Um... Try to counterfeit it for:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/01/100128-nuclear-fusion-power-lasers-science/

Gold Fusion

During the laser experiment, the fuel pellet was placed inside a solid-gold cylinder about the size of a pencil eraser, which was hit by multiple laser beams.

The gold cylinder absorbed the laser energy and converted it into thermal x-ray energy.

The x-rays then ricocheted inside the cylinder and struck the fuel pellet from all sides. As the pellet absorbed the x-rays, it heated up—eventually reaching about 60 million degrees Fahrenheit (33 million degrees Celsius)—then collapsed in on itself.

And.

Investigations were made of the energy and space–time characteristics and of the spectral composition of the radiation from a gold vapor laser (312.2 nm transition). It was found that the addition of hydrogen had a positive influence on the laser power and on the radial homogeneity of the beam.

http://iopscience.iop.org/0049-1748/21/10/L12

Shall I go on?

This is a commonly misunderstood concept, even by goldbugs. Anyone who starts going on about gold's uses is getting it wrong. Money, by definition, is a thing whose value is inflated beyond its industrial usefulness. Gold has value beyond its industrial usefulness the same way dollar bills have value beyond their industrial usefulness.

The difference is, paper currency's use as money is enforced by its distributor, the government-- making its value inflation wholly artificial-- whereas gold's use as money is enforced by no one. This is true of both fiat currency and gold/silver-standard currency. The only difference between the two is their degree of artificial inflation. The current (fiat) US dollar's value is 100% artificial. The gold-standard dollar's value was inflated by some lesser, floating percentage, only because its base natural value was X ounces of gold rather than the negligible economic value of the paper it's printed on.

Gold's value, on the other hand, is not artificially inflated, i.e. it is not state-subsidized. Gold has been used as money for thousands of years, not by force, but by willful interaction. Why? At first, yes, rarity and whatnot. But eventually gold became a salience point . That is, you thought of it as money, accepted it in economic exchanges, because most everyone else accepted it as money too. Think about it: in a post-hyperinflation world, would you prefer to accept gold or palladium for your services? Gold! Why? Because the next time you need to trade with someone, that person will be X% less likely to accept palladium. You can't have that.

So does that mean gold's value is inflated? Beyond its industrial uses, yes. And it will continue to be inflated. In the long run, gold's value will only go up. But its value is not artificially inflated. It cannot lose value beyond a certain threshold, due to its long history as a salience point. It's the same reason Visa will never die (barring some unforeseen technological advent). Visa is the most popular credit card because Visa is accepted everywhere because Visa is the most popular credit card. It's a salience point. Gold is the same way.

[edit] More information on monetary theory and the coming hyperinflation can be found at fofoa.blogspot.com.

Yes and no. The problem you're running into here, is that, because of its longterm salience point, gold is a unique case. You cannot apply conventional knowledge of inflation and bubbles to gold.

Gold is a bubble that can never burst. Because its demand is universal, its demand will always be universal. I realize this is highly counterintuitive, but it's the honest to god truth.

Anything can bust, but real estate has more risk because the value of a home is dependent on too many things, like local environment, neighbors, near-by resources, etc. Gold is much more stable because it's not really dependent on anything except people's acceptance of it which is itself stable to a fault.

Exactly. Any individual piece of property has pros and cons which make its value highly dependent on the tastes and circumstances of different individuals. Real estate is not sold in blobs. Gold, however, is. Its value is universally accepted.

Think about your ability to sell any given item. Not everybody wants your house at the market-determined price. Even if they do indeed want a house, they may not want yours. Anybody in the market for gold, on the other hand, will buy it at market price if they can afford it. This is true of literally nothing else in the world, even silver. Because if you can afford X silver, you can also afford Y gold. All other things being equal, why would you want the lesser salience point?

Real estate was artificially inflated. The Federal Reserve lowered interest rates in late 2001/early 2002, which artificially inflated demand. A married couple that otherwise would have rented, began to see home ownership as an viable option. A couple that might've afforded a $200k house at a natural, market-determined interest rate could now afford a $300k house at the artificially low interest rate. Demand was government subsidized. (To understand why, one will need to tumble further down the rabbit-hole.)

No government subsidizes the demand for gold. Why? Because they want the superior store of wealth for themselves (and their friends). The reliable stores of wealth are limited in availability: currency, precious metals, Picasso paintings, antique cars, etc. But the most reliable, bar none, is gold. Period. And because gold's availability is finite, possession of it as a store of wealth becomes a zero sum game. To subsidize common gold ownership would be self-damaging in every aspect.

