WEBVTT - It's All About The Polymers 0:00:04.200 --> 0:00:07.520 Get in tucht with technology with text stuff from stuff 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:15.000 works dot com. Hey there, everyone, and welcome to text stuff. 0:00:15.040 --> 0:00:19.120 I'm Jonathan Strickland and I'm Lauren. And you know what, Lauren, 0:00:19.160 --> 0:00:21.159 you know what I like more than anything else in 0:00:21.160 --> 0:00:25.079 the world. The New Hobbit movie. No wars, No, no, 0:00:25.400 --> 0:00:32.280 these are good guesses, but panics, Nils Cord, dollars, Ulla bills. Yeah, 0:00:32.320 --> 0:00:34.800 we're talking about money again. Guys. We've done this a 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:37.120 couple of times. But no, this is this is a 0:00:37.400 --> 0:00:40.120 topic that was sent to us by one of our 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:44.680 beloved listeners. Correct, yes, this is listener Matt via Twitter, 0:00:44.920 --> 0:00:47.720 I who said to us, in time for Australia Day 0:00:47.760 --> 0:00:51.520 on Sunday, how about a podcast for Australia's polymer money. 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.040 And you know what Australia Day was several Sundays ago. Yes, 0:00:55.160 --> 0:00:57.040 this is This is not an up to date and 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.639 current podcast, so we apologize for not managing to put 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:04.120 it out before the day. We're just really early for 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:06.720 next year, is the thing. Yeah, see here's the thing. Uh, 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.679 time happens earlier in Australia than it does over here. 0:01:10.800 --> 0:01:13.760 And that's the reason. I don't think that's the reason 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:16.240 let's just I'm trying to cover our tracks here, okay. 0:01:16.280 --> 0:01:18.840 So yeah, we wanted to talk about polymer currency. What 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.280 is it? Uh? And why is it important? Why are 0:01:22.360 --> 0:01:24.919 so many other places looking into it or have already 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:28.280 adopted it at least in some measure? Yeah, because Australia 0:01:28.920 --> 0:01:32.520 was that the first country to adopt an entire line 0:01:32.560 --> 0:01:36.360 of polymer notes to completely switch over their paper currency 0:01:36.440 --> 0:01:40.039 to polymer currency. And that was back in six although 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:44.479 they had started using polymer notes way back, and other 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:49.960 countries had had experimented with it before, but no country 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:54.840 had switched completely over to polymer currency before Australia did it, right, 0:01:55.040 --> 0:01:58.280 And now more than twenty five other nations are are 0:01:58.400 --> 0:02:01.560 issuing some polymer notes and and more adding themselves to 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:04.000 the list all the time. The UK, for example, has 0:02:04.120 --> 0:02:07.920 plans to introduce both a five pound Winston Churchhill note 0:02:08.080 --> 0:02:12.960 and a ten pound Jane Austin notes starting in seen respectively. 0:02:13.120 --> 0:02:16.720 That's pretty cool. And so yeah, we're looking at upwards 0:02:16.760 --> 0:02:20.120 of a billion of these entering circulation, right, I mean 0:02:20.280 --> 0:02:23.280 in three years in the UK alone, right, Yeah, it's 0:02:23.360 --> 0:02:26.080 it's a pretty big rollout. They're going to be withdrawing 0:02:26.120 --> 0:02:28.560 all of their paper notes for those two current those 0:02:28.600 --> 0:02:32.239 two denominations, right right, So that makes makes us wonder like, 0:02:32.400 --> 0:02:34.840 what's the big deal here. So we're gonna set some 0:02:35.560 --> 0:02:38.800 some foundation before we get into all the stuff about polymers, 0:02:38.880 --> 0:02:41.920 because you know, it helps to actually understand bank notes 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:44.799 in general, currency in general before we jump into that. 0:02:45.000 --> 0:02:48.040 So a bank note is just a unit of current currency. 