Nick Szabo  🔑

It's an interesting thread, with nice examples of collectibles. However, I'm missing some basic bibliography on economic anthropology (Polanyi, i.e.) and economic history (i.e. Graeber's book on debt) that could bring some more info and other approaches to the debate.

Mostly they just bring anachronistic polemics to the debate. Sources closer to those who observed and recorded the actual pre-colonial institutions, such as the ones I have studied and referenced extensively, are far superior to colonial & post-colonial anthropology.

That’s not correct. You are missing the fundamental debate of sustantivism in archaeology and anthropology. And Graeber is an anarchist not a poscolonial anthropologist.

Factual observation is far more important than philosophy. Graeber has never observed a society not profoundly affected by modern influences in areas such as law and religion. He is many steps removed from being a primary source for pre-colonial institutions.

Do you know about the Rai Stones in Micronesia (Yap)?

I can't speak for @NickSzabo4 but only as myself having read some of the linked writings and some of his other work. IMHO emercoin falls short relative to bitcoin in the context of his evolutionary theory of money, and also has a bunch of other problems pertaining to issues that

he wrote about (e.g. trust minimization, smart contracts and their social significance, etc). Why not read the articles and use them to scrutinize emercoin instead of asking for easy answers?