WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.980 If someone hands you like $100 bill, you probably 00:00:03.980 --> 00:00:05.980 hold it up to the light, right? You check for 00:00:05.980 --> 00:00:08.220 the watermark. Exactly. You check the watermark. 00:00:08.339 --> 00:00:11.960 Maybe you rub the lapel of the jacket printed 00:00:11.960 --> 00:00:14.640 on the front just to feel the ridges. You verify 00:00:14.640 --> 00:00:16.320 it. Right, because you want to know it's real. 00:00:16.399 --> 00:00:19.300 But if someone hands you a $200 bill, you should 00:00:19.300 --> 00:00:23.359 probably stop checking the paper and start checking 00:00:23.359 --> 00:00:26.820 your GPS. Which is honestly a hilarious visual. 00:00:27.039 --> 00:00:29.469 Right. Because depending on what country you 00:00:29.469 --> 00:00:31.829 are currently standing in, you are either, you 00:00:31.829 --> 00:00:34.689 know, buying groceries or you are actively committing 00:00:34.689 --> 00:00:37.030 a federal crime. And that's such a fascinating 00:00:37.030 --> 00:00:39.189 position for a simple piece of paper to hold. 00:00:39.189 --> 00:00:41.689 Yeah. I mean, considering we treat money as the 00:00:41.689 --> 00:00:44.210 ultimate universal language. We really do. We 00:00:44.210 --> 00:00:45.950 just operate on this assumption that a number 00:00:45.950 --> 00:00:49.090 is just a number. But when it comes to the number 00:00:49.090 --> 00:00:52.990 200 printed on fiat currency, the rules of reality 00:00:52.990 --> 00:00:55.890 just they completely fracture. Welcome to this 00:00:55.890 --> 00:00:58.700 deep dive. Today we are taking you on a journey 00:00:58.700 --> 00:01:00.960 that might sound incredibly niche at first glance, 00:01:01.380 --> 00:01:04.980 but it cracks open this massive window into human 00:01:04.980 --> 00:01:08.019 psychology, economic friction, and basically 00:01:08.019 --> 00:01:10.659 how our brains process trust. Yeah, it's a surprisingly 00:01:10.659 --> 00:01:13.560 deep rabbit hole. It really is. And our source 00:01:13.560 --> 00:01:16.159 material today is not a sprawling textbook. It's 00:01:16.159 --> 00:01:19.519 not some dense... thesis from a central bank. 00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:24.420 It is literally a single, remarkably brief Wikipedia 00:01:24.420 --> 00:01:27.200 disambiguation page. Just a disambiguation page. 00:01:27.420 --> 00:01:29.260 Just that. And the subject is just one hyper 00:01:29.260 --> 00:01:33.280 specific thing. The $200 banknote. OK, let's 00:01:33.280 --> 00:01:34.959 unpack this, because we deal with money every 00:01:34.959 --> 00:01:37.140 single day. But have you ever actually stopped 00:01:37.140 --> 00:01:39.239 to think about the number 200 on a physical bill? 00:01:39.560 --> 00:01:41.319 Most people definitely have it. And the very 00:01:41.319 --> 00:01:43.719 fact that this source is a disambiguation page 00:01:43.719 --> 00:01:46.159 is, I think, the perfect place to start our analysis. 00:01:46.260 --> 00:01:48.239 Oh, absolutely. Because a disambiguation page 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.739 is not an encyclopedia entry, right? It doesn't 00:01:50.739 --> 00:01:52.519 exist until a narrative or give you a history 00:01:52.519 --> 00:01:54.939 lesson. It is an administrative crossroads. A 00:01:54.939 --> 00:01:58.219 digital traffic cop. Exactly. It exists strictly 00:01:58.219 --> 00:02:01.280 because a database recognizes that human beings 00:02:01.280 --> 00:02:05.459 are actively searching for the term $200, they're 00:02:05.459 --> 00:02:08.139 getting completely lost, and they need a system 00:02:08.139 --> 00:02:10.379 to point them toward the correct reality. Right. 00:02:10.379 --> 00:02:12.139 They're searching it because they're confused. 