0:02:48.120 --> 0:02:50.079 Most of you out there probably very familiar with some 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:52.120 sort of banknote. Here in the United States, we talk 0:02:52.120 --> 0:02:54.600 about dollar bills, five dollar bills, to and dollar bills, 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:56.720 that kind of thing. As you were saying, in the UK, 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.800 it's the pound, you know, in a lot of European 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.120 A sations it's the eu O that sort of stuff. Well, 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.560 it's this is the These are the actual physical bills 0:03:04.639 --> 0:03:08.520 that represent certain amounts of value. It represents a specific 0:03:08.840 --> 0:03:13.079 amount of value for a given nation exactly. So, h 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.720 a five dollar bill in the United States represents five dollars, 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:18.959 pretty straightforward when you get down to it, which is 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.359 nice because as you've listen to this podcast, you know 0:03:21.800 --> 0:03:24.959 some of the topics we cover not so straightforward. Right. Also, 0:03:25.040 --> 0:03:28.160 I'd like to apologize on behalf of myself for for 0:03:28.480 --> 0:03:31.840 amount of value. That was just a really spectacular phrasing. 0:03:32.000 --> 0:03:35.240 Oh I get so redundantly repetitive that I have to 0:03:35.320 --> 0:03:38.800 reiterate it occasionally. So at any rate, we want to 0:03:38.880 --> 0:03:41.640 talk also about what a polymer is. Now, a polymer 0:03:41.920 --> 0:03:44.920 is a type of molecule. It's does not necessarily mean 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.760 natural versus synthetic. That there are actually both natural polymers 0:03:48.840 --> 0:03:53.040 and synthetic polymers out there. This is a specific classification 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.840 of molecules. Now, a polymer is made up of monomers. 0:03:57.200 --> 0:04:00.600 Not a big surprise there. Polymer means poly means many, right, 0:04:00.680 --> 0:04:03.440 and mono means one. So a monomer is kind of 0:04:03.520 --> 0:04:05.560 like the base unit of a polymer, which you end 0:04:05.640 --> 0:04:09.360 up being these long chains of of molecules. They tend 0:04:09.440 --> 0:04:12.440 to be pretty resilient and flexible, at least on the 0:04:12.480 --> 0:04:16.120 molecular level, depending upon uh, what they're made out of. 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:18.960 When you get it onto the macro scale, they may 0:04:19.000 --> 0:04:22.800 be more or less flexible than other materials. But if 0:04:22.839 --> 0:04:25.920 you're looking at natural polymers, that includes stuff like silk 0:04:26.120 --> 0:04:30.160 or amber, and synthetic polymers include man made rubber. Natural 0:04:30.240 --> 0:04:34.760 rubber also a polymer, obviously not a synthetic one. That's 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:39.840 the word natural um, but another synthetic polymer would be plastics. So, uh, 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.480 these have turned out to be incredibly useful materials for 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.600 all sorts of industries. Uh, the technology industry in particular. 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:51.640 I mean, our electronics wouldn't be what they are without 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.160 these kind of plastic polymers, right. Plastics make it possible, yeah, 0:04:55.160 --> 0:04:57.080 because I mean otherwise we'd have to find some other 0:04:57.200 --> 0:04:59.320 material to make everything out of and it would be 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:02.279 all the prices would go up. Plastics cheap, it's easy 0:05:02.360 --> 0:05:05.560 to produce. So these are all really important elements that 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:09.080 you want in any kind of material. And so some 0:05:09.200 --> 0:05:12.520 people started thinking, well, maybe we could apply that to currency. 0:05:13.200 --> 0:05:15.440 So if you look at we talked about what a 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:17.560 bank note does, we talked about what a polymer is. 0:05:17.800 --> 0:05:19.880 So a polymer bank note is a banknote, mayor of 0:05:19.920 --> 0:05:23.880 pombers Hey, and we can end the podcast right here. 0:05:25.000 --> 0:05:27.640 Well we'll keep going though, because you know me, I 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:29.760 can't stop it, just like whatever. It is like three 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.200 and a half minutes. So we're looking at these type 0:05:33.240 --> 0:05:37.120 of synthetic materials, mainly the plastics family, that to be 0:05:37.240 --> 0:05:41.200 used as a bank note. Uh, using plastic. According to 0:05:41.640 --> 0:05:46.680 all the authorities who are issuing these polymer currency uh