Technology or Monetary System: What is the key to progress? — Part II: The case for the Monetary System

Abstract

In the previous post, I argued that technology has historically exploited layers of smaller and smaller phenomena. During this process, fundamental discoveries in the nature of matter, energy, and information have allowed for the construction of very productive economic niches. These niches are not uniformly distributed geographically, regardless of the monetary system. This implies that having a diverse pool of available technologies is predictive of growth at the country level. Of course, this analysis is incomplete because we assumed all the time that we are immersed in a functioning monetary system. In this post, I’ll argue the opposing view and argue why having a functioning monetary system is the key to the growth of modern society. Moreover, I’ll claim that the discovery of money is an evolutionary transition of such importance that it may be compared with early transitions in the very first life to arise on earth or the emergence of human intelligence compared to other animals.

Keith Y. Patarroyo

Researcher Engineer on Chemical Evolution, Digital Chemistry and Unconventional Computation

My research interests include Hierarchical Assembly, Chemical Evolution and Material Computation.