WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.120 So if I hand you a $10 bill, you know exactly 00:00:04.120 --> 00:00:06.120 what it is. Right. I mean, you don't need to 00:00:06.120 --> 00:00:07.500 analyze it, right? You don't need to look up 00:00:07.500 --> 00:00:09.359 its definition or anything. No, it's just a 10. 00:00:09.619 --> 00:00:11.980 Exactly. But if you type the characters literally 00:00:11.980 --> 00:00:15.119 just a dollar sign, a 1, and a 0 into Wikipedia, 00:00:15.740 --> 00:00:18.059 the internet basically stops you in your tracks. 00:00:18.140 --> 00:00:20.280 It really does. It essentially tells you that 00:00:20.280 --> 00:00:23.660 you have absolutely no idea what you are actually 00:00:23.660 --> 00:00:26.160 talking about. Yeah, it completely shatters that 00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:28.429 default assumption. Because, you know, we treat 00:00:28.429 --> 00:00:31.710 a dollar sign, a one, and a zero as this, like, 00:00:31.929 --> 00:00:34.109 this universal constant. Right, like hard math. 00:00:34.409 --> 00:00:37.270 Exactly. Yeah. But the moment you ask a global 00:00:37.270 --> 00:00:40.170 database to define it for you, you aren't handed 00:00:40.170 --> 00:00:43.189 a simple answer. You're handed this sprawling, 00:00:43.390 --> 00:00:46.049 incredibly complicated directory. OK, let's unpack 00:00:46.049 --> 00:00:48.710 this. Because we have curated this deep dive 00:00:48.710 --> 00:00:52.369 entirely around one surprisingly profound corner 00:00:52.369 --> 00:00:55.609 of the internet, which is the Wikipedia disambiguation 00:00:55.609 --> 00:00:58.960 page for $10. That's a fascinating choice. Yeah. 00:00:59.140 --> 00:01:01.020 And our mission today for you, the listener, 00:01:01.500 --> 00:01:05.519 is to look at how this single, everyday identifier 00:01:05.519 --> 00:01:08.459 essentially functions as a map, a map of global 00:01:08.459 --> 00:01:11.079 identity, of language, and even physical reality. 00:01:11.480 --> 00:01:13.980 It is a remarkable document, honestly. I mean, 00:01:14.200 --> 00:01:17.000 disambiguation pages exist because language is 00:01:17.000 --> 00:01:19.099 just inherently messy. Yeah, totally. They exist 00:01:19.099 --> 00:01:21.900 because human beings use the exact same words 00:01:21.900 --> 00:01:24.530 to mean. vastly different things, right? Depending 00:01:24.530 --> 00:01:26.349 on literally just where they are standing on 00:01:26.349 --> 00:01:29.329 the planet. Right. But we tend to view numbers 00:01:29.329 --> 00:01:33.510 and money specifically, I think, as cold, hard, 00:01:33.769 --> 00:01:36.549 universal math. Right, but this Wikipedia page 00:01:36.549 --> 00:01:39.370 proves that $10 isn't math at all. I mean, it's 00:01:39.370 --> 00:01:41.870 a linguistic symbol. It requires geographic context 00:01:41.870 --> 00:01:43.950 before it has any mathematical weight whatsoever. 00:01:44.230 --> 00:01:46.510 Exactly. And look at the very first thing this 00:01:46.510 --> 00:01:48.730 directory tells the user right beneath the title. 00:01:48.930 --> 00:01:50.969 Oh, yeah, the little parenthetical. In a tiny 00:01:50.969 --> 00:01:53.569 parenthetical, it says, redirect it from $10 00:01:53.569 --> 00:01:55.969 bill. The system is literally anticipating your 00:01:55.969 --> 00:01:58.849 bias. It knows. It completely knows that whoever 00:01:58.849 --> 00:02:01.530 typed this in, maybe even you listening right 00:02:01.530 --> 00:02:04.069 now, was almost certainly looking for the default 00:02:04.280 --> 00:02:08.199 U .S. $10 paper bill. It intercepts that assumption 00:02:08.199 --> 00:02:10.500 right at the door. The architecture of the database 00:02:10.500 --> 00:02:14.000 basically says, hold on, your $10 is not the 00:02:14.000 --> 00:02:18.199 only $10. And then it proceeds to list over 35 00:02:18.199 --> 00:02:20.979 distinct variations of what that denomination 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:24.139 actually means across the globe. It's like looking 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:26.419 up the name John Smith in a global directory. 