On Thu, 7 Feb 2019 15:36:37 +0000, "J. P. Gilliver (John)"
wrote:

In message , Mayayana
writes:
"J. P. Gilliver (John)" wrote

| But what bugs me is: why do they even have that value? Just because
| something has cost someone $X to produce, why should it even be worth $X
| to anyone else?

Money is weird stuff, isn't it? Bitcoin is hard to
make and limited in supply. In those respects it's a lot
like gold. Why was gold worth money? Mostly because
it's both limited and immutable. So a few people got
rich mining it, but mostly it served as a stable, neutral
medium of transaction. Jewels are similar.

Yes, but gold and jewels have intrinsic uses as well:


Some, but very few.


gold doesn't
corrode, is useful for making jewellery (which lasts, and it is easier
to work than stainless steel),


Yes, but to me, jewelry has no intrinsic value.


and in the last century or so its low
resistance and various other properties have become useful in the
electricity and electronics industries. Jewels are useful (some of them)


Mostly just diamonds, because they are so hard.

Neither my wife nor I own any jewelry (except for wedding rings and am
inexpensive necklace or two for my wife) and almost nothing made of
gold to speak of (both our watches have a very small amount of golden
decoration, but that's it). No precious gems at all.

What has value to some people doesn't have the same value to everyone.