1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to text Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,000 --> 00:00:14,600 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 4 00:00:17,640 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: and I love all things tech and it is time 5 00:00:20,600 --> 00:00:25,640 Speaker 1: for a classic episode. This episode originally published on February 6 00:00:24,720 --> 00:00:30,120 Speaker 1: two thousand fourteen. It is called It's all about the Polymers. 7 00:00:31,640 --> 00:00:34,280 Speaker 1: I don't, I don't even. I mean, I guess I 8 00:00:34,360 --> 00:00:36,920 Speaker 1: was going for and all about the Benjamin's thing there. 9 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:39,480 Speaker 1: I don't. It was a long time ago. I don't 10 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,200 Speaker 1: remember coming up with that title. But yes, we're gonna 11 00:00:42,240 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: talk about polymers today, long chain molecules. Let's get into it. 12 00:00:47,360 --> 00:00:50,239 Speaker 1: This is a topic that was sent to us by 13 00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: one of our beloved listeners. Correct, Yes, this is listener 14 00:00:54,120 --> 00:00:57,480 Speaker 1: Matt via Twitter. I who said to us, in time 15 00:00:57,520 --> 00:01:00,480 Speaker 1: for Australia Day on Sunday, how about a podcast for 16 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:03,920 Speaker 1: Australia's polymer money. And you know what Australia Day was 17 00:01:03,960 --> 00:01:07,000 Speaker 1: several Sundays ago. Yes, this is This is not an 18 00:01:07,080 --> 00:01:10,160 Speaker 1: up to date and current podcast, so we apologize for 19 00:01:10,240 --> 00:01:13,959 Speaker 1: not managing to put it out before the day. We're 20 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,119 Speaker 1: just really early for next year, is the thing? Yeah, 21 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:20,200 Speaker 1: See here's the thing. Uh, time happens earlier in Australia 22 00:01:20,240 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 1: than it does over here. And that's the reason. I 23 00:01:23,200 --> 00:01:25,560 Speaker 1: don't think that's the reason. Let's just I'm trying to 24 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:27,680 Speaker 1: cover our tracks here, okay. So yeah, we wanted to 25 00:01:27,720 --> 00:01:31,000 Speaker 1: talk about polymer currency and what is it? Uh? And 26 00:01:31,200 --> 00:01:34,240 Speaker 1: why is it important? Why are so many other places 27 00:01:34,280 --> 00:01:36,640 Speaker 1: looking into it or have already adopted it at least 28 00:01:36,640 --> 00:01:40,360 Speaker 1: in some measure. Yeah, because Australia was that the first 29 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,720 Speaker 1: country to adopt an entire line of polymer notes to 30 00:01:44,840 --> 00:01:48,320 Speaker 1: completely switch over their paper currency to polymer currency. And 31 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:52,000 Speaker 1: that was back in six although they had started using 32 00:01:52,040 --> 00:01:57,320 Speaker 1: polymer notes way back, and other countries had had experimented 33 00:01:57,360 --> 00:02:02,400 Speaker 1: with it before, but no country had switched completely over 34 00:02:02,400 --> 00:02:06,240 Speaker 1: to polymer currency before Australia did it. Right, And now 35 00:02:06,280 --> 00:02:09,640 Speaker 1: more than twenty five other nations are are issuing some 36 00:02:09,800 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: polymer notes and and more adding themselves to the list 37 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,280 Speaker 1: all the time. The UK, for example, has plans to 38 00:02:15,400 --> 00:02:19,200 Speaker 1: introduce both a five pound Winston Churchill note and a 39 00:02:19,400 --> 00:02:23,959 Speaker 1: ten pound Jane Austin notes starting in seen respectively. That's 40 00:02:23,960 --> 00:02:27,480 Speaker 1: pretty cool. And so yeah, we're looking at upwards of 41 00:02:27,520 --> 00:02:32,160 Speaker 1: a billion of these entering circulation right in three years 42 00:02:32,200 --> 00:02:34,600 Speaker 1: in the UK alone, right, Yeah, it's it's a pretty 43 00:02:34,639 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: big rollout. They're going to be withdrawing all of their 44 00:02:37,160 --> 00:02:40,839 Speaker 1: paper notes for those two current those two denominations, right right, 45 00:02:41,160 --> 00:02:43,600 Speaker 1: So that makes makes us wonder like, what's the big 46 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:47,480 Speaker 1: deal here. So we're gonna set some some foundation before 47 00:02:47,520 --> 00:02:50,320 Speaker 1: we get into all the stuff about polymers, because you know, 48 00:02:50,520 --> 00:02:53,520 Speaker 1: it helps to actually understand bank notes in general, currency 49 00:02:53,560 --> 00:02:56,960 Speaker 1: in general before we jump into that. So a bank 50 00:02:57,000 --> 00:02:59,040 Speaker 1: note is just a unit of current currency. Most of 51 00:02:59,040 --> 00:03:01,640 Speaker 1: you out there probably very familiar with some sort of banknote. 52 00:03:01,680 --> 00:03:03,720 Speaker 1: Here in the United States, we talk about dollar bills, 53 00:03:03,840 --> 00:03:05,680 Speaker 1: five dollar bills, ten dollar bills, that kind of thing. 54 00:03:05,919 --> 00:03:08,320 Speaker 1: As you were saying, in the UK, it's the pound, 55 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:11,400 Speaker 1: you know, in a lot of European nations it's the euro, 56 00:03:11,919 --> 00:03:13,799 Speaker 1: that sort of stuff. Well, it's this is the These 57 00:03:13,840 --> 00:03:17,160 Speaker 1: are the actual physical bills that represent certain amounts of value. 58 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:21,880 Speaker 1: It represents a specific amount of value for a given 59 00:03:21,960 --> 00:03:25,480 Speaker 1: nation exactly. So yeah, five dollar bill in the United 60 00:03:25,480 --> 00:03:29,040 Speaker 1: States represents five dollars pretty straightforward when you get down 61 00:03:29,080 --> 00:03:31,240 Speaker 1: to it, Which is nice because as you've listen to 62 00:03:31,240 --> 00:03:33,480 Speaker 1: this podcast, you know some of the topics we cover 63 00:03:33,760 --> 00:03:37,360 Speaker 1: not so straightforward, right. Also, I'd like to apologize on 64 00:03:37,440 --> 00:03:40,720 Speaker 1: behalf of myself for for amount of value. That was 65 00:03:40,760 --> 00:03:44,880 Speaker 1: just a really spectacular phrasing. Oh, I get so redundantly 66 00:03:44,920 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 1: repetitive that I have to reiterate it occasionally. So at 67 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,440 Speaker 1: any rate, we want to talk also about what a 68 00:03:50,520 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: polymer is. Now, a polymer is a type of molecule. 69 00:03:54,080 --> 00:03:57,720 Speaker 1: It's does not necessarily mean natural versus synthetic. That there 70 00:03:57,720 --> 00:04:01,000 Speaker 1: are actually both natural polymers and some etic polymers out there. 71 00:04:01,480 --> 00:04:05,320 Speaker 1: This is a specific classification of molecules. Now, a polymer 72 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,920 Speaker 1: is made up of monomers. Not a big surprise there. 73 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:12,400 Speaker 1: Polymer means the poly means many, right, and mono means one. 74 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:15,120 Speaker 1: So a monomer is kind of like the base unit 75 00:04:15,200 --> 00:04:17,159 Speaker 1: of a polymer, which you end up being these long 76 00:04:17,320 --> 00:04:21,479 Speaker 1: chains of of molecules. They tend to be pretty resilient 77 00:04:21,560 --> 00:04:25,320 Speaker 1: and flexible, at least on the molecular level, depending upon uh, 78 00:04:25,560 --> 00:04:28,200 Speaker 1: what they're made out of. When you get it onto 79 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,600 Speaker 1: the macro scale, they may be more or less flexible 80 00:04:31,640 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: in other materials. But if you're looking at natural polymers, 81 00:04:35,120 --> 00:04:39,120 Speaker 1: that includes stuff like silk or amber and synthetic polymers 82 00:04:39,160 --> 00:04:43,040 Speaker 1: include man made rubber. Natural rubber also a polymer, obviously 83 00:04:43,560 --> 00:04:47,039 Speaker 1: not a synthetic one, thus the word natural um. But 84 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:51,560 Speaker 1: another synthetic polymer would be plastics. So uh, these have 85 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:56,080 Speaker 1: turned out to be incredibly useful materials for all sorts 86 00:04:56,080 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: of industries, the technology industry in particular. I mean, are 87 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 1: electronics wouldn't be what they are without these kind of 88 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,240 Speaker 1: plastic polymers, right. Plastics make it possible, yeah, because I mean, 89 00:05:06,279 --> 00:05:08,719 Speaker 1: otherwise we'd have to find some other material to make 90 00:05:08,760 --> 00:05:11,039 Speaker 1: everything out of and it would be all the prices 91 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,120 Speaker 1: would go up. Plastics cheap, it's easy to produce. So 92 00:05:14,200 --> 00:05:16,760 Speaker 1: these are all really important elements that you want in 93 00:05:16,839 --> 00:05:20,680 Speaker 1: any kind of material. And so some people started thinking, 94 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,440 Speaker 1: well maybe we could apply that to currency. So if 95 00:05:24,480 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: you look at it, we talked about what a bank 96 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:28,520 Speaker 1: note does, we talked about what a polymer is, So 97 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:32,920 Speaker 1: a polymer bank note is a banknote, mayor of Pombers Hey, 98 00:05:33,000 --> 00:05:36,000 Speaker 1: and we can end the podcast right here. Well we'll 99 00:05:36,040 --> 00:05:39,080 Speaker 1: keep going though, because you know me, I can't stop it. 100 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:41,080 Speaker 1: Just like whatever. It is like three and a half minutes. 