00:02:26.650 --> 00:02:28.969 Oh, that's a good comparison. You think you know 00:02:28.969 --> 00:02:31.710 exactly who you're looking for until you realize 00:02:31.710 --> 00:02:34.710 millions of people share the exact same identifier. 00:02:35.020 --> 00:02:37.680 And what's wild is it strips away the purchasing 00:02:37.680 --> 00:02:40.520 power entirely. Right. It ignores exchange rates, 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.560 economics. It doesn't tell us what these currencies 00:02:43.560 --> 00:02:47.159 buy. It merely maps out where this specific identifier 00:02:47.159 --> 00:02:49.199 is claimed. It really highlights the difference 00:02:49.199 --> 00:02:51.560 between, you know, an absolute numerical value 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:53.719 and a contextual fiat currency. The number 10 00:02:53.719 --> 00:02:56.680 is absolute. But the symbol, the dollar sign 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.479 and the 10 is basically an empty vessel. It's 00:02:59.479 --> 00:03:02.060 just a placeholder waiting for a nation state 00:03:02.060 --> 00:03:04.629 to pour its specific reality into it. I love 00:03:04.629 --> 00:03:07.050 that. An empty vessel. That distinction is so 00:03:07.050 --> 00:03:09.990 crucial. Because without the context of a sovereign 00:03:09.990 --> 00:03:13.169 state attached to it, the symbol has zero utility. 00:03:13.750 --> 00:03:16.969 None. It's just pure potential. And when you 00:03:16.969 --> 00:03:19.909 look at how different nations fill that empty 00:03:19.909 --> 00:03:22.289 vessel, you really start to see the architecture 00:03:22.289 --> 00:03:24.830 of global influence. Which becomes incredibly 00:03:24.830 --> 00:03:27.270 obvious when you look at the sheer geography 00:03:27.270 --> 00:03:29.150 of this list. I mean, I want to spend some time 00:03:29.150 --> 00:03:31.490 on this because seeing the words on a screen 00:03:31.490 --> 00:03:33.490 is one thing, right? Yeah, it's easy to just 00:03:33.490 --> 00:03:36.150 skim past. Exactly. But actually vocalizing the 00:03:36.150 --> 00:03:38.250 repetition really drives home the scale of what 00:03:38.250 --> 00:03:41.680 we are looking at. So I'm going to read a substantial 00:03:41.680 --> 00:03:43.719 portion of the entries grouped under the word 00:03:43.719 --> 00:03:45.840 dollar on this page. Go ahead, let's hear the 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:49.479 footprint. Okay, deep breath. So we start with 00:03:49.479 --> 00:03:52.300 the Australian $10 note, the Canadian $10 note, 00:03:52.620 --> 00:03:55.319 the New Zealand $10 note, the United States $10 00:03:55.319 --> 00:03:59.039 bill, and the Hong Kong $10 note. So just stopping 00:03:59.039 --> 00:04:01.379 there for a second. That's already spanning North 00:04:01.379 --> 00:04:04.379 America, Oceania, and Asia. Oh, and it doesn't 00:04:04.379 --> 00:04:07.259 stop. Not even close. We have one of the Namibian 00:04:07.259 --> 00:04:09.719 dollars, one of the banknotes of Zimbabwe. Wow. 00:04:09.979 --> 00:04:13.060 The Bahamian dollar, Barbadian dollar, Belize 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:15.300 dollar, Bermudian dollar. It just keeps going. 00:04:15.479 --> 00:04:18.199 Brunei dollar, Cayman Islands dollar, Cook Islands 00:04:18.199 --> 00:04:20.639 dollar, East Caribbean dollar, Fijian dollar. 00:04:20.720 --> 00:04:24.199 Yeah. Guyanese dollar, Jamaican dollar, Liberian 00:04:24.199 --> 00:04:27.379 dollar, Singapore dollar, Solomon Islands dollar, 00:04:27.800 --> 00:04:31.180 Surinamese dollar, New Taiwan dollar, Trinidad 00:04:31.180 --> 00:04:33.600 and Tobago dollar. What's fascinating here is 00:04:33.600 --> 00:04:36.899 that the directory forces us to confront linguistic 00:04:36.899 --> 00:04:39.699 globalization in real time. Yeah. Like these 00:04:39.699 --> 00:04:41.980 aren't just random localized names that happen 00:04:41.980 --> 00:04:44.379 to sound similar by coincidence. Right. This 00:04:44.379 --> 00:04:46.779 is a shared nomenclature spanning from the Caribbean 00:04:46.779 --> 00:04:49.660 to the South Pacific, from West Africa to Southeast 00:04:49.660 --> 00:04:52.120 Asia. Looking at this list of places, I mean, 00:04:52.279 --> 00:04:56.199 Fiji, Guyana, Suriname, Liberia, it stops feeling 00:04:56.199 --> 00:04:58.800 like individual sovereign money and almost feels 00:04:58.800 --> 00:05:01.160 like, I don't know, a franchise. A franchise? 