Latest news with #SwissArmy
Buzz Feed
17 hours ago
- General
- Buzz Feed
32 Cleaning Products If You Make Colossal Messes
The Pink Stuff, aka the Swiss Army knife of cleaning products because it can do it all. You can literally scrub your house from top to bottom with this jar of miracle paste and make everything ✨ sparkle ✨ once again. You got dirty grout? Gone. Grease? Good riddance. The caked-on gunk at the bottom of your cast-iron pan that seems impossible to get rid of? Buh-bye!!! A car vacuum cleaner to clean all the dirt and leaves your shoes dragged in. It has a flathead nose extension for those hard-to-reach areas, an extension tube for narrow crevices, and even a brush head for carpets and upholstery. Say hello to your shiny, new-looking car! A plant enzyme–based stain spray for those stains you forgot were remembered, but just couldn't be bothered to scrub out. That's totally OK (there's no time like the present) — just spray this on an old or new stain and toss it into any load of laundry. It can get out even the toughest of stains like blood, wine, and grass! A bottle of Therapy Premium Stainless Steel Cleaner & Polish in case you left fingerprints behind from your 2 a.m. snacking, and you need to hide the evidence. It works great on any stainless-steel appliances and will make them ✨ sparkle ✨. Plus, it'll leave a protective barrier to help guard against future smudging so you can continue on with your late-night food scavenger hunt. A handy little cleaning ball that you can leave in your bag to capture any dirt, dust, or crumbs that *dare* to enter. You can also take it out of the casing and roll it around to pick up whatever is left over! This won't end up in your junk drawer; it'll just live in your bag. A wine stain–removing spray because a spill is bound to happen during girls' night, and you can't afford to replace your couch *and* rug. This savior will get the stain out lickety-split, so you'll never panic again when a wineglass starts wobbling. A pack of shelf dividers to prevent your towering pile of sweatshirts or jeans from tipping over. It'll also help you organize all your folded clothes into neat stacks, and you'll never have to rifle through a heap of random garments again! A ChomChom pet hair remover with over 138,000 5-star ratings (!!!), and over 5,000 of them call it "the best," a word that shall not be taken lightly. It's like a reusable lint roller (without those annoying sticky papers) and designed to pick pet hair up efficiently — once fur is locked in, it doesn't go anywhere until you empty it out! A pack of dishwasher cleaning tablets because even though that savior of a machine cleans your bowls, plates, and pretty much everything, it doesn't clean itself. All you have to do is pop in a tablet (with or without dishes) to remove limescale and mineral buildup from the pump and valve, hose, and tub. Pamper your dishwasher and think of it as a thank you for all the hard work it's done for you. An oven scrub cleaner capable of removing all that caked-on scum coating the glass pane so you can finally see through it and keep checking on your double fudge brownie. A Bissell Little Green machine that looks like Mike Wazowski but is no monster; instead, meet your new bestie. This compact cleaner uses warm water and a specialized liquid cleaner to remove all ~oopsies~ from mud, food, pets — you name it. Some reviewers love this product so much, they've declared they can't live without it. And (also from Bissell) a carpet and floor sweeper giving you all the benefits of a vacuum minus the noise, bulkiness, and need for electricity — that's a win in my book. When you roll this bad boy around, the rotating brush inside picks up dust, dirt, pet hair, and everything else that lives on the floor. A stain and odor eliminator because your poor carpet doesn't deserve to stink or stain. Instead of saying, "Bad dog!" you'll be shouting, "Amazing stain remover!" Spray and soak any mess your lil' stinker decides to make, and just like that — gone. A set of stackable clear organizers so you can finally fix the clutter that lives in your drawers and give everything a designated spot — Schmidt would DEF be in love with these. A bottle of Sunny & Honey Carpet Miracle because your kids and pets have been dragging in dirt inside your home for way too long and it's finally time to clean it. This formula will tackle any messes and spills leaving your carpet good as new. A bag organizer so you won't have to play hide-and-seek with your lip balm while