WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:05.040 There are currently about 46 million glaring, 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:08.759 heavily publicized typos sitting inside the wallets, 00:00:08.900 --> 00:00:11.460 purses, and cash registers of an entire nation 00:00:11.460 --> 00:00:13.400 right now. Yeah, and they aren't fixed either. 00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.570 Right. They aren't counterfeit at all. They're 00:00:15.570 --> 00:00:17.489 printed by a national government. They're worth 00:00:17.489 --> 00:00:20.089 literally billions of dollars in everyday commerce. 00:00:20.269 --> 00:00:22.609 And get this, the central bank knows exactly 00:00:22.609 --> 00:00:25.910 what they did. It really it challenges our perception 00:00:25.910 --> 00:00:28.309 of what authority looks like. I mean, we trust 00:00:28.309 --> 00:00:31.530 our money to be this mathematically perfect, 00:00:32.030 --> 00:00:34.710 flawlessly engineered institution. Exactly. But 00:00:34.710 --> 00:00:36.429 then you look a little closer and realize it's 00:00:36.429 --> 00:00:39.490 well, it's as vulnerable to a basic spell check 00:00:39.490 --> 00:00:42.390 failure as a high school essay. Welcome to this 00:00:42.390 --> 00:00:44.210 deep dive learner. If you're joining us today, 00:00:44.329 --> 00:00:46.770 our mission is to take something completely ubiquitous 00:00:46.770 --> 00:00:48.909 like something you handle without a second thought 00:00:48.909 --> 00:00:51.469 and just crack it open. Right. To reveal the 00:00:51.469 --> 00:00:53.590 massive amount of hidden history, the cutting 00:00:53.590 --> 00:00:57.609 edge science and the deeply human errors printed 00:00:57.609 --> 00:00:59.810 right on its surface. Today, our source material 00:00:59.810 --> 00:01:02.130 is the Wikipedia page for the Australian fifty 00:01:02.130 --> 00:01:05.069 dollar note. And if you're in Australia or, you 00:01:05.069 --> 00:01:07.769 know, familiar with the country, you know, this 00:01:07.769 --> 00:01:09.890 isn't just a piece of currency. It has a real 00:01:09.890 --> 00:01:12.250 personality. Oh, for sure. It's printed in this 00:01:12.250 --> 00:01:16.090 bright, unmistakable yellow gold color, which 00:01:16.090 --> 00:01:18.129 has earned it a highly affectionate, slightly 00:01:18.129 --> 00:01:21.390 fruity nickname. The pineapple. Handing over 00:01:21.390 --> 00:01:24.730 a pineapple to pay for a tank of gas. And what's 00:01:24.730 --> 00:01:26.769 amazing to me is that people pass these pineapples 00:01:26.769 --> 00:01:29.510 back and forth every single day without ever, 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:32.650 you know, stopping to read the miniature stories 00:01:32.650 --> 00:01:35.090 embedded in the plastic. Because when you really 00:01:35.090 --> 00:01:38.329 study the $50 note, it stops being just about 00:01:38.329 --> 00:01:41.159 money. It acts as a physical timeline. A timeline 00:01:41.159 --> 00:01:43.299 of what, exactly? Well, it tracks Australia's 00:01:43.299 --> 00:01:45.859 battle with global inflation. It's evolving national 00:01:45.859 --> 00:01:49.359 identity. And this is key. The incredibly delicate 00:01:49.359 --> 00:01:52.040 balance between world class anti counterfeiting 00:01:52.040 --> 00:01:55.140 technology and the messy subjectivity of human 00:01:55.140 --> 00:01:57.640 language. OK, let's unpack this because to really 00:01:57.640 --> 00:01:59.859 appreciate the modern high tech pineapple, we 00:01:59.859 --> 00:02:01.420 have to go back to a time when it didn't even 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:05.040 exist. Right. Let's jump back to 1966. This was 00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:07.359 a monumental year for the Australian economy 00:02:07.359 --> 00:02:09.699 because it was the initial rollout of decimal 00:02:09.699 --> 00:02:12.770 currency. They finally transitioned away from 00:02:12.770 --> 00:02:15.669 the incredibly complicated British system of 00:02:15.669 --> 00:02:18.409 pounds, shillings, and pence. Right. But in that 00:02:18.409 --> 00:02:21.770 huge 1966 rollout, if you went to the bank, you 00:02:21.770 --> 00:02:24.050 actually couldn't get a $50 note. They didn't 00:02:24.050 --> 00:02:26.349 make one. Exactly. The highest denominations 00:02:26.349 --> 00:02:29.050 were much lower, just the 10 and the 20. Really? 