00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:03.579 Yeah, like they all just bought into the same 00:05:03.579 --> 00:05:07.240 global brand name, you know? That's a really 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:09.319 compelling way to frame it, actually. Because 00:05:09.319 --> 00:05:12.459 when you adopt a currency name that is already 00:05:12.459 --> 00:05:15.720 recognized globally, you are essentially adopting 00:05:16.040 --> 00:05:18.879 a standardized language of commerce. You're just 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:21.259 plucking into an established network of trust. 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:23.579 Wait, but calling it a franchise or a network 00:05:23.579 --> 00:05:26.060 of trust makes it sound like a deliberate corporate 00:05:26.060 --> 00:05:28.839 strategy, you know? Like, these nations all sat 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:31.199 down at a big conference table and rationally 00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:34.259 selected dollar from a drop -down menu to optimize 00:05:34.259 --> 00:05:36.939 their trade. Right, right. Isn't this just the 00:05:36.939 --> 00:05:39.959 messy linguistic fallout of colonialism, like 00:05:39.959 --> 00:05:42.519 historical empire building? Well, that is a very 00:05:42.519 --> 00:05:44.560 fair pushback. And honestly, you're touching 00:05:44.560 --> 00:05:46.860 on the exact friction this list represents. OK. 00:05:47.579 --> 00:05:50.589 Yes. The spread of these terms is deeply rooted 00:05:50.589 --> 00:05:53.810 in historical empire, maritime trade routes, 00:05:54.350 --> 00:05:56.750 geopolitical dominance, all of that. Right, the 00:05:56.750 --> 00:05:59.110 messy stuff. But the Wikipedia page doesn't give 00:05:59.110 --> 00:06:01.389 us that history. Right. It just gives us the 00:06:01.389 --> 00:06:03.649 current flattened reality. Oh, that's true. Just 00:06:03.649 --> 00:06:07.589 the raw data. Exactly. A world where dozens of 00:06:07.589 --> 00:06:10.149 independent nations operate under the exact same 00:06:10.149 --> 00:06:11.990 linguistic umbrella. They might have arrived 00:06:11.990 --> 00:06:15.350 at the word dollar through complex, often coerced 00:06:15.350 --> 00:06:18.980 historical forces. Yeah. But today... Right now, 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.920 it functions as a global default. And it isn't 00:06:21.920 --> 00:06:23.920 the only default. I mean, if we scroll further 00:06:23.920 --> 00:06:26.339 down the page, we hit the second massive block, 00:06:26.399 --> 00:06:28.819 which completely proves your point about historical 00:06:28.819 --> 00:06:31.720 empires leaving linguistic footprints. The pesos. 00:06:32.100 --> 00:06:34.680 Ah, yes. Let's hear that grouping. OK, so we 00:06:34.680 --> 00:06:37.759 have the Argentine peso, Chilean peso, Colombian 00:06:37.759 --> 00:06:42.259 peso, Cuban peso, Dominican peso, Mexican peso, 00:06:42.860 --> 00:06:46.339 Uruguayan peso. So if we step back and view this 00:06:46.339 --> 00:06:48.709 directory as a whole, just zooming all the way 00:06:48.709 --> 00:06:51.490 out. What we're observing is that two single 00:06:51.490 --> 00:06:54.509 words, dollar and peso, absolutely dominate the 00:06:54.509 --> 00:06:56.610 conceptual space of what a ten denomination is 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:58.550 called across the vast majority of the planet. 