you're on the move. This organizer comes in many sizes, so you'll find one that perfectly fits into your bag and all your necessities can be stored neatly in every nook and cranny. Plus it makes it way easier to change purses because you can just slide it out with everything in it and plop it into a different handbag! A spice rack to keep all your condiments and spices organized and hidden away so your kitchen is less of an eyesore. If you're limited on surface area, this is perfect because you can store vertically! I actually just got one of these and I cannot stop raving about it! I live in a tiny New York apartment, which means a tiny kitchen *sigh*. So, I have to store everything vertically, and this has been a life saver. Instead of having my sauce bottles and seasoning jars sprawled out everywhere, I tuck them all behind this retractable door so it's less of an eyesore! Get it from Amazon for $140 (available in two colors). An "Angry Mama" microwave cleaner so your mama doesn't get angry the next time she comes over and sees a dirty microwave. Just fill it with vinegar and water, heat it up, and wipe down the inside once all the steam runs out (which takes around seven minutes). There's no need for cleaning products or intense scouring when you have this lil' mama! A Roomba robot vacuum if your floors are begging to be cleaned, but the couch is holding you hostage. Not to worry — this baby will do it all for you! It can navigate around furniture and even fit under tight spaces so every nook and cranny of your home will be clean by the end of your Netflix session. Plus, you can use the app on your phone to give it a schedule! An EasyWring microfiber spin mop so you don't have to get on your hands and knees when you clean your floors — sorry, Cinderella, this was after your time. The wringer will remove the perfect amount of excess water, and the mop is designed with a microfiber fabric that is so effective, all you need is WATER to clean. A set of four biodegradable, machine-washable Swedish dish cloths that are reusable so you can stop buying rolls of paper towels. Made from wood cloth and cotton, these cloths are ultra absorbent, making cleaning easy-peasy. A set of six over-the-door shelves so you can store accessories, shoes, or anything else that you don't have room for in your closet. No more tripping over random things anymore, yay! A boho-chic jute basket to keep your place nice and tidy — even if you decide to just toss anything and everything in there. Not only will it impress you, but it'll definitely amaze your mom knowing that you finally have your life together. A squishy universal cleaning putty for small gaps and cavities — plus it smells like cherry blossoms. All crumbs, dust, and dirt will stick onto this putty and you can use it until it turns dark instead of trying to wipe every single crevice with a cleaning wipe! A makeup organizer that is so compact yet fits so many products in the clear drawers, so you'll be able to find your mascara lickety-split. You'll love it and use it every day — it'll be the Chandler to your Monica. A minimalist desk organizer to rid yourself of that eyesore of stationery piled on your work desk. It has designated spots for pens, paperclips, and all the other necessities — pretty and practical, we love to see it! A cooktop cleaning kit so you can finally be one step closer to having that kitchen that you've been dreaming about. Now you can chef it up all day long without having to worry about a messed-up stove! Or a gas range cleaning spray that'll make cleaning your stovetop easy-peasy-no-more-grease-y. All you have to do is spray and wipe to make your stove look good as new! A hanging trunk organizer to free up space in your car and keep it neat. Declutter your trunk with eight large pockets that can fit almost anything from reusable bags to blankets. A hanging shoe organizer because everywhere you step in your room, you find yourself tripping on several pairs of shoes. Now your heels, sneakers, and slippers have a safe storage space and your bedroom will be ~hazard-free~. Or an over-the-door shoe rack if you're a shoe connoisseur and have waaay more pairs than you can count. You'll be able to store up to 36 pairs here so *hopefully* all your shoes will fit. A set of reusable microfiber mop pads to pick up more dust, dirt, and gunk than disposable pads (and save you some moola since you won't have to constantly buy more). You can just toss them into the washing machine after you're done cleaning your floors!
