answer:That equation actually depends on nearly the same things our faux currency’s value hinges on—how much others thinks the metal is worth. Gold probably has more intrinsic value than paper. It’s useful in manufacturing electronics and makes great jewelry. But then, paper is a better insulator, a better material to write on, and far better to burn on a cold winter’s night when you would freeze without a fire. And gold would be a truly lousy medium of exchange in a world like today’s. If a cashier owed you a nickle back, how big a piece of gold would that be? Imagine the costs of having to constantly shuffle millions of metric tons of gold from here to Timbuktu and back to reconcile global trade transactions. Truth told, if you were forced to live alone on a desert island for a year, you’d trade all the world’s gold and its paper money for a years worth of potable water, MREs and a first-aid pack. So you tell me what has real value. Life, and those things that support it come first in my book.