How long would it take for humans to die out if money had no value?

[Shoe Lace]

Let's say for the sake of argument you could build a machine that was able to print legal and valid money out of a single drop of water without any technical skills.

I'm using water simply because as long as we have an atmosphere water should in theory never run out.

So, as of right now money has absolutely no value because every single human being has an infinite amount.

How long would it take for the entire human population to become extinct?

Or... for the optimists, how long would it take to evolve into some type of utopia where people did things because that's what they really want to do.

As a sub-discussion for the optimists, would this speed up or slow down technological advancements?

[Klompy]

Wouldn't everyone just switch back to a form of currency that couldn't be produced out of water? Say gold?

[almostbusto]

if the a type money has no value then it will trade at that rate. new valuable money will be made and it will become the standard unit of account. if no such money can be made then people will barter.

did you seriously not think at all about this thread before you posted it?

[Phil153]

As above. It would make no difference to technological advancements, since there's still incentive to produce, but like now, humans are limited by time, capital, physical constraints, and creative intelligence.

[Shoe Lace]

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if no such money can be made then people will barter.

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So basically the world would come to an end in a pretty short amount of time?

I can't imagine this working over an extended amount of time. It wouldn't take very long to figure out our basic needs are food/water and to a lesser extent shelter. If you control those needs, then you own everyone else.

The same thing can be said about using natural resources as a form of currency. We've all seen the lengths what certain countries will do to amass oil. It would be total chaos. It's pretty much like that now, but the general population has a generic currency (money) to use.

Remember, I'm talking about this as if it were to happen over night. Tomorrow morning when you wake up you are an infinitaire guaranteed.

[doubLe a tom]

I dont think people would die out, they would just revert to living off the land, and some sort of bartering system. I assume the population would decline at an incredible rate though.

[emon87]

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if no such money can be made then people will barter.

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So basically the world would come to an end in a pretty short amount of time?

I can't imagine this working over an extended amount of time. It wouldn't take very long to figure out our basic needs are food/water and to a lesser extent shelter. If you control those needs, then you own everyone else.

The same thing can be said about using natural resources as a form of currency. We've all seen the lengths what certain countries will do to amass oil. It would be total chaos. It's pretty much like that now, but the general population has a generic currency (money) to use.

Remember, I'm talking about this as if it were to happen over night. Tomorrow morning when you wake up you are an infinitaire guaranteed.

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Dude you're a moron.

The money system that we currently use is less than 100 years old. What do you think people did before then? They didn't die out.

Also, there are countries where this essentially has happened (Germany in the early 20th century, Argentina just recently) and those people didn't die out.

Your idea that humans can't adapt is retarded.

[Case Closed]

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did you seriously not think at all about this thread before you posted it?

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I am gonna go with no on that one.

[imitation]

you should post less

[kazana]

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Also, there are countries where this essentially has happened (Germany in the early 20th century, Argentina just recently, Zimbabwe right now) and those people didn't die out.

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