00:06:58.810 --> 00:07:00.389 It's staggering when you actually look at it 00:07:00.389 --> 00:07:03.230 like that. It is. It's a striking visual representation 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:06.189 of how historical gravity pulls nations toward 00:07:06.189 --> 00:07:09.519 established identifiers. But then... If these 00:07:09.519 --> 00:07:12.220 two linguistic franchises dominate the globe 00:07:12.220 --> 00:07:15.259 to such an extreme degree, what happens to the 00:07:15.259 --> 00:07:17.939 countries that refuse to assimilate? The ones 00:07:17.939 --> 00:07:20.560 that opt out. Yeah. Let's look further down the 00:07:20.560 --> 00:07:23.339 page outside of those massive blocks. Here's 00:07:23.339 --> 00:07:26.610 where it gets really interesting. Because scattered 00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:29.730 amongst this absolute sea of dollars and pesos, 00:07:30.410 --> 00:07:33.290 the Directory gives us these brilliant solitary 00:07:33.290 --> 00:07:36.730 flashes of localized identity. The nations that 00:07:36.730 --> 00:07:38.750 totally reject the standardized nomenclature. 00:07:39.069 --> 00:07:40.949 Exactly. And they stand out so vigorously. I 00:07:40.949 --> 00:07:43.110 mean, right after the Canadian and Australian 00:07:43.110 --> 00:07:46.850 notes, you suddenly hit the Nicaraguan tencordoba 00:07:46.850 --> 00:07:49.129 note. Right. And then later, buried right in 00:07:49.129 --> 00:07:50.930 the middle of all those dollars, there it is, 00:07:51.370 --> 00:07:54.129 the Samoan Tala. And notice how the architecture 00:07:54.129 --> 00:07:56.730 of the page treats them. There is no massive 00:07:56.730 --> 00:07:59.250 grouping for them. No. There is no subcategory 00:07:59.250 --> 00:08:01.629 of talas spanning multiple continents. No, it's 00:08:01.629 --> 00:08:04.089 totally singular. Further down, just before the 00:08:04.089 --> 00:08:07.129 giant block of pesos, we get the caper d in escudo, 00:08:07.569 --> 00:08:09.490 the tongue in palanga, and at the very bottom 00:08:09.490 --> 00:08:11.870 of the primary list, the Brazilian real. In the 00:08:11.870 --> 00:08:15.290 context of this disambiguation page, this represents 00:08:15.290 --> 00:08:18.839 a profound localization of value. Yeah. Well, 00:08:18.839 --> 00:08:21.699 the massive blocks we just discussed suggest 00:08:21.699 --> 00:08:25.180 like a flattening of linguistic identity, a shared 00:08:25.180 --> 00:08:28.939 global API for trade. These outliers represent 00:08:28.939 --> 00:08:32.860 a deliberate tethering of the currency to a specific 00:08:32.860 --> 00:08:36.799 unique cultural origin. I want you, yes, you 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:38.500 listening right now to think about the money 00:08:38.500 --> 00:08:40.559 that might literally be in your pocket right 00:08:40.559 --> 00:08:42.460 now or in your bank account. Yeah, take a look. 00:08:42.840 --> 00:08:44.870 Think about the actual name of it. Does the name 00:08:44.870 --> 00:08:47.389 of your currency connect you to this massive 00:08:47.389 --> 00:08:49.710 globe -spanning network, like a dollar or a peso? 00:08:50.309 --> 00:08:53.289 Or is it a highly specific cultural identifier, 00:08:53.470 --> 00:08:55.570 like the Tala or the Palanga? That's a great 00:08:55.570 --> 00:08:57.629 question. It completely changes how you view 00:08:57.629 --> 00:09:00.940 the utility of money. Is your wallet participating 00:09:00.940 --> 00:09:04.279 in a global franchise or is it carrying a localized 00:09:04.279 --> 00:09:06.919 piece of cultural geography? It frames the everyday 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:09.120 transaction as an act of either global assimilation 00:09:09.120 --> 00:09:12.039 or sovereign expression. Wow. Yeah. A nation's 00:09:12.039 --> 00:09:14.720 choice of what to call its money is honestly 00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:17.019 one of the most fundamental ways it asserts its 00:09:17.019 --> 00:09:18.539 independent reality to the rest of the world. 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.419 So we've talked about how countries use the name 00:09:21.419 --> 00:09:24.320 of the money to establish their identity, but 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:27.480 this disambiguation page also shows us how they 00:09:27.480 --> 00:09:30.220 use the physical medium itself to define value. 