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
Are Chatbots On The Verge Of Dethroning Google? Not So Fast
Chatbot adoption is surging, but nowhere near the entrenched role of search engines. One of the significant changes in my work style has been to utilize ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, or other generative AI engines for search. I find them superior to traditional search engines when I am researching a topic or subject. In most cases, I opt for these tools instead of using Google's search engine the way I used to. On the other hand, I have not stopped using traditional search engines altogether. For example, I use Google to find new restaurants, product reviews, and more that directly address the topic and provide straightforward answers to a particular question. Due to my work, I primarily use generative AI programs for work and traditional search engines for more personalized data needs. However, there has been a lot of noise lately about AI chatbots like ChatGPT shaking up the search landscape, with some quick to declare the end of traditional search engines. But if you look beyond the headlines and dive into the numbers, it's clear that Google's dominance remains unassailable for now. Recent traffic data from a study by for April 2023 through March 2025 paints a striking picture. Google clocked an astonishing 1.63 trillion visits—an average of 136.0 billion per month and 4.7 billion per day. By comparison, ChatGPT, despite its meteoric rise and much-hyped innovation, attracted "only" 47.7 billion visits over the same period, translating to about 4.0 billion per month and 185.2 million per day. Chatbots vs Search Engines Do the math, and you see Google still commands over 26 times the daily traffic of ChatGPT. This traffic isn't just momentum—it's scale. The gap between classic search and generative AI chatbots is vast. While chatbot adoption is surging, it's nowhere near disrupting the entrenched role of search engines as the web's default gateway. Key Takeaways at a Glance: But will this always be the case? Currently, Google Search remains the king of the search market. However, one specific generative AI product, Perplexity, appears to be designing its program to resemble a traditional search engine, and many investors are backing them for this reason. Perplexity delivers AI-powered answers in a conversational format, synthesizing information from reputable sources and displaying relevant citations. In practice, this experience is more about augmenting user intelligence than simply listing ten blue links. The traction Perplexity is gaining—millions of queries daily—is evidence that users increasingly want direct, helpful answers rather than endless hunting through results. Yet, its overall volume still trails Google's by orders of magnitude; today's AI engines are maybe a "Swiss Army knife" for information, but not yet the digital metropolis that Google has become. What Sets Perplexity Apart Perplexity's strengths are clear: I recently wrote a piece here in Forbes about Perplexity's Comet browser intergrating AI into the browser itself and its impact on traditional search engines. While I proposed the possibility of its impact on traditional search engines, with this data above, it seems that even AI integrated browsers are no real match to replace mainstream browsers anytime soon. As I point out, AI browsers could have an impact on the future of search, but keep in mind that Google, while not creating a dedicated AI browser yet, have integrated its Gemini AI engine into Chrome and you can already see they are heading in a similar direction of Perplexity's Comet. The data above shows that even as chatbot traffic surges, traditional search engines remain essential for billions of users, and search platforms are rapidly folding AI features into their workflows. What's more likely: we're witnessing the convergence of two paradigms. AI-driven engines like Perplexity will push Google, Bing, and their ilk to further integrate generative models, making the old lines between "search engine" and "AI assistant" obsolete. In essence, while AI chatbots are advancing rapidly and carving out a significant niche, Google's position as the go-to search tool remains largely unchallenged. For those keeping score, noise doesn't equal disruption—at least, not yet. Disclosure: Google subscribes to Creative Strategies research reports along with many other high tech companies around the world.
Hype Malaysia
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hype Malaysia
New Drops From G-SHOCK & A. Lange & Söhne Are Giving Childlike Wonder & Grown-Up Glamour
Some watches were made to be lookers, while others are so chock-full of utility that they're practically Swiss Army knives. But the timepieces highlighted here serve as a reminder that, with enough thought and skill, a marriage of beauty and utility can create wonders. G-SHOCK DW-5600MW 'Unbreakable Dreams' A limited-edition partnership between G-SHOCK and well-known Hong Kong illustrator Little Thunder has been revealed. This collaboration, which revolves around the idea of 'Unbreakable Dreams,' includes a DW-5600 watch that has been redesigned and embellished with Little Thunder's unique illustrated designs. A childlike sense of wonder amid chaos is evoked by the design, which reinterprets the tough timepiece through a new lens. It features a clean white watch with a hand-drawn aesthetic, with motifs and graphics appearing as playful monochrome doodles across the strap. The collaborative DW-5600MW watch maintains the model's signature accuracy and durability, which includes an electroluminescent backlight, multifunction alarm, and 24-hour countdown timer. With its white resin case and 200-meter water resistance, the watch strikes a balance between functionality and style. The partnership, which is unique to Hong Kong, pays homage to dreamers who must traverse ambiguous terrain both literally and figuratively. Additionally, the watch is packaged in a specially made box that showcases Little