00:02:12.419 --> 00:02:14.460 But to understand why people are getting lost, 00:02:14.460 --> 00:02:17.780 we actually need to flip the structure of this 00:02:17.780 --> 00:02:20.379 web page completely upside down. Let's do it. 00:02:20.500 --> 00:02:22.759 Before we look at the few places on Earth where 00:02:22.759 --> 00:02:24.780 this bill actually exists, we need to look at 00:02:24.780 --> 00:02:27.500 the very bottom of the page. Because after listing 00:02:27.500 --> 00:02:30.319 a few sovereign nations, the page ends with a 00:02:30.319 --> 00:02:33.569 see also section. As most Wikipedia pages Right, 00:02:33.870 --> 00:02:36.189 but that section links to exactly one topic, 00:02:36.270 --> 00:02:39.509 just one, and it says, fake denominations of 00:02:39.509 --> 00:02:42.870 United States currency. It is a profound structural 00:02:42.870 --> 00:02:45.069 contrast when you think about it. It's wild. 00:02:45.289 --> 00:02:47.650 The source dedicates its primary real estate 00:02:47.650 --> 00:02:50.550 to detailing functioning real world economies, 00:02:51.189 --> 00:02:53.969 and then implicitly singles out the United States 00:02:53.969 --> 00:02:57.430 as a place where the $200 bill is entirely an 00:02:57.430 --> 00:03:00.030 illusion. So... What does this all mean? Like 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:02.189 I want to focus on the psychology of that counterfeiting 00:03:02.189 --> 00:03:04.569 for a second. Think about it from the perspective 00:03:04.569 --> 00:03:09.389 of a criminal trying to pass fake money at, say, 00:03:09.849 --> 00:03:13.069 a local convenience store. Okay. Put myself in 00:03:13.069 --> 00:03:15.469 the mind of the counterfeiter. Right. The entire 00:03:15.469 --> 00:03:17.789 goal is to blend in, isn't it? You want to print 00:03:17.789 --> 00:03:20.930 a fake 20 or maybe a 50. You want to hand the 00:03:20.930 --> 00:03:22.930 cashier something they see a hundred times a 00:03:22.930 --> 00:03:25.569 day so their brain just, you know, glosses over 00:03:25.569 --> 00:03:27.349 it. Sure. You want it to be invisible in its 00:03:27.349 --> 00:03:30.710 normality. Exactly. So why on earth would someone 00:03:30.710 --> 00:03:33.469 go through all the trouble of inventing a denomination 00:03:33.469 --> 00:03:35.810 that the U .S. government has never actually 00:03:35.810 --> 00:03:38.770 minted? It seems totally counterintuitive. It 00:03:38.770 --> 00:03:40.909 feels like slipping a rubber chicken into an 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:43.479 exhibit of exotic birds and just hoping nobody 00:03:43.479 --> 00:03:46.199 notices. I would actually push back on the rubber 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:49.560 chicken analogy, honestly. No. Why is that? Well, 00:03:49.699 --> 00:03:52.379 because a rubber chicken is an overt self -aware 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.759 joke. Right. Everyone looks at it and knows it 00:03:54.759 --> 00:03:58.120 doesn't belong. OK, fair. But a fake $200 bill 00:03:58.120 --> 00:04:01.259 operates on a completely different level. It 00:04:01.259 --> 00:04:04.280 isn't a joke at all. If we connect this to the 00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:07.139 bigger picture, it is a targeted psychological 00:04:07.139 --> 00:04:10.500 exploit designed to bypass our critical thinking. 00:04:10.599 --> 00:04:12.740 An exploit? OK, wait. Walk me through that. How 00:04:12.740 --> 00:04:14.919 is a fake number an exploit? Think about it. 00:04:15.360 --> 00:04:18.439 It exploits base 10 mathematics and the human 00:04:18.439 --> 00:04:21.459 brain's hardwired expectation for logical progression. 00:04:21.500 --> 00:04:23.980 Oh, wow. OK. Look at how our brains categorize 00:04:23.980 --> 00:04:26.699 money. We have a $1 bill, and we have a 2. Right. 00:04:26.759 --> 00:04:28.819 We have a 10, and we have a 20. We have a 50, 00:04:28.819 --> 00:04:31.300 and we have a 100. Yeah, there's a pattern. Exactly. 