00:09:30.920 --> 00:09:34.139 Let's look at the actual tactile reality of the 00:09:34.139 --> 00:09:37.720 $10 threshold. This is a very subtle but deeply 00:09:37.720 --> 00:09:40.320 important distinction made right in the opening 00:09:40.320 --> 00:09:42.720 sentence of the directory. Yeah, the preamble, 00:09:42.740 --> 00:09:45.220 before we even get to the bulleted lists, explicitly 00:09:45.220 --> 00:09:49.059 states there are many $10 banknotes, bills, or 00:09:49.059 --> 00:09:51.440 coins. Right. It sets the physical parameters 00:09:51.440 --> 00:09:54.460 immediately. This value can manifest as paper 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:57.279 or it can manifest as metal. It introduces a 00:09:57.279 --> 00:09:59.139 physical weight to the abstraction we've been 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:01.980 discussing. It reminds me of the difference between 00:10:01.980 --> 00:10:04.360 like reading a physical book versus listening 00:10:04.360 --> 00:10:07.059 to an audiobook. The underlying content that 00:10:07.059 --> 00:10:10.200 the actual value of 10 is identical, but the 00:10:10.200 --> 00:10:12.659 medium completely changes the human experience 00:10:12.659 --> 00:10:14.860 of interacting with it. It's the difference between 00:10:14.860 --> 00:10:17.240 the velocity of a coin you casually toss on a 00:10:17.240 --> 00:10:19.840 counter for a coffee versus the psychological 00:10:19.840 --> 00:10:22.100 weight of a paper bill you carefully fold into 00:10:22.100 --> 00:10:24.379 a wallet. Yeah, the container dictates the behavior. 00:10:24.740 --> 00:10:27.250 If we connect this to the bigger picture. It 00:10:27.250 --> 00:10:30.929 reveals why the denomination of 10 is so mechanically 00:10:30.929 --> 00:10:35.330 fascinating. How so? Well, 10 sits right on the 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:38.129 liminal threshold of physicality in modern fiat 00:10:38.129 --> 00:10:41.590 currency. Think about it. For smaller denominations, 00:10:41.750 --> 00:10:45.309 ones, twos, fives, we universally tend to use 00:10:45.309 --> 00:10:48.029 coins. Right. They represent high velocity exchange. 00:10:48.379 --> 00:10:50.879 They need to be durable because they are traded 00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:53.860 constantly for daily utility. Yeah, they rattle 00:10:53.860 --> 00:10:55.899 around in cup holders and vending machines. They 00:10:55.899 --> 00:10:58.299 take a beating. Precisely. Yeah. But for larger 00:10:58.299 --> 00:11:01.220 denominations, 20s, 50s, hundreds, we use paper 00:11:01.220 --> 00:11:03.899 or, you know, polymer notes. Sure. They represent 00:11:03.899 --> 00:11:06.299 the abstraction of wealth. They are meant for 00:11:06.299 --> 00:11:08.700 storage, transfer, and significant purchases. 00:11:09.399 --> 00:11:11.879 But the directory shows us that $10 is caught 00:11:11.879 --> 00:11:13.759 squarely in the middle of these two mechanical 00:11:13.759 --> 00:11:17.279 purposes. It's the exact bridge between daily 00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:19.840 utility and wealth storage. Yes. In some places 00:11:19.840 --> 00:11:22.759 on this list, it has crossed the threshold entirely 00:11:22.759 --> 00:11:25.220 into the abstraction of paper. In others, it 00:11:25.220 --> 00:11:27.659 remains anchored as a durable metal coin. And 00:11:27.659 --> 00:11:29.820 what happens when a system refuses to choose 00:11:29.820 --> 00:11:32.659 between the two? That brings us to the most glaring 00:11:32.659 --> 00:11:34.720 anomaly on the entire page. Yeah, this is my 00:11:34.720 --> 00:11:37.159 favorite part. If you look closely at the primary 00:11:37.159 --> 00:11:40.059 list, almost every single entry is either a note, 00:11:40.539 --> 00:11:43.519 a bill, or just listed generally by its currency 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:47.580 name. But there is one