Damus
Lyn Alden · 153w
Who here read David Graeber's "Debt: The First 5000 Years?" I'm curious what peoples' thoughts on it. I already have my own thoughts on it, but for something I'm working on I'm interested in hearing ...
mrclownworld profile picture
I’ve read summaries and I find the thesis ass-backward.

I’d rather look at evidence of proto-economies in our primate cousins, like the monkeys in Bali that hold tourists’ stuff ransom for food: https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/jan/14/balis-thieving-monkeys-seek-bigger-ransoms-for-high-value-swag-study

Or these monkeys that learned to use money and began paying for sex with it: https://www.zmescience.com/research/how-scientists-tught-monkeys-the-concept-of-money-not-long-after-the-first-prostitute-monkey-appeared/

Both examples of money usage and functional economies among non-human primates with no evidence of any debtor relationship
1
mrclownworld · 153w
More specifically: examples of other primates acquiring an item not for the intrinsic value the item has, but because it will enable them to get something else from someone else at a later time (THAT is money)