00:04:31.920 --> 00:04:34.720 Our cognitive momentum is built entirely on doubling, 00:04:34.939 --> 00:04:39.740 1 to 2, 10 to 20, 50 to 100. So when an unsuspecting 00:04:39.740 --> 00:04:43.139 person is handed a $200 bill, even if they have 00:04:43.139 --> 00:04:45.319 literally never seen one in their entire life, 00:04:45.860 --> 00:04:47.959 a deep subconscious part of their brain whispers, 00:04:48.360 --> 00:04:50.720 well, mathematically, this should exist. Wow. 00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:53.699 That is so manipulative. So the counterfeiter 00:04:53.699 --> 00:04:56.100 is essentially relying on the victim's innate 00:04:56.100 --> 00:04:59.189 sense of mathematical momentum. Precisely. The 00:04:59.189 --> 00:05:02.610 math adds up so perfectly that it overrides the 00:05:02.610 --> 00:05:04.810 empirical fact that the government never printed 00:05:04.810 --> 00:05:07.389 the thing in the first place. Standard counterfeiting 00:05:07.389 --> 00:05:10.209 relies on like visual mimicry, right? Getting 00:05:10.209 --> 00:05:12.670 the ink right, copying the security thread, making 00:05:12.670 --> 00:05:15.930 the paper feel crunchy. Yes. The physical attributes. 00:05:16.170 --> 00:05:18.810 But faking a denomination that doesn't exist 00:05:18.810 --> 00:05:22.790 relies entirely on cognitive mimicry. It mimics 00:05:22.790 --> 00:05:25.589 the structure of how we think money ought to 00:05:25.589 --> 00:05:28.250 behave. Which is brilliant and terrifying. And 00:05:28.250 --> 00:05:30.430 this raises an important question, right? Why 00:05:30.430 --> 00:05:33.730 do humans naturally try to invent a denomination 00:05:33.730 --> 00:05:36.680 that doesn't natively exist? It's because we 00:05:36.680 --> 00:05:39.259 want it to exist. We want it to exist so badly 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:41.500 because it makes cognitive sense. And I guess 00:05:41.500 --> 00:05:43.540 that brings us right back to why the internet 00:05:43.540 --> 00:05:46.120 has to intervene with a disambiguation page in 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:48.339 the first place. The confusion is incredibly 00:05:48.339 --> 00:05:51.439 potent. It is. Imagine someone in a major US 00:05:51.439 --> 00:05:55.000 city gets handed a $200 bill. They feel that 00:05:55.000 --> 00:05:56.879 cognitive friction, right? Where their logic 00:05:56.879 --> 00:05:58.680 tells them it's real, but their memory tells 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:00.540 them it's alien. So what do they do? They pull 00:06:00.540 --> 00:06:04.420 out their phone. They search. $200, and the web 00:06:04.420 --> 00:06:06.980 essentially has to step in and act as a localized 00:06:06.980 --> 00:06:09.920 referee. The traffic cop. Right. It says, hey, 00:06:10.259 --> 00:06:13.139 if you are in the United States, your math brain 00:06:13.139 --> 00:06:16.399 betrayed you. You've been robbed. It is the internet 00:06:16.399 --> 00:06:19.959 acting as the ultimate arbiter of localized reality. 00:06:21.019 --> 00:06:23.779 What is a perfectly mathematically logical piece 00:06:23.779 --> 00:06:27.420 of paper in one time zone is literally a felony 00:06:27.420 --> 00:06:30.040 in another. But wait, if our brains want this 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:32.819 number to exist so badly that we will literally 00:06:32.819 --> 00:06:36.120 accept fake versions of it, why is it so incredibly 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:38.839 rare in the real world? That is the big question. 00:06:38.959 --> 00:06:41.399 Because the Wikipedia page establishes that rarity 00:06:41.399 --> 00:06:43.519 right out of the gate. I mean, the very first 00:06:43.519 --> 00:06:45.339 sentence of the text, before we even get to the 00:06:45.339 --> 00:06:47.560 list of countries, it sets this almost mystical 00:06:47.560 --> 00:06:49.620 tone. It does. It's very blunt. It just says, 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:52.639 there are a small number of $200 banknotes. Notice 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:55.160 how sparse that phrasing is, too. Yeah. It doesn't 00:06:55.160 --> 00:06:58.439 say five countries or a handful of active currencies. 