Currency is only something what people collectively accept as currency. Gold is throughut history accepted as currency because of its rarity as you explained above. The tally stick was used succesfully as currency in medieval England. Basically it was a stick wich had notshes cut in it. It was generally accepted as currency because it was also was accepted as payment of taxes for the king.

It's the same reason Visa will never die (barring some unforeseen technological advent). Visa is the most popular credit card because Visa is accepted everywhere because Visa is the most popular credit card.

This is such complete bullshit! Today we accept just empty receipts, paper as currency. Visa is just a tool to use this currency not a currency itself and it does not have any value or "salience point". So visa is nothing like gold you fuck.

Calm down, friend. I wasn't talking about credit cards in a monetary sense. "Visa" could have been any greater point of salience. Take first dates for example. What do you ask a girl to do? Arbitrary though it is, you don't ask her out for caramels (I'm looking at you, Mr. Hunting). You ask her out for coffee, because it's the least likely to be turned down. Of moneys, old is the least likely to be turned down. Of credit cards, it's Visa.

You fuck. ;)

You compared visa being something like gold and that is why supposedly visa will never die. That is so inherently wrong and a stupid thing to say.

Visa is only a method of exchanging currency, a tool, it is not the currency itself. It does nothing but changes information (the balance of your bank account or more likely the balance of debt). It is irrelevant to talk about visa when talking about value of currency or gold.

Visa = exchange of information. Gold = something tangible and something of collectively accepted value.

Is there such a concept as "inherent (or intrinsic) value"? If there is, then what is inherently valuable, and how do you measure it?

The truth is that all value is attributed and therefore EXTRINSIC, because value is a concept we invented.

Gold and silver have no more intrinsic value than ink and paper, but they have a very high attributed value, but this value is real and universally recognised by humans.

I keep seeing fear mongering economic advice to purchase gold and silver with USD, yet, what's the point?

You answered your own question. To monger fear.

Generally the logic behind buying gold though is that if gold's value is more stable then the dollars and the dollar's is shrinking then converting dollars into gold is a good investment and a good way to shore up your wealth.

If gold and silver are just another form of currency, how do they have any more value than a dollar?

Yes, it's just a form of currency. It was adopted because it was shiny and it's rarity controlled inflation while it's physical properties control counterfeiting. More value then the dollar? What does that mean? You can buy gold or silver with dollars, the cost in dollars is determined by the market and changes accordingly.

It seems to me that the only truly valuable resources are air, water, food and energy sources.

Economy is also resource. The ability to trade for services and goods is valuable.

Since gold and silver don't fit into any of those four categories, isn't rural land with a fresh water supply, seeds, guns, and books on how to farm effectively (or hunt, fish, poultry care, etc...) far more valuable than scrap pieces of metal?

Yes, until you need a winter coat or wheel for your ox-cart and the guy who has said coat or wheel will only take a goat for it, but you don't have a goat. Then suddenly currency, be that gold, silver or smiles, is valuable because you can trade the money for the wheel and he the money for a goat, from someone else. Money is better then barter, gold is sort of universally excepted as money. It's value is entirely based on people's acceptance of it as a currency, and that acceptance is deeply ingrained, hence it is very valuable.

Go offer air, water, food, seeds, books..... see how much vagina you get.

anunnaki asked us to keep it safe till they come :)

This should thoroughly answer your questions.

Rarity.

As well most metals have a bad reaction to oxygen and water, but gold seems to resist it and keep its shiny appearance.

Gold is effectively eternal. When they opened King Tut's Tomb, his death mask was as highly polished as the day it went into the tomb. Indeed, when some doofus tried to buff away some dust that fell on the mask, it ruined the high polish that the ancient Egyptians has put on the mask. It took technicians with modern equipment to restore the polish once again.

Gold is primarily used for jewelry, but only because it is so artificially expensive. Were the price to drop it would be used in many electronics applications. Silver, because it is less expensive, has more industrial uses. No other metal is as good for mirror backings, for example. Not only is silver the most reflective metal, but it is the most conductive of electricity as well, at least among the common elements. The cost of both metals is highly inflated by hysterical demand, caused by fears of a global financial meltdown. Soon, that inflated value will drop, as it always has in the past. A person can be talked into paying enormous amounts for tulips, but sooner or later the true market value of tulips wins out over the hysteria.

gold never tarnishes, and is a most excellent conductor of electricity, it is malleable, ductile, and easily worked. most people also find it attractive.

