General Equivalent
The first call was rather short, but neither of them cared. After all, the length of the meeting didn't matter, as long as things could move forward.
Moreover, this was only the first video conference; it was just the beginning, and there are still many things to discuss later.
Sure enough, the video was just turned off, and both sides of humanity are now in a state of distress.
Yes, it's both sides.
Humanity's claims of having traded and interacted with many civilizations are, of course, just like the Nair Civilization. Therefore, the list discussed in this round of video conferences is essentially a self-inflicted torment by both sides in an attempt to gain the upper hand in future negotiations.
Of course, from another perspective, the so-called list drawn up by both parties is actually a good way to probe each other's strengths and weaknesses. Although it may not immediately reveal whether the other party is a complete novice in trade, it can show how much experience they have in this area.
Because of this consideration, both sides reluctantly agreed to submit each other's trade lists, hoping to find loopholes in each other's lists.
However, while drafting the list is easy, pricing the various minerals, required resources, and technologies on the list is a real challenge.
After all, there is no standard currency between different civilizations, so you can't use gold as a measure.
Admittedly, even in the interstellar age, gold still has value. After all, even advanced civilizations may not be able to produce it. However, it is a mineral. Although its content may be low in the geology of a particular planet, there are many planets. With the mining efficiency of large-scale industry, gold can only be considered a Heavy Metal mineral, which is only used in the manufacture of various instruments and equipment. In the interstellar age, it has lost its function as a monetary standard.
If we are within the same civilization system, even in the interstellar era, it is not difficult to find equivalents. For example, the Contribution Coins that humans use now is actually measured by the value of labor.
Take minerals as an example. The mineral value of 1 Contribution Coins is roughly equivalent to the amount of minerals that a human could extract in a day by remotely operating mining equipment. If this amount is one ton, then 1 Contribution Coins can buy one ton of minerals. Of course, this is just an analogy. In reality, the pricing of Contribution Coins also varies according to the specific supply and demand situation in human society. In general, it has become a kind of credit currency within Human Civilization.
From this perspective, measuring value based on the output of labor is not a bad approach. However, it also has significant problems, because, like Contribution Coins, this system is ultimately measured by the value of human labor, and who knows how much it differs from the productivity of the Nair People?
What humans might consider an easy ton of ore to mine could be perceived by the Nair People as requiring a massive amount of manpower and resources, thus leading to a huge discrepancy in pricing.
This problem also exists between countries in the Earth Era. However, since we are all human beings, the differences exist but are not too outrageous. Furthermore, because we are all human beings living on the same Earth and using the same monetary standard, the price perception differences that arise in this situation can be reconciled by a series of financial factors.
But now they are two different civilizations, even different races, the only thing they have in common is that they are at the same level of technology.
Because they wanted to learn about human warship construction techniques and technology, the Nair People's plan to raid humans was temporarily shelved. Therefore, they are now focused on compiling a list, just like the humans.
Perhaps the experts from the Nair People already had a good idea of what was going on during the video conference, so they weren't worried about giving themselves away. In short, they first considered what good equivalent could be used, and if they couldn't find one, they would use the Nair People's own monetary system as a measure.
Anyway, we're in the interstellar age now, Nair People's monetary system isn't based on gold and silver. We'll just add some numerical values to the currency to correspond to a certain amount of labor and labor value, and that'll be about right.
This is actually one possible solution.
Humans initially thought the same way, and during discussions, experts elaborated on the matter, concluding that it was indeed feasible.
However, Yue Yuan always felt that something was missing.
At this point, an economics expert said, "Chief, since we and the Nair Civilization are both Level 2 Civilization, there must be some things we share. We can find these things and use them as a general equivalent between the two civilizations. Then we can use the value of these things as a benchmark, digitize a series of related factors such as the labor force, labor value, production cost, or acquisition cost required to obtain these things, and then we can get a pricing standard."
Upon hearing this, all the experts and scholars nodded in agreement.
One of the scholars frowned and said, "That's true, but how do we find this thing?"
Another scholar pondered for a moment and then shared his opinion, "Well, let's consider it from this perspective. Since this kind of thing can serve as an equivalent between two civilizations, then on the one hand, it must be something that we both possess or are capable of acquiring; on the other hand, it should be something created by Level 2 Civilization or something that only Level 2 Civilization is capable of mining and acquiring."
Once those words were spoken, everyone's thinking was opened up.
That's something only Level 2 Civilization can possess. That would be Level 2 Civilization technology, or Level 2 Civilization technological creations.
Thinking about it this way, the scope narrows down considerably. First, we can rule out all kinds of natural metals, and we can also rule out human-made Alloy No. 2, which were developed using alien spacecraft. So what are the hallmark technologies of Level 2 Civilization? They are nothing more than heavy nuclear fusion, Cold Nuclear Fusion, Neutrino Communicator, Neutrino Detection, Magnetic Shield, and three types of Super-Large Main Cannon.
These things are mostly based on certain technologies, so talking about the cost of manufacturing them doesn't seem quite right. After all, you can't use the value of manufacturing a Neutrino Communicator as a benchmark.
Just then, an economist suddenly spoke up, "Chief, perhaps we can use fuel as a general equivalent!"
"Fuel? You're not thinking of using a bunch of rocks as an equivalent, are you? If so, you might as well bring out the No. 1 Life Elixir!" A biologist shook his head and said.
"No, no, no," the economist said, raising his index finger and shaking it from side to side, as if to say that Life Elixir are the most difficult things to value.
Withdrawing his finger, the economist continued, "The fuel is not Heavy Nuclear Fusion fuel, but Cold Nuclear Fusion fuel."
He paused for a moment, then looked at Yue Yuan and everyone present, and began to explain the reasons for using Cold Nuclear Fusion fuel as a general equivalent for price measurement.
As he explained, smiles gradually appeared on everyone's faces.
First, Cold Nuclear Fusion fuel is something that cannot be obtained naturally. Second, it requires a Level 2 Civilization to produce. Finally, it is something that both civilizations possess.
In this way, humanity can use the labor, materials, technology, costs, and other factors required to produce 1KG, 10KG, 100KG, or even 1 ton of Cold Nuclear Fusion material as a benchmark unit to measure the value of other things, thus obtaining the value of other things.
For example, if one ton of Cold Nuclear Fusion fuel is equivalent to one Transaction Points, then the value of other things can be quantified by taking into account all the costs of producing Cold Nuclear Fusion materials.
This is indeed a good suggestion, and everyone thinks it's feasible.