> No, they didn't. I was referring to gold and silver being used as tradeable goods, not as currency. There's a difference.

Oh come on. You know they did emerge, as mediums of exchange, which is what money/currency fundamentally is. You're making a meaningless distinction to cover your ass.

> Oh, please. How many people would give up a job to live on $30 a week?

We're talking about a Basic Income, where the idea is to get enough money to live on, right? That most definitely would cause many people to just stop working because they wouldn't need to anymore, even if the BI happened to be too low for you to stop collecting your phat paychecks. You get that, yes?