BF2S Forums What are the worst inventions according to you?

-Sh1fty- wrote:

This is basically the opposite to this thread.

So here you state which invention has caused harm or has degraded society/humanity.

I would say, alcohol. Although it's used for medicinal purposes as well, this substance kills thousands. Sometimes indirectly (through accidents such as car crashes).

Stop.

Cybargs wrote:

-Sh1fty- wrote:

This is basically the opposite to this thread.

So here you state which invention has caused harm or has degraded society/humanity.

I would say, alcohol. Although it's used for medicinal purposes as well, this substance kills thousands. Sometimes indirectly (through accidents such as car crashes).

Stop.

Continue.

The Sheriff wrote:

Alcohol isn't an invention, it was a discovery.
OT: Jesus

It was not a discovery, it was a revelation ...

The atom getting split and raped I say.

Religion
Video-game forums

In vitro fertilisation.
Paper money.

Last edited by CameronPoe (2010-01-11 11:51:12)

CameronPoe wrote:

In vitro fertilisation.
Paper money.

Paper money? I've seen that twice now. You prefer carrying large sacks of coins about with you?

JohnG@lt wrote:

CameronPoe wrote:

In vitro fertilisation.
Paper money.

Paper money? I've seen that twice now. You prefer carrying large sacks of coins about with you?

The moment man printed money on paper, money lost its true value. I thought as a scholar and enthusiast of Randian principles you would have been anti-paper money yourself.

CameronPoe wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

CameronPoe wrote:

In vitro fertilisation.
Paper money.

Paper money? I've seen that twice now. You prefer carrying large sacks of coins about with you?

The moment man printed money on paper, money lost its true value. I thought as a scholar and enthusiast of Randian principles you would have been anti-paper money yourself.

I swing back and forth between wanting a gold standard and appreciating fiat money.

Money didn't lose it's true value when it was printed. That's silly. What was it's true value? A piece of gold could buy you a pack of smokes but the value of that gold fluctuated with it's supply. Sometimes the piece of gold could buy you a carton of smokes and other times it wasn't worth anything. The only thing fiat money did was make it easier to destroy the deflation of currency.

Inflation is by no means a bad thing, it forces people to continually acquire more money in order to make purchases instead of making a bunch in the early part of their life and then sitting on their hoard until they die. Sure, from an individuals perspective this is not necessarily a good thing, but from a macroeconomic standpoint it's a necessity for a functioning and expanding economy.

CameronPoe wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

I swing back and forth between wanting a gold standard and appreciating fiat money.

Money didn't lose it's true value when it was printed. That's silly. What was it's true value? A piece of gold could buy you a pack of smokes but the value of that gold fluctuated with it's supply. Sometimes the piece of gold could buy you a carton of smokes and other times it wasn't worth anything. The only thing fiat money did was make it easier to destroy the deflation of currency.

Inflation is by no means a bad thing, it forces people to continually acquire more money in order to make purchases instead of making a bunch in the early part of their life and then sitting on their hoard until they die. Sure, from an individuals perspective this is not necessarily a good thing, but from a macroeconomic standpoint it's a necessity for a functioning and expanding economy.

Money is supposed to represent the value ratio of each commodity against each other, the standards being set by precious metals (given their scarcity). They all fluctuate, that is a given. Someone finds a new seam of gold? Everything readjusts. But nowadays our governments can just print shitloads of meaningless paper money without having the burden of anyone having earned the value of said money. Nobody needs to have found a new 'seam of dollar notes' - they can just buy and sell houses off the plans without having produced anything or set some printers going down at the mint.

Money is still treated as if it were on the gold standard in this country. As much as people like to make a big hullabaloo about it, our treasury just doesn't print off money whenever it wants to. If it did we would have inflation resembling Zimbabwe's.

CameronPoe wrote:

JohnG@lt wrote:

Money is still treated as if it were on the gold standard in this country. As much as people like to make a big hullabaloo about it, our treasury just doesn't print off money whenever it wants to. If it did we would have inflation resembling Zimbabwe's.

The problem is that the likes of China, Russia and Saudi Arabia are beginning to lose faith in the dream of a reliable dollar. The dollar has plummeted in value against other currencies in recent times.

I think that's been done on purpose to force China to unpeg the Yuan. Our trade imbalance exists mostly because they've kept their currency pegged to 1/7th the value of the dollar.

Look at all these rebels, hatin' on paper money and the man and whatnot.

CameronPoe wrote:

But nowadays our governments can just print shitloads of meaningless paper money without having the burden of anyone having earned the value of said money

ahahahaha

Did you just say that for shits and giggles or do you believe it? Because the last time I was in the room when this was explained was when the dumbest girl in school had it explained to her for twenty minutes in middle school.