The first true peer-to-peer networks for sharing information were designed specifically for the swapping of musical files. It is still too early to tell, but this innovation may turn out to be as influential as those piano keyboards and pinned cylinders, if in fact peer-to-peer platforms like Bitcoin eventually become an important part of the global financial infrastructure, as many people believe. —Stephen Johnson, from ‘Wonderland: How Play Made the Modern World'

The first paper money, made of mulberry bark, was issued by the Chinese in the seventh century, and although it spread quickly around the region, it didn't catch on in Europe for nearly a thousand years. One problem was its vulnerability to forgery, but a bigger problem was managing inflation. Faith in the paper note was maintained by the promise that it could be exchanged at any time for the same value in coinage—in China's case, this meant small brass coins with square holes, known as "cash." —from 'Transcendence: How Humans Evolved through Fire, Language, Beauty, and Time' by Gaia Vince

throwback to this classic bless them, they tried