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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   3325 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for March 26, 2023

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Do you think coins would be valued in a post-apocalyptic world? I don’t think dollar bills would be, but I could see coins still being used as a medium of exchange. People like shiny metal.

Absolutely would be worth reposting this in the FFT in the morning, I feel like this is wasted on an old sunday thread that nobody will return to.

Money is just an intermediary between untrusted/unproven parties. I actually forsee a smaller-scale, social credit system in the same vein as "gift-based markets." Coinage is useless, but eggs feed families and are readily traded in for useful services. I'm moderately skeptical of storing heavy metal in expectation of total systemic collapse. It's more useful for a slow decline and fracturing, especially if social bonds remain but are inhibited due to roaming bands of raiders or unsafe, unpoliced roadways.

Less mad max and more fuedalism with lasers.

Which coins? Gold seems too relatively rare now to be used for small transactions, copper too common to hold much value. Some preppers like "junk silver", solid silver quarters and dimes and such which predate the debasing of the metal content. Those might work.

I was thinking of more common coins like nickels, dimes, and quarters. Even post apocalypse, assuming some semblance of society returns, I would expect the return of a monetary system. It might take some time to get there. The first few years after a nuclear winter or devastating pandemic would be absolute chaos, but once an equilibrium re-forms, people will need to trade again. And coins are a lot easier to use than say shells or giant stones:

https://www.npr.org/sections/money/2011/02/15/131934618/the-island-of-stone-money

I could be totally wrong. Maybe people no longer trade because everyone is too busy killing each other for valuable resources.

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