101 00:05:41,400 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: So we're looking at these type of synthetic materials, mainly 102 00:05:45,600 --> 00:05:49,040 Speaker 1: the plastics family, that to be used as a bank 103 00:05:49,080 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: note UH. Using plastic. According to all the authorities who 104 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:58,440 Speaker 1: are issuing these polymer currency UH denominations, it's actually cheaper 105 00:05:59,000 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 1: than using paper in the long run. I mean, you know, 106 00:06:01,440 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: of course, the costs of setting up a program to 107 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,240 Speaker 1: create these things, it's going to be pretty expensive in 108 00:06:06,279 --> 00:06:09,000 Speaker 1: the short term. But once once you get it going, 109 00:06:09,080 --> 00:06:12,160 Speaker 1: it should be cheaper per bill to create these things, right, 110 00:06:12,200 --> 00:06:14,200 Speaker 1: And the idea behind that is, you know, you might say, well, 111 00:06:14,240 --> 00:06:17,360 Speaker 1: how is it cheaper per bill? And the thought is that, well, 112 00:06:17,600 --> 00:06:21,520 Speaker 1: these things are durable, they last longer than paper currency, 113 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:25,719 Speaker 1: and paper currency you have to continuously replace. So you 114 00:06:25,760 --> 00:06:28,040 Speaker 1: may not be aware of this, but if you have 115 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:30,560 Speaker 1: a paper bill and you use it, you actually go 116 00:06:30,560 --> 00:06:32,360 Speaker 1: out and you buy something with it, and someone else 117 00:06:32,360 --> 00:06:34,599 Speaker 1: goes out and buy something with it, and eventually those 118 00:06:34,600 --> 00:06:37,719 Speaker 1: bills make their ways to banks. And what happens is 119 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,240 Speaker 1: when a bank gets bills, they look at the bills 120 00:06:40,320 --> 00:06:42,920 Speaker 1: and if the bills have reached a certain level of use, 121 00:06:43,560 --> 00:06:46,280 Speaker 1: if they're if they're basically about to disintegrate or otherwise 122 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:51,840 Speaker 1: become um unusable or um, you probably don't want to 123 00:06:51,839 --> 00:06:56,680 Speaker 1: touch them. Then super gross, I think is the those 124 00:06:56,720 --> 00:06:59,920 Speaker 1: dollar bills or five dollars whatever, those notes get take 125 00:07:00,040 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: and out of circulation and replaced with brand new, fresh notes. 126 00:07:04,279 --> 00:07:08,720 Speaker 1: So when you hear about things like you know, a 127 00:07:08,839 --> 00:07:13,280 Speaker 1: treasury department printing up currency those bills, that doesn't represent 128 00:07:13,360 --> 00:07:16,400 Speaker 1: new wealth, right, that's not new as and that's not 129 00:07:16,480 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 1: adding wealth to the nation. What that's doing is that's 130 00:07:19,440 --> 00:07:23,080 Speaker 1: replacing old bills that were in circulation. The way you 131 00:07:23,120 --> 00:07:26,200 Speaker 1: create wealth is not by printing more money, because it's 132 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 1: as many countries have actually found in the past, and 133 00:07:28,920 --> 00:07:32,680 Speaker 1: and and sometimes people are printing money in order to 134 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:36,040 Speaker 1: increase the wealth. And there were huge quote marks around 135 00:07:36,120 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: that phase in case you couldn't hear them, because that 136 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,960 Speaker 1: is not that that's called inflation. And that's different exactly exactly. 137 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: If you end up just printing currency and then dumping 138 00:07:44,280 --> 00:07:47,520 Speaker 1: it into an economy, you really devalue the currency. So 139 00:07:47,520 --> 00:07:51,119 Speaker 1: suddenly now everything costs more because the currency isn't worth 140 00:07:51,240 --> 00:07:53,880 Speaker 1: as much, it doesn't have as much buying power. So 141 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,240 Speaker 1: when they're printing up these these these bills, it's really 142 00:07:57,280 --> 00:07:59,360 Speaker 1: to replace the ones that are already in circulation that 143 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: need to be replace. That's the main reason. The way 144 00:08:01,640 --> 00:08:03,520 Speaker 1: you create wealth, by the way, in case you are wondering, 145 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:06,520 Speaker 1: is through loans. You loan out money and you add interest. 146 00:08:06,680 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: That interest represents new wealth. That's kind of how in 147 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:14,320 Speaker 1: a very high level, like all the economics majors out 148 00:08:14,320 --> 00:08:17,160 Speaker 1: there are just like he is oversimplifying this to the 149 00:08:17,200 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: point of ridiculousness, but that's basically how you create new wealth. 150 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:23,000 Speaker 1: Economics has never made a lick of sense to me, 151 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:27,520 Speaker 1: like like like nanoparticles, sure totally back for economics, no idea, 152 00:08:27,800 --> 00:08:31,080 Speaker 1: exactly totally, but but at any rate, um So, these 153 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,680 Speaker 1: polymer notes, in addition to being slightly less expensive to 154 00:08:34,800 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: manufacture and and more durable, so therefore you know able 155 00:08:38,880 --> 00:08:41,320 Speaker 1: to be kept in circulation longer, have a lot of 156 00:08:41,320 --> 00:08:44,680 Speaker 1: good benefits when it comes to anti counterfeiting measures. Right, 157 00:08:44,800 --> 00:08:47,439 Speaker 1: So let's talk about some anti counterfeiting measures. These are 158 00:08:47,480 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: ones that some of them you can find on on 159 00:08:50,600 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: paper currency, but it's important to run down the list 160 00:08:54,840 --> 00:08:56,880 Speaker 1: of it because a lot of the same techniques that 161 00:08:56,880 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: are used in paper currency are being used in polymer 162 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,400 Speaker 1: currency as well. So some of these you're gonna hear 163 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:04,480 Speaker 1: and you're gonna think well, how is that special e polymer? 164 00:09:04,559 --> 00:09:07,719 Speaker 1: Not all of them are so one of them, uh, 165 00:09:07,760 --> 00:09:10,080 Speaker 1: and it's pretty simple. One is just the idea of 166 00:09:10,160 --> 00:09:15,560 Speaker 1: creating things that are really finely detailed, like really really 167 00:09:16,040 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: tign elements and parts of the image. Um. I mean, 168 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,400 Speaker 1: that's that's why you'll see a lot of very fine 169 00:09:21,480 --> 00:09:23,360 Speaker 1: line work in many of the images. It's not just 170 00:09:23,400 --> 00:09:25,760 Speaker 1: like a big cartoony looking thing, right, And they'll be 171 00:09:25,800 --> 00:09:29,360 Speaker 1: like little curly cues and swirls and stuff and the 172 00:09:29,440 --> 00:09:32,080 Speaker 1: various designs that are on the bill. And the idea 173 00:09:32,160 --> 00:09:35,839 Speaker 1: here is that if you make those those details really precise, 174 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:39,679 Speaker 1: it's difficult to copy that, right. It's difficult for a 175 00:09:39,679 --> 00:09:42,840 Speaker 1: counterfeiter to make a fake bill that has that same 176 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 1: level of detail in it, especially if you were let's 177 00:09:45,120 --> 00:09:47,720 Speaker 1: say that you have a copy machine that doesn't have 178 00:09:47,760 --> 00:09:50,520 Speaker 1: any sort of protection on it where you're able to 179 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: make copies of stuff. The more fine detail you include 180 00:09:54,160 --> 00:09:56,000 Speaker 1: on there, the harder it is for that copy machine 181 00:09:56,040 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 1: to reproduce it accurately. And so the hope for people 182 00:10:00,240 --> 00:10:02,880 Speaker 1: who are making the bills is that anyone who accepts 183 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,120 Speaker 1: the bill will look at it and be able to 184 00:10:05,160 --> 00:10:07,719 Speaker 1: tell just by glancing at it, whether or not those 185 00:10:07,760 --> 00:10:10,240 Speaker 1: fine details match up against the real thing, or if 186 00:10:10,240 --> 00:10:13,120 Speaker 1: it's fakey fake. Okay, but even even fine detail can 187 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:15,560 Speaker 1: be duplicated. I mean, I mean, I'm sure that some 188 00:10:15,600 --> 00:10:17,280 Speaker 1: of you are thinking, like, well, we I have like 189 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: a really high res scanner, and that could clearly duplicate. 