denominations, 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.240 it's actually cheaper than using paper in the long run. 0:05:50.320 --> 0:05:52.159 I mean, you know, of course, the costs of setting 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.120 up a program to create these things, it's going to 0:05:54.200 --> 0:05:58.320 be pretty expensive term, but once once you get it going, 0:05:58.440 --> 0:06:01.520 it should be cheaper per bill to create these things, right, 0:06:01.560 --> 0:06:03.560 And the idea behind that is you know, you might say, well, 0:06:03.600 --> 0:06:06.560 how is it cheaper per bill? And the thought is that, well, 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:10.799 these things are durable, they last longer than paper currency, 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:15.040 and paper currency you have to continuously replace. So you 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.320 may not be aware of this, but if you have 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:19.880 a paper bill and you use it, you actually go 0:06:19.920 --> 0:06:21.680 out and you buy something with it, and someone else 0:06:21.720 --> 0:06:23.920 goes out and buy something with it, and eventually those 0:06:23.960 --> 0:06:27.040 bills make their ways to banks. And what happens is 0:06:27.080 --> 0:06:29.560 that when a bank gets bills, they look at the bills, 0:06:29.680 --> 0:06:32.240 and if the bills have reached a certain level of use, 0:06:32.920 --> 0:06:35.600 if they're if they're basically about to disintegrate or otherwise 0:06:35.680 --> 0:06:41.080 become um unusable or um you probably don't want to 0:06:41.200 --> 0:06:44.240 touch them. Then super gross, I think, is the right. 0:06:45.680 --> 0:06:49.080 Those dollar bills or five dollars whatever, those notes get 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:53.000 taken out of circulation and replaced with brand new, fresh notes. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.800 So when you hear about things like a you know, 0:06:56.880 --> 0:07:02.159 a treasury department printing up currency those bills, that doesn't 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.640 represent new wealth, right, that's not new as and that's 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:08.200 not adding wealth to the nation. What that's doing is 0:07:08.400 --> 0:07:12.280 that's replacing old bills that were in circulation. The way 0:07:12.320 --> 0:07:15.360 you create wealth is not by printing more money, because 0:07:15.400 --> 0:07:17.840 it's as many countries have actually found in the past, 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.280 and and and sometimes people are printing money in order 0:07:21.400 --> 0:07:25.080 to increase the wealth. And there were huge quote marks 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.200 around that phrase in case you couldn't hear them, because 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.239 that is not that that's called inflation. And that's different 0:07:30.400 --> 0:07:33.040 exactly exactly. If you end up just printing currency and 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:36.520 then dumping it into an economy, you really devalue the currency. 0:07:36.720 --> 0:07:40.120 So suddenly now everything costs more because the currency isn't 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.400 worth as much, it doesn't have as much buying power. 0:07:43.000 --> 0:07:46.320 So when they're printing up these these these bills, it's 0:07:46.360 --> 0:07:48.600 really to replace the ones that are already in circulation 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:50.760 that need to be replaced. That's the main reason. The 0:07:50.800 --> 0:07:52.280 way you create wealth, by the way, in case you 0:07:52.360 --> 0:07:55.080 are wondering, is through loans. You loan out money and 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:59.000 you add interest. That interest represents new wealth. That's kind 0:07:59.080 --> 0:08:02.560 of how in a very high level, Like all the 0:08:02.640 --> 0:08:06.240 economics majors out there, just like he is oversimplifying this 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.400 to the point of ridiculousness, but that's basically how you 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.760 create new wealth. Economics has never made a lick of 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:15.560 sense to me, Like like like nanoparticles, sure totally back 0:08:15.600 --> 0:08:19.840 for economics, no idea exactly totally, but at any rate. 0:08:19.960 --> 0:08:23.040 Um So, these polymer notes, in addition to being slightly 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:27.040 less expensive to manufacture and and more durable, so therefore 0:08:27.400 --> 0:08:30.080 you know able to be kept in circulation longer, have 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.559 a lot of good benefits when it comes to anti 0:08:32.640 --> 0:08:36.440 counterfeiting measures. Right, So let's talk about some anti counterfeiting measures. 