.

[nailer]

Why do precious metals have value?

[dale_glass]

They're relatively useless for other purposes. Eg, gold is rare, heavy and malleable. In situations where you need those qualities other options exist, like lead. It has the advantage of not oxidizing, so it makes for great jewelry.

But all of that is extremely contextual. If it turns out there's a huge reserve of it somewhere, it will crash in value. Or if things crash badly enough there may be other things to worry about. Eg, a community that desperately needs water is probably more interested in pipes than gold.

[justinator]

Gold is far from useless - I’ll wager whatever hardware you typed that comment on is made up in small part with gold.

[codedokode]

Only a tiny amount of gold is used in electronics. Also, this doesn't explain why people were greedy for gold thousands years before.

[justinator]

>Only a tiny amount of gold is used in electronics.

That's what interesting - only a tiny amount of gold is needed. This wouldn't work with lead.

>this doesn't explain why people were greedy for gold thousands years before.

You're asking me to do this research?

[mrkstu]

They (i.e. materials like gold/silver) have inherent value as being relatively difficult to obtain without significant work and being useful in creating valuable objects.

Because of those properties they become a store of value (representing the work and rarity) which then makes them a useful proxy for trading that value, which increases their rarity/value by taking it out of circulation when used as a store of value.

[Robotbeat]

Still, it should be said the vast majority of the value of gold is contextual. Just like aluminum before we perfected ability to make it cheaply.

[codedokode]

Can we conclude that gold is similar to cryptocurrency because of this?

[mrkstu]

As a store of work, sure,

The difference being the currency in this case has no inherent value to fall back upon.

[nailer]

Why do precious metals have inherent value?

[tremon]

Because the community believes their value will outlast the currency system. People have believed the same thing about tulips, peppercorn, wine, and buildings (or rather, land).

[Robotbeat]

Well there’s residual value in metals as you can build stuff with it. Agree that the vast majority of the value of precious metals is contextual, but I guess you can appeal to human’s love of shiny stuff plus history, beyond just community context.

[codedokode]

Land is still very valuable today, especially if it is a land in the center of a city.

[throwawaycities]

A metal such as gold has both intrinsic and extrinsic value from the time of antiquity to modern day.

For one, gold, enables the electronic device you used to post your comment.

[codedokode]

Then why did it have value before semiconductor manufacturing?

[Robotbeat]

Jewelry and it doesn't rust or erode.

[wycliffb]

They are precious