Paper Currency

[Anarchemitis]

In the case of a complete downfall of society you can still use paper money to light a fire, credit cards can't do that...

Although you could melt down the magentic strip to extract a few picograms of Tellurium usable for a microreactor that could power a robotic suit of armor, except you'd need 16 grams total.

 

[Cheesus333]

When will we, as a collective global society, grow out of paper money?

We, at least we in America, are already one step closer with the national use of Debit cards, and the world as a whole is familiar with electronic transactions as opposed to walking into a store and handing several bills of value to a clerk. With the continued depreciation of the paper dollar, one would imagine the process of transitioning from paper money to digital money would go much faster, and yet we still cling to the physical dollar.

We see it in video games quite a lot, especially sci-fi. Credits, instead of gold or dollars. You get so much automatically transferred to a card, or an account, or merely a name. No hassle with wallets, and while it would require much more dedicated electronic defenses, this would pave the way for even more digital information -- such as a digital ID that updates automatically on your birthday, and updates to a license when you pass your test and thus cut down on plastic usage by the DMV as well as wait times since you don't have to wait for them to type up all your information, take your picture, and then print all of that out onto your card - They just take your picture, and upload it to your digital ID.

So, opinions?

DIGITISATION FOR THE NATION! Rise comrades, free yourselves from the shackles of carrying around light pieces of paper and having to move your arm a little bit and actually move something around! The technological revolution is at hand! Charge forward, my allies, and destroy our opressive currency before we become slaves!

Seriously though, it's a cool idea.

 

[Jursa]

In the case of a complete downfall of society you can still use paper money to light a fire, credit cards can't do that...

Although you could melt down the magentic strip to extract a few picograms of Tellurium usable for a microreactor that could power a robotic suit of armor, except you'd need 16 grams total.

Ya... aside from it being one of the rarest metals on the planet you have nothing to worry about...

 

[sirsolo]

Money in general is being replaced and forgotten. Even if we print more, it'll eventually just wash away. Even now, I have no money, but still have $18 in numbers.

 

[Gamer137]

I say no because that is one step closer to a true big brother scenario, something I am very against.

 

[DragunovHUN]

It's going to take a while. Internet has been around for quite some time now yet printed media is just starting to feel the impact. Untill every house has internet i can't imagine printed media disappearing, and similiarly 100% conversion to digital money is going to take very long.

 

[ElegantSwordsman]

I don't think you'll ever see the disappearance of physical currency, for as long as you have a black market economy, there will be people who want to be able to buy things without leaving behind anything traceable back to them.

Plus, pulling out a plastic card is in no way as impressive as pulling out a nice fat wad of bills and fanning yourself with them.

 

[Danny Ocean]

No. It's too fragile a system, what if the power goes down? How will you pay for things?
One of the main reasons we keep money is for clandestine dealings which we don't want the state to know about, digital transfers are too easy to track.

I mean, if you kept all of your money in a safe under your bed, it'd be a lot more difficult to destroy or steal than if it was simply stored digitally on a hard drive somewhere.

The security may seem foolproof now, but if all the money in the world was stored digitally, christ, just imagine the first political terrorism attacks on server farms.

Plus, wiping your arse or burning credit cards isn't anywhere near as satisfying.

Spoiler: unrelated

Wow, arse is automatically underlined by Google chrome's spell checker!

 

[NoSeraph]

I think for practicality's sake, it makes more sense to use paper money (and coins - I love loose change) for daily purchases like newspapers and coffee.

I'm pretty sure that the cart vendor that I buy my coffee from in the morning wouldn't be amused if I asked if he accepted Visa.

 

[sequio]

I like paper money. They have that whole "money!!" feel to it.

EDIT: I would love gold coins. Don't like the idea of everything being digital.

 

[ForrestDixon]

Thats a great idea and would totally work, BUT!!!! You would need to get every world leader on the planet (America, Canada, Russia, Germany, India, just to name a few) to be willing to get on the same place and solve all of the transfer issues with it. You could deff see this in the futer but it would require alot of hard work and honest people.

 

[Eclectic Dreck]

In the case of a complete downfall of society you can still use paper money to light a fire, credit cards can't do that...

Credit cards can be used to bypass a number of common security barriers (i.e. locked doors/windows). Paper money can't do that.

 

[Sgt. Dante]

It's a lot easier to spend money if you don't think about it, ala, "just put it on the card".

Physical money makes us think more about our spending and hopefully reign it in a bit, well, it works for me anyway.

 

[Izerous]

The issue with the removal of hard currency is the fact that there are still places that don't take interact including in the USA. Went on a trip to the states to San Fran and made a stop at "The PlayStation Store". The conversation went something along the lines of. "We don't take debit", "What?!?!". They are a CASH OR CREDIT ONLY store. Which means if you are under 18 the only way to buy anything form that store is with CASH. Because of stores like this it simply isn't possible.

 

[stiver]

NEVER!

Real money has one important feature. You can't be taxed on what the government doesn't know you have. Electronic money is completely traceable, thus taxable.

I have a side business dealt in cash, you can't track what I'm buying and selling and you can't tax me.

Some people might all move to electronic money, but cash will continue. IF they stop printing cash, either underground systems will make their own money, or go to a barter system.

 

[Chickenlittle]

In the case of a complete downfall of society you can still use paper money to light a fire, credit cards can't do that...

Credit cards can be used to bypass a number of common security barriers (i.e. locked doors/windows). Paper money can't do that.

True. A great point.

One thing I'd like to point out, though, is that credit cards tend to pick up a lot of debt, as not everyone is responsible enough to pay them off.

 

[freakonaleash]

I think that we still have it because we feel we need something to back up our money.

 

[MaraN88]

I think there will always be be a need for "real money" since there will always be a need for anonymity(at least the possibility), as some people have said.
And without "real money" people might start to realize that those numbers on you're account are pure fiction. The only reason those numbers have value is because you believe they do. It was hard enough to convince people to start using money as we see it today. Banks had to guarantee the moneys value in gold hence the gold reserves you might have heard about in old bond movies and such..

 

[mooncalf]

Frankly, I only put money in a bank because a credit card allows me to buy across oceans, and savings pay me interest. Interest on savings means the more the better.

It is counter intuitive to have a small fluctuating fund of money in a bank which they charge you for and you get very little interest back on, except for the convenience of not having to carry cash.

That inconvenience I accept in favour of something I hold in my hand which the bank ultimately has no control or insight over, something the bank will not reduce by backend cents for the mere privilege of spending it.

Debit cards are nifty, I agree, I use them. But cash owes nothing, it is whole and complete in it's own right.

 

[NoSeraph]

In the case of a complete downfall of society you can still use paper money to light a fire, credit cards can't do that...

Credit cards can be used to bypass a number of common security barriers (i.e. locked doors/windows). Paper money can't do that.

You would need paper money to roll into tubes for the...ingestion of certain...medications, to combat the depression of society's demise. Credit cards can't do that, but you can use them to make nice, neat lines.