Thunder's artwork. For a brief period, G-SHOCK Hong Kong will also sell exclusive merchandise, including stickers, enamel brooches, and T-shirts, in addition to the watch. Check out G-SHOCK Hong Kong's website and social media accounts for additional details. A. Lange & Söhne Zeitwerk Date In Pink Gold A. Lange & Söhne introduces a new version of the Zeitwerk Date, this time in warm pink gold with a sophisticated grey dial. The Zeitwerk, which defied conventional watchmaking with its precisely switching jumping numerals mechanism, was first introduced in 2009. With a red marker that advances at midnight to show the current date, the 2019 addition of a ring-shaped date display—now rendered in printed glass—adds a dynamic layer of functionality. The most recent model still features the Zeitwerk's iconic German silver time bridge, which gracefully frames the hour and minute apertures along the central axis of the dial. With a constant-force escapement that guarantees steady energy delivery, the patented jumping numerals mechanism executes 1,440 switches daily. Pushers at four and eight o'clock allow you to independently adjust the hour and date displays; each release initiates a switching impulse. At midnight, the date ring and all three numeral discs move in unison, creating an enthralling mechanical ballet. The manually wound L043.8 calibre, which has a 72-hour power reserve and is made up of 516 parts, beats inside the 44.2 mm pink gold case. The movement features artisanal finishes like solarised ratchet wheels, which are visible through the sapphire-crystal caseback. For more information on the new Zeitwerk Date, explore it via A. Lange & Söhne's official website.
Time Magazine
4 days ago
- Lifestyle
- Time Magazine
When the Group Chat Becomes the Friendship Group
A couple of weeks ago, my friend wrote a message in our group chat, announcing that he's moving to Newcastle—somewhere I love but rarely go. The initial flicker of excitement to visit the North East of England again was quickly countered by a pang of sadness. We barely see each other now, in London, so what's going to change when he's 300 miles away? Around the same time, in a different group, my friend who already lives in Islamabad shared news of a new job. Another posted pictures of his one-year-old son, who I still haven't met. Moments like these remind me that life keeps moving forward, even when we're not around to witness it. I talk to my closest friends every day. It's not always direct. Sometimes, it's just reading their messages, reacting with an emoji, or book-ending a meme bonanza with 'haha.' But it is every day. Group chats—I've got three what I'd call 'core' collections of friends—feel alive. They're like hallways we all pass through, but we hardly ever hang out. The late nights playing video games, watching films, or musing which carnivores we could possibly beat in a fight, have been replaced by jobs, families, and lots of other adult responsibilities. The ease of friendship—that unthinking, ambient closeness you only get when you're young, broke, and within walking distance of each other—dilutes as you grow up. Now, any get-together must be booked weeks or even months in advance. And there's usually one dropout. Could we do mid-to-late September? How's your 2026 looking? The logistical overheads of adult life mean that even the people I feel closest to exist mostly as bubbles on a screen. Read More: How to Make Friends As an Adult—At Every Life Stage We like to tell ourselves that the group chat is a lifeline—that it keeps people loosely tethered as geography and circumstance try to cut the cord. You can drop in, send a birthday message, share a Facebook memory (if you still have Facebook), or photo dump at semi-regular intervals to create the illusion of presence. It looks like friendship, when really, it's thinner. But because it's the default now, we don't admit the group chat has its flaws. One may be that it isn't a substitute for in-person connections, especially at a time when loneliness has been declared a 'global public health concern'. Another is that group chats can feel draining. In one study of 1,000 American adults, 66% of respondents said they felt overwhelmed by their messages, while 42% said that keeping up with them can feel like a part-time job. It's also true that not everyone uses a group chat in the same way. For some, WhatsApp is just a glorified calendar. For others, it's a therapist's couch. Some people only speak in memes and reels. Some will never say anything but randomly 'like' a comment from a month ago. So it's hard, maybe impossible, to create a group chat that can meet everyone's emotional needs. Yet we keep expecting it to. We rely on it like a Swiss Army knife for adult friendship: an all-in-one tool for intimacy, vulnerability, humour and support. There are also some things which are simply too hard to say in a group chat. A redundancy, a break-up, or a bereavement are not easy to drop in. None of this is to necessarily disparage technology. Group chats can be fun and useful. They're just not enough on their own. True friendships ask us to be there for each other in ways that aren't always convenient; to say things that don't come with a reaction button; to risk showing up, even if we feel out of sync. It's hard. My own WhatsApp behavior is not perfect. I've missed important moments. I've left messages sitting unread for days because I was too tired, too busy, or just didn't know what to say. And I've felt that same sting from others. It's not too late to recalibrate, though. A group chat can be just one part of friendships. Bring back one-on-one phone calls. Don't let meet-ups become memories. Carve out time, as much as you can, to see friends. Just do it and to hell with the cost of a train or plane ticket. The people I love most still live in my phone. But I'm trying—perhaps imperfectly and clumsily—to invite them out of it now and then, to move beyond the placeholder. We need to remember that friendship, like any living thing, needs air and attention.
