Jacob Baynham explores the notion of money as a perishable good, questioning its societal implications. Tracing the history of money back to 600 B.C.E and discussing skeptics like Aristotle, Baynham underscores concerns about wealth being defined more by cunning than by labor. He introduces the idea of money as 'dark matter' of the universe, necessary yet unquantifiable for understanding economies. By imagining a system where money has an expiration date, he posits that this could foster community bonds and prioritize values beyond mere accumulation of wealth.
What if, like food or life itself, money carried an expiration date - forcing it to flow rather than accumulate? Could changing the very nature of money reshape our values and bind communities together - instead of often driving them apart?
Baynham suggests that money has become the 'dark matter' of the universe: 'We don't have a way to empirically account for it, and yet without it our understanding of the universe, or the economy, would collapse.'
Many of the most charismatic people are animated by passions that don't earn them money but add a richness to their lives that money can't buy. When we find those things that sustain us - art, hobbies, service - the worth of those activities transcends money to fulfill us on a deeper, spiritual level.
The Greek philosopher, Baynham notes, 'worried that Greeks were losing something important in their pursuit of coins. Suddenly, a person's wealth wasn't determined by their labor and ideas but also by their cunning.'
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