Nick Szabo  🔑

Here's what @NickSzabo4 wrote contra David Graeber, five years before "Debt: The First 5000 Years": http://unenumerated.blogspot.com/2006/06/menger-on-money-right-and-wrong.html …

@zooko @NickSzabo4 @iang_fc @oleganza A key point from Graeber (and Mauss): transactions don't "complete", they have lingering expectations

@socrates1024 @zooko @iang_fc @oleganza Key point they miss: lingering expectations are error-prone, debatable, risky, costly.

@NickSzabo4 @zooko @iang_fc @oleganza Sure, but a) they're prevalent, b) they aren't obviated by money, rather by contract enforcement

@socrates1024 @zooko @iang_fc @oleganza They are greatly reduced by substituting collectibles/money-for-services/goods txs for in-kind debt.

@socrates1024 @zooko @iang_fc @oleganza Enforcement of in-kind contracts expensive: value of apples vs. back-scratches --> huge debates.

@NickSzabo4 @zooko @iang_fc @oleganza This supports Graeber: origin of money is to simplify "wet" credit, vs. to simplify barter

@socrates1024 @zooko @iang_fc @oleganza You mean Graeber supports me? I wrote first. BTW it happened 10,000s of years before Sumer.