From: jtem01@gmail.com   
      
   Martin Edwards wrote:   
      
   > Presumably it became money because large values were transportable, and   
   > it does not corrode.   
      
   I'm sure it was a slow process where eventually   
   values became standardized, even if only locally,   
   at which point money was inevitable.   
      
   Once a wife is accepted as worth a precise number   
   of goats, and each goat is worth a set number of   
   chickens, and you can buy [blah-blah] chickens with   
   a set quantity of gold, it is possible to calculate   
   a goat's or a wife's value in gold. So you no   
   longer need the chickens, the goats or the wife.   
      
        ...just carry the gold.   
      
   "Trade" would then be based on regional fluctuations:   
      
   The have lots of wood HERE, so it's not worth many   
   goats/chickens (gold). They have very little of it   
   THERE so it trades for a lot of goats/chickens (gold).   
      
      
      
      
   -- --   
      
   http://jtem.tumblr.com/post/177815141435   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)