5.9 KiB
[RT] A Hero's War Chapter 101: Laying Foundations
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Author: u/None *
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URL: https://www.fictionpress.com/s/3238329/101/A-Hero-s-War
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Score: 18
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Created: 2017-01-10T09:27:53
Post:
Comments:
u/TwoxMachina [+3] (an hour later)
Oops, accidentally recommended something that happens in the same chapter.
u/bumbiedumb [+2] The Polity (5 hours later)
Hmm... magic as a subsitution for black gold eh... i like the take on that however magic seems to be infinite resource unlike oil which have a finite amount. The trend might have a larger difference frm our petroleum based economy.
u/cjet79 [+2] (7 hours later)
It might not be infinite though. A while back they found a letter from someone in an old civilization, they talked about running out of magic. I don't think we know if that was a man-made phenomenon or something natural.
u/munkeegutz [+2] (9 hours later)
This could be what started the great war?
u/None [+1] (7 hours later)
Might be that they use up magic faster than it could be replenished?
u/Gauntlet [+1] (13 hours later)
Wasn't there also "dust"? Some kind of Mana eating weapon, maybe nanotechnology?
u/traverseda [+1] With dread but cautious optimism (a day later)
Well, inflation is a good way to control for people hoarding money.
u/thrawnca [+1] Carbon-based biped (4 days later)
How important do you think it is that magic, like oil, has inherent usefulness, much more than gold does? Ultimately, if everything goes pear-shaped and you actually cash in your notes for units of magic (or oil), you can do real work with them. You can power farm tools, or household appliances, or weapons. I think that this would mitigate the "sinking a magic well means printing money" angle, but I'm no expert.
u/SimonSim211 [+1] (5 hours later)
So, what kind of destructive might is needed to stop Landar's thinking on how to make it more deadly?
u/monkyyy0 [+1] (23 hours later)
I for one am shocked he continues to push a paper currency and the nah-sayer is acting on emotion and using logic devoid arguments /s
Why is this genre of magic world needs to be pushed heavily into the modern world always quite non-nuanced on the "smart persons" views on economics
u/VivaLaPandaReddit [+1] (4 days later)
It's fine to disagree with Cato, but I think if you took the average economically educated person they would think fiat is a good idea, it's pretty mainstream economics, it's pretty normal for our hero to believe it.
u/monkyyy0 [+1] (4 days later)
That's fine, but an otherwise well reasoned person is now overtly on emotion. Isn't the petro dollar theory at least well understood enough that fait being a magic fix all may not be a given
u/jseah [+1] (10 days later)
The main explanation is that Cato isn't an economist. He only knows fiat currency having grown up with it all his life, and he knows roughly how it works and how it fails (bank runs). But nothing like the familiarity he has for engineering.
Minmay has an emotional rejection of debt, viewing it as a tool of last resort (due to the implied Bad Things that happened to his wife's family). To have a currency defined by an undefined value is... not something he can accept.
Most of the citizenry might view fiat currency as suspicious too. After all, it was only half a year ago that legal tender became a concept at all.
Essentially, fiat currency not culturally acceptable because no one's used to the idea of anything other than coins with actual literal gold bits in them.
u/VivaLaPandaReddit [+1] (11 days later)
I think Minmay's reaction is quite reasonable too. Many people today, in a world where economic theory has been around for a while, believe that all governments should never run deficits. Minmay's reaction is actually probably how many people in Medieval societies would have reacted to the idea of fiat.
u/thrawnca [+1] Carbon-based biped (2 days later)
Who else here has read the Discworld "Making Money"? Mana-backed currency is kind of like golem-backed...
u/jseah [+1] (10 days later)
Hi all, I checked back a little late.
For further discussion: http://forums.xkcd.com/viewtopic.php?f=59&t=121192
Magic power backed currency has some differences with oil backed or electricity. Magic crystals are fungible, non-perishable and impossible to fake; they're basically just shiny rocks. Storing compressed magic is like storing compressed air, put the tanks out of the rain and sun and you're good. Plus, supply is limited only by your production capital.
Magic's also more flexible than raw electricity and more useful than oil. The military already keeps gigantic stockpiles lying around just in case they need it. In fact, since your life is more important than money, all prospective stockpiles of magic power will end up as military stockpiles.
Also, a modern economy's money supply is really really huge. On the other hand, huge military stockpiles are quite easy to justify to the citizens who don't want to die to monsters. Although getting into a huge battle would mean your backing value gets fired off as ammunition. Imagine a gold-backed currency when gold is also bullets.
Plus, to create that much magic would devalue magic itself (diminishing returns, once you have powered everything industrially useful, you start using it for elevators, personal cars, etc. lower value applications), hence also ruining your base of value.
It's a pretty unique situation with no true RL analog and I would appreciate discussion on this topic just in case it points out something I missed. (the next chapter is Elka focused)