00:06:58.720 --> 00:07:01.459 It just says a small number. It treats the 200 00:07:01.459 --> 00:07:04.779 like it's this ultra -exclusive VIP club. I like 00:07:04.779 --> 00:07:07.699 that. Think about it. The ones, the tens, the 00:07:07.699 --> 00:07:10.720 twenties, the hundreds, they are general admission. 00:07:11.139 --> 00:07:13.879 They are the baseline template for almost every 00:07:13.879 --> 00:07:16.620 economy on the planet anyone can get in. They're 00:07:16.620 --> 00:07:20.540 on the guest list. Right. But the 200 has a giant 00:07:20.540 --> 00:07:24.220 imposing bouncer at the door, and almost no country's 00:07:24.220 --> 00:07:26.839 central bank actually makes the cut. And the 00:07:26.839 --> 00:07:29.839 reason so few countries make the cut really comes 00:07:29.839 --> 00:07:32.839 down to the tension between that cognitive logic 00:07:32.839 --> 00:07:35.199 we just discussed and sheer economic friction. 00:07:35.500 --> 00:07:37.899 Economic friction. Okay, elaborate on that. Well, 00:07:37.899 --> 00:07:40.180 printing money isn't just about fulfilling mathematical 00:07:40.180 --> 00:07:42.339 sequences. Central banks don't care if a number 00:07:42.339 --> 00:07:44.259 looks pretty on a spreadsheet. They care about 00:07:44.259 --> 00:07:46.800 function. Right. It's about velocity and physical 00:07:46.800 --> 00:07:50.040 reality. How fast does cash move through a society? 00:07:50.439 --> 00:07:52.600 How much physical paper do you need to conduct 00:07:52.600 --> 00:07:55.720 daily business without just totally overwhelming 00:07:55.720 --> 00:07:59.420 a cashier's physical drawer? Right, the actual 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:02.639 physical space in the register. Precisely. Most 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:05.000 central banks have calculated over decades of 00:08:05.000 --> 00:08:08.420 trial and error that jumping directly from a 00:08:08.420 --> 00:08:11.920 100 unit bill to a 500 unit bill or honestly 00:08:11.920 --> 00:08:14.160 just requiring citizens to carry a few extra 00:08:14.160 --> 00:08:17.199 hundreds, is significantly more efficient than 00:08:17.199 --> 00:08:19.660 introducing a middle tier denomination that only 00:08:19.660 --> 00:08:21.759 gets used sporadically. Because introducing a 00:08:21.759 --> 00:08:23.980 new bill is an administrative nightmare. Oh, 00:08:24.019 --> 00:08:26.259 it's massive. You have to redesign cash registers. 00:08:26.399 --> 00:08:29.259 You have to recalibrate ATMs nationwide. You 00:08:29.259 --> 00:08:31.420 have to launch public awareness campaigns so 00:08:31.420 --> 00:08:33.480 people know what the new bill looks like. It's 00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:35.580 a huge undertaking. So the cost of admission 00:08:35.580 --> 00:08:39.340 to this VIP club is just too steep for most economies 00:08:39.340 --> 00:08:41.600 to bother with. They look at the 200 and say, 00:08:41.740 --> 00:08:44.559 mathematically pleasing, but practically useless. 00:08:44.840 --> 00:08:47.700 Which is why the concept remains, as the text 00:08:47.700 --> 00:08:50.740 says, a small number. Right. And you can actually 00:08:50.740 --> 00:08:53.620 see the tension of that exclusivity playing out 00:08:53.620 --> 00:08:56.259 in the hidden metadata of the Wikipedia page 00:08:56.259 --> 00:08:59.299 itself. Oh, the Wikidata note. Yes. There's a 00:08:59.299 --> 00:09:01.279 hidden category listed at the bottom that I found 00:09:01.279 --> 00:09:03.980 completely fascinating. It just notes, short 00:09:03.980 --> 00:09:06.320 description is different from Wikidata. Such 00:09:06.320 --> 00:09:08.419 a seemingly minor detail. Right. And I'm not 00:09:08.419 --> 00:09:11.120 a backend programmer, but... That detail really 00:09:11.120 --> 00:09:13.759 stood out to me as this weird crack in the digital 00:09:13.759 --> 00:09:16.320 pavement. Like, why is that distinction there? 