00:02:29.270 --> 00:02:31.349 Just the 20? Yeah. The reason is simple. You 00:02:31.349 --> 00:02:33.590 just didn't need a $50 note yet. I mean, the 00:02:33.590 --> 00:02:36.849 purchasing power of a $20 note in 1966 was substantial. 00:02:37.389 --> 00:02:39.629 You could buy a week's worth of groceries and 00:02:39.629 --> 00:02:43.229 still have change left over Wow, but then the 00:02:43.229 --> 00:02:47.949 1970s hit and This is where the global economy 00:02:47.949 --> 00:02:51.810 essentially caught a virus you had oil shocks 00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:54.629 you had widespread global inflation. Yeah, it 00:02:54.629 --> 00:02:56.729 was a rough decade globally. Right. And it took 00:02:56.729 --> 00:02:59.349 exactly seven years of this inflation to force 00:02:59.349 --> 00:03:02.909 the Australian government's hand. By 1973, everyday 00:03:02.909 --> 00:03:06.250 items cost significantly more. The physical cash 00:03:06.250 --> 00:03:08.810 in people's pockets wasn't going as far, and 00:03:08.810 --> 00:03:11.770 they had to introduce the $50 denomination just 00:03:11.770 --> 00:03:15.129 to keep commerce functioning smoothly. To me, 00:03:15.449 --> 00:03:18.569 introducing a new massive banknote isn't necessarily 00:03:18.569 --> 00:03:22.069 a sign of national progress. It's like releasing 00:03:21.930 --> 00:03:25.050 a software patch for a struggling economy. That's 00:03:25.050 --> 00:03:27.150 a great way to put it. It's an admission that 00:03:27.150 --> 00:03:29.849 your currency's purchasing power is bugged and 00:03:29.849 --> 00:03:31.930 you need a hot fix to keep the system running. 00:03:32.189 --> 00:03:34.210 That is a brilliant way to frame it. It is an 00:03:34.210 --> 00:03:36.469 economic hot fix, but more importantly, it's 00:03:36.469 --> 00:03:39.469 a massive public relations challenge. Oh, how 00:03:39.469 --> 00:03:42.370 so? Well, when a government issues a brand new 00:03:42.370 --> 00:03:44.669 exceptionally high -value banknote specifically 00:03:44.669 --> 00:03:47.689 because of inflation, the public is understandably 00:03:47.689 --> 00:03:49.919 anxious. people feel like their money is losing 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:52.120 its anchor. Right. It feels unstable. Exactly. 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:55.539 So the design of that specific note becomes psychologically 00:03:55.539 --> 00:03:57.699 crucial. The government have to ask themselves, 00:03:57.840 --> 00:04:00.319 what visual message do we put in people's wallets 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:02.620 to make them feel secure when the economy feels 00:04:02.620 --> 00:04:05.979 so shaky? And their answer in 1973 was hard science. 00:04:06.539 --> 00:04:09.259 The original paper $50 note was designed by Gordon 00:04:09.259 --> 00:04:13.180 Andrews, and it completely bypassed politicians, 00:04:13.719 --> 00:04:15.919 monarchs, or military generals, and went straight 00:04:15.919 --> 00:04:18.670 to laboratories and research. Which is such an 00:04:18.670 --> 00:04:21.209 interesting choice. On the front, you have this 00:04:21.209 --> 00:04:24.649 incredibly detailed portrait of Australian pathologist 00:04:24.649 --> 00:04:28.389 Howard Walter Flory, Baron Flory, and he's surrounded 00:04:28.389 --> 00:04:30.930 by scenes of laboratory equipment and research. 00:04:31.069 --> 00:04:33.389 And Baron Flory wasn't just some local academic. 00:04:33.769 --> 00:04:36.970 He was a Nobel laureate who co -discovered penicillin. 