Abstractions
What is money? Money is a piece of paper or coin with specific markings on it, or it can also be defined as a number displayed on the smartphone. This is the raw experience of money and this is how babies would define money (if they could speak). Let’s ask the question again, what is money? Money is something we give to get things. I give money, I get chocolate. I give money, I get groceries. This is how children and a few adults would define money. Let’s ask the question one more time, what is money? Money is a medium of exchange, a store of value, a unit of account. It allows people to trade without bartering. It allows millions of people to co-ordinate without knowing each other. Let’s say you buy coffee from Starbucks in Mumbai, the coffee farmer in Brazil doesn’t know you. The truck driver who transported the coffee beans to the port, the manager of the port, the manager of the shipping company, the manager of the roasting company, the manager of the Starbucks in Mumbai, the cashier at the Starbucks, none of them know you. Yet, you were able to get the coffee. This is perhaps how an economist would define money. Let’s ask the question again, what is money? Money is nothing real, it is just a story that humans collectively believe in. It is a shared fiction sustained by collective trust. This might be how a sociologist answers the question. A philosopher might go even deeper, they might ask something like, “If money is a symbolic representation for value, what even is value?” ...