00:09:16.659 --> 00:09:18.759 It's actually a brilliant look under the hood 00:09:18.759 --> 00:09:21.679 of how human knowledge is categorized. Think 00:09:21.679 --> 00:09:25.059 about what Wikidata represents. It is the rigid, 00:09:25.500 --> 00:09:28.899 unyielding ontology of the web. It is a database 00:09:28.899 --> 00:09:32.720 that demands singular, clean truths. Everything 00:09:32.720 --> 00:09:36.200 needs a box. But the human facing Wikipedia page 00:09:36.200 --> 00:09:38.399 requires a totally different description. Because 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:41.789 the human facing reality is messy. The database 00:09:41.789 --> 00:09:46.029 wants to file $200 into a neat universal box, 00:09:46.350 --> 00:09:48.809 but the internet itself is admitting that a singular 00:09:48.809 --> 00:09:52.269 definition is impossible. Wow. The Wikidata discrepancy 00:09:52.269 --> 00:09:54.970 proves that the concept of a 200 is totally fractured. 00:09:55.210 --> 00:09:57.549 It isn't one unified reality. It is a collection 00:09:57.549 --> 00:10:00.169 of highly isolated localized truths scattered 00:10:00.169 --> 00:10:02.529 across the globe. Which leads us perfectly to 00:10:02.529 --> 00:10:04.690 the actual roster. Let's look at the club members. 00:10:04.830 --> 00:10:06.610 Right. If we get past the bouncer and walk into 00:10:06.610 --> 00:10:09.269 this VIP club who actually made the cut, who 00:10:09.269 --> 00:10:11.779 are the members of of this small number. This 00:10:11.779 --> 00:10:14.220 is where it gets really interesting geographically. 00:10:14.419 --> 00:10:17.340 Because as you read the list, any assumption 00:10:17.340 --> 00:10:19.879 you might have about regional economic strategies 00:10:19.879 --> 00:10:22.600 just completely disintegrates. Yeah, human nature 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:25.559 drives us to find patterns. We look at a list 00:10:25.559 --> 00:10:29.360 of five items, and our instinct is to immediately 00:10:29.360 --> 00:10:33.100 try to draw a circle around them on a map. We 00:10:33.100 --> 00:10:35.220 want to connect the dots. We want to find the 00:10:35.220 --> 00:10:38.590 geopolitical reason. why these specific nations 00:10:38.590 --> 00:10:41.610 share this highly specific trade. But the map 00:10:41.610 --> 00:10:44.470 refuses to cooperate. Completely refuses. The 00:10:44.470 --> 00:10:47.429 very first entry on the list is one of the Nicaraguan 00:10:47.429 --> 00:10:49.970 Cordoba banknotes. So your brain thinks, OK, 00:10:50.029 --> 00:10:52.590 this is a Central American phenomenon. That's 00:10:52.590 --> 00:10:54.730 the logical leap. But then the immediate next 00:10:54.730 --> 00:10:57.610 bullet point is one of the Philippine peso banknotes. 00:10:57.610 --> 00:11:00.429 Right. We have just jumped halfway across the 00:11:00.429 --> 00:11:02.429 planet, entirely over the Pacific Ocean. There 00:11:02.429 --> 00:11:04.950 is no shared border. There is no shared currency 00:11:04.950 --> 00:11:07.980 union like the eurozone. It proves that the existence 00:11:07.980 --> 00:11:11.700 of a $200 bill isn't the result of some coordinated 00:11:11.700 --> 00:11:14.799 global strategy or shared cultural values. It's 00:11:14.799 --> 00:11:17.320 totally disconnected. Exactly. It is the result 00:11:17.320 --> 00:11:20.460 of highly specific localized economic conditions 00:11:20.460 --> 00:11:23.259 arriving at the exact same mathematical conclusion. 00:11:23.539 --> 00:11:25.659 Totally independent of one another. Nicaragua 00:11:25.659 --> 00:11:28.039 needed it. The Philippines needed it. But they 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:30.019 certainly didn't consult each other before printing 00:11:30.019 --> 00:11:32.509 them. And the third entry on the list drives 00:11:32.509 --> 00:11:35.889 that localized, isolated point home in a way 00:11:35.889 --> 00:11:38.929 that feels incredibly forensic to me. The Taiwan 00:11:38.929 --> 00:11:42.129 entry. Yes. The page doesn't just list the currency 00:11:42.129 --> 00:11:44.730 of Taiwan. It specifies, and I'm quoting directly 00:11:44.730 --> 00:11:47.850 from the text here, one of the fifth series of 00:11:47.850 --> 00:11:50.750 the new Taiwan dollar banknote. That specific 00:11:50.750 --> 00:11:53.830 phrasing isolates a very, very precise moment 00:11:53.830 --> 00:11:56.620 in time. It really does. It demands that you, 00:11:56.840 --> 00:11:59.919 the reader, recognize the fifth series. Right. 