The Ascent of Money Has Lead to the Ascent of Man

“The ascent of money has lead to the ascent of man.”

The greatest question many have sought to answer is the creation vs. evolution debate. How did we get here? Were we created or did we evolve randomly? Are we the product of purposeful intelligence or are we the result of countless mistakes? Does it even matter? The story of money is similar to the story of humanity. Was money created or did it evolve. If it was created we can assume it will die. If money evolved then we can assume the future is unknown. In his book, The Ascent of Money a financial history of the world, Neil Ferguson historic analysis of money answers many of these questions. Ferguson believes money essentially mirrors mankind, magnifying back to us our progress, failures, values and weaknesses.” (The Ascent of Money, 358) The history of money shares many similarities to the history of man; Ferguson parallels between finance and Darwinism, illustrating the natural mechanism of our financial ecosystem that evolves, creates, competes, and dies.

Money has evolved with the times and is a reflection of the progress of man. Early money was itself a physical commodity, grain, gold or silver. During the vital stage, more symbolic forms of money such as certificates of deposit, bank notes, checks, letters of credit, bonds and other forms of negotiable securities came into prominence. Social development transformed money in to a trust, “In God We Trust' it says on the back of the ten-dollar bill.” (The Ascent of Money, 27) Today money is faith in the person paying us and belief in the person issuing the money he uses or the institution that honors his money. This trust has no end it can be extended to a greater number of individuals.

The establishment of money freed ...

... middle of paper ...

...and invention, As a result money like man is more powerful than when it was born, this power is only growing. I believe this growth will lead to many solutions for the problems we face today. The problems seem so impossible to solve, but history speaks for herself. She is indifferent, she is the same, man has to adapt man, has to conform.

Works Cited

Ferguson, Niall. The Ascent of Money: a Financial History of the World. 1st ed. New York: Penguin, 2008. Print.

Ferguson, Niall. "The Gresham Special Lecture - The Ascent of Money: An Evolutionary Approach to Financial History | Gresham College." Free Public Lectures | Gresham College. Web. Mar. 2011. .

Zakaria, Fareed. The Post-American World. 1st ed. New York: W.W. Norton &, 2008. Print.