190 00:10:21,400 --> 00:10:23,079 Speaker 1: And and you know, if I have a good enough printer, 191 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 1: then I could absolutely make a copy of that thing. Sure, 192 00:10:25,679 --> 00:10:30,080 Speaker 1: but there's there's a specific ink line process. Yeah, so 193 00:10:30,520 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: intaglio printing, right, yes, it gets all. When I read intaglio, 194 00:10:35,240 --> 00:10:37,720 Speaker 1: I think like that sounds like a cologne to me 195 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:42,480 Speaker 1: or something Intaglio. So what this is is that you 196 00:10:42,600 --> 00:10:45,360 Speaker 1: are right. You take like a roller, okay, the roller 197 00:10:45,440 --> 00:10:48,720 Speaker 1: is essentially like a stamp, okay, And you make fine 198 00:10:48,880 --> 00:10:52,520 Speaker 1: etchings in the rollers, so these are little indentations inside 199 00:10:52,559 --> 00:10:55,679 Speaker 1: the roller. You then coat the roller with inc. Now 200 00:10:55,880 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: more inc is going to go into those indentations, because 201 00:10:58,440 --> 00:11:01,040 Speaker 1: they're like little wells. Sure, and then you wipe the 202 00:11:01,080 --> 00:11:04,360 Speaker 1: ink off the roller, which does not surface exactly, just 203 00:11:04,520 --> 00:11:06,960 Speaker 1: into the etchings exactly. And then you can put a 204 00:11:06,960 --> 00:11:10,400 Speaker 1: piece of paper or whatever whatever you're printing on and 205 00:11:10,559 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: it will then just those little fine details that have 206 00:11:13,400 --> 00:11:15,920 Speaker 1: been etched into the roller will be transferred to whatever 207 00:11:15,960 --> 00:11:18,520 Speaker 1: you're printing on. And that's a way of creating this 208 00:11:18,640 --> 00:11:22,560 Speaker 1: incredibly finely detailed work so that you do it accurately 209 00:11:22,720 --> 00:11:24,440 Speaker 1: over and over every single time. It's going to come 210 00:11:24,480 --> 00:11:26,960 Speaker 1: out exactly the way you want it to because it's 211 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,720 Speaker 1: etched into whatever the printing mechanism is right, and it 212 00:11:30,920 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: will also create a design that is raised up off 213 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:37,240 Speaker 1: of the paper very slightly, paper whatever other exactly. So again, 214 00:11:37,320 --> 00:11:39,800 Speaker 1: both of those things are indications that you've got the 215 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,000 Speaker 1: real legit currency in your hands. But there are a 216 00:11:43,040 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: lot of other anti counterfeiting measures as well, including things 217 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:51,400 Speaker 1: like um multicolor bills. So the idea here is that 218 00:11:51,480 --> 00:11:55,520 Speaker 1: you don't use just a single dye in the dying 219 00:11:55,640 --> 00:11:58,960 Speaker 1: of your currency, so that you have maybe a gradation 220 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,040 Speaker 1: or a couple of different colors on each bill, because 221 00:12:02,240 --> 00:12:06,720 Speaker 1: that is also difficult to replicate. So if you know, 222 00:12:06,840 --> 00:12:08,920 Speaker 1: I remember when I think it was, I guess it 223 00:12:09,000 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: was the hundred dollar bill several years ago. Now, when 224 00:12:12,720 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 1: it when it was redone, it had kind of a 225 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,120 Speaker 1: peach coloring to it besides the green. Yeah, yeah, like 226 00:12:18,160 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: a pinkish peach ish and and everyone's immediate reaction was 227 00:12:21,800 --> 00:12:24,240 Speaker 1: this looks like monopoly money. It was actually a very 228 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:28,800 Speaker 1: clever way of cheaply integrating better security exactly. So yeah, 229 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: for a lot of us were suddenly thinking, like, why 230 00:12:30,640 --> 00:12:32,840 Speaker 1: why do we have play money? It's sort of the 231 00:12:33,280 --> 00:12:37,200 Speaker 1: arrogant American approach to whenever we go to a foreign country. 232 00:12:37,400 --> 00:12:39,280 Speaker 1: You know, it's not that every American does this, but 233 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: I'm sure anyone living in another country has had the 234 00:12:41,600 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: experience or at least has heard a story of American 235 00:12:46,679 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: tourists calling calling American currency quote unquote real money, and 236 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:53,719 Speaker 1: then referring to whatever the local currency is as the 237 00:12:53,920 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 1: stuff that I have to use to buy things. I 238 00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:59,840 Speaker 1: don't mean to break the polymer chain, but we need 239 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:01,920 Speaker 1: to take a break and listen to a couple of 240 00:13:02,000 --> 00:13:13,079 Speaker 1: messages from our sponsors. On behalf of all Americans, I 241 00:13:13,120 --> 00:13:16,080 Speaker 1: would like to extend an apology to you. Not all 242 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:18,240 Speaker 1: of us are like that. Uh No, some of us 243 00:13:18,240 --> 00:13:21,439 Speaker 1: are much more subtly completely ignorant about your money. I 244 00:13:21,440 --> 00:13:22,920 Speaker 1: I still feel a little bit bad I had the 245 00:13:22,960 --> 00:13:24,560 Speaker 1: last time I was over in England. I had this 246 00:13:24,679 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 1: really hilarious experience with a shopkeeper where I just I 247 00:13:27,760 --> 00:13:31,560 Speaker 1: felt like Arthur Weasley holding this pile of British coins 248 00:13:31,679 --> 00:13:33,960 Speaker 1: and and like she was just trying to she she 249 00:13:34,040 --> 00:13:36,080 Speaker 1: was like, you know, there will be a pound five, 250 00:13:36,120 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: and I was like, how does it? I just held 251 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,520 Speaker 1: my hands up to her, like how you you take? 252 00:13:41,559 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: How much money? It is? The really sad part about 253 00:13:44,040 --> 00:13:46,160 Speaker 1: that story, Lauren, is you're not old enough to have 254 00:13:46,320 --> 00:13:49,880 Speaker 1: been around back when the when the English currency system 255 00:13:49,960 --> 00:13:53,440 Speaker 1: was not based off of base ten. When I was like, 256 00:13:53,520 --> 00:13:56,479 Speaker 1: all right, I'm sorry, it's sixteen pennies to a furlong, 257 00:13:56,600 --> 00:14:00,280 Speaker 1: which is uh as fourteen furlongs to a half any 258 00:14:00,440 --> 00:14:04,760 Speaker 1: crown thing. Obviously my ignorance of the English monetary system 259 00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:07,720 Speaker 1: is also great, but yes, at any rate, I have 260 00:14:07,840 --> 00:14:11,560 Speaker 1: also had that same experience, so that those multicolor bills 261 00:14:11,760 --> 00:14:16,439 Speaker 1: obviously another step toward creating an anti counterfeiting strategy, but 262 00:14:16,440 --> 00:14:19,280 Speaker 1: it's not the only one. Again, there's also incorporating strips 263 00:14:19,320 --> 00:14:23,440 Speaker 1: of different colored material within a banknote itself. So in 264 00:14:23,480 --> 00:14:26,560 Speaker 1: this case you might have a completely different material than 265 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 1: what makes up the bulk of the bank note. The 266 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: bank note itself may be made out of some sort 267 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:35,920 Speaker 1: of paper slash cloth type stuff with these other strips 268 00:14:35,960 --> 00:14:40,520 Speaker 1: incorporated into them. Again, very difficult to counterfeit. You know, 269 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,040 Speaker 1: there's just really it's just about raising the difficulty so 270 00:14:44,120 --> 00:14:48,160 Speaker 1: that your average person can't really counterfeit this money. It 271 00:14:48,200 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that it's impossible. It just means that you've 272 00:14:51,160 --> 00:14:53,520 Speaker 1: raised the difficulty