location that breaks the 00:11:47.580 --> 00:11:50.279 rules of this physical threshold entirely, and 00:11:50.279 --> 00:11:53.340 that's Hong Kong. The dual state. It is the only 00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:56.620 location on the primary bulleted list to explicitly 00:11:56.620 --> 00:11:59.879 have both forms listed side by side. The text 00:11:59.879 --> 00:12:04.360 reads, Hong Kong $10 note, and immediately below 00:12:04.360 --> 00:12:08.340 it, completely unresolved, Hong Kong $10 coin. 00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:11.519 The Wikipedia page literally forces them to sit 00:12:11.519 --> 00:12:14.100 side by side. Yeah. According to the architecture 00:12:14.100 --> 00:12:16.379 of this specific directory, the Hong Kong $10 00:12:16.379 --> 00:12:19.240 denomination straddles both physical realities 00:12:19.240 --> 00:12:21.840 simultaneously. It's wild. It occupies the space 00:12:21.840 --> 00:12:24.840 of high velocity metal and the space of abstract 00:12:24.840 --> 00:12:27.620 paper wealth at the exact same time. It's literally 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:30.159 occupying two states of matter on the page. You 00:12:30.159 --> 00:12:31.679 know, near the bottom of the document, there 00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:35.080 is the standard Wikipedia boilerplate text. It 00:12:35.080 --> 00:12:38.019 says, this disambiguation page lists articles 00:12:38.019 --> 00:12:41.399 associated with the title $10. If an internal 00:12:41.399 --> 00:12:44.080 link incorrectly led you here, you may wish to 00:12:44.080 --> 00:12:46.279 change the link to point directly to the intended 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:48.460 article. That's just the system attempting to 00:12:48.460 --> 00:12:51.179 heal its own confusion. Exactly. The whole page 00:12:51.179 --> 00:12:53.460 only exists because someone made an incorrect 00:12:53.460 --> 00:12:56.159 assumption about what $10 means, and the system 00:12:56.159 --> 00:12:58.980 had to offer them a correction. So What does 00:12:58.980 --> 00:13:02.039 this all mean? I mean, we started this deep dive 00:13:02.039 --> 00:13:04.779 with a basic everyday search. Three characters, 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:08.139 a dollar sign, a one, and a zero. We expected 00:13:08.139 --> 00:13:11.559 a single default answer. And instead... We decoded 00:13:11.559 --> 00:13:14.399 a map of global linguistics and physical mechanics. 00:13:14.779 --> 00:13:17.279 We looked at the massive linguistic blocks, analyzing 00:13:17.279 --> 00:13:20.139 how dollars and pesos act as global networks 00:13:20.139 --> 00:13:22.659 that sweep across continents, establishing a 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:25.019 standardized language of commerce. Right. We 00:13:25.019 --> 00:13:28.159 explored the cultural outliers, Nicaraguan Cordobas, 00:13:28.360 --> 00:13:30.799 the Samoan Talas, the Tonkin Palangas that stubbornly 00:13:30.799 --> 00:13:33.960 anchor their currency to a unique localized identity 00:13:33.960 --> 00:13:36.639 refusing to assimilate. Yeah, the holdouts. And 00:13:36.639 --> 00:13:39.320 finally, we examine the mechanics of money, finding 00:13:39.320 --> 00:13:42.159 that the value of 10 sits right on the tactile 00:13:42.159 --> 00:13:45.039 threshold between the velocity of a coin and 00:13:45.039 --> 00:13:47.399 the abstraction of paper, famously straddling 00:13:47.399 --> 00:13:49.840 both realities in the anomaly of Hong Kong. It 00:13:49.840 --> 00:13:52.580 takes something entirely mundane and just forces 00:13:52.580 --> 00:13:55.220 you to realize that every default assumption 00:13:55.220 --> 00:13:58.799 we carry is usually just one tiny localized piece 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:01.639 of a much larger, much more complicated global 00:14:01.639 --> 00:14:04.460 system. It really does. It completely reframes 00:14:04.460 --> 00:14:06.220 the way you think about the money you interact 00:14:06.220 --> 00:14:08.860 with every single day. This raises an important 00:14:08.860 --> 00:14:10.820 question, though. Something for us to consider 00:14:10.820 --> 00:14:12.980 as we wrap up our analysis of this directory. 