Francisco D’Anconia, Redux March 11, 2008
Posted by Resident Egoist in : Economics (Theory), Philosophy and Objectivism , trackbackI just stumbled upon a very rare thing, and feeling a little nostalgic about blogging, I thought I’d share this with whomever is still dropping by here.
And what exactly is this: it’s a rational comment from Slashdot:
why do you think you achieve some sort of higher moral ground or purpose by shunning money? all you do is hobble your own ability to properly understand how the world you live in actually functions. i’m not asking you to worship money. and money certainly leads people to do evil things. but again, money is just an abstract expression of human desires. the real evil is aspects of human nature itself, not a piece of green paper with alexander hamilton’s face on it
all i’m asking you to do is grant money the proper respect it deserves for quantifying abstract human interest in such a way that it makes the world we live in a better place. yes, money is a great invention, like the wheel or the semiconductor. it makes your world a better place. bartering chickens for school books gets kind of old after awhile. thus the glorious invention of money. and no, i’m not gordon gecko. i’m just a realist. realism trumps cotton candy idealism any day. and the most sober realistic consideration of money in this world is that it makes your life better
The author was trying to knock some sense into those smug, obliviously self-righteous slashdotters who think WikiPedia shouldn’t consider selling advertisements as a solution to its financial problems. If you’re familiar with Atlas Shrugged, this should remind you of Francisco’s Money Speech — save for the fact that the definition of money here leaves a lot to be desired.
For a quick and excellent starter on money, see What Has Government Done to Our Money, by Murray Rothbard. Though I’m usually wary to recommend this author’s writings, this is by far, the single best introduction to money I know of, bar none. In light of this country’s current monetary tragedy, this should interest you.
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