0:08:36.520 --> 0:08:39.079 These are ones that some of them you can find 0:08:39.320 --> 0:08:43.760 on on paper currency, but it's important to run down 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:45.600 the list of it because a lot of the same 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:48.080 techniques that are used in paper currency are being used 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:51.319 in polymer currency as well. So some of these you're 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:53.000 gonna hear and you're gonna think, well, how is that 0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:57.040 special polymer? Not all of them are. So one of them, uh, 0:08:57.120 --> 0:08:59.360 and it's pretty simple. One is just the idea of 0:08:59.480 --> 0:09:04.920 creating things that are really finely detailed, like really really 0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:08.240 time elements and parts of the image. Um. I mean, 0:09:08.320 --> 0:09:10.720 that's that's why you'll see a lot of very fine 0:09:10.840 --> 0:09:12.640 line work in many of the images. It's not just 0:09:12.760 --> 0:09:15.040 like a big cartoony looking thing, right, And they'll be 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.679 like little curly cues and swirls and stuff and the 0:09:18.800 --> 0:09:21.400 various designs that are on the bill. And the idea 0:09:21.520 --> 0:09:25.160 here is that if you make those those details really precise, 0:09:25.760 --> 0:09:28.959 it's difficult to copy that, right. It's difficult for a 0:09:29.040 --> 0:09:32.160 counterfeiter to make a fake bill that has that same 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:34.480 level of detail in it, especially if you were let's 0:09:34.480 --> 0:09:37.040 say that you have a copy machine that doesn't have 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.800 any sort of protection on it where you're able to 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:43.480 make copies of stuff. The more fine detail you include 0:09:43.520 --> 0:09:45.360 on there, the harder it is for that copy machine 0:09:45.400 --> 0:09:49.520 to reproduce it accurately. And so the hope for people 0:09:49.559 --> 0:09:52.200 who are making the bills is that anyone who accepts 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.439 the bill will look at it and be able to 0:09:54.520 --> 0:09:57.079 tell just by glancing at it whether or not those 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.559 fine details match up against the real thing or if 0:09:59.600 --> 0:10:02.440 it's you think okay. But even even fine detail can 0:10:02.520 --> 0:10:04.880 be duplicated I mean, I mean, I'm sure that some 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:06.559 of you are thinking, like, well, we I have like 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:10.599 a really high res scanner, and that could clearly duplicate 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:12.400 and and you know, if I have a good enough printer, 0:10:12.720 --> 0:10:14.560 then I could absolutely make a copy of that thing. 0:10:15.040 --> 0:10:18.880 But there's, um, there's a specific ink line process. Yeah, 0:10:19.320 --> 0:10:23.360 so intaglio printing, right, yes, it gets all. When I 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.800 read Intaglio, I think like that sounds like a cologne 0:10:26.840 --> 0:10:31.480 to me or something Intaglio. So what this is is 0:10:31.520 --> 0:10:34.199 that you, all, right, you take like a roller, okay, 0:10:34.280 --> 0:10:37.280 the roller is essentially like a stamp, okay, and you 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.600 make fine etchings in the rollers, so these are little 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:44.320 indentations inside the roller. You then coat the roller with ink. 0:10:44.760 --> 0:10:47.559 Now more inc is going to go into those indentations, 0:10:47.559 --> 0:10:50.360 because they're like little wells. And then you wipe the 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:53.640 ink off the roller, which does not surface exactly, just 0:10:53.880 --> 0:10:56.280 into the etchings exactly. And then you can put a 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.640 piece of paper or whatever whatever you're printing on, and 0:11:00.120 --> 0:11:02.880 well then just those little fine details that have been 0:11:02.920 --> 0:11:05.439 etched into the roller will be transferred to whatever you're 0:11:05.480 --> 0:11:08.600 printing on. And that's a way of creating this incredibly 0:11:08.720 --> 0:11:12.200 finely detailed work so that you do it accurately over 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:13.960 and over every single time. It's going to come out 0:11:14.040 --> 0:11:16.880 exactly the way you want it to because it's etched 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.480 into whatever the printing mechanism is right, and it will 0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:22.760 also create a design that is raised up off of 0:11:22.840 --> 0:11:26.560 the paper very slightly paper whatever other Yeah, exactly. So again, 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:29.120 both of those things are indications that you've got the 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.360 real legit currency in your hands. But there are a 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:36.680 lot of other anti counterfeiting measures as well, including things 0:11:36.840 --> 0:11:40.719 like um multicolor bills. So the idea here is that 0:11:40.840 --> 0:11:44.840 you don't use just a single dye in the dying 0:11:45.000 --> 0:11:48.280 of your currency, so that you have maybe a gradation 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.360 or a couple of different colors on each bill, because 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:56.040 that is also difficult to replicate. So if you know, 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:58.280 I remember when I think it was, I guess it 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:00.960 was the hundred dollar bill of several years ago. Now 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.480 when it when it was redone, it had kind of 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:07.360 a peach coloring to it besides the green. Yeah, yeah, 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.760 like a pinkish, peach ish and and everyone's immediate reaction 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:13.079 was this looks like monopoly money. But it was actually 0:12:13.160 --> 0:12:17.720 a very clever way of cheaply integrating better security exactly. 0:12:17.840 --> 0:12:19.599 So yeah, for a lot of us were suddenly thinking like, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:22.040 why why do we have play money? It's sort of 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:25.640 the arrogant American approach to whenever we go to a 0:12:25.760 --> 0:12:28.480 foreign country. You know, it's not that every American does this, 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:30.840 but I'm sure anyone living in another country has had 0:12:30.880 --> 0:12:33.800 the experience or at least has heard a story of 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:39.760 American tourists calling calling American currency quote unquote real money 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.840 and then referring to whatever the local currency has as 0:12:43.040 --> 0:12:45.160 this stuff that I have to use to buy things. 0:12:45.960 --> 0:12:49.120 On behalf of all Americans, I would like to extend 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.760 an apology to you. Not all of us are like that. 0:12:52.240 --> 0:12:54.760 Uh No, some of us are much more subtly completely 0:12:54.800 --> 0:12:57.160 ignorant about your money. I I still feel a little 0:12:57.160 --> 0:12:58.560 bit bad I had the last time I was over 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.120 in England. I had this really ilarious experience with the 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:04.480 shopkeeper where I just I felt like Arthur Weasley holding 0:13:04.559 --> 0:13:07.839 this pile of British coins and and like she was 0:13:07.960 --> 0:13:09.599 just trying to she She was like, you know, that 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:12.600 will be a pound five, and I was like, how 0:13:12.679 --> 0:13:14.760 does it? I just held my hands out to her, 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:17.559 like how you you take? How much money? It? Is 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.000 the really sad part about that story, Lauren, is you're 0:13:20.040 --> 0:13:22.439 not old enough to have been around back when the 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:26.280 when the English currency system was not based off of 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.200 base ten, when it was like, all right, I'm sorry, 