00:14:13.059 --> 00:14:15.820 Oh, let's hear it. So if you look at the navigation 00:14:15.820 --> 00:14:17.820 tools detailed in the source, specifically in 00:14:17.820 --> 00:14:20.419 the sidebar and the language options, there is 00:14:20.419 --> 00:14:24.059 a tiny but profound detail. OK. this specific 00:14:24.059 --> 00:14:27.960 disambiguation page for $10, this exact attempt 00:14:27.960 --> 00:14:30.500 to map out the meaning of the symbol is available 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:32.740 in exactly two other languages. Wait, really? 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:34.960 Let me see. I see it here, yes. It lists two 00:14:34.960 --> 00:14:37.759 languages, Nihongo, which is Japanese, and Reski, 00:14:38.039 --> 00:14:39.840 which is Russian. Just Japanese and Russian. 00:14:39.860 --> 00:14:42.759 That's so specific. It is. And it leaves me with 00:14:42.759 --> 00:14:44.840 this thought experiment. If we were looking at 00:14:44.840 --> 00:14:48.419 this exact same disambiguation page, but we were 00:14:48.419 --> 00:14:50.840 reading the Russian Wikipedia or the Japanese 00:14:50.840 --> 00:14:55.549 Wikipedia, Would the center of gravity shift? 00:14:55.649 --> 00:14:58.570 Oh wow. That's an interesting variable to consider. 00:14:58.710 --> 00:15:00.990 Right. Because if the interface dictates the 00:15:00.990 --> 00:15:04.330 reality, then the user's starting language completely 00:15:04.330 --> 00:15:07.559 changes the intent of the search. Exactly. We 00:15:07.559 --> 00:15:09.980 noted earlier that this English page immediately 00:15:09.980 --> 00:15:12.840 assumes the user was looking for a US $10 bill, 00:15:13.379 --> 00:15:15.679 literally redirecting from that assumption. Yeah. 00:15:15.960 --> 00:15:18.399 But does our very definition of what $10 means 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:20.440 depend entirely on the language we are typing 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:22.879 into the search bar? It has to, right. I mean, 00:15:22.980 --> 00:15:24.940 if a user types it in Russian, they might be 00:15:24.940 --> 00:15:27.320 looking for a historical exchange rate or an 00:15:27.320 --> 00:15:29.320 economic article, not a physical piece of paper. 00:15:29.779 --> 00:15:32.299 If we view the page through that linguistic lens, 00:15:32.820 --> 00:15:34.899 would the massive block of dollars suddenly feel 00:15:34.899 --> 00:15:37.600 like the outliers? The idea that the ontological 00:15:37.600 --> 00:15:40.059 map the internet hands you is entirely dependent 00:15:40.059 --> 00:15:42.120 on the language you use to ask for it. I mean, 00:15:42.299 --> 00:15:44.179 that completely changes how you view a simple 00:15:44.179 --> 00:15:46.570 search. It really does. The tool doesn't just 00:15:46.570 --> 00:15:49.389 deliver the reality, the tool shapes the reality. 00:15:49.450 --> 00:15:52.049 The context is everything. It really is. Well, 00:15:52.049 --> 00:15:55.070 that is a perfect, slightly mind bending place 00:15:55.070 --> 00:15:57.950 to leave it. Thank you so much for joining us 00:15:57.950 --> 00:16:01.230 on this custom deep dive. We hope that the next 00:16:01.230 --> 00:16:03.629 time you type a simple number into a search bar 00:16:03.629 --> 00:16:06.370 or pull a piece of paper or coin out of your 00:16:06.370 --> 00:16:08.830 pocket, you take a second to question the seemingly 00:16:08.830 --> 00:16:11.149 simple details. Absolutely. Because as we've 00:16:11.149 --> 00:16:13.529 seen today, there is a whole world of linguistic 00:16:13.529 --> 00:16:16.460 gravity, cultural defiance and physical mechanics 00:16:16.460 --> 00:16:18.580 hiding behind a single dollar sign and a ten. 00:16:19.100 --> 00:16:21.919 Keep questioning, keep exploring, and we will 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:23.700 catch you on the next deep dive.