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Comment by bhauer | Hacker News Reader

I hear what you're saying, but am compelled to ask: what intrinsic value does gold have?

I forget who said it, but I once heard something along the lines of, "if we get into a situation where the value of gold goes through the roof, it'll be because things have gotten really bad. And if they're that bad people are going to realize pretty quick that they don't want gold. They want water bottles and gasoline."

I don't get it. If people realize they don't want gold why would the price go up?

I think the implication is that the price will spike quickly, then collapse through the floor when people realise the true situation.

yeah sorry if that wasn't clear

Gold is shiny, stable (chemically and nuclearly), heavy (harder to fake by coating a facsimile), and rare. It's not "useful" per se (outside niche applications), but it definitely has a certain intrinsic suitability as currency.

Also, if all goes to shit, a bar of gold can still be used to club someone to death and take their supplies.

Compare with bitcoin, which has no physical form and is only usable in context of present economy of technological civilization.

There are a ton of industrial uses for gold:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold#Other_applications

Spacecraft shielding is my favorite

Gold is intrinsically scarce, but I understand where you're going. Perhaps FB has just seen that this category of advertisement is more likely to attract scammers?

Don't know, I don't buy gold either.

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