I think one of the best and most prominent examples of the precession of a simulacrum in our society has been the development of currency and a market economy. In early societies, goods were traded for goods through bartering, allowing producers of different goods to specialize in a specific trade where they have skill or opportunity, and still be able to meet their other basic needs beyond what they can produce for themselves. Following this system of bartering, goods were priced based on a set commodity (e.g. salt), which was accepted “universally” within a society, and could be used to purchase all types of goods. These set commodities were eventually replaced by precious metals, valued for their scarcity, and ability to maintain their value. Eventually, print currency was developed in order to make trade easier, (you no longer need to carry lbs of gold bars around to make simple purchases) and this currency held value in that it was backed by gold of the issuing country. Eventually, countries went off the gold standard, and currency maintained its value by the issuing governments ability to guarantee its value, through developing a stable and sustainable economy—typically based on strong trade and the production of goods. Simplifying this down, the money we have in our wallets, and in our bank accounts (although there actually isn’t any currency “sitting” in our bank accounts) has value because we say and believe it has value. Currency valuations are also now susceptible to international speculation, as banks and individuals trade currency in the hopes that international political and financial events will cause changes in the scarcity and value of a currency. All of this creates a situation where the value of “money” is hard to determine; what is real? If the value of my bank account is based on computer data in a bank that represents currency, what happens if that bank account is hacked and the data is manipulated? Is my wealth “real”? We tell ourselves that, yes, of course, this currency and this data is real, and backed up by powerful economies; however if this system were to crash, currencies would have no value, and we would return to the days when physical goods exist as currency and are the determinant of value in our society. In this sense, currency/monetary values have become hyperreal.
fantastic point