MostlyHarmlessMostlyHarmless@thecanadian.social
Oct 10, 2026, 2:06 PM4 year old: is money real or pretend?
Me: *clears throat* *takes sip of water* *arranges notes on podium*
Replies
TwotiredTwotired@universeodon.comOct 10, 2026, 2:28 PM@MostlyHarmless
Me: *raises hand* What about race?
Claire McNab2legged@mastodon.ieOct 10, 2026, 3:29 PM@Twotired See under "money".
JackTLaddJackTLadd@mastodon.socialOct 10, 2026, 3:56 PM@MostlyHarmless
"Yes. Thank you, but I will not be taking any more questions at this time."
Oct 10, 2026, 4:02 PM@MostlyHarmless People pretend so hard that it's real now?
Marmarsiposa@social.coopOct 10, 2026, 4:30 PM@MostlyHarmless oh dear, we had that question last year as well.
Irinairina@wandering.shopOct 10, 2026, 4:51 PM@MostlyHarmless sort of both at the same time?
notsoloudnotsoloud@expressional.socialOct 10, 2026, 7:15 PM@irina
It's pretend. But when enough people pretend....
@MostlyHarmless
Danny Boling ☮️IAmDannyBoling@mstdn.socialOct 10, 2026, 5:10 PMYikes. And I thought the "where did I come from" question was tough. 😬
Ben Rosengartfivetonsflax@tilde.zoneOct 11, 2026, 8:39 AM@IAmDannyBoling @MostlyHarmless at least on that one, experts in the field agree
Noah Baileynbailey@mstdn.caOct 10, 2026, 5:27 PM@MostlyHarmless I made the mistake of asking my gramps that question when I was a kid, and then endured a 2 hour drive and lecture about modern monetary theory, bretton woods, gold standard, petrodollar, European Central Bank, even a brief tangent about the soft-peg CAD/USD conversion.
And then it dawns on me like 20 years later that I do exactly the same thing to my wife and our friends lol
AGF : poemproducerpoemproducer@systerserver.townOct 10, 2026, 5:42 PM4y olds ask the most profound questions
Jess👾JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchangeOct 10, 2026, 5:52 PM@MostlyHarmless Okay child, let me give you an overview of the last 150 years of economics theory.
Ben Fultonbenfulton@urbanists.socialOct 10, 2026, 6:07 PM@MostlyHarmless As long as they remember that bedtime is very real.
Leonardo Fontenelleleonardof@bertha.socialOct 10, 2026, 6:14 PM@MostlyHarmless "yes"
Oct 10, 2026, 6:14 PM@MostlyHarmless Answer is YES.
- Felixsyn_rst@norden.socialOct 10, 2026, 6:24 PM
@MostlyHarmless
Most of us do work so in completely arbitrary slices of time a transaction happens which we do not understand, with values which do not exist, but nonetheless we will still be able to get food for a similar transaction afterwards… 
DukeDukeDuke@mastodon.socialOct 10, 2026, 6:27 PM@MostlyHarmless ~inhales~ "It's like this..."
Pseudo Nympseudonym@mastodon.onlineOct 10, 2026, 6:41 PM<Iñego Montoya voice> Let me explain. No, there is no time. Let me sum up.
Infrapink (he/his/him)Infrapink@mastodon.ieOct 10, 2026, 6:44 PM@MostlyHarmless "In order to answer that question, first we need to talk about memes"
ferricoxide@blahaj.zoneOct 10, 2026, 6:48 PM@MostlyHarmless@thecanadian.social Even without getting into fiat, why would gold be intrinsically worth X bushels of grain?
- Jess👾JessTheUnstill@infosec.exchangeOct 10, 2026, 7:08 PM
@ferricoxide @MostlyHarmless Because the person who you want to barter with for a cow may already have enough grain, but they do want apples, but the apple salesperson wants laborers to pick their apples, and the laborers want grain. So people make some sort of currency to make all those barters work out.
- Passwordsarehard4passwordsarehard4@mastodon.socialOct 10, 2026, 7:20 PM
@JessTheUnstill @ferricoxide @MostlyHarmless if nobody will trade for your grain you can eat it. What would happen if everyone decided they don’t want your gold?
suzannecshlan@mastodon.socialOct 10, 2026, 7:52 PM@JessTheUnstill @ferricoxide @MostlyHarmless
You can also promise them the apples you accept for picking them.Before currency people kept track of debts as well as bartered directly. Currency definitely makes it easier in a bigger world.
Oct 10, 2026, 7:08 PM@MostlyHarmless Get out your Monopoly game too...
Oct 10, 2026, 7:13 PM@MostlyHarmless that is a tricky question
Jeromedl2jml@mastodon.radioOct 10, 2026, 7:54 PM@MostlyHarmless Pretend, obviously. It is just figures on paper.
Gabriel Pettiertshirtman@mas.toOct 10, 2026, 7:55 PM@MostlyHarmless "yes"
(or alternatively "i don't know, are words real or pretend?")
Oct 10, 2026, 7:58 PM@MostlyHarmless For me personally it does not really matter as long as I get 2.5 cycle loads of food for the pretend money I get after one day of work.
like jam or bootlacesidlestate@toot.catOct 10, 2026, 8:51 PMBeing able to rattle off the three functions of money provides one with a safety net here.
Oct 10, 2026, 8:52 PM@MostlyHarmless "Both"
Oct 10, 2026, 9:09 PM@MostlyHarmless "so the thing about social constructs is…"
Taxo Rubiotaxorubio@owo.cafeOct 10, 2026, 9:32 PM@MostlyHarmless you see, dear child, for money to exist there must be a State that collects taxes, so there's only money if the police can jail you for not paying money
have some measuring tape close to get some numbers from their jaw drop
Amanita Ahjovuoamikko@mas.toOct 10, 2026, 9:57 PM@MostlyHarmless literally me after reading David Graeber's Debt
Oct 10, 2026, 10:41 PM@MostlyHarmless I questioned international trade and money exchange rates when I was 10.
Melissa BearTrixMelissaBearTrix@gives.hugz.onlineOct 10, 2026, 11:46 PM
Paul_IPv6paul_ipv6@infosec.exchangeOct 11, 2026, 12:03 AMso, you remember when they said that if everyone in the theatre clapped and said "i believe in fairies", tinkerbell would be OK?
M. Grégoirempjgregoire@cosocial.caOct 11, 2026, 2:29 AM@MostlyHarmless A social construct.
Willow 🏳️⚧️🏴🇵🇸whangdoodler@piipitin.fiOct 11, 2026, 6:45 AM@MostlyHarmless my 11 years old was shocked to discover we had to pay rent to have a place to live in. she also couldn’t understand why you cant get the apartment to yourself when you have paid the amount it costs in rent. honestly, same same.
isolisol@mastodon.auOct 11, 2026, 7:14 AMReal money is pretend, but pretend money is real, and you can get it from various prop stores if you are making a movie where the characters have to handle cash.
- Ben Rosengartfivetonsflax@tilde.zoneOct 11, 2026, 8:40 AM
@MostlyHarmless @AlSweigart [pulls out David Graeber board book]
Christo. London, England.Christo_459@mastodon.me.ukOct 11, 2026, 9:02 AM@MostlyHarmless
It's pretend when it stuck in a bank, real when it funds heathcare, creates jobs, builds homes, grows food etc
Oct 11, 2026, 9:15 PM@MostlyHarmless Definitely real, in that you can't wink at the cashier and walk away with your stuff, but we can all agree to make it pretend whenever we want...
