amber

25

immaterial girl in a material world :')


🎵 bandcamp 🎵

my life's work lol


🌏 neocities 🌏

probs gonna be used as a linktree tbh


🦣 mastodon 🦣

just like twitter

...except you get to choose a fiefdom ^_^;


widr
@widr

i am pleased to bring to your awareness: a micronesian currency consisting of enormous carved stones that usually don't go anywhere

Although the ownership of a particular stone might change, the stone itself is rarely moved due to its weight and risk of damage. Thus the physical location of a stone was often not significant: ownership was established by shared agreement, and could be transferred even without physical access to the stone. Each large stone had an oral history that included the names of previous owners. In one instance, a large rai being transported by canoe and outrigger was accidentally dropped and sank to the sea floor. Although it was never seen again, everyone agreed that the rai must still be there, so it continued to be transacted as any other stone.

The perceived value of a specific stone was based on not only its size and craftsmanship, but also its history. The value could depend, for instance, on whether it was brought by a famous sailor, or whether people died during its transport.


You must log in to comment.

in reply to @widr's post:

yeah there are a lot of good photos in there, they're super photogenic

and despite it being a whole Thing where they sent expeditions to quarries and sometimes dudes literally died making and transporting them it's probably the least fucked up monetary system i've ever learned about

Reminds me of the Hitchhiker's Guide on currency, in a section about the statistics of the Universe:

Monetary Units: None.
In fact there are three freely convertible currencies in the Galaxy, but none of them count. The Altairian Dollar has recently collapsed, the Flanian Pobble Bead can only be exchanged for other Flanian Pobble Beads, and the Triganic Pu has its own very special problems. The exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin six thousand eight hundred miles on each side, no one has ever collected enough Ningis to own a Pu. Ningis are not negotiable currency because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in piddling small change.