Those dangerous devices called trade and money
In my last post I discussed how trade and money are useful solutions to the problem of cooperating with strangers, people with whom we have not had the chance to build enough reciprocal trust to expect reciprocity if needed in the future. However this also means that, whenever you are trading or paying for something, you are putting the other party in the category of strangers. And that is ok when the other party really is a stranger, but it is sad to apply the same method in circles where trust should be strong enough. Today I would like to review the risks associated to these practices, intrinsic risks that can affect us if we are not aware of them. Like any other tool, there are better and worse way to use them. In the some way that a knife can help us cook delicious dishes, the very same knife can hurt us or someone else if handled in a different way. The pervasive nature of trade and money and the interconnectedness of modern life also means that, if we focus too much in the adva...
