On social currencies and human economies: some notes on the violence of equivalence – David Graeber
David Graeberdavidgraeber.org
On social currencies and human economies: some notes on the violence of equivalence – David Graeber
If you went back in time to a prehistoric village and asked, “how do you solve the coincidence of wants problem?” they’d look at you strangely: “What? We don’t have that problem. If I need grain and my neighbour has it, he gives it to me, and then I owe him one.” This idea, “I owe him one”, is simple and powerful: the fundamental unit of commerce... See more
Alex Danco • Debt: the First 5000 Years
According to Graeber, that narrative is fully false, and has the story backwards.