Hindustan Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Hindustan Times
The future of money: Kashyap Kompella on what's next for this pivotal invention
What is money? Economists begin with function. When code replaces coin, we are no longer redesigning currency. We are redesigning control, compliance and consequence. (HT Illustration: Puneet Kumar via Midjourney) Money, they say, does three things: it lets us exchange goods and services, acts as a standard measure of value, and it lets us store value. A kind of economic Swiss Army knife, remarkably adaptable and endlessly circulated. John Maynard Keynes saw money as a bridge between present and future. Milton Friedman warned that it could be a weapon in the wrong hands; that too much of it, too fast, would corrode a system. Hyman Minsky went deeper still: all money is a promise, he said, but not all promises are equal. Some come wrapped in the authority of the state, others in the credibility of a bank, still others in the brute fact of power. Today, a hundred-rupee note doesn't in fact represent a hundred rupees. It asks to be believed as such. What we call currency is a fiction wrapped in design: Microtext and hologram, watermark and thread, security and ceremony. We dress our illusions well. Where coins offered a kind of weight and direct value, and the early notes were backed by metal (often gold), stored somewhere, safe and tangible, most currency is now backed by the heft of its respective state. By inertia as well, in a sense. But really, in a world where money is mostly numbers drifting across invisible networks, what holds it up is our collective agreement. Consensus as collateral. Money is the most powerful fiction humans ever agreed to believe. (Scroll to the bottom for more on how this works, and how we got here.) The death of cash Is it accident that most money now doesn't even exist as paper? What does it mean that so much of the ritual and choreography around this asset is fading? There was a time when one went to the bank to update a passbook, and to an ATM to withdraw the notes. Money still had a place, a shape, a texture. More and more, today, it doesn't. Cash, we are told, is the past. It is eulogised in policy memos and start-up decks. Replaced by cleaner, smarter tools; contactless, compliant, optimistically frictionless. It persists, in temple donation boxes, in wedding envelopes, in the shadowy portions of real-estate payments. It lives in private safes, in the seams of sari blouses and under mattresses. It survives in the folds between trust and traceability. It neither asks its user's name nor logs their location. It holds no record of where it has been. But for how long? Secret gardens In the mythology of Silicon Valley, every system is just a feature waiting to be rebuilt: as faster, more frictionless, more easily monetisable. Money is no different. Here, the goal has become focused on erecting walled gardens to enclose wealth and spending. Capture the interface, own the flow. Build platforms that draw money in, and then design ways to keep it there. It's the Starbucks Rewards scheme, on a global scale. Already, expanding ecosystems of this kind have been built by Google, Apple, Amazon and others. For the user, the promise is a smooth, unified experience (and small benefits for staying with the walled garden). For the tech company, the potential is massive. If a salary is eventually disbursed onto a platform and spent within that platform, in tokens or credits or points, does it matter (to the owner of the platform) whose name is on each token as it changes hands? The real revolution, however, will be driven by those who have been carefully watching. Early experiments in these walled gardens have shown governments — ie, the powers that create, regulate and oversee the money actually driving it all — what is possible and what will be embraced. Which brings us to… Money with a mind Imagine a coin that knows what it's for. A welfare payment that refuses to be spent on alcohol. A currency that reports to headquarters, quietly, after every transaction. This isn't science-fiction. These are the traits or potential traits of central bank digital currencies. These are being rolled out as test cases around the world, in countries ranging from China and Nigeria to Jamaica and India. This is programmable money; essentially, money with a mind. If it becomes widespread, for the first time in history, standardised promissory notes will no longer be silent, disinterested participants in a transaction. Governments could target subsidies more precisely and monitor corruption in real time. They could also automate compliance. Economic policy could be deployed like code: live, granular, conditional. The implications, of course, are enormous. This kind of currency could serve as a direct tool of control. The lines between incentive and instruction, governance and surveillance, public and private, could blur. Programmable money would turn spending into a performance that is constantly logged and evaluated. Unlike cash, this money could also be remotely controlled. In