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I want to tell you about the future of money.
我今天的話題是關(guān)于貨幣的未來，
Let's start with a story about this culture that lived in Micronesia in the early 1900s, called the Yap.
我們先從一個(gè)20世紀(jì)早期的故事開始，這個(gè)故事發(fā)生在密克羅尼西亞聯(lián)邦里一個(gè)叫做雅浦的小島上。
Now, I want to tell you about the Yap because their form of money is really interesting.
我提到這個(gè)雅浦島的原因是，他們使用的貨幣非常有趣。
They use these limestone discs called Rai stones.
他們使用的貨幣是由石灰?guī)r鑿刻出來的圓盤，稱為“拉伊石幣”。
Now, the Yap don't actually move these Rai stones around or exchange them the way we do with our coins,
不同于我們平時(shí)花錢的方式，雅浦人并不隨身帶著“拉伊”，也不像我們這樣兌換硬幣，
because Rai stones can get to be pretty massive. The largest is about four tons and 12 feet across.
因?yàn)樗麄兊摹袄潦瘞拧睂?shí)在太重了！最大的石幣可重達(dá)4噸，直徑達(dá)到3.6米。
So the Yap just keep track of who owns part of what stone.
所以雅浦人只是記錄下誰擁有哪些石幣的哪個(gè)部分。
There's a story about these sailors that were transporting a stone across the ocean when they ran into some trouble and the stone actually fell in.
有一個(gè)關(guān)于雅浦島船員的故事，他們在運(yùn)輸一塊石幣回到島上的途中，遇上海難而石沉大海。
The sailors got back to the main island and they told everyone what had happened.
當(dāng)船員們回到島上，把海上所發(fā)生的事告訴了大家。
And everyone decided that, actually, yes, the sailors had the stone and -- why not? -- it still counted.
最后大家一致決定，那些船員丟失的石幣仍然是他們財(cái)產(chǎn)的一部分，他們確實(shí)擁有過那塊石幣，為什么不算數(shù)呢？
Even though it was at the bottom of the ocean, it was still part of the Yap economy.
即使那塊石幣已經(jīng)沉入海底，它仍然是雅浦經(jīng)濟(jì)的一部分。
You might think that this was just a small culture a hundred years ago.
你可能會覺得這只是一百多年前存在于一個(gè)小島上的經(jīng)濟(jì)文化。
But things like this happen in the Western world as well, and the Yap actually still use a form of these stones.
但類似的經(jīng)濟(jì)文化也存在于歐洲，即使現(xiàn)如今，雅浦人也仍然把石幣作為一種交易貨幣。