00:04:37.149 --> 00:04:39.850 Oh, wow. Yeah, he was a monumental figure in 00:04:39.850 --> 00:04:42.910 global medicine whose work literally saved millions 00:04:42.910 --> 00:04:45.189 of lives. Right. And then on the back of the 00:04:45.189 --> 00:04:47.899 note, they double down on the science. They feature 00:04:47.899 --> 00:04:52.019 Sir Ian Clooney's Ross. Ah, yes. He was a prominent 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:54.480 veterinary scientist and the very first chairman 00:04:54.480 --> 00:04:57.959 of the CSIRO, which is Australia's National Science 00:04:57.959 --> 00:05:00.779 Agency. Right, the CSIRO. He's pictured alongside 00:05:00.779 --> 00:05:03.000 scenes from the Australian environment, focusing 00:05:03.000 --> 00:05:05.860 on agriculture and veterinary science, which, 00:05:06.019 --> 00:05:09.160 you know, were the absolute backbone of Australia's 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:11.040 export wealth at the time. If we connect this 00:05:11.040 --> 00:05:13.699 to the bigger picture... Putting these specific 00:05:13.699 --> 00:05:15.939 scientists and laboratories on the initial $50 00:05:15.939 --> 00:05:18.879 note speaks volumes about what a nation wants 00:05:18.879 --> 00:05:21.620 to project during times of economic shift. Like 00:05:21.620 --> 00:05:24.420 stability. Exactly. They are appealing to the 00:05:24.420 --> 00:05:27.819 ultimate objective authority. It's a psychological 00:05:27.819 --> 00:05:30.860 cue to the public saying, yes, the economy is 00:05:30.860 --> 00:05:33.480 experiencing turbulence, but our foundation is 00:05:33.480 --> 00:05:36.829 rational. peer -reviewed and globally significant. 00:05:37.329 --> 00:05:40.009 We are anchored by objective truth. So you look 00:05:40.009 --> 00:05:42.329 at the know and think, well, Baron Flory cured 00:05:42.329 --> 00:05:44.569 bacterial infections. I guess the central bank 00:05:44.569 --> 00:05:46.790 can cure inflation. Ah, exactly. That's a very 00:05:46.790 --> 00:05:49.550 comforting piece of paper. But that scientific 00:05:49.550 --> 00:05:52.649 paper era doesn't last forever. Fast forward 00:05:52.649 --> 00:05:56.089 to 1995 and we hit a massive revolution in currency. 00:05:56.750 --> 00:06:00.649 Wednesday, October 4th, 1995, the note goes from 00:06:00.649 --> 00:06:04.660 paper to polymer. plastic money, and this wasn't 00:06:04.660 --> 00:06:06.839 just an aesthetic choice, it was driven by another 00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:09.040 technological threat. Counterfeiting. Yep. The 00:06:09.040 --> 00:06:11.439 rise of cheap, high -quality color photocopiers, 00:06:11.740 --> 00:06:13.680 paper money, no matter how intricate the design, 00:06:14.040 --> 00:06:15.819 was just becoming increasingly vulnerable to 00:06:15.819 --> 00:06:18.199 everyday counterfeiters. So polymer was the engineering 00:06:18.199 --> 00:06:20.680 solution. And with that engineering shift, the 00:06:20.680 --> 00:06:23.439 thematic design, which was handled by Brian Sadgrove, 00:06:23.720 --> 00:06:26.600 dramatically shifts as well. We move completely 00:06:26.600 --> 00:06:29.459 away from the sterile laboratories of the 70s, 00:06:29.620 --> 00:06:32.040 and we pivot entirely toward groundbreaking fur 00:06:32.040 --> 00:06:34.439 orgs in human history. The people who broke the 00:06:34.439 --> 00:06:37.660 social mold. Right. The figures chosen for this 00:06:37.660 --> 00:06:40.699 redesign are phenomenal. On the front, we have 00:06:40.699 --> 00:06:45.100 David Uniipon. He was a Ngarin Jerry man, a brilliant 00:06:45.100 --> 00:06:48.399 inventor who patented a modified handpiece for 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:50.509 sheep shearing. Oh, wow. I didn't know that. 00:06:50.769 --> 00:06:53.589 Yeah. And crucially, he was the very first Aboriginal 00:06:53.589 --> 00:06:56.610 Australian to publish a work in Australia. The 00:06:56.610 --> 00:06:58.629 sheer amount of localized history they packed 00:06:58.629 --> 00:07:00.730 into his side of the note is staggering. They 00:07:00.730 --> 00:07:02.689 didn't just use his face, they included technical 00:07:02.689 --> 00:07:04.589 drawings of his mechanical inventions. Yep, the 00:07:04.589 --> 00:07:06.829 shearing handpiece. And they included an actual 00:07:06.829 --> 00:07:08.970 extract from the original manuscript of his book, 00:07:09.230 --> 00:07:11.389 Legendary Tales of the Australian Aborigines. 