What is money?
# 3022
Political changes will require a deeper analysis of money and its financialization. Money’s start is really simple. In the time hunter-gatherers were turning into herdsmen, a pointed finger at a cow, “one” quickly caught on, moving to two, and then moving to digits (ten). That finger making a mark on a stick let the stick be kept or exchanged and was already in that sense money. became money as it was because people felt that the notches represented the real thing. But the representation marks on a stick became subject to norms. For example in Mesopotamia. in about 2500 BC* . The six marks on a stick represented the six cows and an extra notch represented a new calf. The word for “interest” in Mesopotamia was “offspring” (offspring was an early word, quite intuitive.*
From his point culture introduces and imposes rules interpreting the way that stick could be used. It is very important to understand the origin of money because modern money contains the core idea of substitution. of the stick for a number of cattle. Most contemporary understanding of money stresses its abstract quality and justifies making a big deal of it, supporting financialization as separate from the real economy. Any reform or cultural revolution will touch on money but what is universal is not the idea of money ready-made but the representation and substitution of simple things - finers- for another simple thing, - stick- , but touching on the reality and mystery of growth.
-It helps to know how deeply cattle represented wealth in early societies. We all know the idea of bride price whee what is bought is the wealth creation of future. Money and growth are fully present in cattle raising. Money is based on the deep forces of sexuality and reproduction in the universe. This is why money fills out the spectrum from a simple thing world to the mysteries of origins and creations.
Deepening the story, “capital” comes from cap. Latin for head, and was used to call out a new head of cattle. From the herd to the city, crafts and trade were pragmatic (it works)extensions and while we think of capital as abstract, it never lost its connection to sex, birth, and growth. In that sense, it is also spiritual/religious and most people treat it with reverence. But at the core money is simple.
See the powerful and intriguing book Goetzman, Money Changes Everything.
doug@dougcarmichael.com