The gold standard ended in 1975. Since then, we have "virtual money", which are effectively made out of thin air at the time a bank borrows them to someone. Once they started this system there is probably no way back. But what effects has that done, are them all positive? I don't know. Some say it helps prevent the situation when rich would buy all the gold supply - banks can make more money for others. But - rich people can use stock markets and funds too. And look at one thing - the Appollo program started 1961 and completed 1975. I was quite shocked to see from the documentaries what technology they developed and had during the Apollo era. What US built during cold war. UNIX development started in 1970, right? So many awesome airplanes and technology around. It looks like what we have today is mosty (a great) improvement of many inventions developed before or around the end of Apollo and the end of gold standard. Now, that money is virtual, it looks like there won't be any major stock market crashes as they can intervene relatively easily. But why the space program basically died? NASA has just been talking about SLS for many years... Is it because politicians or bankers don't want that to continue? They could print money for it in minutes, couldn't they? Or would it be far more expensive than we think? Would printing so much money skyrocket the inflaction and bring the whole economy to its knees? Isn't by chance the "real value of work" now much higher than what inflation suggests? I read here about a year ago that some smart people are not working in scientific R&D but instead making AI to improve marketing for online e-shops selling products people don't really need. Despite many startups claiming breakthroughs daily in the news, I don't feel it that way. Those are small pieces one by one. It looks to me big human progress has stagnated somehow. Maybe the smart people are not motivated enough to do the real big things, or maybe it is because there is no need to compete with Russia anymore. But hey, there have been talks about helicopter money recently - giving people money for no reason. Does that look like a great way to improve things? We live in peace - thanks for that - but it seems to me that somehow there is no motivation to do big things anymore. It seems better to just pour the money in the stock market, consume goods and services, watch Netflix and play games. Consume gas and limited Earth resources with virtual unlimited paper money. Taxation probably doesn't make sense anymore, it is there just for historical reasons, from the time bank notes were backed by gold.