00:07:11.750 --> 00:07:14.430 And then, they go even deeper. They included 00:07:14.430 --> 00:07:16.569 an illustration of the Rawukan Church, which 00:07:16.569 --> 00:07:19.069 is a historical landmark on the mission where 00:07:19.069 --> 00:07:21.449 Unaypon grew up. And if you look closely, standing 00:07:21.449 --> 00:07:23.509 right in front of that church, they depicted 00:07:23.509 --> 00:07:26.459 a specific couple, Polly and Malarum. I found 00:07:26.459 --> 00:07:29.139 this detail so fascinating when researching this. 00:07:29.699 --> 00:07:31.779 Why Malarum? They could have just drawn generic 00:07:31.779 --> 00:07:33.920 figures to represent the community, right? They 00:07:33.920 --> 00:07:36.639 could have, yeah. But Malarum was highly respected 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:39.980 as the last initiated member of the local Ngarinjeri 00:07:39.980 --> 00:07:43.259 people. He played a massive role in recording 00:07:43.259 --> 00:07:45.600 the ancient history of the Ngarinjeri people 00:07:45.600 --> 00:07:48.439 of the Karong region. It's incredibly specific. 00:07:48.620 --> 00:07:50.540 And the back of the note is equally specific. 00:07:50.750 --> 00:07:54.029 You have Edith Cowan, the first female member 00:07:54.029 --> 00:07:57.089 of any Australian Parliament. She's pictured 00:07:57.089 --> 00:07:59.470 next to Western Australia's original Parliament 00:07:59.470 --> 00:08:01.949 House. And there's an illustration of a foster 00:08:01.949 --> 00:08:04.569 mother with children, referencing her pioneering 00:08:04.569 --> 00:08:07.490 work in women's and children's welfare. What's 00:08:07.490 --> 00:08:09.470 fascinating here is that we are witnessing the 00:08:09.470 --> 00:08:11.670 aviation of what currency is actually supposed 00:08:11.670 --> 00:08:15.550 to do. By the 1990s, the polymer note acts as 00:08:15.550 --> 00:08:18.269 a portable monument. A portable monument. I like 00:08:18.269 --> 00:08:22.089 that. Think about the contrast from 1973. In 00:08:22.089 --> 00:08:25.009 the 70s, the nation established its legitimacy 00:08:25.009 --> 00:08:29.990 via sterile objective science. But in the 1990s, 00:08:30.129 --> 00:08:32.289 establishing the nation meant honoring social 00:08:32.289 --> 00:08:35.870 pioneers and acknowledging deep ancient heritage. 00:08:35.950 --> 00:08:37.870 Right, shifting the focus. It's a deliberate 00:08:37.870 --> 00:08:40.429 assertion that Australia's wealth isn't just 00:08:40.429 --> 00:08:43.490 in its laboratories, you know, it's in its complex 00:08:43.490 --> 00:08:46.370 human history, its indigenous roots and its democratic 00:08:46.370 --> 00:08:49.289 milestones. I really love that concept. But here's 00:08:49.289 --> 00:08:51.629 where it gets really interesting, because unlike 00:08:51.629 --> 00:08:54.889 a monument carved out of marble or bronze, this 00:08:54.889 --> 00:08:57.330 polymer note is essentially a James Bond gadget. 00:08:57.590 --> 00:08:59.590 Oh, absolutely. We are looking at this rich human 00:08:59.590 --> 00:09:02.070 history, but beneath the surface there are layers 00:09:02.070 --> 00:09:04.889 of hyper advanced security tech that rely on 00:09:04.889 --> 00:09:07.190 the physical properties of the plastic itself. 00:09:07.490 --> 00:09:09.809 The physical security features are a marvel of 00:09:09.809 --> 00:09:12.360 engineering. Because polymer isn't just durable, 00:09:12.779 --> 00:09:15.720 it allows for completely different, highly secure 00:09:15.720 --> 00:09:18.720 manufacturing techniques that paper simply cannot 00:09:18.720 --> 00:09:21.240 support. For instance, the clear window. There 00:09:21.240 --> 00:09:23.940 is a completely transparent window right in the 00:09:23.940 --> 00:09:25.759 bank note. You can look right through it. And 00:09:25.759 --> 00:09:28.220 the way they do this is brilliant. They don't 00:09:28.220 --> 00:09:30.120 print a window onto the plastic. They take a 00:09:30.120 --> 00:09:33.429 sheet of clear plastic and just intentionally 00:09:33.429 --> 00:09:36.529 leave that spot unprinted with opaque ink. Which 00:09:36.529 --> 00:09:39.070 is a nightmare for counterfeiters. Right. A counterfeiter 00:09:39.070 --> 00:09:41.990 with a scanner literally cannot replicate transparency. 