I had a similar thought after I pressed "send". Oh well. I'm not an economist, but I think today's currencies are all fiat currencies now (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiat_money). But some countries still keep bullion around ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Bullion_Depository), presumably for purposes distantly related to the value of the currency.
But, yeah, that's what I get for going off on a wild flight of speculation. Eric On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 1:20 PM, Wm. Scott Smith <scott...@hotmail.com>wrote: > *I really don't think there is any direct connection between precious > metals and modern currencies.* > * > > Last I heard:* Today's Currencies are based on the price of oil in $USD > since a large part of the World's Oil Supply is *only *traded in terms of > $USD aka the "Petrodollar" > > Has anything definitively changed? > > (On another topicI think this is how the leading US export is "freshly > printed" dollars!!!LOL) > > ------------------------------ > From: zeropo...@charter.net > To: vortex-l@eskimo.com > Subject: RE: [Vo]:LENR is not a disruptive technology... > Date: Sun, 15 Jan 2012 22:53:11 -0800 > > Eric, > > I suggest you read my entire posting… I was being facetious, and stated > that ‘disruptive’ is not going far enough. > > -m > > > > *From:* Eric Walker [mailto:eric.wal...@gmail.com] > *Sent:* Sunday, January 15, 2012 10:45 PM > *To:* vortex-l@eskimo.com > *Subject:* Re: [Vo]:LENR is not a disruptive technology... > > > > LENR would be quite disruptive if it even replaced 10 percent of the world > energy supply over the next twenty years. If it turns out to be bona fide > and something that can be commercialized (hopefully we'll get a sense of > this soon), and barring some unforeseen impediment to its widespread > adoption, it's not difficult to imagine that it could replace well beyond > 10 percent of the energy supply over time. > > > > As a thought experiment, assume that LENR effectively makes energy free > during the next 100 years. Find some activity of concern to the majority > of people on the planet that is limited in some way by scarcity -- > agricultural production, water distribution, the generation of heat and > electricity, heavy manufacturing, transportation, housing. The cost of > these activities would go down significantly. It's hard to even get a > sense of what the implications of such a development would be. > > > > Now consider the possibility of mass scale production of isotopes by way > of controlled transmutation. It would be an understatement to say that > this would be disruptive. Precious metals would become commodities, and > the already tenuous connection between gold and silver and the monetary > supply would probably be broken. But more worryingly, it might be possible > to order up as much uranium-235 as you want. > > > > So for the sake of widespread, unencumbered adoption of LENR, let's hope > that energy production becomes easy and transmutation of heavier elements > proves to be difficult or impossible. > > > > Eric > > > > On Sun, Jan 15, 2012 at 9:54 PM, Mark Iverson-ZeroPoint < > zeropo...@charter.net> wrote: > > AussieGuy wrote: > “Transmutation of elements via the FPE may replace mining.” > > > > It’ll do more than that… it’ll kill the entire precious metals business > which has been a foundation for countries’ **monetary systems**. What > affect that will have on economic systems, and countries, is probably not > going to be pretty… in the beginning. > > > > With energy being extremely cheap, it will drive down the cost of just > about everything from raw materials to completed products… and it’ll be > much cheaper to transport those things to the point of consumption, so > we’re talking about much lower cost for most **everything**. It > wouldn’t surprise me if govts stepped in to bring in the changes > gradually… But how does one decide what to do when this is probably unlike > anything that has ever happened; nothing to go on. > > > > **To call LENR a ‘disruptive’ technology doesn’t even begin to describe > it!** > > > > -Mark > > > > >