so much that the people who are 273 00:14:53,520 --> 00:14:56,560 Speaker 1: attempting it, that number gets smaller and smaller because it's 274 00:14:56,600 --> 00:15:02,040 Speaker 1: hard to do. Another strategy is to use holy grams. Yeah. 275 00:15:02,080 --> 00:15:05,680 Speaker 1: So holograms are obviously these little bit pictures that can uh, 276 00:15:05,760 --> 00:15:08,080 Speaker 1: they have a different you know, they shine in a 277 00:15:08,080 --> 00:15:09,960 Speaker 1: different way when you shine light on You also get 278 00:15:10,040 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: kind of a three D effect on them. You know, 279 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,240 Speaker 1: it looks like you're looking at a three dimensional picture 280 00:15:14,280 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 1: as opposed to just a flat image. And these are 281 00:15:18,160 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: of course created with my favorite technology of all time, lasers. Yes, 282 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:25,920 Speaker 1: we did an entire suite of episodes about holograms over 283 00:15:26,000 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 1: and Forward Thinking a few months back. I failed to 284 00:15:28,400 --> 00:15:31,320 Speaker 1: look up when exactly that occurred, but but go to 285 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:34,920 Speaker 1: the Forward Thinking website, Yeah thinking dot com. Please do 286 00:15:35,000 --> 00:15:37,040 Speaker 1: I mean the the episodes we did on holograms, We 287 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,880 Speaker 1: actually explain how people make holograms and it does involve 288 00:15:41,040 --> 00:15:45,000 Speaker 1: using two different types of lasers in order to complete this. 289 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:46,840 Speaker 1: You know, it's actually kind of crazy to think how 290 00:15:46,840 --> 00:15:50,240 Speaker 1: complicated is just to make us what what appears to 291 00:15:50,240 --> 00:15:53,160 Speaker 1: be a simple image. But at any rate, again holograms, 292 00:15:53,560 --> 00:15:56,200 Speaker 1: it requires you to have some equipment that your average 293 00:15:56,240 --> 00:15:59,680 Speaker 1: counterfeiter probably doesn't have access to, I like really expensive lasers. 294 00:16:00,480 --> 00:16:04,720 Speaker 1: So then we've got including strips of phosphorescent material. So 295 00:16:04,840 --> 00:16:07,280 Speaker 1: then you've got you know, if you shine it underneath 296 00:16:07,800 --> 00:16:10,080 Speaker 1: like a black light and ultraviolet light, then you might 297 00:16:10,160 --> 00:16:13,560 Speaker 1: see that it glows. If it's a true bill obviously 298 00:16:13,680 --> 00:16:16,960 Speaker 1: that where a counterfeit and it doesn't glow, you'd say, huh, nice, 299 00:16:17,000 --> 00:16:19,800 Speaker 1: try now I'm calling the cops, all right. And there's 300 00:16:19,800 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: also all kinds of different inks that you can use 301 00:16:22,120 --> 00:16:26,680 Speaker 1: that are slightly harder to duplicate. Yes, yeah, including ink 302 00:16:26,720 --> 00:16:29,440 Speaker 1: that will change color depending upon the angle at which 303 00:16:29,560 --> 00:16:32,560 Speaker 1: light hits that ink. Right. This is due to a 304 00:16:32,600 --> 00:16:37,160 Speaker 1: process called uh iridescence. It's a physical process which works 305 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:40,280 Speaker 1: by virtue of of micro structures, which are basically tiny 306 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:43,760 Speaker 1: holes that reflect light at different angles and wavelengths than 307 00:16:43,880 --> 00:16:46,520 Speaker 1: the rest of the surrounding material. Yeah, this actually reminds 308 00:16:46,560 --> 00:16:50,000 Speaker 1: me a lot of how uh glass is free three 309 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:52,960 Speaker 1: D works, and that you have these little tiny elements 310 00:16:52,960 --> 00:16:56,200 Speaker 1: inside a screen that direct light in specific ways, so 311 00:16:56,240 --> 00:16:58,560 Speaker 1: that one eye gets one set of light and the 312 00:16:58,600 --> 00:17:00,160 Speaker 1: other eye gets the other set of light, and that's 313 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:02,400 Speaker 1: what creates the three D effect. Kind of similar here, 314 00:17:02,440 --> 00:17:04,840 Speaker 1: except instead of trying to direct light at your at 315 00:17:04,880 --> 00:17:08,439 Speaker 1: each eye independently, it's just changing that angle so that 316 00:17:08,480 --> 00:17:10,920 Speaker 1: you get a different color experience as you're as you're 317 00:17:10,920 --> 00:17:14,399 Speaker 1: moving the bill in relation to wherever the light sources. Sure, 318 00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,200 Speaker 1: it can even be used to create this multicolor look 319 00:17:17,240 --> 00:17:19,680 Speaker 1: without any ink at all. It can be a purely 320 00:17:19,840 --> 00:17:24,080 Speaker 1: physical structure. Yep, yep. Uh. Then there's also using ultraviolet 321 00:17:24,119 --> 00:17:29,560 Speaker 1: reactive fluorescent inks are metallic inks, again, stuff that's not 322 00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:33,119 Speaker 1: easy to come by, so again cutting down the likelihood 323 00:17:33,119 --> 00:17:36,600 Speaker 1: of counterfeiting. Uh. There's also micro printing that's kind of 324 00:17:36,600 --> 00:17:38,720 Speaker 1: similar to the etching we talked about before. This is 325 00:17:38,720 --> 00:17:42,960 Speaker 1: where you're printing really really super tiny words or numbers 326 00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:46,200 Speaker 1: as a way of again foiling the efforts of people 327 00:17:46,240 --> 00:17:49,720 Speaker 1: to copy an image directly, right, because not everyone has 328 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,879 Speaker 1: access to that kind of high definition printing yep. And 329 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:56,679 Speaker 1: then there's also designing software that actually recognizes when you 330 00:17:56,760 --> 00:17:59,920 Speaker 1: are trying to manipulate some sort of banknote. Now, the 331 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:03,440 Speaker 1: software could be anything from a scanner to a copier 332 00:18:03,560 --> 00:18:07,360 Speaker 1: to any kind of photoshops sort of material where once 333 00:18:07,440 --> 00:18:11,959 Speaker 1: it recognizes the elements of a bank note, essentially refuses 334 00:18:12,000 --> 00:18:15,560 Speaker 1: to help you out. You'll end up getting either an 335 00:18:15,680 --> 00:18:17,760 Speaker 1: error or if you're trying to copy something, you might 336 00:18:17,800 --> 00:18:21,400 Speaker 1: just get a solid block where there's no definition at all. 337 00:18:21,760 --> 00:18:24,760 Speaker 1: It's it's you know, kind of uh, you know, it's 338 00:18:24,800 --> 00:18:27,760 Speaker 1: another level of security that's outside the bill itself. This 339 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:29,760 Speaker 1: is more on the end of the people who are 340 00:18:29,800 --> 00:18:32,280 Speaker 1: making these software and hardware all right, right, you would 341 00:18:32,280 --> 00:18:35,400 Speaker 1: have to depend upon those developers to create that for 342 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:38,199 Speaker 1: you or to create it in conjunction with you. And 343 00:18:38,240 --> 00:18:41,680 Speaker 1: a big example of this is your RYE on Constellation. 344 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:44,720 Speaker 1: So this can recognize a scan bank note based on 345 00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:48,560 Speaker 1: the patterns that are actually on these banknotes themselves. These 346 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:52,080 Speaker 1: have been put there by the various industries that create 347 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:56,000 Speaker 1: the banknotes. If those marks are present on any kind 348 00:18:56,040 --> 00:18:58,600 Speaker 1: of image, like even if you included those marks on 349 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:00,720 Speaker 1: some other form of image, this thing's gonna pick it 350 00:19:00,800 --> 00:19:02,320 Speaker 1: up and say all right, I can't work with this, 351 00:19:03,000 --> 00:19:05,960 Speaker 1: and uh, it's not likely that you're going to have 352 00:19:06,119 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: these specifically put on another image because they're tiny. They 353 00:19:10,040 --> 00:19:12,920 Speaker 1: look like little one millimeter sized circles, and they're usually 354 00:19:12,960 --> 00:19:15,960 Speaker 1: printed in yellow ink, so you're probably not going to 355 00:19:16,080 --> 00:19:18,560 Speaker 1: find it on anything else by accident. It's probably not. 356 00:19:18,600 --> 00:19:20,919 Speaker 1: It's it's not like it's working off of facial recognition 357 00:19:20,960 --> 00:19:25,480 Speaker 1: of Jeffer Center something exactly. That would be poor. Now that, yeah, 358 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:27,960 Speaker 1: that would not work out so well. So then there's 359 00:19:28,000 --> 00:19:31,800 Speaker 1: also just using a material that's not just paper, right, 360 00:19:32,000 --> 00:19:34,800 Speaker 1: because paper is not very sturdy and it's also really 361 00:19:34,880 --> 00:19:38,439 Speaker 1: easy to reproduce, so most countries, including the United States, 362 00:19:38,800 --> 00:19:41,680 Speaker 1: use some other material. It's something that's closer