00:09:42.129 --> 00:09:43.970 They would have to, like, cut a hole in a piece 00:09:43.970 --> 00:09:46.370 of paper and tape plastic into it, which feels 00:09:46.370 --> 00:09:49.049 obvious the second you touch it. Exactly. And 00:09:49.049 --> 00:09:51.289 inside that clear window, the Southern Cross 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:54.110 Star Formation is printed, and the number 50 00:09:54.110 --> 00:09:56.990 is physically embossed into the plastic. And 00:09:56.990 --> 00:09:58.789 then there are the secrets you can only see under 00:09:58.789 --> 00:10:01.539 a blacklight. If you hold the back of the banknote 00:10:01.539 --> 00:10:04.480 up to an ultraviolet light, a hidden patch with 00:10:04.480 --> 00:10:07.940 a number 50 suddenly glows. And the serial numbers 00:10:07.940 --> 00:10:10.480 are wild. Well, they are. There are two serial 00:10:10.480 --> 00:10:12.440 numbers on the note, one printed in black and 00:10:12.440 --> 00:10:15.019 one in blue, but they use completely different 00:10:15.019 --> 00:10:17.720 fonts for each one, and both of those serial 00:10:17.720 --> 00:10:20.980 numbers glow under UV light. Think about how 00:10:20.980 --> 00:10:23.639 hard that makes life for someone trying to fake 00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:26.059 it. Yeah, you don't just have to fake the ink. 00:10:26.259 --> 00:10:29.200 You have to master two completely different printing 00:10:29.200 --> 00:10:32.299 algorithms that react specifically to ultraviolet 00:10:32.299 --> 00:10:43.600 radiation. only appears when you shine a light 00:10:43.600 --> 00:10:46.080 directly through the plastic. It is an absolute 00:10:46.080 --> 00:10:49.000 triumph of precision. Every single micron of 00:10:49.000 --> 00:10:52.759 this polymer is calculated. It is rigid mathematical 00:10:52.759 --> 00:10:55.360 perfection. Which, and this is the best part, 00:10:55.940 --> 00:10:59.279 makes the textual mystery on this note so incredibly 00:10:59.279 --> 00:11:02.159 ironic. Oh man, yeah. We have this hyper precise, 00:11:02.620 --> 00:11:05.039 untouchable James Bond plastic, and right in 00:11:05.039 --> 00:11:08.000 the middle of it is a messy, deeply human, highly 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:10.559 contested academic debate over a single word. 00:11:10.879 --> 00:11:13.840 The manuscript extract. Yes. Right. So printed 00:11:13.840 --> 00:11:15.879 on the front of the note is an excerpt from David 00:11:15.879 --> 00:11:18.679 Unapon's manuscript. It reads, as a full -blooded 00:11:18.679 --> 00:11:21.120 member of my race, I think I may claim to be 00:11:21.120 --> 00:11:23.500 the first, but I hope not the last, to produce 00:11:23.500 --> 00:11:26.399 an enduring record of our customs, beliefs, and 00:11:26.399 --> 00:11:29.100 imaginings. But here's the problem. The word 00:11:29.100 --> 00:11:32.139 imaginings was supposedly misspelled on the original 00:11:32.139 --> 00:11:34.759 note and then later corrected by the bank. But 00:11:34.759 --> 00:11:38.200 was it actually a mistake? That's the big question. 00:11:38.379 --> 00:11:40.740 Because there is an alternate theory, a very 00:11:40.740 --> 00:11:44.559 deep academic debate, that suggests Onipon didn't 00:11:44.559 --> 00:11:47.320 write imaginings at all. He originally wrote 00:11:47.320 --> 00:11:50.500 the word imaging. Imaging without the M. And 00:11:50.500 --> 00:11:52.519 the theory suggests that he later changed it 00:11:52.519 --> 00:11:56.480 to imaginings himself because the general, predominantly 00:11:56.480 --> 00:11:58.940 white public of the time wouldn't understand 00:11:58.940 --> 00:12:02.019 the complex epistemological underpinnings of 00:12:02.019 --> 00:12:04.139 his original phrasing. Wait, hold on. I'm losing 00:12:04.139 --> 00:12:06.440 you a bit here. What is the actual difference 00:12:06.440 --> 00:12:08.840 between imaging and imaginings? That's a fair 00:12:08.840 --> 00:12:10.940 question. To a layman like me, they