Why are these metals so precious?

Today I was thinking about gold and why it is so precious and important. I am uneducated about gold so please educate me. Why is it so precious? Why is it so expensive? We don't use it for anything important that I know of. It seems to me that oil and gas should be more important but it doesn't seem to be. My queston is, is there some conspiracy that the general public doesn't know about that has something to do with gold?

Nothing is worth anything in reality except life.

The value is placed on it because people are willing to pay for it. Thats it.

Gold is mainly precious because of its beauty and rarity, but there are also plenty of practical uses.

en.wikipedia.org...

reply to post by R3KR

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yes this is so true, i am a record collector and its insane how much some records go for but if people are willing to pay for it...

Because we are hardwired by our ex-alien overlords to have a fascination with gold.

We were placed here to mine it for them.

It probably holds the key to immortality or something, maybe replacing our iron with gold. It doesn’t deteriorate like iron does, no rusting.

I read something close to that theory a while back in a book I cant remember.

reply to post by cavscout

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I can't believe anyone buys into this theory. If "our alien overlords" wanted gold so bad, why did they employ humans with laughably inferior technology to mine it?

I was about to start writing a massive explanation but then I realized, why should I? Having traded precious metals quite a bit I know a lot about it but when you say things like "is there some conspiracy that the general public doesn't know about that has something to do with gold? " It just conveys that you havent taken economics 101 and dont understand basic demand/supply. Do some research. Its not that hard to type it into google.

Because they are lazy?

To keep us busy?

Because they didn’t want to?

Because it tastes better when mined with love?

reply to post by surf911

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um, yes i have taken eco 101 and i do understand the supply and demand. BUT what i'm talking about is the doomsdayers who say your dollar is worth nothing so trade it for gold and so forth. why? why do humans think so much of this shiny metal? so we can make rings and necklaces? it seems to me that water, food, shelter is WAY more important than gold.

to me, gold is useless. you can't eat or drink it. why do humans make it so important. why is the demand so HIGH for it? you wanna say the demand for it is so high because there is a limited amount of it. i say, SO WHAT! who cares. who cares that there isn't very much of it. it means nothing. i just don't understand it. that is why i feel there is some other use for it that we know nothing about.

i like the alien theory. i would like more. does anyone have any other theories?

reply to post by Fett Pinkus

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Amazing what people will pay for.

At the right time, and right place, you can make lots of money.

Well maybe this theory would actually make sense if you couldnt turn other metals like lead in gold. YES that is possible. It was first done in the early 70s. Why isnt it common place? Cause it costs a few hundred thousand dollars an ounce. Give it another century and gold will not longer be mined. Dont believe me? IT already happening with diamonds. In the past few years diamonds have become CHEAPER to synthesized than mine. Give it a few more decades and a bag of diamonds will be worth little more than a bag of coal.

reply to post by stellawayten

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CAUSE GOLDS MAIN PURPOSE FOR THE PAST 3000+ YEARS HAS NOT BEEN FOR DECORATION BUT USED AS CURRENCY!!!!!!!

If you didnt listen to the stupid media feeding you BS all day and studied some history you would knwo that. Gold the silver(poor mans gold) are the only two metals that are practical as uses for money because they are abundant enough to be used on a daily basis but limited enough to have value. Hence why they didnt use steel or platinum or diamonds. ITs divisible(you cant divide art or homes easily). Its durable(wont fall apart or rust). Its convenient. NOT causes its a "shiny metal"

US dollar, unbacked by gold, has been around since the 70s, gold has been used as money for 3000 years. In 60 languages the word for "money" and "silver" is the same. An ounce of gold during the Roman times bought you a decent toga, an ounce of gold today buys you a decent suit. An american dollar from 1913 is worth 4 cents of what it was worth back then.

reply to post by stellawayten

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Well, sister, that's a perfectly sane point of view, but the vast majority of people think gold is very beautiful and, of course, demand greatly outstrips supply, this keeps the price up. Also, gold has practical applications as listed in the link I showed you in my first post.

why are you being so rude?

anyway... in reply to your post, gold isn't the only thing that can be divided and the US doesn't even use gold anymore for backing money.

If farmer John has 2 barrels of apples that he wants to trade for 5 chickens, but he has no way to get those apples to the market, it is easier for him to carry gold coin. He got the gold coin, BTW, last week when it was Hank the chicken farmer who couldnt get his goods to the market and wanted apples.

It has value. You couldn’t make the coins wood, cause everyone would just make their own.

RELATED TOPIC: Paper comes in because it is easier to move than gold. In the good old days the man with the biggest safe was the jeweler. The jeweler would let you keep your money in his safe, for a fee. He would issue you a note saying your gold deposit amount. You could trade this certificate of deposit, this check, for goods.

PRESTO! The birth of the banksters!

reply to post by uberarcanist

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yes, but there are other materials that can be used in place of gold. It still doesn't make sense to me. The human race decides what is important to a certain extent. Why have we made gold so important? I don't think it has to do with money because money is just a way to trade.

reply to post by cavscout

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yes i understand this concept but we no longer use it for money so why is it still important?

Yes, why are you being so rude. You need to take a break, go sit in the corner or something. THat was absolutely uncalled for.

Because it was the standard for so long.

Why not use it, we have to use something. The system of ranking value relative to gold works, so why mess with it?

but we don't use it anymore.