Technically aren’t a lot of things just societal concepts if you think hard enough about them?
I strongly recommend Sapiens: a short story of humanity by Yuval Harari if you’d like to think about this a bit more, particulary his concept of ‘myths’.
I’d guess that you’d find a summary of that chapter online without buying the whole book.
Sort of. Theres maybe something to things that naturally exist, whether we name them or not. We didnt create beavers in the same way we did money.
Well… that’s why I didn’t say everything. :p
Countries, slut shaming, office hours, time zones, dress codes…
It’s pretend, but everyone is forced to get in on it
It’s pretend, but the people pretending are the ones who can arrest you if you don’t declare income and pay taxes in their made-up currency.
If we agree that something is real then it’s real. Proof is in the reward for agreeing and the punishment for disagreeing.
It’s real as in it has physical form, but the value attributed to it is playing pretend that everyone just agrees to go along with.
“why?”
“Because it’s a lot easier to use paper and coins to exchange for goods and services than just about anything else.”
“why?”
Paper and coins smaller than cow and chicken.
“why?”
“Just because!”
Yeah, I feel like this one wouldn’t be hard for a child to grasp.
“Woo-hoo!”
That is exactly what I was thinking of when I wrote “goods and services.”
Idk, I’ve lectured my kids on monetary and economic policy enough that they know better than to ask that question.
The oldest is 10, but he just had to know why I dislike Trump, and you can’t really get into why tariffs are bad without first explaining the fundamentals of supply and demand, as well as central banks managing monetary policy. They might not even be that far off if you ask them when the last fed rate hike was.
I wish I was joking, but I’m already in too deep with my conviction that I’ll answer any question they have.
I feel sorry for that 10 year old. If they just had to know, its because their life is surrounded by it. A normal 10 year old wouldn’t give a shit. I would project less politics into the household for the kids sake.
A normal 10 year old
And of course we all know the worst thing that can happen to a child is for them to be considered abnormal by weirdos on the Internet.
If the ten year old asks the question it is because they want to know.
Would you explain it to them or wouldn’t you?
You’re overlooking the commenter admitting they bring these topics up and likely make this environment a thing. Of course a child may ask about something if you never shut up about it. Toxic.
I avoid politics at home, this was a question that came up from school. It’s election season, and kids are curious.
I kept it about issues though, not partisan nonsense. My kids get allowance so they understand sales tax, and I told them tariffs are like an extra sales tax that you don’t see, but only for certain things, so I’m worried it’ll increase prices too much.
I think they discussed the election in class or something, hence the discussion. I never bring it up, but I’m willing to answer any question they have. They asked who I voted for, so I told them Chase Oliver because our state is going to Trump regardless, so I don’t have to worry about my vote changing anything and prefer to give a third party some visibility. That’s as far as I’ve discussed things with them, because I’d like them to form their own opinions.
As for the rate hike bit, that was largely a joke. But I do follow monetary policy fairly closely and my kids have seen me reading those news articles. I tend to read them a bit more lately due to high inflation.
I’m in this boat with my kiddo, and like you I intend to give serious and honest answers for any questions (although occasionally I do say “I don’t think you’re quite ready for that topic yet”, or I’ll keep the details light and inform her of why).
It’s been working out great, similar age to yours. She trusts me to give her real info no matter the topic (this is invaluable), she accepts when I tell her that she’s probably not quite ready for XYZ, and the auxiliary benefit is that I’m forcing myself to get a bit more efficient even when I’m in
--verbosemode.ETA: we’re also careful to tell her that we expect her to make her own opinions about everything and not just accept ours. That includes things like religious beliefs and politics when she decides to engage with those topics.
Awesome, you rock.
And yeah, I try to scope things down to their age level. If my kiddo is asking why I don’t like a given politician, they don’t need the whole rundown of their platform, just one or two bullet points to take back to their friends in a “but my dad said…” type argument. The same goes with sciency stuff, they usually don’t care, they just want to win some argument (e.g. my older kids love telling my youngest that the sun is going to explode).
And yeah, when there are multiple sides, I’ll try to explain them as best I can. If the issue isn’t settled, I’ll explain the various sides as best I can and tell them why I arrived at the conclusion I did, as well as how much I trust the evidence from each side. We haven’t discussed it, but if we talk about global warming/climate change, I’ll try to explain why one group says we need immediate change and the other wants a more measured approach, what impact it could have on the economy, etc, but in terms appropriate for their age level. If it seems they’re at an impasse about something w/ a friend, I’ll ask them to try to explain things from the other kid’s perspective. And then we’ll explore why they might feel that way, and why that’s different from how my kid feels. That’s usually enough for them to find some kind of compromise.
