The Establishment of Money-Paper 1

           Money is important and it’s necessary.  Whether we like it or not, money drives people.  It makes people act the way they do, sometimes even act in an extreme fashion in order to obtain money.  Money is an essential part of life.  And this essay hopes to prove that.

Firstly, what turns an object into money?  I asked the same ten people this question as the previous question.  Almost everybody answered that an “object turns into money when it has value to people”.  This is the simplest and best answer anybody can give.  Because this is how currency is formed.  According to Richard Seaford, the Greeks were the first to have widespread adoption of “substance given extra and uniform value by its sign”.  The Greeks trusted that a single change of a sign on a coin can radically change its value.  This is instrumental to the development of currencies.  For instance, the cost of the material and making a $100 bill is the exact same as a $1 bill, yet the $100 bill is worth much more than the $1 bill.  Why is this?  Because humans view and value that $100 bill to be worth more than the $1 bill.  This concept of trust and value is essential to the development of currency.

Two other important questions I asked people involved how others view the necessity of currency.  The first question I asked people is whether they think “people might not believe in money”.  I only received two definitive yes’s.  What this means is that people still have faith in money.  The second question I asked is whether “money is essential to them”.  I received eight “very essential” answers and two “essential” answers.  This shows the need people have for money.  It is viewed as necessity.

My final question tested whether people would be willing to go to an extreme for a lot of money.  I used the “button in a box” scenario where the interviewee was asked whether they would be willing to push a button and kill a random person on the other side of the Earth for $100 million.  Not surprisingly, most people said no.  I had two that gave a definitive “yes” and one person said she’d probably think about it harder if the situation actually came up.  I do believe, though, that at least a couple of the “no” responders would consider pushing the button if actually put into this scenario.

What my short interview did was it looked a people’s perspective of money and the essential quality that money has.  Money is everywhere and in everything and the short interviews I did with ten people I think helped prove that.

Column1	When was money invented?	What turns an object into money?	Do you imagine a time in which people might not believe in money?	How essential is money to you?	The Box and 100 Million Dollars Question
Nick D.	Ancient-Egyptians	When an object has high value to a large amount of people	No. Never.	“I live on money so it's pretty essential”.	Yes (without hesitation).  You can so much more use to 100 million dollars than one life.
George G.	Early 1400's	Its condition and its value	Not in the United States.  Hyperinflation in other countries might lead people of those nations to not believe in money.	Very important.	Yes.  As long it was some random person.
Diane T.	Ancient-Egyptians	General Conesus recognizes something as having value	Yeah, money as a tangible item could go away.	Very essential.	No, I would feel horrible killing somebody. I would view it as blood money.
Kara S.	800 BC	When people demand a certain object	I don't think so	Very essential.	Nope
Ryan C.	1200's AD	Value to the person	No	Very essential.	No. it's not that valuable to me. I'll work for my money rather than kill someone for it.
Viviana M.	1800's AD	I guess government turns an object into money because they decide the form of currency used	No, there has always been some sort of exchange whether its goods and services or physical currency	Very, I need food, shelter and clothes	Depends, if I get to see who it is and their background or if I get to meet them definitely not but if I don't know who they are and would never find our anything about them, probably, people die every day and I could probably save a couple of lives donating some of that money.
Pete S.	Ancient Egyptians	The trust people have in it	only if the human race reverts back to a time where it is 'surviving' and not thriving	Very essential.	No, I wouldn’t push it.
Michelle F.	1840 AD	A machine	money will soon lose its value when all of our natural resources run out	I try not to think it’s essential, but it is in this time and area	No. I just don’t think a person’s life is worth a $100 million dollars
Jennie A.	600 BC	Giving value to it	No	Unfortunately, very essential	I like to think that I wouldn't but it would depend on the situation
Jim A.	5,000 BC	When something has value to it	No	Very essential.	No, I don't need $100 million.  I already make enough.