The process and methodology of money goes back a long, long way. There are several distinct phases in the history of money and several key developments that led the global economy to the powerhouse that it is today. Starting far back in the distant, each of these developments seem separate but is actually an interconnected part of a greater whole. It’s the small things, the development of round coins, the invention of the electric cash counter, that’s made the economic world what it is today. And it all starts way back during the days of the roman empire.
- From Bartering to Something Better
While other empires made use of some form of currency in previous times, it was the Romans who first widely disseminated the idea of a ‘currency machine’ to replace the various systems of trade that had existed before. Evidence found in old Roman ruins showed various coin bags and coin boxes that the elites used to hold their wealth. Of course, there was still an informal system of bartering that went along with the newly-minted Roman economy. Pun intended. But for the first time a formal economy existed on a wide stage. What followed was a transformation of how goods and services were moved that was far different than what had come before. Of notable development was the rounded coin which made for easy transactions. It might seem trivial but the rounded coin was a sort of symbolic leap in the direction of fast money. It was easier managing coins, of course, but on a deeper level it stood for the immense levels of connections that the Romans brought to everybody they encountered (and conquered, for better or for worse). In essence, think of this development as the first type of electric cash counter. Not electric, exactly, but the first step on a long road that made money easier to track and manage. It made the Roman empire the first large-scale ‘currency machine’ the world had ever seen.
Colonialism and the Rise of Companies
This is a bit of provocative topic but it bears critical significance in the development of the economy. The next big step was the rise of European colonies and crude, first companies that arose with them in the 15th and 16th centuries. A good question for this is ‘what is a cash recycler?’ The answer lies in the global economy which started in these centuries. To start, the colonies privatized a lot of money that had only existed for the monarchies before that. They ‘recycled’ the wealth that had been locked up. This allowed for a more accurate and efficient flow of money than even that of the Romans with their elite classes. The countries of Europe acted like currency machines that circulated this money among themselves and, to a lesser extent (hence the controversy) the countries they invaded. This, of course, led to a lot of counterfeiting and huge problems but it also allowed for the highest speed of economic growth to the world writ-large than had ever existed before. Ethical problems mixed together with this new money to form a strange, difficult, controversial and explosive age where everything changed. Small inventions such as new types of sails made huge impacts. Eventually this would lead to the final big change in economic history, one we’re still living to this day.
The Age of the Electric Cash Counter
Our digital age moves fast. Starting with the wide-scale spread of the internet, we now move money at the literal speed of light from continent to continent. We can count huge sums of money in seconds and transfer it to huge mega-corporations who will only hold onto it for a fraction of a second. This is the ‘electric cash counter’ age because everything is just done so fast and for such huge amounts of money. Thanks to global communications and advanced technology, everything is intensely connected. But with so much power we have to be careful about what we do with it. It’s all in the details. Long as we watch those, the growth never has to end.