0:13:29.240 --> 0:13:32.800 it's sixteen pennies to a furlong, which is uh, that's 0:13:32.880 --> 0:13:37.599 fourteen furlongs to a half guinea crown thing. Obviously, my 0:13:37.720 --> 0:13:41.480 ignorance of the English monetary system is also great. But yes, 0:13:41.559 --> 0:13:44.079 at any rate, I have also had that same experience, 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:49.080 so that those multicolor bills obviously another step towards creating 0:13:49.120 --> 0:13:52.440 an anti counterfeiting strategy, but it's not the only one. Again, 0:13:52.520 --> 0:13:55.880 there's also incorporating strips of different colored material within a 0:13:55.920 --> 0:13:59.160 bank note itself. Right, So in this case you might 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.240 have a comp completely different material than what makes up 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:04.640 the bulk of the bank note. The bank note itself 0:14:04.720 --> 0:14:07.720 may be made out of some sort of paper slash 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:12.880 cloth type stuff, with these other strips incorporated into them. Again, 0:14:13.400 --> 0:14:16.600 very difficult to counterfeit, you know, there's just really it's 0:14:16.679 --> 0:14:20.280 just about raising the difficulty so that your average person 0:14:20.520 --> 0:14:23.680 can't really counterfeit this money. Uh. It doesn't mean that 0:14:23.720 --> 0:14:26.880 it's impossible, It just means that you've raised the difficulty 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:29.200 so much that the people who are attempting it, that 0:14:29.360 --> 0:14:32.080 number gets smaller and smaller because it's hard to do. 0:14:33.040 --> 0:14:37.840 Another strategy is to use holy grams. Yeah. So holograms 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:41.280 are obviously these little bit pictures that can uh, they 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.320 have a different you know, they shine in a different 0:14:43.320 --> 0:14:45.120 way when you shine light on You also get kind 0:14:45.120 --> 0:14:46.840 of a three D effect on them. You know, it 0:14:46.960 --> 0:14:49.320 looks like you're looking at a three dimensional picture as 0:14:49.360 --> 0:14:53.160 opposed to just a flat image. And these are of 0:14:53.240 --> 0:14:57.760 course created with my favorite technology of all time, lasers. Yes, 0:14:57.880 --> 0:15:00.880 we did an entire suite of episode about holograms over 0:15:00.960 --> 0:15:03.280 and Forward Thinking a few months back. I failed to 0:15:03.360 --> 0:15:06.240 look up when exactly that occurred, but but go to 0:15:06.280 --> 0:15:09.960 the forward thinking website yeah dot com. Please do I 0:15:10.040 --> 0:15:12.320 mean the the episodes we did on holograms. We actually 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:16.200 explain how people make holograms and it does involve using 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:19.920 two different types of lasers in order to complete this. 0:15:20.080 --> 0:15:21.720 You know, it's actually kind of crazy to think how 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:25.120 complicated is just to make a what what appears to 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.119 be a simple image. But at any rate, again, holograms, 0:15:28.520 --> 0:15:31.160 it requires you to have some equipment that your average 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.600 counterfeiter probably doesn't have access to like really expensive lasers. 0:15:35.440 --> 0:15:39.520 So then we've got including strips of phosphorescent material. So 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.200 then you've got you know, if you shine it underneath 0:15:42.720 --> 0:15:44.800 like a black light and ultra violet light, then you 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:48.520 might see that it glows if it's a true bill. Obviously, 0:15:48.560 --> 0:15:51.000 if that where a counterfeit and it doesn't glow, you'd say, huh, 0:15:51.680 --> 0:15:54.960 nice try now I'm calling the cops. Right. There's also 0:15:55.000 --> 0:15:57.120 all kinds of different inks that you can use that 0:15:57.280 --> 0:16:01.720 are slightly harder to duplicate. Yes, yeah, including ink that 0:16:01.800 --> 0:16:04.720 will change color depending upon the angle at which light 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:07.960 hits that ink. Right. This is due to a process 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:12.240 called uh iridescence. It's a physical process which works by 0:16:12.320 --> 0:16:16.720 virtue of microstructures, which are basically tiny holes that reflect 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.280 