Virtually all of those are symbolic uses that just circle around to the same idea that gold is valuable because we think gold is valuable.
The two that aren't, electronics and aerospace, require utterly trivial amounts of raw gold for processing compared to actual material processing demand for things like copper and steel.
gold is valuable because we think gold is valuable.
Exactly. Only living beings can value anything. Nothing is valuable to a rock. Living beings (cats, birds, humans) value things for any number of reasons. People value gold jewelry enough to make it the #1 use of gold -- and our high opinion of and desire for gold has held for over 5,000 years.
You may be confusing "value" with "usefulness." Clearly, many people. find gold jewelry useful -- for any number of reasons -- but the usefulness of gold in medicine, aerospace, electronics, glassmaking, and so on is more obvious -- and the usage of gold in high-tech especially is rising. Also, most of that gold is taken out of global inventory, scattered in landfills and ocean floors and wherever trash gets dumped; only about 15% is recycled. This also supports the monetary value of gold -- it's hard to come by and many tons of it disappear from easy recovery every year.
The use of precious metals for high-tech products is rising. For example, the production of electronic and electrical products consumed 5.3% (197 tons) of the world’s gold supply in 2001, and 7.7% (320 tons) in 2011. Over that same decade, the price per ounce of gold soared by five times, from under $300 to more than $1,500.
from Only 15% of gold/silver used annually in high-tech goods is recovered, say experts
Virtually all of those are symbolic uses that just circle around to the same idea that gold is valuable because we think gold is valuable.
The two that aren't, electronics and aerospace, require utterly trivial amounts of raw gold for processing compared to actual material processing demand for things like copper and steel.
Exactly. Only living beings can value anything. Nothing is valuable to a rock. Living beings (cats, birds, humans) value things for any number of reasons. People value gold jewelry enough to make it the #1 use of gold -- and our high opinion of and desire for gold has held for over 5,000 years.
You may be confusing "value" with "usefulness." Clearly, many people. find gold jewelry useful -- for any number of reasons -- but the usefulness of gold in medicine, aerospace, electronics, glassmaking, and so on is more obvious -- and the usage of gold in high-tech especially is rising. Also, most of that gold is taken out of global inventory, scattered in landfills and ocean floors and wherever trash gets dumped; only about 15% is recycled. This also supports the monetary value of gold -- it's hard to come by and many tons of it disappear from easy recovery every year.