THE FUTURE OF MONEY Bernard A. Lietaer - library.uniteddiversity ...

But let us begin at the beginning, by exploring some deceptively
'obvious' Features of today, conventional money.
Today's Money
CHAPTER 2
· 'The study of money, above all fields in economics, is the one in
which complexity is used to disguise truth, or evade truth, not to
reveal it.'
- John Kenneth Galbriath
· 'The thing that separates man from animals is money.
- Gertrude Stein, 1936
· 'The only thing money cannot buy is meaning.'
- Jacob Needleman
'Mum could I have some money to buy some sweets?' For most of us,
our first experience of money is as a necessary object in the ritual of
getting the things we want from shops. We accept it with the
pragmatism of an innocent child, unaware of the mystery behind the
transaction.
As we mature, we become conversant in many adult mysteries. We
learn where babies come from, and participate in that process. We
learn that ah living things eventually die, and witness the death of a
relative, friend, or perhaps a pet. We learn how our government
works, and who makes the rules by which we are required to live.
And yet one of the central mysteries of our lives as social beings
money - remains completely obscure to virtually everyone. Most