to cloth 363 00:19:41,960 --> 00:19:44,560 Speaker 1: than it is in paper. Linen, in fact, is one 364 00:19:44,560 --> 00:19:47,040 Speaker 1: of the most popular additives yep, and in the United 365 00:19:47,040 --> 00:19:51,240 Speaker 1: States it's a mixture cotton and linen fibers, so it's 366 00:19:51,280 --> 00:19:54,359 Speaker 1: not really paper in the way we normally think of paper, 367 00:19:54,600 --> 00:19:56,520 Speaker 1: which is why a bill can survive a run through 368 00:19:56,560 --> 00:19:58,399 Speaker 1: the washing machine. Yep. Yeah, if you want to do 369 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:03,680 Speaker 1: some money laundering. Sorry, I didn't really like that joke either, 370 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,200 Speaker 1: but I'm gonna keep it anyway. Also, the United States 371 00:20:06,280 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: government says that it takes four thousand double folds as 372 00:20:09,640 --> 00:20:13,040 Speaker 1: then you're you're folding it forward and backward against itself 373 00:20:13,320 --> 00:20:16,600 Speaker 1: before a bill will tear, you know, brand new bill 374 00:20:16,640 --> 00:20:20,920 Speaker 1: will tear. And also because of this mixture, that's also 375 00:20:21,000 --> 00:20:25,639 Speaker 1: difficult to replicate. However, Uh, that doesn't mean people don't try. 376 00:20:25,760 --> 00:20:28,879 Speaker 1: So what do you do to try and detect a 377 00:20:28,920 --> 00:20:33,160 Speaker 1: counterfeit bill? One of the popular methods that is, Uh, 378 00:20:33,520 --> 00:20:36,000 Speaker 1: I've seen it used, like I've I've paid for something 379 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,000 Speaker 1: with like a fresh twenty dollar bill and seeing people 380 00:20:38,119 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 1: use these things, these counterfeiting pins. The pen is meant 381 00:20:42,359 --> 00:20:45,360 Speaker 1: to try and detect the counterfeit bill. It usually has 382 00:20:45,400 --> 00:20:49,000 Speaker 1: some sort of chemical in it, like iodine, and that 383 00:20:49,160 --> 00:20:52,240 Speaker 1: would react to starch. And if it reacts to starch, 384 00:20:52,320 --> 00:20:54,800 Speaker 1: then will it'll actually stain whatever it is it's marking 385 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:58,800 Speaker 1: against start of course being a common ingredient in many papers, 386 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:02,359 Speaker 1: but something that you currency does not contain. Right, So 387 00:21:02,400 --> 00:21:04,439 Speaker 1: the idea would be if you marked, if you use 388 00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,520 Speaker 1: this marker on a legitimate bill, there should be no stain. 389 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:10,159 Speaker 1: If used it on something that had a paper that 390 00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:12,639 Speaker 1: had start in it, it would stain which sounds like 391 00:21:12,680 --> 00:21:15,359 Speaker 1: it be pretty effective, except for the fact that there 392 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: are a lot of ways of removing starches from paper 393 00:21:18,880 --> 00:21:22,600 Speaker 1: or actually just buying starch free paper, and in either 394 00:21:22,680 --> 00:21:25,080 Speaker 1: case those pens would not be effective, So you could 395 00:21:25,480 --> 00:21:27,720 Speaker 1: have a fake bill. In fact, you could just cut 396 00:21:27,720 --> 00:21:29,960 Speaker 1: out a sheet of paper on starch free paper and 397 00:21:30,000 --> 00:21:32,840 Speaker 1: just write this is money on it and handed to 398 00:21:32,880 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: someone and if they ran the little marker on it, 399 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:37,879 Speaker 1: there would be no stain. It clearly would not be 400 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:41,160 Speaker 1: a real bill, right right, unless you're using a doctor 401 00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:44,840 Speaker 1: Who's psychic paper, not doctor who. That's terrible d doctor right, Oh, 402 00:21:44,880 --> 00:21:49,520 Speaker 1: I feel like a bad NERD. It's Mr Who. No, 403 00:21:49,600 --> 00:21:52,239 Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Yeah, I do it all the time at 404 00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:54,040 Speaker 1: at any rate, if you if you want to hear 405 00:21:54,080 --> 00:21:57,160 Speaker 1: a little bit more about all of these anti counterfeiting measures. 406 00:21:57,240 --> 00:22:00,280 Speaker 1: Jonathan and Christen episode called the Tech of Making Monny 407 00:22:00,600 --> 00:22:04,760 Speaker 1: way back on August nine, and they go into coins 408 00:22:04,800 --> 00:22:06,720 Speaker 1: as well, if you're curious about how all of this 409 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,320 Speaker 1: currency is created. Yeah, I remember we talked about milling. 410 00:22:09,359 --> 00:22:12,639 Speaker 1: You know, was shortly after they invented money, so it 411 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 1: was a pretty fresh podcast back then. I was not 412 00:22:15,119 --> 00:22:17,959 Speaker 1: even born yet. Yeah, I mean you know, it was 413 00:22:18,240 --> 00:22:20,040 Speaker 1: it was It was odd because we had no way 414 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:22,600 Speaker 1: of recording podcast. It was just us talking in a room. 415 00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:25,720 Speaker 1: But somehow someone just wrote it all down and managed 416 00:22:25,760 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 1: to recreate it. But despite all those measures, there are 417 00:22:28,640 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 1: times when counterfeiters still find ways to pass fake bills 418 00:22:31,800 --> 00:22:35,840 Speaker 1: into circulation, and so that is why are one of 419 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:39,680 Speaker 1: the big reasons why countries are starting to switch over 420 00:22:39,720 --> 00:22:42,760 Speaker 1: to this polymer currency, which has not only all the 421 00:22:42,760 --> 00:22:47,200 Speaker 1: benefits of the counterfeiting anti counterfeiting measures we just talked about, 422 00:22:47,480 --> 00:22:49,920 Speaker 1: but has more on top of them. We'll be back 423 00:22:49,960 --> 00:22:52,199 Speaker 1: with more about polymers in just a moment, but we 424 00:22:52,280 --> 00:23:02,360 Speaker 1: need to take another quick break, all right, So let's 425 00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,960 Speaker 1: talk about actual polymer currency. What makes it so special 426 00:23:06,000 --> 00:23:09,320 Speaker 1: other than the fact that it's made out of plastic. Well, 427 00:23:09,600 --> 00:23:11,920 Speaker 1: in order to talk about this, let's talk about exactly 428 00:23:12,040 --> 00:23:14,200 Speaker 1: how this currency is made out of plastics. Oh, you know, 429 00:23:14,280 --> 00:23:16,800 Speaker 1: that's a good idea, all right. So you get a 430 00:23:16,840 --> 00:23:19,520 Speaker 1: polymer substrate, which is really just a fancy way of 431 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:23,000 Speaker 1: saying a whole big flat sheet of this this stuff. 432 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,760 Speaker 1: It's transparent, so you've got, you know, just imagine a 433 00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:31,600 Speaker 1: big transparent amount of plastic. It essentially looks the way 434 00:23:32,040 --> 00:23:35,440 Speaker 1: that any transparent part on a bank note would look. Uh. 435 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:38,920 Speaker 1: And at this point you can then treat it chemically. 436 00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:43,120 Speaker 1: You would probably use some form of white ish ink 437 00:23:43,240 --> 00:23:46,680 Speaker 1: to make it opaque. You might treat certain areas of 438 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:49,359 Speaker 1: that substrate chemically so that the white ink does not 439 00:23:49,480 --> 00:23:52,120 Speaker 1: adhere to it. That would mean that those sections would 440 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,080 Speaker 1: remain transparent, which is one of the coolest things I 441 00:23:55,119 --> 00:23:57,520 Speaker 1: think about polymer currency when you can hold up the 442 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:00,040 Speaker 1: bill and see cleanly through it, not because there's a 443 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:01,439 Speaker 1: hole in it, which is the way most of my 444 00:24:01,480 --> 00:24:04,040 Speaker 1: money looks, or because of a water mark. I mean 445 00:24:04,119 --> 00:24:06,760 Speaker 1: some paper currency does include a water mark, which is 446 00:24:07,080 --> 00:24:10,119 Speaker 1: a thinner bit of the paper that light can shine 447 00:24:10,119 --> 00:24:12,520 Speaker 1: through more readily. Yeah, that would be kind of translucent. 448 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:15,720 Speaker 1: You can actually have fully transparent sections of a polymer 449 00:24:16,040 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: bank note. So you would then treat it with this 450 00:24:19,080 --> 00:24:21,560 Speaker 1: chemical you'd wash all that off, and you would end 451 00:24:21,640 --> 00:24:25,439 Speaker 1: up with a mostly opaque, big old sheet of this 452 00:24:25,560 --> 00:24:28,160 Speaker 1: stuff stuff. Then you would cut it into the actual 453 00:24:28,240 --> 00:24:30,720 Speaker 1: sheet sizes you would use to feed through the printer. 