"Gold is not useful"
Gold is useful. Good thermal conductivity and low chemical reactivity with many corrosive compounds.
Using it for money and decoration is perhaps the least sensible thing.
Gold is useful. Good thermal conductivity and low chemical reactivity with many corrosive compounds.
Using it for money and decoration is perhaps the least sensible thing.
If it's just the pretty, shiny stuff that makes it valuable, then gold will always have some value (bar nuclear synthesis and Star Trek replicators).
If it's scarcity, then there's market manipulation and alternative artificial currency a la Bitcoin.
Several others come to mind.
Gold is actually mostly used for money, decoration, and collecting which is what drives the price to such high levels. I agree it isn't all that sensible when you try to make sense of it.
1) The low chemical reactivity means it doesn't tarnish or break down. This is a BIG one for jewelry--a gold ring still looks bright and shiny 50 years later, unlike other metals, shells, bone, or pieces of wood, dyes, paint, etc.
2) It's continuously divisible into any amounts. You can easily chop a ring in half and sell half of it, if you only want to barter with a portion of your gold.