Why Is Gold so Valuable?
Why do we value it above any other chemical element?
There are 118 elements on the periodic table and somehow centuries ago everyone decided that having a lot of gold means being rich.
But why gold? Why the chemical element with symbol Au? Why not some other element? Why didn’t pirates bury chests full of potassium? Why didn’t Spanish galleons cross the Atlantic loaded with iridium coins instead of gold coins? Why don’t we hand zirconium medals to athletes instead of gold medals? What’s so special about gold?
How something useless becomes valuable
Something useless is valuable if we decide to treat it as valuable.
Seashells were once valued in many parts of the world and used as currency. Cigarettes have long been valued as money among prison inmates regardless of whether they smoked or not. And when smoking was banned, inmates started to value cans of mackerel, even expired ones. And you and I and everyone else value little pieces of paper with portraits and numbers printed on them.