sound like 00:12:10.940 --> 00:12:13.259 the exact same thing, just daydreaming or picturing 00:12:13.259 --> 00:12:15.419 something in your head or making things up. Why 00:12:15.419 --> 00:12:17.639 does dropping me in matter so much? Well, this 00:12:17.639 --> 00:12:19.970 raises an important question about how history 00:12:19.970 --> 00:12:22.509 is preserved and really the power dynamics of 00:12:22.509 --> 00:12:24.629 language. Let's break down the epistemology, 00:12:24.710 --> 00:12:26.889 which is simply the study of how we know what 00:12:26.889 --> 00:12:29.809 we know. For an Aboriginal scholar in the early 00:12:29.809 --> 00:12:32.509 20th century, navigating a heavily colonized 00:12:32.509 --> 00:12:36.309 society, words carry immense weight. Right. If 00:12:36.309 --> 00:12:39.009 you use the word imaginings, it implies myths, 00:12:39.490 --> 00:12:42.659 fairy tales, fictions made up in the mind. It 00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.080 subtly diminishes the reality and validity of 00:12:45.080 --> 00:12:47.840 his people's customs and beliefs. It frames them 00:12:47.840 --> 00:12:51.100 as quaint stories. Ah, I see. It trivializes 00:12:51.100 --> 00:12:54.200 them. Exactly. But imaging, creating an image, 00:12:54.539 --> 00:12:56.980 reflecting a true reality, or projecting a concrete 00:12:56.980 --> 00:13:00.220 identity into the world is a much more active, 00:13:00.620 --> 00:13:03.100 deliberate, and powerful concept. Oh, wow. It 00:13:03.100 --> 00:13:05.279 is a philosophical assertion that his people's 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:07.860 beliefs are a real, tangible framework, not just 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:10.639 fantasies. Wow. So by correcting the spelling 00:13:10.639 --> 00:13:13.259 to imaginings, by enforcing standard English 00:13:13.259 --> 00:13:15.500 grammar on the text, the bank, or even Unipon's 00:13:15.500 --> 00:13:17.820 original editors, might have actually been erasing 00:13:17.820 --> 00:13:20.179 his deliberate subversive philosophical statement. 00:13:20.379 --> 00:13:22.659 That is the core of the debate. We view the bank 00:13:22.659 --> 00:13:25.159 note as this flawless piece of technology, but 00:13:25.159 --> 00:13:27.960 text is inherently subjective. Language is messy. 00:13:28.320 --> 00:13:31.220 Are we fixing a typo, or are we overwriting a 00:13:31.220 --> 00:13:33.460 genius who is intentionally bending the English 00:13:33.460 --> 00:13:36.720 language to accurately describe his people's 00:13:36.720 --> 00:13:39.929 reality? It's a profound philosophical debate 00:13:39.929 --> 00:13:42.669 that exists right there in the ink, hidden beneath 00:13:42.669 --> 00:13:48.570 the UV security features. perfectly sets the 00:13:48.570 --> 00:13:50.529 stage for what happens next in the timeline. 00:13:50.850 --> 00:13:53.629 Because if the debate over imaging versus imaginings 00:13:53.629 --> 00:13:57.110 is a high -level epistemological mystery, what 00:13:57.110 --> 00:14:00.210 happened during the 2018 upgrade was just an 00:14:00.210 --> 00:14:02.529 undeniable, incredibly embarrassing mass -produced 00:14:02.529 --> 00:14:05.330 blunder. Oh, the modern upgrade. Yes. So to set 00:14:05.330 --> 00:14:07.649 the scene in 2012, the Reserve Bank of Australia 00:14:07.649 --> 00:14:10.350 announces a massive project to upgrade the nation's 00:14:10.350 --> 00:14:12.730 banknotes over the coming years with next -generation 00:14:12.730 --> 00:14:15.269 security. They successfully roll out the new 00:14:15.269 --> 00:14:18.710 $5 and $10 notes. and then in February 2018, 00:14:19.090 --> 00:14:21.590 they proudly unveiled the design for the brand 00:14:21.590 --> 00:14:24.529 new, highly anticipated $50 note. It's officially 00:14:24.529 --> 00:14:27.809 released to the public in October 2018. And visually, 00:14:27.809 --> 00:14:29.809 you know, it's a beautiful continuation of the 00:14:29.809 --> 00:14:33.230 1995 theme. They retained the portraits of Edith 00:14:33.230 --> 00:14:36.029 Cowan and David Unapon, but they enriched it 00:14:36.029 --> 00:14:38.830 by incorporating new artwork by Muriel van der 00:14:38.830 --> 00:14:42.509 Beil AM. Right. She is a prominent Karna and 00:14:42.509 --> 00:14:45.450 Angaran Jerry artist, deeply tying the modern 00:14:45.450 --> 00:14:48.200 note to indigenous artistry. It looks amazing. 