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When equities are priced in gold, they peaked in 1999, and have broadly been downhill since then. For reference, see the price of SPY/XAUUSD.
A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
21–30 of 84 posts
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#22It is interesting that gold was able to retain its value after the industrial revolution. It could have gone the way of aluminum, once twice as valuable as gold, but now used in disposable drink containers. At the time of the alchemists, there was no way to know that some metals were actually distillable from common rocks and others genuinely rare and impossible to manufacture with even quite advanced technology. EDI…
>Aluminum itself may not be the best counterexample to gold as it was not discovered until the industrial revolution was well underway.
I think also the scarcity plays a factor, the estimates that I'm seeing after short search being that there's about 10,000x more processed aluminum in the world than gold.
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#23It is interesting that gold was able to retain its value after the industrial revolution. It could have gone the way of aluminum, once twice as valuable as gold, but now used in disposable drink containers. At the time of the alchemists, there was no way to know that some metals were actually distillable from common rocks and others genuinely rare and impossible to manufacture with even quite advanced technology. EDI…
>Aluminum itself may not be the best counterexample to gold as it was not discovered until the industrial revolution was well underway. I think also the scarcity plays a factor, the estimates that I'm seeing after short search being that there's about 10,000x more processed aluminum in the world than gold.
There is now, but it wasn't really extractable at all until electrochemistry.
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#24It is interesting that gold was able to retain its value after the industrial revolution. It could have gone the way of aluminum, once twice as valuable as gold, but now used in disposable drink containers. At the time of the alchemists, there was no way to know that some metals were actually distillable from common rocks and others genuinely rare and impossible to manufacture with even quite advanced technology. EDI…
>Aluminum itself may not be the best counterexample to gold as it was not discovered until the industrial revolution was well underway. I think also the scarcity plays a factor, the estimates that I'm seeing after short search being that there's about 10,000x more processed aluminum in the world than gold.
This is because of what the comment you’re replying to was saying. Aluminum was a scarce resource prior to the electrolytic process being invented that made it “distillable from common rocks.”
The cap on the washington monument is aluminum, because at the time it was still a precious metal.
The guy who figured out how to electrolyze it out of ore went on to create the main company in the US that produced it, and chose to call it aluminum instead of aluminium, thus leading to the split in spelling. That story may be apocryphal though.
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#25Name one thing in the universe which is better than gold? Tip: You can't.
You’re lost in the desert, with no food or water but only a lump of gold. Everything is fine because nothing in the universe is better than gold.
The movie “The treasure of the Sierra Madras” does a good job of putting gold in it’s place.
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#26I've read elsewhere that one of gold's biggest virtues as a store of value on planet earth is that it isn't so rare as to be useless, but it's rare enough that it functions as currency or high value storage. A goldilocks material for the purpose of wealth transfer and storage.
It is also relatively easy to work, since ancient times. Iridium is the rarest metal, so rare and hard to work that it is not practical.
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#27Why is everything "wild" and "cooked" and "dead" these days? It seems that every title or text I see has those words. I guess it's the Claudeification of everything.
It's just Gen-Z speak, nothing to do with Claude (other than being a vessel for said speak)
I’m gen-x and used wild in of my my HN comments and it seemed to trigger some responders. I was using as a synonym for unexpected. Next time maybe I’ll use whacky instead.
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's just Gen-Z speak, nothing to do with Claude (other than being a vessel for said speak)
I’m gen-x and used wild in of my my HN comments and it seemed to trigger some responders. I was using as a synonym for unexpected. Next time maybe I’ll use whacky instead.
I like wild, it’s a fun word. No need to change if you don’t want to just on account of some grouches here!
Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's just Gen-Z speak, nothing to do with Claude (other than being a vessel for said speak)
I’m gen-x and used wild in of my my HN comments and it seemed to trigger some responders. I was using as a synonym for unexpected. Next time maybe I’ll use whacky instead.
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Re: A new book about humanity's obsession with gold
#30Earlier quoted context omitted.
I’m gen-x and used wild in of my my HN comments and it seemed to trigger some responders. I was using as a synonym for unexpected. Next time maybe I’ll use whacky instead.
I like wild, it’s a fun word. No need to change if you don’t want to just on account of some grouches here!
we GenX-ers will be placated by any mention of Oscar the Grouch.