For millennia, humanity’s quest for value has been a physical one. We have dug deep into the earth, moving mountains of rock to find a few precious ounces of gold. Its scarcity is a direct function of the immense physical effort required to extract it. We have drilled into the planet’s crust, plumbing its depths to pump black crude oil from ancient reservoirs. Its scarcity, and therefore its value, is tied to the complex, costly, and labor-intensive process of bringing it to the surface. In the physical world, value and scarcity have always been inextricably linked to work. Scarcity is not a given; it is earned ... (full story)