light at different angles and wavelengths than the rest of 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:21.960 the surrounding material. Yeah, this actually reminds me a lot 0:16:22.160 --> 0:16:25.840 of how uh glasses free three D works, and that 0:16:26.080 --> 0:16:29.080 you have these little tiny elements inside a screen that 0:16:29.240 --> 0:16:32.240 direct light in specific ways so that one eye gets 0:16:32.320 --> 0:16:34.160 one set of light and the other eye gets the 0:16:34.200 --> 0:16:35.800 other set of light, and that's what creates the three 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.320 D effect kind of similar here, except instead of trying 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:41.600 to direct light at your at each eye independently, it's 0:16:41.640 --> 0:16:44.120 just changing that angle so that you get a different 0:16:44.160 --> 0:16:47.000 color experience as you're as you're moving the bill in 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.920 relation to wherever the light sources. Uh. Sure, it can 0:16:50.000 --> 0:16:52.680 even be used to create this multicolor look without any 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.920 ink at all. It can be a purely physical structure, yep, yep. Uh. 0:16:57.040 --> 0:17:02.520 Then there's also using ultraviolet reactive fluorescen inks are metallic inks. Uh, 0:17:02.920 --> 0:17:06.440 again stuff that's not easy to come by, so again 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.480 cutting down the likelihood of counterfeiting. Uh. There's also micro 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:12.680 printing that's kind of similar to the etching we talked 0:17:12.680 --> 0:17:15.080 about before. It's this is where you're printing really really 0:17:15.160 --> 0:17:19.560 super tiny words or numbers as a way of again 0:17:19.680 --> 0:17:23.280 foiling the efforts of people to copy an image directly, 0:17:23.400 --> 0:17:25.480 all right, because not everyone has access to that kind 0:17:25.480 --> 0:17:29.520 of high definition printing. And then there's also designing software 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:33.280 that actually recognizes when you are trying to manipulate some 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.480 sort of banknote. Now, this software could be anything from 0:17:36.640 --> 0:17:40.400 a scanner to a copier to any kind of photoshops 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:44.639 sort of material, where once it recognizes the elements of 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.600 a banknote essentially refuses to help you out. You'll end 0:17:48.720 --> 0:17:51.879 up getting either an error or if you're trying to 0:17:51.960 --> 0:17:54.400 copy something, you might just get a solid block where 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.200 there's no definition at all. It's it's you know, kind 0:17:58.200 --> 0:18:01.200 of uh, you know, it's another level of security that's 0:18:01.240 --> 0:18:03.719 outside the bill itself. This is more on the end 0:18:03.840 --> 0:18:06.280 of the people who are making the software and hardware 0:18:06.400 --> 0:18:08.520 al right, right, you would have to depend upon those 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.920 developers to create that for you, to create it in 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.840 conjunction with you. And a big example of this is 0:18:14.960 --> 0:18:18.840 your ryon constellation. So this can recognize a scan bank 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.240 note based on the patterns that are actually on these 0:18:22.240 --> 0:18:25.639 banknotes themselves. These have been put there by the various 0:18:26.080 --> 0:18:29.520 industries that create the bank notes. If those marks are 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:32.359 present on any kind of image, like even if you 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:34.840 included those marks on some other form of image, this 0:18:34.960 --> 0:18:36.359 thing is gonna pick it up and say, all right, 0:18:36.400 --> 0:18:39.879 I can't work with this, and uh, it's not likely 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.760 that you're going to have these specifically put on another 0:18:42.800 --> 0:18:46.400 image because they're tiny. They look like little one millimeter 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.159 sized circles, and they're usually printed in yellow ink, so 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:52.080 you're probably not going to find it on anything else 0:18:52.240 --> 0:18:54.320 by accident. It's probably not. It's it's not like it's 0:18:54.359 --> 0:18:58.320 working off a facial recognition of Jeffer Center something exactly. 