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:02.220 Not the whole currency, just the fifth iteration. 00:12:02.480 --> 00:12:04.940 And as someone looking at this page, even without 00:12:04.940 --> 00:12:07.059 knowing a single thing about the comprehensive 00:12:07.059 --> 00:12:09.879 banking history of Taiwan, that level of precision 00:12:09.879 --> 00:12:12.759 forces you to realize something profound about 00:12:12.759 --> 00:12:15.120 what money actually is. Because if it's the fifth 00:12:15.120 --> 00:12:17.799 series. Right. If this bill only belongs to the 00:12:17.799 --> 00:12:20.100 fifth series, it implies it wasn't there for 00:12:20.100 --> 00:12:22.860 the first, second, third or fourth. And it very 00:12:22.860 --> 00:12:25.220 well might not be there for the sixth. Exactly. 00:12:25.340 --> 00:12:27.720 It frames money not as a permanent artifact, 00:12:27.860 --> 00:12:30.580 but as an ongoing design project. That is such 00:12:30.580 --> 00:12:32.720 a crucial philosophical distinction, though. 00:12:33.139 --> 00:12:35.600 We treat physical currency as if it were carved 00:12:35.600 --> 00:12:38.259 in stone, handed down from antiquity. Like it's 00:12:38.259 --> 00:12:40.720 always been there. Right. We view our bills as 00:12:40.720 --> 00:12:43.080 these permanent fixtures of our national identity. 00:12:43.600 --> 00:12:46.539 But the detail of the fifth series stress away 00:12:46.539 --> 00:12:49.019 that illusion entirely. It really does. It reminds 00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:51.559 us that money is constantly in a state of draft. 00:12:51.720 --> 00:12:54.639 A central bank can observe the velocity of commerce, 00:12:55.299 --> 00:12:57.299 realize that inflation or maybe just changing 00:12:57.299 --> 00:13:00.600 consumer habits demand a new physical tool, and 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.379 simply draft a $200 bill into existence. It gives 00:13:03.379 --> 00:13:07.360 the $200 bill this fleeting, almost comet -like 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:10.059 quality. Oh, I like that, a comet. Yeah, it just 00:13:10.059 --> 00:13:12.259 winks into existence when the localized math 00:13:12.259 --> 00:13:14.799 demands it, and then it can vanish just as quickly 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:18.070 in the next design iteration. It turns a mundane 00:13:18.070 --> 00:13:20.690 bullet point on a Wikipedia page into a story 00:13:20.690 --> 00:13:23.629 about the impermanence of economies. And as we 00:13:23.629 --> 00:13:26.610 continue down the list, we see that impermanence 00:13:26.779 --> 00:13:30.000 And frankly, obscurity reflected in the very 00:13:30.000 --> 00:13:33.039 structure of the web page itself. Right, because 00:13:33.039 --> 00:13:36.080 we move to the final two members of this rare 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:38.980 global club, bringing entirely new continents 00:13:38.980 --> 00:13:41.379 into the picture. Expanding the map again. We 00:13:41.379 --> 00:13:44.179 get the Namibian dollar checking the box for 00:13:44.179 --> 00:13:47.259 Africa and the Surinamese dollar bringing South 00:13:47.259 --> 00:13:49.779 America into the fold. So the global footprint 00:13:49.779 --> 00:13:52.879 is now complete. Central America, Southeast Asia, 00:13:53.240 --> 00:13:56.360 East Asia, Africa and South America. It is a 00:13:56.360 --> 00:13:59.799 truly global, albeit incredibly sparse, phenomenon. 00:14:00.600 --> 00:14:02.659 Here's where it gets really interesting, though. 00:14:02.659 --> 00:14:05.039 The formatting. The formatting. The way the source 00:14:05.039 --> 00:14:08.100 formats these last two entries is distinctly 00:14:08.100 --> 00:14:10.080 different from the first three. You were referring 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:11.919 to the section links. Yes, the section links. 