one possible scenario, a dissident isn't placed under house arrest; their credits are simply erased. And compliance becomes a hushed imperative. Parallel tracks In a strange twist, cryptocurrency — born of rebellion against the absurdities of hyper-capitalist definitions of money, and the excessive control wielded by governments through it — laid the groundwork for money with a mind. Bitcoin, the world's first such currency, was born in 2008, in the wake of the global financial crisis. If so much of the world's money was fiction to begin with, and could simply evaporate because it had no true inherent value, then why could a new kind of currency not improve on this with ideas of its own (such as limited supply and far greater transparency), it argued. Bitcoin began to be 'mined' in 2009, generated as a fee or reward for using powerful computers to solve complex math problems. But hyper-capitalism claimed this revolution too. As it gained in value, it lost its claim to rebellion. Hype made it speculative and volatility made it impractical. What had been pitched as the people's money became one more asset class. As more cryptocurrencies emerged, creating, securing, and transferring value without state intervention or control, the empire took note. Governments began planning centralised digital currencies. (In a final signal that this particular revolution has been co-opted, American government agencies are now considering using Bitcoin-backed instruments to shore up and diversify pension-fund portfolios.) The future of us For years, the future of money has been framed as a contest of forms. Would cash survive? Would the dollar be dethroned? Would we eventually pay via thumbprints, retinal scans, barcodes embedded in skin? These are interesting questions, but not the most important ones. Because the deeper shift isn't about form. It is about access. In a world where money is programmable, traceable, and conditional, the critical questions will be: Who decides how it is used? And: Who will be watching, each time you swipe? Now, the old order had problems. It leaked, it excluded, it corroded and enabled hoarding, laundering and loopholes. The new order seeks to fix some of this. But what it fixes, it also redefines. We began by asking what money is. We end with something harder: How will it change us this time? Because money is never just money. It is infrastructure for belief. It is how a society encodes obligation. How it decides what counts, who counts, and on what terms value can be held, moved, withheld and erased. When code replaces the coin, when your account becomes your identity, we are no longer redesigning currency. We are redesigning control, compliance and consequence. Yes, cash may survive in the cracks. The dollar may hold its seat a while longer. Cryptocurrencies may mature. But these are surface questions. The deeper shift is this: money is fusing with code, and code is never a silent participant. What we are building is not just a new financial system. It is a new moral architecture. One where every choice — by government, by company and by user — carries the weight of a rule once debated in public. The future of money is not a question of coins vs notes vs ledgers. It is the future of trust. The future of access. The future of power. Which is to say: the future of us. (Kashyap Kompella is an industry analyst and author of two books on AI) . A TIMELINE: How our money came to be Coins have a long history that overlaps with ideas of barter, soft power and annexation. So, the story of money for money's sake really dates to the earliest forms of non-metal currency: standardised promissory notes. * 118 BCE: The Chinese empire takes its first steps towards lighter, more representative money by issuing tokens or promissory notes on leather. * 1000 CE: In Sichuan, as trade booms, strings of coins are becoming too bulky to haul around, so black-and-red mulberry-paper receipts begin to be used instead. Sixteen merchants are awarded the right to issue these, and the government ultimately takes over, issuing the world's first fixed-denomination banknotes. They are essentially backed by bullion; a trader needed to hand over strings of coins and take an equivalent note in return. These notes could then circulate until someone returned to the merchant-banker to claim the corresponding coins. Of course, soon enough the notes are doing the rounds without the coins themselves being moved at all — and money was born. A banknote dated 1287, with its printing wood plate, from Yuan dynasty China. (Wikimedia) * 1200s: Central and western Asia took to the concept readily. Fast-forward 200 years and the Mongol emperor Kublai Khan has helped spread paper money all the way to Persia. But the concept baffles Europe. Those reading about paper money in Marco Polo's travels think it so preposterous, they wonder if he's making it up. * 1294: The Persian city of Tabriz experiments with paper money of its own but issues too much of it, sending the trading port of Basra into financial ruin. * 1455: The Chinese goof up too. Their over-production