Money has existed for thousands of years there is evidence of the existence of money that date to 70,000 years ago. Money is one of the oldest technologies of our human civilizations, it is older than writing and the reason we know that is because of all the writing samples that were found are literally spreadsheets and we see that through Egyptian Sumerian and Babylonian tablets it was all about the language of money.
Money as a Language
We humans developed money for the same reason we developed language. Language is the defining moment in the history of our species as it allowed us to glue groups of over hundreds of people. There is evidence that money was used as a mean of exchange of value since the existence of Home Erectus and even Neanderthals as seashells were found in caves hundreds and even thousands of miles away from seashores. It was a way to create relationships and strong bonds within the community and I allowed humans to build other relationships with other groups geographically distant. It allowed for the birth of civilizations, it was a form of communication that transcends vocal language, as we know it. Money could be anything that is scarce, transportable and holds an aesthetic value. Money has no intrinsic value, it cannot be consumed it can only hold to be exchanged for goods, commodities or services. This exchange happens between person-to-person as the value is agreed on between the two parties no matter its nature.
Cashless Society and Loss of Freedom
What we are seeing in modern times is the emergence of an intermediary between these exchanges of values and communication. It is not anymore in the hands of the holder of value in theory this intermediary now exists to facilitate the exchange but for a fee not only that but also it intervenes in deciding if this exchange of value happens or does not which is scary and represents a clear form of censorship and control. Every transaction you make is now analyzed collected and held could be held against at any time. Cashless societies is a thing of this era and what this means is that you lose total control of the language of value that humans owned thousands and tens of thousands of years ago. Your language of value can now be frozen and taken a way from you within a few clicks.
Bitcoin as a Language of the Free
On January 3, 2009, while governments of the world were dreaming of total surveillance over money, Bitcoin was created. The platform enables us once again to express value on the basis of free exchange from person to person without intermediaries. It allows you total control over your money, which brings back the idea that money is a form of free speech. Bitcoin a uses the Internet like any other form of communication. It’s about re-engaging payments from person-to-person building a society that is global and that allows you to express your value to any human being on this planet at any time, rapidly without borders limitation and to top that anonymously.
Nature of Choice
Cash is going to disappear and children of today will only sea cash in museums, there is no escape from that. We are now at a time where we are confronting a choice and it has to be made as soon as possible. We are facing two possible futures both tied to digital currencies; money of the people for the people or money of the corporations and/or of government for the government and/or corporations. Are we ready to hand over complete control of a form of language that we use to express value between each other to an intermediary or not. That is the true question that we are facing. And the answer should be trivial. Regaining the freedom of transacting and communicating the value of your hard labor by removing any intermediary is true freedom.