Hi. I think you're locked in a tautology. If "transactional utility is the price of money itself" then it can only be determined in relation to that which it prices itself by, i.e. its own unit of currency or an equivalent. Assume for a moment that this "transactional utility" amounts to one billion US dollars. What is the 'value' of one billion US dollars independent of the value of one US dollar? What is the 'value' of one US dollar? One and one billion are literally just numbers. They do not have any inherent value in and of themselves, and they certainly doesn't soak up a mysterious quality called 'value' just because we put a symbol in front of them
I didn't quite understand what you meant to say
Nevertheless, it looks like you trying to present it as a tautology when in fact there should be none. Transactional utility is a real utility objectively arising from the convenience of using money over barter. Money doesn't spoil like crops, you can easily transfer value with it, exchange an arbitrary amount of some goods for it and then exchange it for an arbitrary amount of other goods at the time when you see it most appropriate. All these qualities (and a lot of others that I didn't mention) make up what is called transactional utility and what essentially makes something into money (since transactional utility is as inherent quality of money). And as such, it can be separated from money (money token) and assessed in money (money tokens), just like any other utility of something useful can be valued in money
Hi. OK, let's go back to the round chunks of shiny metal. Do you accept that an inert metal is an inert metal and the mere fact that a group of people decide that an inert metal will serve as their 'currency' does not mysteriously transform that inert metal into something else? It remains, as it always was, just an inert metal does it not? It does not 'store' anything other than a perception and, in this sense, our perception that it 'stores' a mysterious quality called 'value' is actually a misperception whereby we literally attribute human values to a mere object. For example, if I were to melt down one of these round chunks of shiny metal and create an idol in the form of an animal, would that idol become a 'store' of something called 'divinity' if I began to worship it? If I were to melt down a large number of these round chunks of shiny metal and create lots of idols, would I be able to 'transfer' this 'divinity' to other people? Or would I simply be deluding myself and others?
Well, it seems that now I see your point. You basically claim that all value exists entirely in our heads. But this has been known for a few centuries already. The whole
subjective theory of value, which is acknowledged by many scholars as reliably and coherently describing the economic interactions among people, is based on that. After all, our mind itself may be no less subjective, imaginary and illusional than the hierarchy of values it has to deal with...
It looks like you have just reinvented the wheel, mate
Hi. OK, hitherto you've consistently claimed that there is an 'objective' quality to 'value', that something can be said to have "intrinsic value", and that this 'value' can be transferred as if it were a thing. As for me, I have consistently claimed the opposite and never at any time have I asserted that this was a new idea or that I 'invented' it. I did ask you some questions though, but you haven't answered them. The most important question is this: if 'value' is subjective and illusory then why do we permit a small subsection of the population to create 'value' in the form of 'money' and tell us that it exists as a 'debt' and needs to be 'earned'?
How do you conceptualise the 'value' of bitcoin? Do you think "Oh, one bitcoin is worth one bitcoin" or do you think "Oh, one bitcoin is worth X dollars/euro/pounds"? I suspect that you (and most others) think in terms of the latter rather than the former. There is no reason, however, why we should not think in terms of the former and stop pretending that these numbers mean something. Then we can dispense with the illusion that bitcoin need to be mined and existing currencies need to be issued by banks as debt. Virtual 'coins' can and should be created on demand as they are needed - we can literally make it up as we go along.
Here is my proposal:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1678904.0HS