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@screwtape@mastodon.sdf.org @kel@mastodon.online The french revolution is taught in history classes all over the world. Yet about 10 years after, napoleon became an emperor and everything the people had put in motion was co-opted. What is not so commonly discussed is that the revolution and napoleons empire settled the metric system. This was a formidable change as it simplified so many trade processes and data exchanges between scientist. It had an interesting side effect though: interest on loans were outlawed by the catholic church. In a world where every other region is going from base 6, to 12 via 20 and what not, calculating interest was close to whichcraft. But the metric system simplified this to an extend where even the pope could understand it. Well, understand the math and the potential profit, and thus interest on loans became legal.

i often think about this annecdote when i hear about the US student loan system. And when i do, my tinfoil cats start singing. Imagine a nation where interest on a loan is permitted, but only the rocket scientists and intelectuals get to be accustomed to interest's fundamental mathematical pattern.