Hopefully that approach helps them understand that considering other points of view is valuable, but at the end of the day, they should follow the direction the facts lead them.
My kids are too young to ask questions, but I intend to do my best to give them good thorough answers, including doing my best to find out when I don’t really know the answer.
you can’t really get into why tariffs are bad without first explaining the fundamentals of supply and demand
Tariffs mean the government charges you extra when you buy something from another country. Do you like paying more for things?
Sure, like everything else, you can make it more and more complicated, but the fundamentals are pretty simple and don’t require an understanding of supply and demand.
Why don’t we just buy it from another country? Or just make it ourselves?
It turns out some countries produce a lot and other countries don’t produce as much, so you can’t just switch production to somewhere else overnight. That’s where supply and demand comes in.
But yeah, I’m exaggerating a bit, and I definitely initially explain things according to their age level. Obviously 5yo doesn’t need a full lecture on economics, but the 10yo can grasp a bit more.
Right, like I said, you can make it more and more complicated, depending if the kid wants more detail. I just don’t think tariffs are any more complicated than any other subject. Everything gets complicated as you dig into it more and more.
Agreed. It’s icebergs all the way down.
Just like the Constitution!
It is real because everyone pretends it is.
Fiat currency is as real as the law (and all the baggage and corruption that entails).
Crypto is “Trust me, bro! I keep a spreadsheet in the cloud!”
We’ll all be using bottle caps soon enough.
Yes, even though “as real as the law” is a pretty complicated issue.
Actual money is real in the sense that it’s what people use to pay taxes, and if you don’t pay taxes the government has the right and the power to put you in prison. It’s also what the government is willing to offer people to do things like serve in the military, build highways, etc. That means there’s a vast and stable supply and demand for it.
Cryptocurrency is “real” in the sense that sometimes it’s the only way to pay a ransomware ransom. But, the people receiving that ransom are almost certainly going to change it into real money, because they’re probably not paying off ransomware ransoms, and so they don’t really have any use for cryptocurrency.
They might buy some drugs though.
I accept green pieces of paper for my not so hard work. It’s real as long as we all pretend its real.
“Yes.”
Yes.
Money isn’t real but the idea everyone agrees on subconsciously is it is a medium of exchange.
You have a goat and I have 50 apples. You want my apples but I don’t want your goat. OK. Bye bye, good luck finding the next customer.
Or
Sell the goat for the value of 50 apples, and then I can turn that into the new lamp I wanted instead.
Not everyone wants a goat but if you can float the value of something as an IOU (cash) then it’s useful.
Same reason why people like crypto, it’s the idea of cash but with math securing it’s scarcity vs guns and vaults of gold.
You have a goat and I have 50 apples. You want my apples but I don’t want your goat. OK. Bye bye, good luck finding the next customer.
In the real world:
Ok, I’ll let you have my apples, but you owe me.
Or
You want some apples? Sure, have some!
The world operated on debt and gifts for a long time before monetary systems were common. Debt was sometimes formal, sometimes informal. Gifts were sometimes pure acts of generosity, sometimes they were rituals.
Maybe that worked when you knew everyone in town or that they’d be where you can find them again, but not in a global economy. You can’t lend Joe Random 3 goats and he will pay you back if he simply is in another country doing business or is in town for the weekend. Try getting in your car and telling a random shop you don’t have cash but you’ll pay them back. This logic goes out the window as soon as you involve strangers.
Try getting in your car and telling a random shop you don’t have cash but you’ll pay them back.
What do you think a credit card is?
I’m confused, your first post is about how we need to go back to bartering and personal debt one on one without involving banks or money, and now you are advocating credit cards? What’s the message here? Those are 2 different things.
No it’s not, but if you don’t have any it will destroy your life.
People existed before money, and they can exist after it.
Depending on how you define “people”…
And depending on how abstract you accept “money” to be, no reasonable definition of “people” will suffice.
“Both”
Money is. Value isn’t.
Value is. Money isn’t
Damn, if only Santa clause had written a trilogy about this
is isn’t. Money Value
username checks out lol
btw i’m jokingYeah I chose the best username to represent who I am as a person.
nice to be clear with yourself
We are all dumbass on this blessed day.
Shit, every day is blessed for me than
tfw you learned you’ve been blessed since birth
Amen, brother!
