Digression 3: Corrosion – Rust Never Sleeps
books.worksinprogress.co
books.worksinprogress.co
Giordano Bruno said that whatever has the most value and the least cost of storage becomes money. This seems like an example? Amusingly, the "coins" store themselves as they are literally the roofs protecting other valuables-- and people! --from the elements.
Would you happen to know where Bruno said this, as it doesn't seem any of your earlier comments gives this vital detail, and I'm not finding any likely references elsewhere?
A definition I find useful (though not entirely accurate) is from William Stanley Jevons who identified a properties of money as:
1. utility and value
2. portability
3. indestructability
4. homogeneity
5. divisibility
6. stability of value, and
7. cognisability
William Stanley Jevons, Money and the Mechanism of Exchange Chapter 5: <https://archive.org/details/cu31924013816172>
Points 1, 2, & 3 afford low cost of storage.
Of those, I differ with him on utility and value, as we have fiat currencies and accounts notations of no intrinsic value themselves, rather utility and value are the inverse of trust in the money-issuing authority. "Seignorage" in specie is then a measure of trust, and fiat currency effectively has infinite trust.
My own view is that money is that commodity which has the most universal appeal, that is, it's what is wanted more than any other commodity. That might be a domestic government-issued coin or currency, but often has been something else: currency of some other government (as in Ecuador, El Salvador, Zimbabwe, British Virgin Islands, and Bonaire, the last being a Dutch territory), or physical commodity such as cigarettes, cowhide, beaver pelt, grain, shells, silk, etc.
In high-trust societies, debt and credit substitute for physical tokens.
Thanks.
Yeah, I really find it interesting. It's so modern, almost like something from cybernetics. It reminds me of how Gurdjieff said that the "atom" of a phenomenon was the smallest amount of it that evinces all of its qualities.
It only took seven years to get a thoughtful reply. Cheers! :)
> Would you happen to know where Bruno said this
I originally read it in one of Robert Anton Wilson's books (or possible a foreword he wrote for some other book that he didn't write, which probably isn't helpful.) I have no idea where he got it.
Certainly money in practice and theory has become much more complex than it was five hundred years ago when he (might have) said it.
I should tell you that when it comes to economics I'm basically a troglodyte. I feel higher economics is actually a form of numerology. I won't be offended if you decline to discuss it further with me. :)
even in this case, the only way you could really "spend" the sheets is by removing the roof and walls of your house, so until you have some extra, unneeded ones, they aren't really money. they're more a store of value; an analogue might be buying artwork that you know you could sell later if you needed the money.
"I declare the Mountain besieged. [...]
We will bear no weapons against you, but we leave you to your gold.
You may eat that, if you will!"
https://poe.ninja https://pathofexile.fandom.com/wiki/Economy
What's interesting is that I also have a 13 year old VW CC. This car has major rust problems, it's as if VW forgot the recipe. I think it's partially a water drainage problem since most of the rust is between the door seals.
But yeah, classic Beetles all seem to have the rusted floor pans. I think newer cars coat the floor with bitumen or something, or just have better drainage.
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The ongoing maintenance budget for the statue these days, I’m told, is about $6 million a year—$5 million for managing public access, $1 million for physical maintenance. And any year the $1 million is not entirely spent, the remainder is banked so that the fund will become sufficient over time to pay for a major overhaul.
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what a refreshing change from the whole "use it or lose it" mentality!
Shows that when it’s not done it’s not done by choice.
Shows that when it is done, it’s done to support the most iconic marketing tool of american hegemony and imperialism cosplaying as a symbol of “freedom.”
Lots of words describing the failures of the Statue of Liberty, but no words describing how the Gateway Arch in St. Louis and the top of the Chrysler building (both stainless) have persisted for decades with absolutely zero corrosion. My understanding is that this has vastly exceeded the expectations of the initial engineers.
Stainless steel artifacts made today will still be around in a million years if they aren’t intentionally destroyed.
> [...] Stainless steels absolutely can corrode.
yes, but according to the article, only in contact with certain chemicals and metals. So some items will remain for a long time (albeit not all)
As for “millions of years”… yeah, no. Certainly not on anything within 100 miles of salt water. Stainless isn’t magic.
One thing about rust, salt and moisture: salts deliquescence. I.e. they absorb moisture from air until there is enough liquid to dissolve themselves in. This happens below 100% relative humidity (around 75% for common salt, but as little as 31% for cacl2). So salt-contaminated surfaces can easily get wet even when the air is not that humid, bad news for steel!
Or does the new chemical they're using not have the same problem?
Kinda depends on how long you're gonna keep the car
If you have ever driven old cars in the Midwest, terrifying amounts of rust from road salt is definitely a Thing. Or at least it used to be decades ago, I assume it still is now.
Does it cost much? I live next to the ocean and had just accepted that rust was part of my life now.
Does anyone know if there’s an RSS feed?
Do you have recent experience?
But in 2023? That use case isn’t a big deal anymore.
I’m going to treat myself and go fish properly.
Thank you for your work on it and the reminder to do something nice for myself today :)
(though I guess you can argue the fungus was itself named after the oxide)
[1] https://wiki.mozilla.org/Oxidation
(Nb. originally Rust was named after the order of parasitic fungi Pucciniales.)
> Rusts get their name because they are most commonly observed as deposits of powdery rust-coloured or brown spores on plant surfaces.
Poetic words. Not to be taken out of context, of course.