0:18:58.520 --> 0:19:00.800 That would be a poor that. Yeah, that would not 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:03.880 work out so well. So then there's also just using 0:19:03.920 --> 0:19:07.639 a material that's not just paper, right, because paper is 0:19:07.680 --> 0:19:11.040 not very sturdy and it's also really easy to reproduce. 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.840 So most countries, including the United States, use some other material. 0:19:14.960 --> 0:19:18.720 It's something that's closer to cloth than it is in paper. Linen, 0:19:18.800 --> 0:19:21.200 in fact, is one of the most popular additives yep. 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:24.040 And in the United States it's a mixture cotton and 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:27.560 linen fibers, so it's not really paper in the way 0:19:27.680 --> 0:19:30.320 we normally think of paper, which is why a bill 0:19:30.400 --> 0:19:32.720 can survive. I run through the washing machine, yep. Yeah, 0:19:32.760 --> 0:19:37.240 if you want to do some money laundering. Sorry, I 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.280 didn't really like that joke either, but I'm gonna keep 0:19:39.320 --> 0:19:42.000 it anyway. Also, the United States government says that it 0:19:42.119 --> 0:19:45.399 takes four thousand double folds, as in you're you're folding 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.840 it forward and backward against itself before a bill will tear. 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:54.000 You know, brand new bill will tear. And also because 0:19:54.160 --> 0:19:58.719 of this mixture, that's also difficult to replicate. However, Uh, 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.000 that doesn't mean people don't try. So what do you 0:20:02.160 --> 0:20:05.399 do to try and detect a counterfeit bill? One of 0:20:05.480 --> 0:20:09.280 the popular methods that is, Uh, I've seen it used, 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:11.480 like I've I've paid for something with like a fresh 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:13.920 twenty dollar bill and seeing people use these things these 0:20:14.000 --> 0:20:18.080 counterfeiting pins. The pen is meant to try and detect 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:21.119 the counterfeit bill. It usually has some sort of chemical 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:25.400 in it, like iodine, and that would react to starch. 0:20:25.840 --> 0:20:28.159 And if it reacts to starch, then will it'll actually 0:20:28.280 --> 0:20:31.080 stain whatever it is it's marking against start of course 0:20:31.160 --> 0:20:34.560 being a common ingredient in many papers, but something that 0:20:34.800 --> 0:20:37.920 US currency does not contain. Right, So the idea would 0:20:37.920 --> 0:20:40.080 be if you mark if you use this marker on 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:43.320 a legitimate bill, there should be no stain. If used 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.480 it on something that had a paper that had starch 0:20:45.560 --> 0:20:47.879 in it, it would stain, which sounds like it be 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:50.480 pretty effective, except for the fact that there are a 0:20:50.520 --> 0:20:54.280 lot of ways of removing starches from paper or actually 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:58.080 just buying starch free paper, and in either case those 0:20:58.119 --> 0:21:00.720 pens would not be effective. So you could have a 0:21:00.800 --> 0:21:02.879 fake bill. In fact, you could just cut out a 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:05.359 sheet of paper on starch free paper and just write 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:08.200 this is money on it and handed to someone and 0:21:08.280 --> 0:21:10.200 if they ran the little marker on it, there would 0:21:10.240 --> 0:21:13.640 be no stain. It clearly would not be a real bill, 0:21:14.080 --> 0:21:16.960 right right, unless you're using a doctor Who's psychic paper, 0:21:17.119 --> 0:21:19.840 not doctor who. That's terrible the doctor right. Oh, I 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:25.280 feel like a bad nerd. It's Mr Who. No, I'm sorry, Yeah, 0:21:25.760 --> 0:21:28.359 I do all the time at any rate. If you 0:21:28.440 --> 0:21:29.800 if you want to hear a little bit more about 0:21:29.840 --> 0:21:33.679 all of these anti counterfeiting measures. Jonathan and Christen episode 0:21:33.720 --> 0:21:37.600 called the Tech of Making Money way back on August nine, 0:21:38.480 --> 0:21:40.800