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...so a lot of the gold demand annually goes into jewelry.
Except for the fact that I don’t see it as less valuable than gold and silver like I have before.
I now pretty much place them at the same level.
What makes it “valuable”, really?
So essentially, my recent thinking leads me to the conclusion it’s as equally valuable or worthless as the cash we currently use...
Does that make sense?
But even if that is true, what good is that to the average Joe?
originally posted by: scojak
a reply to: ScepticScot
The questions were pretty clear. The OP even emboldened them for clarity:
-What makes it (gold and silver) “valuable”, really?
-Does that make sense? (The OP's opinion that it's only real value is through trade)
-But even if that is true (industrial uses of gold and silver), what good is that to the average Joe?
All were addressed in my post.
To answer the question you posed though, gold is one of the easiest metals to obtain and work with. Other metals require processing and smelting, whereas gold can be found in an almost pure state. This makes it likely one of the first metals used for crafting. It also does not corrode or tarnish, traits which definitely give it value.
Many cultures associated gold with divinity, so of course it would have value to those cultures.
Power and adornment have historically gone hand-in-hand, so it aesthetic appeal also gave it value.
Gold also has (or was at least believed to have) medicinal uses. True or not, snake oil was an easier hundreds of years ago.
And potentially the source of the demand for gold, the Annunaki. They supposedly created humans to mine gold for them so they could replenish the gold in their atmosphere.
...take your pick.
At the basic level, what good is gold and silver? What makes it “valuable”, really?
originally posted by: hombero
a reply to: enlightenedservant
How can you talk about the value of something by positing a scenario of the last man on earth, when value is now moot as there is no trade.