Half a croissant, on a plate, with a sign in front of it saying '50c'
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Cash-o-pedia

Revaluing Currency
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Few (any?) countries still back up their currency with real goods; likewise coinage is made increasingly of pot metal with no physical intrinsic value. The result of this global circle-jerk is non-reversible inflation and mounting debt/poverty levels that follow. "A chicken in every pot" can always be a promise kept if you occasionally redefine both "chicken" and "pot".

Rant aside, this idea is to make cash worth something: intrinsic mentally if not physically.

Print or stamp, as appropriate, a variety of educational facts, figures and concepts onto series' of everyday coinage & currency. Generally speaking, coins would be used for elementary and short concepts, while paper money could convey the more lengthy and complex ones.

One side of each denomination would still display the official symbollage: bird of prey, famous dictator, dancing backhoes, hot & cold running holograms, whatever; the obverse side would feature a wide variety of knowledge: snippets that make up everyday life: "2x2=4" "He: Helium At.Wt 4.x", a brief history of Zimbawbwe, the electoral processes explained, et cetera.

Examples of coinage:
• 1c: multiplication table cells; values for pi, e, Avogrado's number, etc., with each successive decimal place stamped in a smaller and smaller font
• 5c: Table of the Elements cells; measurement units definition and conversion factors
• 10c: (basic) physics and chemistry formulae,
• 25c: trigonometric formulae; biological genii classification system
• 50c: Dinosaurs
• 1$: <country> historical figures
• 2$: folk wisdom snippets short enough to fit on a large coin.

...and paper currency:
• $1: grammar, dictionary cells; <country> states/provinces/fiefdoms
• $2: basic philosophical constructs; world geography; log tables
• $5: Historical events, elementary logic
• $10: Biographies; engineering formulas reference
• $20: paid advertising
• $50: <country> political system

etc.

And for economists worrying about hoarding for knowedge's sake, consider that for a measly few tens of thousands of dollars a person can collect the information found in a couple hundred dollars worth of readily available textbooks.

(I am entirely unsatisfied with the Title: suggestions appreciated)

FlyingToaster, Mar 07 2011

Fun Fact Coins An idea I just posted, immediately before I read this one. The difference is that these are everyday-useful facts, whereas mine are fun facts. [notexactly, Mar 12 2019]


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Annotation:







       Israeli money has stories written about the people depicted on them, and coins have ancient Israeli writing as well as Arabic, so you can spend time trying to read it.   

       The problem is that people who are against the state, like some ultra orthodox Jews, or some of the Arabs like to erase the stories or tear the bills so that you discover you cant pay for the bus, because they wont take your bill.   

       Maybe the number pi wouldn't offend anyone.
pashute, Aug 14 2011
  

       USB coins. It's the way forward.
MaxwellBuchanan, Aug 14 2011
  

       Pi might offend a few Catholics who are still having a hard time letting it go...
Alterother, Aug 15 2011
  

       //Pi might offend a few Catholics who are still having a hard time letting it go...// I think that's a bit disingenuous - the only time I ever heard about the controversy over the ration Pi, it was the Indiana Bill #246, where an amateur mathematician tried to have the value of pi legislated as being 3 distinct values simultaneously.   

       The Pi = 3 thing was explained away in 150AD by means of an argument based on the discrepancy in measurement between inner and outer rims.
zen_tom, Aug 15 2011
  

       Yeah, the Romans were really touchy about the mags they ran on their chariots. That's actually where the European tire size system was born, forever dooming all tire shoppers to perform f#€%ing calculus just to get an outside diameter.
Alterother, Aug 15 2011
  


 

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