Is Money the Same as Language?

Is Money the Same as Language?

Rather than making barter more effi cient and convenient, money makes exchange between a good and itself possible.

Money, while opening a door to market economy and with it a rich material civilization based on wide commodity trading, can also bring unwelcome phenomena like hyperinfl ation, bubbles, crises, and recession when they collapse. Like language, it is a double-edged sword.

Human beings can use their two feet to walk and also to run. We can now move around more smoothly and faster with machines such as automobiles or airplanes that we ourselves invented.

These vehicles are exactly effi cient tools enabling us to travel further and faster. Money, however, cannot be compared to these tools.

What then could money be like? The above passage was expressed in language: “money is not merely a convenient tool for effi cient exchange.” Do we use language just in order to communicate smoothly with others or to convey messages? Has there ever been a world where we didn’t need language for communication and then language was invented as a “tool” to overcome the small-scale or inconvenience of that world? It is obvious that we cannot explain what we want to say or to understand what other people want to say without using words. We often recognize differences2.4 The Principles of Generating Money 25

between how we ourselves and others think and feel by exchanging words. If we didn’t have words, our current civilization and diverse culture could not exist. At the same time, communication is an experiment carrying the risk of loss at

any time. Words do not necessarily make communications smooth. A little misunderstanding or disagreement can be easily solved with words. But we also know that a complicated emotional entanglement could get worse if we keep on speaking in a futile attempt to resolve it. A gap between people can easily become too wide for words alone to bridge.

It is not easy to accept or respect differences between ourselves. Opposite thoughts, beliefs, or world perspectives can often lead to breakup or violence. As a matter of fact, terrorism and war are continuing features of our world. Maybe it would be more appropriate to consider language as an essential “prerequisite” for communication to be possible, rather than a convenient “tool” for communication.

In the beginning was the word – it is words that differentiate Homo sapiens from apes or hominids.

For better or worse, we cannot live in this world without words.