We know now that you can’t turn “base metals” into gold through chemical processes, but if you could, gold would no longer be scarce and therefore no more valuable than the base metals.
They’ll probably just put an arbitrary standard to differentiate “naturally occurring” gold from the one processed one, just like how artificial diamonds are the exact same thing as the natural one but it’s the blood, sweat, and tears that give it value.
Mainly the blood though.
“… and this particular diamond, although smaller, cost extra blood, and three young children died getting it. That’s why, despite being twice the cost, it’s the perfect stone for your wedding ring!”
It only becomes unscarce if you tell everyone else how to do it. If you can make gold, and no one else can, then its free money for you.
I could not be trusted with this power. I would rather tank the gold standard than be rich.
Why? The world will just move to a different standard, and although it would hurt rich people it also likely would cause a ton of problems for regular folk too
