The most salient aspect of this article for me was this:
"Graeber asserts that the barter myth implies humans have always had a sort of quid pro quo, exchange-based mentality, since barter is just a less efficient version of money. But if you consider that other, completely different systems existed, then money starts to look like less of a natural outgrowth of human nature, and more of a choice."
It also is fascinating how deeply rooted in story telling, not historical accuracy, these ideas are.
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[ 3.3 ms ] story [ 9.9 ms ] thread"Graeber asserts that the barter myth implies humans have always had a sort of quid pro quo, exchange-based mentality, since barter is just a less efficient version of money. But if you consider that other, completely different systems existed, then money starts to look like less of a natural outgrowth of human nature, and more of a choice."
It also is fascinating how deeply rooted in story telling, not historical accuracy, these ideas are.