00:14:12.039 --> 00:14:14.639 For Nicaragua, the Philippines, and Taiwan, the 00:14:14.639 --> 00:14:16.440 page simply hands you the name of the currency, 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:18.860 just the straight link. Right. But for Namibia 00:14:18.860 --> 00:14:21.519 and Suriname, it provides a set of navigation 00:14:21.519 --> 00:14:23.559 instructions. Like a map to find the information. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:27.779 Exactly. See Namibian dollar, followed by a section 00:14:27.779 --> 00:14:30.500 symbol, you know, that little double S typographic 00:14:30.500 --> 00:14:33.220 mark, and then the word banknotes. And it does 00:14:33.220 --> 00:14:36.620 the exact same thing for Suriname. See Surinamese 00:14:36.620 --> 00:14:39.860 dollar section banknotes. Well, in digital architecture, 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:43.279 that section symbol represents an administrative 00:14:43.279 --> 00:14:46.360 hierarchy. OK, break that down for me. It immediately 00:14:46.360 --> 00:14:49.899 tells the user that the $200 bill is not the 00:14:49.899 --> 00:14:53.539 primary subject of the target page. I find that 00:14:53.539 --> 00:14:56.139 structural shift really telling, because we talked 00:14:56.139 --> 00:14:59.120 earlier about how introducing a 200 bill is an 00:14:59.120 --> 00:15:01.240 administrative headache for central banks, right? 00:15:01.320 --> 00:15:02.919 Because it's a middle tier denomination that 00:15:02.919 --> 00:15:05.299 might not see heavy circulation. Right, the economic 00:15:05.299 --> 00:15:07.919 friction. Here, you see that exact friction playing 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:09.799 out in the formatting of the internet itself. 00:15:10.139 --> 00:15:12.860 It's like opening a massive filing cabinet. For 00:15:12.860 --> 00:15:14.980 the first three countries, the file is right 00:15:14.980 --> 00:15:16.659 there in the front folder, just boom, there it 00:15:16.659 --> 00:15:19.799 is. But for Namibia and Suriname, the internet 00:15:19.799 --> 00:15:21.799 is essentially telling you, yes, we have this 00:15:21.799 --> 00:15:24.080 bill. on record but it is not the headline. You 00:15:24.080 --> 00:15:27.120 have to open the main economy file. bypass the 00:15:27.120 --> 00:15:29.980 overarching history, scroll past the coins, and 00:15:29.980 --> 00:15:33.379 locate a specific subfolder labeled banknotes 00:15:33.379 --> 00:15:36.779 just to find proof of its existence. Which perfectly 00:15:36.779 --> 00:15:39.799 reinforces the overarching theme of the entire 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:43.639 disambiguation page. Marginalization. Marginalization. 00:15:43.879 --> 00:15:46.480 Even in the sovereign nations, where the $200 00:15:46.480 --> 00:15:50.419 bill is a legitimate legal piece of tender, it 00:15:50.419 --> 00:15:53.240 occupies a marginalized space. It requires a 00:15:53.240 --> 00:15:56.399 submenu. just to be located. Wow. It is literally 00:15:56.399 --> 00:15:58.759 a footnote in its own economy. A footnote in 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:00.820 its own economy. That is a perfect way to describe 00:16:00.820 --> 00:16:02.940 it. It completely aligns with the idea that the 00:16:02.940 --> 00:16:05.340 200 is a denomination we mathematically understand, 00:16:05.379 --> 00:16:08.080 but practically ignore. Yet, despite being buried 00:16:08.080 --> 00:16:10.940 in a submenu, its presence on this list is absolutely 00:16:10.940 --> 00:16:13.440 vital for our broader understanding of the topic. 