silver is valuable for nearly the same reasons, except that it does tarnish quickly. it also alloys easily with other metals and readily imparts its qualities to the alloy.

and it's not that they are more valuable than a dollar, but that they translate well. people all over the world will trade local currency for gold/silver, even if they don't care about the dollar.

the other resources you list are relatively unlimited, compared to the scarcity of "precious metals". for a given volume, you'd be able to store a larger amount of "wealth" in gold than in water. at least until water becomes as scarce.

in a "post crash" world, the people buying gold will be screwed. how are you going to buy a loaf of bread with a troy oz bar of bullion? or any bullion, for that matter. gold coin is just as bad. how would they make change? junk silver coin would be a better purchase. the amounts of silver in a pre-64 US dime would be closer to the amounts needed for daily trade for food/fuel/etc.

I believe the idea is not to use it mainly for trading in a "post crash" world but rather as stock into whatever new currency is introduced as it'll inevitably have a gold backing. Long term investment.

Most people think rarity, which therefore make it precious.

Gold, in particular, has ASTOUNDING qualities.

See this for more info: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2129165010048711403#

ooooh, shiny!

what every we as people put on them.

Men will fight and die for anything to out live another man for a day

Pro: You can't print gold out of thin air

Con: Most gold is held by the oligarchs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qIhDdST27g

It's about rebuilding, if that time ever comes. In that scenario, I'll take something that has been considered money for over 4000 years of human history over some cotton reserve notes that will be worth little more than kindling by the time it is all said and done.

Gold & silver will be a useful and hard to counterfeit unit of trade "currency" when bartering fails to accomplish the desired results. In order for bartering to work, they must want what you have to trade for what they have.... rare. With silver or gold, it can be the "neutral" unit people will trade anything for since others will trade anything for it. gold and silver would be hard for people to counterfeit, so it will be easier to use.

Nothing has inherent value, value is something that is in the minds of all people and varies from person to person, which is the reason why we have a pricing system. Gold has historically been used as money because it was accepted by pretty much anyone as a medium of exchange. Gold has value because it cannot be printed out of no where to fund wars and welfare projects.

government cant make any

It seems to me that it's the best alternative we have. What else can you think of that could serve as currency and be universally acceptable? I would imagine energy could be used as currency, if only we had the technology to perfectly store and retrieve energy and some interface to make it do useful work, but we are not that advanced technologically.

Traditonally, the basic value of gold and silver is that they do not rot quickly. Grain is more valuable to humans as we can eat it, but it does not store value well because it will rot in a few years or can be eaten by rats etc. So, metals store value better. Also they can be carried relatively easily. Also look shiny and make good jewelry for the woman.

Gold doesn't have value. It's rare. That's about it. It' just like other currency; it's worth what people believe it is worth. You can build more from copper really, so that should be what you're investing in.

...until the 50's/60's. Now Gold is used in electronics. It's in everything. Your laptop, your cellphone, your TVs. It's very small amounts, but enough that people scrap and melt down old electronics to pull out the gold, silver, copper, etc.

So today Gold is valuable because we use it to build stuff...but all this "gold standard" stuff is really a bad idea. Do you really want your dollar bill to be worth a few atoms of gold?

It's not currency, it's wealth. Thats the whole difference. Think back to when man first moved beyond survival. If you gathered or hunted more than one day's food, you had wealth. You could then use that wealth to bargain for the next day or something else you wanted. Maybe services, like cleaning the hut. Like deer meat, you have to work for gold/silver, only Unlike deer meat gold/silver doesn't rot or even corrode.

They both are considered treasured metals, the only value they receive (much like the dollar) is the confidence and belief you put in them. But, gold has been treasured by many early humans and elites and i believe this is what drives peoples impulses to want it. Kind of like the Hognus Wagner baseball card, it could be worth nothing if no body really cared about it, but some people (probably with some money) place a high value on it, just because they have the belief it is or should be treasured.

Currency is only something what people collectively accept as currency. Gold is throughut history accepted as currency because of its rarity as you explained above. The tally stick was used succesfully as currency in medieval England. Basically it was a stick wich had notshes cut in it. It was generally accepted as currency because it was also was accepted as payment of taxes for the king.

It's the same reason Visa will never die (barring some unforeseen technological advent). Visa is the most popular credit card because Visa is accepted everywhere because Visa is the most popular credit card.

This is such complete bullshit! Today we accept just empty receipts, paper as currency. Visa is just a tool to use this currency not a currency itself and it does not have any value or "salience point". So visa is nothing like gold you fuck.