00:14:48.259 --> 00:14:50.899 It has even more updated mind -bending security 00:14:50.899 --> 00:14:53.940 features. It is peak currency technology. Absolutely. 00:14:54.159 --> 00:14:56.840 But in May 2019, about seven months after the 00:14:56.840 --> 00:14:59.200 release, members of the general public start 00:14:59.200 --> 00:15:01.740 looking a little too closely at the microscopic 00:15:01.740 --> 00:15:04.100 text printed on Edith Cowan's side of the note. 00:15:04.279 --> 00:15:06.659 It's an excerpt from her maiden speech to Parliament. 00:15:06.899 --> 00:15:09.480 And they realize something is missing. The letter 00:15:09.480 --> 00:15:12.299 I. The letter I. In the word responsibility, 00:15:12.600 --> 00:15:16.629 it is literally spelled R -E -S -P. O -N -S -I 00:15:16.629 --> 00:15:20.870 -B -I -L -T -Y. Responsibility. It is the ultimate 00:15:20.870 --> 00:15:23.370 testament to human error in the face of technological 00:15:23.370 --> 00:15:25.629 perfection, isn't it? Yeah, totally. The security 00:15:25.629 --> 00:15:27.529 features are impenetrable, the polymer chemistry 00:15:27.529 --> 00:15:29.889 is flawless, but someone just forgot to run spell 00:15:29.889 --> 00:15:31.529 check on the microtext before they hit print 00:15:31.529 --> 00:15:33.389 on the tresses. And I looked up the numbers on 00:15:33.389 --> 00:15:35.149 this because my immediate thought was, okay, 00:15:35.149 --> 00:15:37.649 they caught a typo, just recall that batch, burn 00:15:37.649 --> 00:15:40.230 them, and start over. How many notes could possibly 00:15:40.230 --> 00:15:43.049 be affected? A lot. It wasn't a small batch. 00:15:43.289 --> 00:15:47.740 It was 46 million notes. 46 million. How can 00:15:47.740 --> 00:15:50.960 a government knowingly circulate a typo on that 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.139 scale? Because the Reserve Bank of Australia 00:15:53.139 --> 00:15:55.440 actually had to come clean and admit they had 00:15:55.440 --> 00:15:58.659 known about the typo since December 2018, months 00:15:58.659 --> 00:16:00.279 before the public noticed it. Yeah, they knew. 00:16:00.399 --> 00:16:02.279 But they just released them into circulation 00:16:02.279 --> 00:16:05.039 anyway. Those 46 million typos are still out 00:16:05.039 --> 00:16:07.779 there right now, acting as legal tender. It sounds 00:16:07.779 --> 00:16:10.519 absurd until you look at the macroeconomic mechanics 00:16:10.519 --> 00:16:13.399 of the $50 note. To understand why the central 00:16:13.399 --> 00:16:15.840 bank let that slide, you have to realize that 00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:17.860 the pineapple is not just another piece of paper. 00:16:18.080 --> 00:16:20.159 It is the absolute workhorse of the Australian 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:22.519 economy. Right. Just to give you the scale, in 00:16:22.519 --> 00:16:25.879 June 2017, right before this new note was finalized, 00:16:26.320 --> 00:16:30.200 there were $686 million $50 notes in circulation. 00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:33.960 $686 million. That is an ocean of pineapples. 00:16:34.299 --> 00:16:38.610 It equated to over $34 billion. That single denomination 00:16:38.610 --> 00:16:42.809 represented 47 % of the total value of all circulating 00:16:42.809 --> 00:16:45.490 bank notes in the entire country. Wow. Almost 00:16:45.490 --> 00:16:47.370 half of the physical cash value in Australia 00:16:47.370 --> 00:16:50.309 was tied up in the $50 note alone. Oh, wow. So 00:16:50.309 --> 00:16:52.850 when you realize 46 million of your newest notes 00:16:52.850 --> 00:16:55.750 have a typo, you literally can't just recall 00:16:55.750 --> 00:16:58.409 them without causing a massive logistical nightmare 00:16:58.409 --> 00:17:02.190 for banks, ATMs, and everyday businesses. Exactly. 