00:16:13.500 --> 00:16:16.600 Because it expands the club. Exactly. By adding 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.710 Namibia and surname, It demonstrates that the 00:16:19.710 --> 00:16:23.009 desire to print a $200 bill is not constrained 00:16:23.009 --> 00:16:26.549 by hemisphere or culture or language. It is a 00:16:26.549 --> 00:16:29.970 universal human idea. It just rarely survives 00:16:29.970 --> 00:16:32.750 the jump from concept to the actual printing 00:16:32.750 --> 00:16:34.970 press. We have covered a surprising amount of 00:16:34.970 --> 00:16:37.570 philosophical ground today for a web page that 00:16:37.570 --> 00:16:40.690 takes maybe, what, 15 seconds to read top to 00:16:40.690 --> 00:16:42.850 bottom? It's incredibly dense when you actually 00:16:42.850 --> 00:16:45.049 unpack it. It really is. I mean, we started by 00:16:45.049 --> 00:16:47.690 looking at how our human brains are so hardwired 00:16:47.690 --> 00:16:50.529 for base 10 mathematical progression that we 00:16:50.529 --> 00:16:53.669 will actively fall for a fake $200 US dollar 00:16:53.669 --> 00:16:55.950 bill just because it feels like it should logically 00:16:55.950 --> 00:16:58.779 exist. And we explore the sh - exclusivity of 00:16:58.779 --> 00:17:01.340 the true $200 bill, recognizing that while it 00:17:01.340 --> 00:17:04.460 is a logical concept, it is an absolute economic 00:17:04.460 --> 00:17:07.559 rarity, constrained to a small, globally scattered, 00:17:07.759 --> 00:17:10.279 and totally disconnected club from Nicaragua 00:17:10.279 --> 00:17:13.170 to Taiwan. We realized that money is not a permanent 00:17:13.170 --> 00:17:15.829 fixture, but a series of drafts and design projects, 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:18.390 which we saw in the hyper -specific fifth series 00:17:18.390 --> 00:17:20.930 of the new Taiwan dollar. Right. And we saw how 00:17:20.930 --> 00:17:23.529 the Internet itself struggles to categorize this 00:17:23.529 --> 00:17:26.950 phantom number, relying on disambiguation pages, 00:17:27.430 --> 00:17:30.569 conflicting Wikidata metadata, and filing cabinet 00:17:30.569 --> 00:17:33.789 submenus just to maintain some semblance of order 00:17:33.789 --> 00:17:35.869 for the user. The takeaway for you listening 00:17:35.869 --> 00:17:38.809 to this is to fundamentally reconsider the everyday 00:17:38.809 --> 00:17:41.619 objects you trust implicitly. Absolutely. A number 00:17:41.619 --> 00:17:44.059 printed on a piece of paper is not an absolute 00:17:44.059 --> 00:17:47.200 universal truth. It is a highly localized agreement. 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:49.599 And it leaves me with a final thought that I 00:17:49.599 --> 00:17:51.440 really want you to carry with you today. Let's 00:17:51.440 --> 00:17:54.019 hear it. We lean on the internet to resolve our 00:17:54.019 --> 00:17:56.880 confusion, right? To act as a definitive traffic 00:17:56.880 --> 00:18:00.460 cock when our human intuition fails us. But intuition 00:18:00.460 --> 00:18:02.960 is incredibly stubborn. It is very difficult 00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:05.279 to override what feels mathematically correct. 00:18:05.480 --> 00:18:08.650 Exactly. So imagine the scenario. If you are 00:18:08.650 --> 00:18:12.309 handed a crisp, freshly printed $200 bill tomorrow, 00:18:12.849 --> 00:18:15.470 your very first instinct before you calculate 00:18:15.470 --> 00:18:17.630 the math in your head, before you plan how you 00:18:17.630 --> 00:18:20.170 are going to spend it, your first instinct should 00:18:20.170 --> 00:18:22.150 be to stop and check your surroundings. Look 00:18:22.150 --> 00:18:24.710 around. Look at the street signs. Are you in 00:18:24.710 --> 00:18:27.609 Nicaragua? Are you in the Philippines, Taiwan, 00:18:27.849 --> 00:18:30.250 Namibia, or Suriname? Because if you aren't, 00:18:30.470 --> 00:18:32.210 the piece of paper in your hand isn't money. 00:18:32.509 --> 00:18:35.250 It's an exploit. It is a testament to human assumption. 00:18:35.529 --> 00:18:37.630 It is a piece of that see -also section brought 00:18:37.630 --> 00:18:41.150 to life. It makes you wonder how much of our 00:18:41.150 --> 00:18:43.730 daily reality and our fundamental belief in the 00:18:43.730 --> 00:18:46.349 systems around us is held together simply because 00:18:46.349 --> 00:18:48.230 we recognize the number someone else printed 00:18:48.230 --> 00:18:51.529 on a page. Until next time, keep diving deep.