of paper notes devalues their money. Paper money is eliminated at this point, and will not return for centuries. Currency reverts to metal. A treasure note from the Qing dynasty (1644-1912), China. (Wikimedia) * 1661: Dutch entrepreneur Johan Palmstruch, who founded the Stockholms Banco in collaboration with the Swedish government, introduces kreditivsedlar or credit notes. They come in set denominations, are watermarked, bear a date of issue, bank seal and eight banker signatures. They are a hit. But they issue too many too and the bank is liquidated. A 1666 banknote for 100 Swedish daler, issued by Stockholms Banco, signed by founder Johan Palmstruch. (Wikimedia) * 1694: England learns from Sweden and sets up the Bank of England to issue Pound Sterling notes to help fund a war with France. * 1700s: Banks are appearing across the colonies. Currency notes are circulated within banking regions. For the public, it is a convenient and safe way to move money around. For the banks, it creates wealth from thin air – banks are permitted to print as much as 1/3rd more notes than they have coins in reserve. * 1792: Following the end of the American War of Independence in 1783, the US dollar is declared the country's official currency. * 1700s to 1900s: Given how much of the world Great Britain controls, it is no surprise that the Pound Sterling is the default global currency. * 1944: World War 2 is devastating Britain. Its empire is shrinking at the same time. The US, meanwhile, is now the world's most stable economy. Amid acknowledgement that the Pound Sterling will need to be replaced as the world's reserve currency, 44 allied countries come together to sign the Bretton Woods agreement. It fixes a rate of exchange for all foreign currencies against the US dollar, with the US promising, in theory, to back every dollar transaction using its vast reserves of gold. (Interestingly, it has shored up much of this gold as a result of trade surpluses during the two world wars.) The gold-backed dollar remains relatively stable, allowing other countries to back their currencies with dollars rather than gold. In order to back a currency with dollars, of course, one must have dollars. This creates an entirely separate revenue stream for the United States, turning US treasury bonds into one of the most powerful debt instruments in the world. Governments buy the bonds on the promise that the US can swap them for dollars at any time. They then use the bonds (plus actual dollar reserves) to keep their economies stable. * 1971: US President Richard Nixon delinks the US dollar's representative value from the country's gold reserves. This is essentially a tacit admission that the economy has grown so large that there isn't enough gold in the world to back it with. Money as a social construct has entered a new phase. What does back the dollar now? Trust and goodwill, partly. As well as the understanding that US economy can generate enough revenue (through the direct sale of goods and services, and through taxes and debt) to keep the still-growing system from imploding. But perhaps the most powerful thing keeping currencies today from crumbling is the quiet social contract by which we all agree not to look directly at the numbers, so as not to see them for the mirage that they, sort of, are. Instead, our system is backed by the idea that as long as the wheel keeps turning, the wheel will keep turning. . WHEELS WITHIN WHEELS: How much of our money is 'real'? What does it really mean that most currency is no longer backed by gold? That isn't even really the question. The real question is: How much of our money is 'real'? And the answer is: It is impossible to say. For instance, let's say that you put ₹1 lakh in the bank. The bank uses it to issue a loan to a customer. That money is now in two places at once. The customer who took the loan uses it to buy things; the person he pays uses it again. The money is now in multiple places at once. And that's not even accounting for how much of the original ₹1 lakh was 'yours' to begin with. Anti-capitalists view this system as absurd, and it was partly as a mark of protest against this absurdity that Bitcoin was born. It was marketed as a fresh slate; anyone could get rich; there was no legacy wealth. Could it become the money of the future? It turned out, of course, to be simply another social construct, entangled with those that came before it: money, legislation, security, adoption, legitimacy. The idea of cryptocurrency has since become woven into the idea of centralised money. There has been periodic talk of post-money economies replacing the tangles of today. It is wholly unclear what they would look like, or what kind of world we would need to build in order for them to work. For the moment, then, money remains the most stable means of exchange, if not the most just or logical. Just as elections remain the most stable means of governing large populations. Could a change be coming? It almost certainly is. The story of money, of societies, of people, after all, is just an endless unfolding of old to new.