454 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,400 Speaker 1: You would then run it through a printer that would 455 00:24:34,560 --> 00:24:36,800 Speaker 1: end up applying some of the same techniques we talked 456 00:24:36,840 --> 00:24:40,080 Speaker 1: about in the previous section, including intaglio etching and all 457 00:24:40,080 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 1: that kind of good stuff in different kinds of banks exactly. 458 00:24:43,280 --> 00:24:47,400 Speaker 1: And then you end up with these sheets of polymer banknotes, 459 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:49,440 Speaker 1: which you of course obviously have to cut up into 460 00:24:49,440 --> 00:24:52,199 Speaker 1: the right sizes. I mean, you could hand somebody just 461 00:24:52,280 --> 00:24:55,160 Speaker 1: a full sheet of you know, twenty dollar bank notes, 462 00:24:55,200 --> 00:24:57,159 Speaker 1: and they'd probably be like, this is awesome, where are 463 00:24:57,200 --> 00:25:00,680 Speaker 1: the scissors? But you know, you typically would cut those ups. 464 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,120 Speaker 1: They'd be easier to distribute. It sounds like several board 465 00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,520 Speaker 1: game experiences I've had, um, but you can they do. 466 00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:10,560 Speaker 1: Further more, protect the sheets with with a varnish to 467 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:12,520 Speaker 1: keep the ink in play. That's true, and that's really 468 00:25:12,560 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: important because, as we'll talk about, the ink on these 469 00:25:15,800 --> 00:25:19,879 Speaker 1: polymer bank notes was an early challenge, uh in the 470 00:25:20,359 --> 00:25:23,000 Speaker 1: for for countries that were attempting to make this move 471 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:26,320 Speaker 1: earlier than others. Right in the early es, a bunch 472 00:25:26,359 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: of different places, we're looking into the technology, right and uh, 473 00:25:30,080 --> 00:25:32,400 Speaker 1: what what the you know, you had all these different 474 00:25:32,600 --> 00:25:36,120 Speaker 1: government officials that were looking at the possibility of using 475 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:39,199 Speaker 1: a polymer to switch over to as the basis for 476 00:25:39,359 --> 00:25:42,920 Speaker 1: their their actual physical currency and they started looking around 477 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:45,479 Speaker 1: at the different products that were available in the market. 478 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,679 Speaker 1: No one was actually building a polymer out from the 479 00:25:48,720 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: ground up for this. They were trying to see what 480 00:25:50,359 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 1: else was available. DuPont had a product called taivek, the 481 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,720 Speaker 1: generic name for that being polyethylene, and this was you know, 482 00:25:59,000 --> 00:26:02,320 Speaker 1: this look like it could be a potential candidate for 483 00:26:02,440 --> 00:26:06,120 Speaker 1: polymer currency. So it's used in lots of other stuff too. 484 00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:09,720 Speaker 1: It's not just for polymer currency. It wasn't developed specifically 485 00:26:09,720 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 1: to be polymer currency, was just one of the use 486 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:15,320 Speaker 1: cases for it. And technically Haiti was the first country 487 00:26:15,359 --> 00:26:18,000 Speaker 1: to issue a polymer bank note, and this was way 488 00:26:18,000 --> 00:26:22,080 Speaker 1: back in nineteen eighty, but the country didn't stick with 489 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,720 Speaker 1: polymer currency and in fact would switch back to paper 490 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,560 Speaker 1: because inc did not stick to the currency. Yeah. There 491 00:26:27,640 --> 00:26:30,520 Speaker 1: was some smudging issues, which you don't really want in 492 00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:34,880 Speaker 1: your official, you know, government sanctioned currency. Right. There were 493 00:26:34,920 --> 00:26:37,440 Speaker 1: also problems with the bills being too fragile. They would 494 00:26:37,440 --> 00:26:40,280 Speaker 1: break instead of instead of folding. Yeah. So this was 495 00:26:40,480 --> 00:26:43,560 Speaker 1: again early early on in the experiments with polymer currency, 496 00:26:43,640 --> 00:26:47,040 Speaker 1: so no one had really hit upon the exact kind 497 00:26:47,080 --> 00:26:50,000 Speaker 1: of plastic that would be ideal for this. Use. Uh 498 00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:52,560 Speaker 1: Haiti was not the only country to experiment with this 499 00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 1: early on. Costa Rica also issued a polymer bank note 500 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:57,880 Speaker 1: made out of tai vek. In nineteen eighty three, they 501 00:26:57,960 --> 00:27:02,000 Speaker 1: also switched back to paper, although they currently used a 502 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,560 Speaker 1: mixture of both paper and polymer currency, they're just not 503 00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:08,560 Speaker 1: using the tivek polymer anymore. Then you had the Isle 504 00:27:08,600 --> 00:27:11,600 Speaker 1: of Man, which you know, I keep forgetting is not 505 00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,359 Speaker 1: actually under the governance of the United Kingdom, because I 506 00:27:15,440 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: think of the Isle of Man as you know, it's 507 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:19,400 Speaker 1: right there there. I mean, it might as well be. 508 00:27:19,480 --> 00:27:22,840 Speaker 1: But but no, no, it's God's own money. And the 509 00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,479 Speaker 1: Isle of Man ended up using ti vek. But it 510 00:27:25,560 --> 00:27:30,520 Speaker 1: wasn't called taivek. It was rebranded as brad vec because 511 00:27:30,520 --> 00:27:33,480 Speaker 1: it was being printed by a company called Bradbury Wilkinson. 512 00:27:34,080 --> 00:27:37,680 Speaker 1: Same stuff, just rebranded, so it still came from DuPont, 513 00:27:37,720 --> 00:27:40,920 Speaker 1: it wasn't it wasn't made by Bradbury Wilkinson. And it's 514 00:27:40,920 --> 00:27:44,959 Speaker 1: still polyethylene. It's still polyethylene exactly same stuff. And that 515 00:27:45,000 --> 00:27:47,600 Speaker 1: was produced in nine three. And the Isle of Man 516 00:27:47,760 --> 00:27:51,119 Speaker 1: also abandoned polymer currency after a short while and they 517 00:27:51,200 --> 00:27:54,680 Speaker 1: used paper. Now. The first Australian polymer notes had had 518 00:27:54,760 --> 00:27:57,600 Speaker 1: similar problems. The the original, which was a ten dollar 519 00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:01,080 Speaker 1: by centennial note, was in fact taken out circulation. So 520 00:28:01,480 --> 00:28:05,880 Speaker 1: you know, obviously these these early attempts met with let's say, 521 00:28:05,960 --> 00:28:09,399 Speaker 1: mixed success. It's not that they were it's not that 522 00:28:09,440 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: it was a bad idea. It's just that they hadn't 523 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: hit upon the right material for it to really work 524 00:28:14,560 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: and to for it to truly be a durable physical currency, 525 00:28:17,880 --> 00:28:20,600 Speaker 1: because if you're going to try and replace your paper currency, 526 00:28:20,680 --> 00:28:22,600 Speaker 1: you want this stuff to be able to last at 527 00:28:22,720 --> 00:28:26,719 Speaker 1: least as long as the paper equivalent, if not longer, right, 528 00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,440 Speaker 1: hopefully longer, so that you're not you're not wasting a 529 00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:31,399 Speaker 1: whole lot of time and money trying to create this 530 00:28:31,480 --> 00:28:34,400 Speaker 1: new new things only as good as the old thing. 