00:17:02.610 --> 00:17:04.670 Think about the pragmatic logic of the Reserve 00:17:04.670 --> 00:17:08.160 Bank. These 46 million notes are highly advanced, 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:10.420 they are perfectly secure against counterfeiting, 00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:12.720 they function flawlessly in sorting machines, 00:17:13.000 --> 00:17:15.740 and they cost a fortune to produce. Yeah, printing 00:17:15.740 --> 00:17:18.380 polymer isn't cheap. Right. So destroying tens 00:17:18.380 --> 00:17:20.119 of millions of perfectly good banknotes over 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:22.779 a missing letter, in a word, you need a magnifying 00:17:22.779 --> 00:17:25.160 glass to see. That would be a massive waste of 00:17:25.160 --> 00:17:27.119 taxpayer money. That makes sense. Ironically, 00:17:27.220 --> 00:17:29.539 destroying them would be a far worse economic 00:17:29.539 --> 00:17:32.480 responsibility than simply letting the typo circulate. 00:17:32.559 --> 00:17:35.559 So the bank made the pragmatic choice. You correct 00:17:35.559 --> 00:17:37.819 the digital file for the next print run, and 00:17:37.819 --> 00:17:40.400 you let the flawed ones do their job in the economy. 00:17:40.980 --> 00:17:43.420 Responsibility. I just can't get over the irony 00:17:43.420 --> 00:17:46.480 of a spelling mistake on a note honoring Australia's 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:49.839 first published Aboriginal author, a literal 00:17:49.839 --> 00:17:52.579 man of letters. Yeah, it's pretty poetic. So 00:17:52.579 --> 00:17:55.410 what does this all mean? We started this deep 00:17:55.410 --> 00:17:57.990 dive by looking at the $50 note as a canvas, 00:17:58.049 --> 00:18:01.029 and it really is. It evolved from this inflation 00:18:01.029 --> 00:18:03.750 -driven... It is subject to messy academic debates 00:18:03.750 --> 00:18:06.640 over the epistemology of a single word. And it 00:18:06.640 --> 00:18:09.079 is vulnerable to the most basic typographical 00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:12.299 errors imaginable. The money you ebbs and mindedly 00:18:12.299 --> 00:18:15.140 stuff in your pocket to buy a coffee is a brilliantly 00:18:15.140 --> 00:18:17.799 engineered, yet wonderfully flawed masterpiece. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:19.960 And I think that leads to a really fascinating 00:18:19.960 --> 00:18:22.259 final thought for you to mull over. We talked 00:18:22.259 --> 00:18:24.579 about David Unipon's quote on the front of the 00:18:24.579 --> 00:18:27.380 note. His hope to produce an enduring record 00:18:27.380 --> 00:18:30.079 of his people's customs and beliefs. He wanted 00:18:30.079 --> 00:18:33.410 his truth to survive. the test of time. An enduring 00:18:33.410 --> 00:18:36.589 record. Exactly. Now consider the reality of 00:18:36.589 --> 00:18:39.549 polymer. It takes an incredibly long time to 00:18:39.549 --> 00:18:42.900 degrade. There are 46 million pieces of highly 00:18:42.900 --> 00:18:45.240 durable plastic currently circulating, legal 00:18:45.240 --> 00:18:47.599 tender, carrying a glaring spelling mistake. 00:18:48.220 --> 00:18:50.380 Yeah. Thousands of years from now, when future 00:18:50.380 --> 00:18:52.779 historians or archaeologists dig up our wallets 00:18:52.779 --> 00:18:55.180 from the ruins of our cities, what kind of enduring 00:18:55.180 --> 00:18:57.859 record are we actually leaving behind? Oh, that's 00:18:57.859 --> 00:19:00.720 a good question. Will they marvel at our advanced 00:19:00.720 --> 00:19:04.119 polymer chemistry, our complex economy, and our 00:19:04.119 --> 00:19:07.019 deep reverence for social pioneers? Or will they 00:19:07.019 --> 00:19:09.579 just look at this pristine, undegraded piece 00:19:09.579 --> 00:19:12.220 of plastic under a microscope and conclude that 00:19:12.220 --> 00:19:15.460 for all our immense technological power, we simply 00:19:15.460 --> 00:19:17.759 lost the ability to use spell check. A highly 00:19:17.759 --> 00:19:20.220 secure museum in your pocket, complete with typos. 00:19:20.420 --> 00:19:21.259 We will leave you with that.