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Welcome to the Currency Wagn!
Currency: A formal system for shaping, enabling and measuring flows (currents).
This place is chock full of goodies for currency designers.
First you should understand that we're not using the word currency in its normal everyday sense to just mean money, but expanding its meaning based on its original roots from the Latin "currere" meaning to run or flow. In this expanded sense, currencies are tools for seeing and changing flows.
So money is clearly a currency since we use it to create flows of goods and services and also to measure and record those flows. However, we also start to see that money is only a small part of the picture because there are many other things we use in this flow-shaping manner. Other currencies include Bus passes, Olympic Medals, College Degrees (as well as the Credits and Grades used to get one), titles, your eBay reputation rating, movie tickets, postage stamps, certifications, etc. We use scores of them every day.
Difference btwn currencies and currents / map vs. territory
Why we care about shaping flows...
Currency: A formal system for shaping, enabling and measuring flows (currents).
This place is chock full of goodies for currency designers.
First you should understand that we're not using the word currency in its normal everyday sense to just mean money, but expanding its meaning based on its original roots from the Latin "currere" meaning to run or flow. In this expanded sense, currencies are tools for seeing and changing flows.
So money is clearly a currency since we use it to create flows of goods and services and also to measure and record those flows. However, we also start to see that money is only a small part of the picture because there are many other things we use in this flow-shaping manner. Other currencies include Bus passes, Olympic Medals, College Degrees (as well as the Credits and Grades used to get one), titles, your eBay reputation rating, movie tickets, postage stamps, certifications, etc. We use scores of them every day.
Difference btwn currencies and currents / map vs. territory
Why we care about shaping flows...