531 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 1: Australia did kind of lead the way once they worked 532 00:28:38,760 --> 00:28:41,239 Speaker 1: out what kind of material they wanted to use, and 533 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:46,120 Speaker 1: polypropylene is has become the popular choice and it's used 534 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:48,080 Speaker 1: in other stuff too. Write it's not just in in 535 00:28:48,640 --> 00:28:52,280 Speaker 1: uh polymer currency, right, it's like a textiles that are 536 00:28:52,360 --> 00:28:58,200 Speaker 1: based on plastic carpets, upholstery, like thermal clothing, ropes. It's 537 00:28:58,240 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 1: it's what all that stuff is made out of. I mean, 538 00:28:59,840 --> 00:29:03,240 Speaker 1: it's also very multifunctional. It's not just using used in 539 00:29:03,280 --> 00:29:06,640 Speaker 1: these fibrous kind of applications. It can also be used 540 00:29:06,640 --> 00:29:08,800 Speaker 1: for lots of medical and lab equipment like a petri 541 00:29:08,920 --> 00:29:12,120 Speaker 1: dishes or disposable syringes. So this is you know, obviously 542 00:29:12,160 --> 00:29:13,880 Speaker 1: again it's one of those things where this has a 543 00:29:13,880 --> 00:29:16,080 Speaker 1: lot of different utility and they thought, hey, why don't 544 00:29:16,080 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 1: we make our money out of this stuff except in 545 00:29:18,920 --> 00:29:22,720 Speaker 1: an Australian accent, which, for your benefit, I shall not 546 00:29:22,760 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: attempt excellent. But you know, this meant that they had 547 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 1: a lot of other options that you wouldn't necessarily have 548 00:29:29,720 --> 00:29:33,200 Speaker 1: with paper currency, including that that I was talking about before, 549 00:29:33,200 --> 00:29:36,200 Speaker 1: where you turn most of the bank note opaque but 550 00:29:36,320 --> 00:29:41,360 Speaker 1: leave a transparent window. Yeah. Again, this makes it really 551 00:29:41,440 --> 00:29:45,240 Speaker 1: really hard for counterfeiters to replicate. You know, you'd have 552 00:29:45,280 --> 00:29:48,560 Speaker 1: to be very precise in the way you aligned your 553 00:29:48,880 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 1: actual I mean, by the time you go through the 554 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:53,560 Speaker 1: whole process of making something that would allow you to 555 00:29:53,680 --> 00:29:56,400 Speaker 1: design this, you've probably spent more money than you could 556 00:29:56,440 --> 00:30:00,080 Speaker 1: possibly replicate, you know. Yeah, yeah, and that that a 557 00:30:00,160 --> 00:30:03,200 Speaker 1: touch and feel of this polymer currency is very distinct, 558 00:30:03,680 --> 00:30:05,960 Speaker 1: so it's a lot more difficult to to get that 559 00:30:06,040 --> 00:30:10,720 Speaker 1: kind of thing into practice than it would be equivalent paper, right, right, 560 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:13,120 Speaker 1: And then uh, you know, they also were able to 561 00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:17,480 Speaker 1: feature that raised lettering we talked about, like embossing stuff 562 00:30:17,560 --> 00:30:21,080 Speaker 1: on on this plastic, which actually adheres better to plastic 563 00:30:21,120 --> 00:30:23,880 Speaker 1: than it would on just a regular paper bill. Right, 564 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: paper can flatten out again after after circulation. Um, you 565 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:30,080 Speaker 1: can you can also print designs on top of that 566 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:32,920 Speaker 1: transparent window, so you can have little little blocks of 567 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:37,560 Speaker 1: of opaque bits inside the window which just layers upon layers, 568 00:30:37,560 --> 00:30:41,240 Speaker 1: and or you could have transparent bits within opaque bits, 569 00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:44,600 Speaker 1: so you can have an area where you know, in 570 00:30:44,640 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: a design there might be shades that are slightly lighter 571 00:30:47,840 --> 00:30:50,440 Speaker 1: than the surrounding area, and if you hold it up 572 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:53,640 Speaker 1: to the light, suddenly you can read stuff like numbers usually, 573 00:30:54,040 --> 00:30:56,600 Speaker 1: And that is another great thing to put in there, 574 00:30:56,640 --> 00:31:00,320 Speaker 1: because again very difficult to replicate. Uh. And as we 575 00:31:00,360 --> 00:31:02,640 Speaker 1: said earlier in the episode, a lot of the other 576 00:31:02,680 --> 00:31:07,800 Speaker 1: reasons besides this this whole um anti counterfeiting approach are 577 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:10,480 Speaker 1: things like the fact that this money is more durable. Now, 578 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,000 Speaker 1: how much more durable is it um depends It depends 579 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: on who you ask and exactly what kind of thing 580 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,040 Speaker 1: they're talking about. Both the Bank of Canada and the 581 00:31:19,040 --> 00:31:22,000 Speaker 1: Bank of England have said that their their bills are 582 00:31:22,200 --> 00:31:24,160 Speaker 1: or I mean, in the case of England, are are 583 00:31:24,200 --> 00:31:27,400 Speaker 1: slated to last about two point five times as long 584 00:31:27,400 --> 00:31:30,640 Speaker 1: as their paper currency, right. And then you've got the 585 00:31:30,680 --> 00:31:35,160 Speaker 1: Reserve Bank of Australia. They they they go a little 586 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:39,040 Speaker 1: further right, four times as long. I've I've I've read 587 00:31:39,200 --> 00:31:43,440 Speaker 1: estimates that they're up to ten times as durable. But 588 00:31:43,520 --> 00:31:45,720 Speaker 1: that doesn't necessary. I mean, all of these are are 589 00:31:46,160 --> 00:31:49,560 Speaker 1: you know, kind of squiggly precise estimate numbers. And you 590 00:31:49,600 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: can fold this stuff. You know, it's not like it's 591 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,920 Speaker 1: solid plastic. It's not like a credit card where you know, 592 00:31:55,960 --> 00:31:58,200 Speaker 1: it's it's stuck in this form factor so that everyone 593 00:31:58,200 --> 00:32:00,400 Speaker 1: would have to have these very long billful You could 594 00:32:00,440 --> 00:32:03,440 Speaker 1: actually fold this like you could paper money, yeah, into 595 00:32:03,440 --> 00:32:07,120 Speaker 1: a standard wallet. Yeah. So anyway, if you're wondering, hey, 596 00:32:07,160 --> 00:32:09,760 Speaker 1: how does that stack up against the lifespan of say 597 00:32:09,800 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 1: an average dollar, Well, I'm going to take just a 598 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,240 Speaker 1: quick tangent here to to say something that I think 599 00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:18,360 Speaker 1: is pretty amusing. See here in the United States, We've 600 00:32:18,360 --> 00:32:21,720 Speaker 1: got several different official organizations that have a lot to 601 00:32:21,720 --> 00:32:24,960 Speaker 1: do with money, including the Federal Reserve and the U. S. Treasury, 602 00:32:25,000 --> 00:32:29,600 Speaker 1: and these different agencies give extremely varied accounts of how 603 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:33,520 Speaker 1: long the average lifespan is for every denomination of bill. 604 00:32:33,880 --> 00:32:38,200 Speaker 1: So depends upon whom you ask. I mean, you know, 605 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:42,680 Speaker 1: one might say a dollar bill has a two year 606 00:32:42,720 --> 00:32:45,160 Speaker 1: life expectancy and that's it. Another would say six years, 607 00:32:45,160 --> 00:32:49,240 Speaker 1: another would say six months. Does anyone agree on this? 608 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:51,560 Speaker 1: Are you talking to each other at all? Yeah? And 609 00:32:51,560 --> 00:32:54,520 Speaker 1: and so it really depends upon which authority you, uh, 610 00:32:54,760 --> 00:32:57,000 Speaker 1: you look at. And it's funny because I actually first 611 00:32:57,000 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: found out about that by listening to another pod HAST 612 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: called Skeptics Guide to the Universe, where someone had asked 613 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:07,240 Speaker 1: them about the average life span of bills um and 614 00:33:07,400 --> 00:33:10,280 Speaker 1: so one of the members of the podcast group went 615 00:33:10,320 --> 00:33:12,840 Speaker 1: in to study this, and his response was, this was 616 00:33:12,840 --> 00:33:15,320 Speaker 1: probably the most frustrating research I've ever had to do 617 00:33:15,400 --> 00:33:18,400 Speaker 1: because I kept getting different answers depending upon where I went. 618 00:33:18,440 --> 00:33:22,640 Speaker 1: I tried to corroborate it, and I couldn't get any corroboration. So, uh, 619 00:33:22,840 --> 00:33:26,920 Speaker 1: something that is absolutely definite is that you can clean 620 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:29,760 Speaker 1: polymer currency a lot better than you can paper currency. Okay, 621 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:32,440 Speaker 1: So here's the thing, y'all. Paper currency passes through a 622 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:35,160 Speaker 1: lot of hands. It's pretty gross. Yeah, and some of 623 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:39,080 Speaker 1: those hands not the nicest hands. You know. It might 624 00:33:39,120 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: be people who are sick. It might be that the 625 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,320 Speaker 1: money itself just comes to contact with other types of 626 00:33:44,800 --> 00:33:47,720 Speaker 1: contaminants like bacteria. Oh yeah, I mean, I mean people 627 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:50,920 Speaker 1: store money and all kinds of non traditional places. It's 628 00:33:50,920 --> 00:33:55,400 Speaker 1: not all pristine wallets, yep, yep, I've got some some 629 00:33:55,600 --> 00:33:59,120 Speaker 1: different Like just thinking about the places where I found money, 630 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,040 Speaker 1: where you know, between cushions of a couch. Who knows 631 00:34:02,080 --> 00:34:05,080 Speaker 1: how long it's been there. Anyway. The point being that 632 00:34:05,160 --> 00:34:08,799 Speaker 1: these dollar bills or or bank notes whatever can get 633 00:34:08,880 --> 00:34:13,399 Speaker 1: pretty grungy and nasty, and you can't really clean them 634 00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,919 Speaker 1: up without possibly damage them. Yeah, so if you're talking 635 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,560 Speaker 1: about a polymer that's plastic, you can actually use a 636 00:34:20,640 --> 00:34:23,280 Speaker 1: damp cloth just wipe it off, Yeah, just wipe it down, 637 00:34:23,360 --> 00:34:26,080 Speaker 1: and then you've got a clean bill. So it could 638 00:34:26,080 --> 00:34:29,160 Speaker 1: actually mean that you end up reducing the chance of 639 00:34:29,200 --> 00:34:32,640 Speaker 1: spreading things like bacteria around at least a little bit. 640 00:34:32,680 --> 00:34:35,120 Speaker 1: I mean, it's not like it's going to eliminate it entirely, 641 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:40,200 Speaker 1: but it takes away one more potential vector, right, certainly. 