Shelling Out -- The Origins of Money • Hacker News Board

Re: Shelling Out -- The Origins of Money

#11

Post by spodek » Mon, May 30, 2011, 4:50 PM UTC

spodek wrote: post #10

nonzero wrote: post #7

Evolutionary psychology strikes me as myth-making, not in the pejorative sense but in that it forms an understandable, cohesive, and easily retold story around a bunch of observations. It's ironic that the article labels the rationale primitive societies give for the importance of their media of exchange as "mythologies that served more as proximate motivators of behavior than as theories of ultimate purpose or origi…

"Evolutionary psychology strikes me as myth-making, not in the pejorative sense but in that it forms an understandable, cohesive, and easily retold story around a bunch of observations." Perhaps it may serve that purpose, but a major difference is that evolutionary psychology aims to be falsifiable, not based on what an authority says, subject to peer review, etc. Money didn't exist and now it does. Personally, I fin…

Speaking of accuracy in stories, I just looked up "money is the root of evil" and it turns out it's a popular misquotation.

According do http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/List_of_misquotations, it's a biblical misquote. The original states it's the love of money that is a problem:

In context: "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." (1 Timothy 6:10) KJV (The King James Bible)

Interesting irony on accuracy and change of meaning.

Re: Shelling Out -- The Origins of Money

#12

Post by nonzero » Tue, May 31, 2011, 1:23 AM UTC

spodek wrote: post #10

nonzero wrote: post #7

Evolutionary psychology strikes me as myth-making, not in the pejorative sense but in that it forms an understandable, cohesive, and easily retold story around a bunch of observations. It's ironic that the article labels the rationale primitive societies give for the importance of their media of exchange as "mythologies that served more as proximate motivators of behavior than as theories of ultimate purpose or origi…

"Evolutionary psychology strikes me as myth-making, not in the pejorative sense but in that it forms an understandable, cohesive, and easily retold story around a bunch of observations." Perhaps it may serve that purpose, but a major difference is that evolutionary psychology aims to be falsifiable, not based on what an authority says, subject to peer review, etc. Money didn't exist and now it does. Personally, I fin…

I don't know if you've read the essay, but I couldn't figure out how the author's theory of "ultimate purpose" of money could be falsified. In fact, how is any description of subjective motivation falsifiable? Maybe neuroscience can elaborate on one facet, but in the field of inner human experience, I doubt we'll come up with anything close to what constitutes a theory in the hard sciences.

Re: Shelling Out -- The Origins of Money

#13

Post by nonzero » Tue, May 31, 2011, 1:26 AM UTC

geuis wrote: post #6

I'm taking the time to read through the article thoroughly. So far about 50% through. I take issue with some assumptions like our Neolithic ancestors were always on the edge of starvation. Hunter gatherer tribes in many parts of the world in pre-Columbian times and even today got along quite well and in many instances had as much or more free time than we do today. That aside, the general direction of the paper seems…

I always wonder about the debate of whether hunter-foragers worked 11 hours a week for food and shelter or were always on the brink of starvation and warfare. I wonder if we'll ever know, since there's so much earth left to dig up and so many stories we can tell with the few arrowheads and bones we find. I do know that whatever you believe in about scarcity has a profound impact on how you work, buy, and vote, and that by controlling the narratives surrounding scarcity in human evolution, you control the policies that the society creates and enforces.