My Perspective on Money

 I have often wondered about the concept of money and what is represents to each and everyone. The concept of money is based on value which is not related to the material value of what represents money. For example a coin, a piece of paper, or even a number notionally in your bank account, stock account or bitcoin account is worth nothing if the power of authority is withdrawn. Was there a reason to create money and why was it introduced? Has money in the present form existed from time immemorial? As the hunter forager man settled into agriculture, animal domestication, agriculture and subsequently ownership of good, instruments, properties etc. there came the need to measure value, barter and exchange. While I was always curious about the name and surnames especially mine, I was told that Jokhi is the comes from the verb jokhvanu which means to weigh and jokhi who can be an observer. 

When man settled into communities and started having possessions it was necessary for men and women to create a social structure and demarcate roles based on work, gender, strength and power. So it soon became evident that some form of interdependency and cooperation was needed. This led to exchange of commodities based on needs. The first such commodity was the wealth measured in terms of domesticated animals possessed and also the foodgrain in terms of sheafs of barley, wheat or rice. All of this exchange was arbitrary and chaotic because it was possible that the needs and wants would not match and when it may match the quantities would not match too. 

For some reason this started getting replaced by symbols made of which were assigned value, so the problem of having matching exchange was overcome by using the symbolic material as a measured value of a commodity. For example a cow would say be valued as 100 pieces of say shells or cowries of a particular kind, or coins. For some strange reasons metals like gold and silver became popular in certain cultures and when communities started trading with one another across countries, oceans etc. it made sense to trade using items of exchange and commodities as per trading needs and availability of stuff which were needed and for which man acquired a taste or desire for. The different trading groups had to create rules of trading which became sanctioned by the power of the state. This led to coins of metal and from valuable weighed metal coins money transformed to symbolic light weight metal coins which got their value and power by the stamp of authority, usually the King or reigning Queen of the empires. The unification and standardization of man into homogenous groups based on nationality and religion led to creation of rules and contracting making these trade exchanges frequent and more  efficient. The greed and insatiable desires of human beings led to greater importance being given to money. Since use of money could get you food, commodities, security and objects of comfort it created status based on wealth and the seeds of unequal distribution of wealth were sown. Once that happened man quickly realized that he could use the money to buy services and make others in need of money work for him. This created the institution of slavery or labour in the field. 

The advantage of money and the comforts it brought led to the availability of time for contemplation and unleashed the creative and scientific potential of human beings. This led to the start and proliferation of various social orders, religions and a unification of peoples on the lines of empires and geographical entities. While nation states started forming the concept of humanity and its dominance due to a shared imagination and a belief in a religious order led to the unleashing of a wave of creativity and invention and an industrial and literary revolution. Money became the enabler of many good things in life and it gave an exalted status to human beings and they soon became the most populous and dominant species on earth. But it spawned factories and profits and also greed for wealth leading to dehumanizing some at cost of others. To manage all this came the need for information and the service industry and finally now to robotics, Artificial Intelligence and man evolved to straddle the spectrum of the heights of nobility creation to the lows depravity and destruction. 

The complexity of investment, power of compounding, saving money and making it grow by speculation on stocks etc. is something I have not understood thoroughly but am now at this stage of my life appreciative of the persons who can make money grow without the sweat of the brow or hard labour. I have been made to understand that less than 10% of money is physical but this proportion varies across nations, regions and based on availability of technology and its penetration.

However money has led to greed, exploitation, unscrupulous trade, wars, drugs and crime. Relationships have become transactional and many have killed and cheated in what is justified as a legitimate pursuit of wealth and profit. Trade and business with ethics creates what are called double thank you moments which may not give rapid profits but creates sustained growth and loyal customers. Inability to strike a fine balance between profit and service is the reason why businesses fail and do not create a product or service which the customer wants. They design a product with a take it or leave it attitude and more often than not it fails. 

So money like all things in life must be a means to achieve noble ends and if we live ethical lives, there is always going to be enough money to help one to indulge in creative pursuits of life and create a better world. 

Vispi Jokhi