642 00:34:40,239 --> 00:34:43,279 Speaker 1: And also just you know, it's it's less stinky than 643 00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: paper linen bills can get. But if you're if you're 644 00:34:46,000 --> 00:34:48,839 Speaker 1: wondering if I'm overreacting, I'm not. A two thousand two 645 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:52,120 Speaker 1: report in the Southern Medical Journal showed that pathogens including 646 00:34:52,120 --> 00:34:56,719 Speaker 1: stephlo caucus, are on nine of all dollar bills that 647 00:34:56,840 --> 00:35:03,399 Speaker 1: they tested. So don't don't put money in your mouth, no, hope, 648 00:35:03,440 --> 00:35:06,920 Speaker 1: please don't, please do not do not do that. We 649 00:35:07,080 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: like you, we'd like you to continue being listeners of 650 00:35:10,040 --> 00:35:14,719 Speaker 1: tech stuff. Now, another argument for polymer bank notes, so 651 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:17,240 Speaker 1: we mentioned this earlier too, is that they're actually greener 652 00:35:17,640 --> 00:35:22,160 Speaker 1: than paper bank notes, And it's not that the processes 653 00:35:22,239 --> 00:35:24,440 Speaker 1: to create them are greener, because generally, if you can 654 00:35:24,520 --> 00:35:28,440 Speaker 1: use a renewable resource, that's better than using a a 655 00:35:28,560 --> 00:35:32,560 Speaker 1: chemically created plastic resources, especially since you're talking about some 656 00:35:32,640 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: sort of probably some fossil fuel involved there, I mean, 657 00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: petroleum based products are often part of this. Sure, although 658 00:35:38,920 --> 00:35:41,680 Speaker 1: I'm sure that there's there's fossil fuel use in paper money, 659 00:35:42,120 --> 00:35:44,480 Speaker 1: but at any rate, um, you know, agencies don't have 660 00:35:44,640 --> 00:35:48,000 Speaker 1: to create as much of the polymer currency to keep 661 00:35:48,040 --> 00:35:50,520 Speaker 1: the same amount in circulation because each of the bills 662 00:35:50,560 --> 00:35:52,600 Speaker 1: is going to last longer. Yeah, if you look at 663 00:35:52,600 --> 00:35:55,480 Speaker 1: this from a really big picture standpoint, and you know 664 00:35:55,560 --> 00:35:58,000 Speaker 1: it's crazy, but you have to step way back to 665 00:35:58,120 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: really see the big picture. You're walking not only about 666 00:36:01,640 --> 00:36:06,279 Speaker 1: replacing fewer bills into circulation because they're more durable so 667 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:08,480 Speaker 1: they can last longer. They can they can remain in 668 00:36:08,520 --> 00:36:11,160 Speaker 1: circulation longer. That's one thing, which means you don't have 669 00:36:11,200 --> 00:36:13,719 Speaker 1: to make as much. That's that's important, but also means 670 00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,480 Speaker 1: you don't have to transport as much. You know, once 671 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:18,760 Speaker 1: you make all those new bills, you have to ship 672 00:36:18,800 --> 00:36:22,120 Speaker 1: them to the various banks, and that requires energy, it 673 00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:25,040 Speaker 1: requires you know that, you know labor. So if you're 674 00:36:25,080 --> 00:36:27,279 Speaker 1: able to reduce all of that, you can have a 675 00:36:27,360 --> 00:36:29,719 Speaker 1: measurable effect at the end of the day. This is 676 00:36:29,760 --> 00:36:33,280 Speaker 1: another example of how something that on the surface seems pretty, 677 00:36:33,520 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 1: you know, cut and dry, once you start diving into it, 678 00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:40,000 Speaker 1: you realize, wow, everything really is connected. It's way more 679 00:36:40,080 --> 00:36:44,600 Speaker 1: complicated than I had first anticipated. So some nations have 680 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,640 Speaker 1: found that they have more trouble with dealing with polymer 681 00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:52,400 Speaker 1: currency than they did with paper currency. Nigeria actually considered 682 00:36:52,440 --> 00:36:55,640 Speaker 1: abandoning polymer bank notes because they said that it was 683 00:36:55,719 --> 00:36:59,680 Speaker 1: difficult to process and that it was difficult to destroy 684 00:36:59,719 --> 00:37:02,359 Speaker 1: the old banknotes like once you were taking them out 685 00:37:02,360 --> 00:37:05,839 Speaker 1: of circulation. So they're they're so durable that they're running 686 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,359 Speaker 1: into problems on the opposite end of how to like 687 00:37:08,400 --> 00:37:09,759 Speaker 1: how do you how do you do how do you 688 00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:11,399 Speaker 1: break them down? Especially how do you break them down 689 00:37:11,400 --> 00:37:13,960 Speaker 1: in a way that wouldn't be environmentally dangerous? Now if 690 00:37:13,960 --> 00:37:16,359 Speaker 1: you're able to recycle them in some way, like first 691 00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: you have to destroy it. Now this is true with 692 00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:23,839 Speaker 1: paper currency too. There are there are various um explanations 693 00:37:23,880 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: of how this gets done. But essentially your paper currency 694 00:37:27,480 --> 00:37:30,480 Speaker 1: went taking out of circulation is obliterated. I mean it 695 00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,480 Speaker 1: has to be, because otherwise if it were to fall 696 00:37:32,520 --> 00:37:36,240 Speaker 1: back into circulation, then you have the danger of inflation. Right, 697 00:37:36,400 --> 00:37:38,480 Speaker 1: you suddenly have this issue of not being able to 698 00:37:38,520 --> 00:37:43,120 Speaker 1: control the money supply the currency. Really, so Nigeria said 699 00:37:43,160 --> 00:37:47,320 Speaker 1: that it was getting really hard to um destroy them properly, 700 00:37:47,360 --> 00:37:50,120 Speaker 1: and so it was something that was holding them back 701 00:37:50,160 --> 00:37:56,160 Speaker 1: from fully adopting a polymer currency based economy. Sure, Australia 702 00:37:56,280 --> 00:38:00,000 Speaker 1: does have a recycling program for their polymer currency. They're 703 00:38:00,040 --> 00:38:03,000 Speaker 1: they're made into like compost bins and plumbing parts after 704 00:38:03,000 --> 00:38:06,280 Speaker 1: they're too worn down to be used anymore, which interesting. 705 00:38:06,680 --> 00:38:09,560 Speaker 1: I'm there's so many jokes that I want to make 706 00:38:09,840 --> 00:38:13,360 Speaker 1: about your money going into turning into compost bins or 707 00:38:14,120 --> 00:38:16,920 Speaker 1: or plumbing, particularly the plumbing pipes. I think about all 708 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: the money I flushed down the drain over the years, 709 00:38:19,560 --> 00:38:22,480 Speaker 1: over one hair brained scheme after another. Those get rich 710 00:38:22,600 --> 00:38:24,840 Speaker 1: quick schemes, Man, they just never work out for me. 711 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:27,600 Speaker 1: I gotta talk to my buddy Zach Morris about that 712 00:38:27,600 --> 00:38:30,799 Speaker 1: when I'm done. That wraps up this classic episode of 713 00:38:30,800 --> 00:38:33,319 Speaker 1: tech Stuff. Hope you guys enjoyed it. If you have 714 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:36,080 Speaker 1: any suggestions for future episodes of tech Stuff, reach out 715 00:38:36,160 --> 00:38:37,799 Speaker 1: let me know. The best way to do that is 716 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:40,960 Speaker 1: on Twitter. The handle we use is text stuff hs 717 00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:49,640 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Text 718 00:38:49,640 --> 00:38:53,080 Speaker 1: Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. For more podcasts 719 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,839 Speaker 1: from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, 720 00:38:56,000 --> 00:38:59,160 Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. 721 00:39:00,920 --> 00:39:01,360 Speaker 1: Eight