Now that the economy is going into the shitter, it’s time to ask that age old question: What would a chimp do? (W.W.C.D.)
Chimps like to trade services. Their whole economy is based –literally– on “you scratch my back and I scratch yours.” Even primitive jerks like macaques (some chimps have –I’m serious– been known to call them “shit monkeys”) will trade grooming for sex.
But chimps have a strong aversion to trading goods. Even trained chimps dislike the idea of trading some piece of crap, like a carrot, for something really good, like a grape. They seem to think a carrot in the hand is better than a grape in the bush. Untrained chimps will have nothing to do with any of it.
They just eat the carrot.
It’s a bit of a mystery why chimps feel this way. The general consensus is that they have no rules to govern trade. This makes them wary.
This logic is completely backwards. Chimps refuse to trade because trade is unregulated? Balderdash! How are you supposed to regulate an economy that doesn’t yet exist? Makes no sense. We have a hard time regulating an economy that does exist. Some people don’t even want to do that.
The rules about trade must have emerged after trade did. They probably came into existence after one of our ancestors — a big strong one– got ripped off. The moron probably traded a grape for a carrot. Then, I’m guessing, that other one probably learned some rules. Something about a carrot and a stick.
