No, but s/he might tell you that it is safe to count on God being an important concept to many people for the foreseeable future. In the same vein, gold will likely be perceived as a good store of value for the foreseeable future, which is what matters in this context.

You seem to be under the impression that only 'better' things exist. That is wrong.

The fact of the matter is that for literally millenia, humans have considered gold to be valuable. That is unlikely to change any time soon, though obviously the extent that we value it is always in flux.

It doesn't have anything to do with 'better'. It's a description of reality.

ok, I don't see people lugging around a bunch of gold coins in their purses in the future. It doesn't make sense.

edit: I actually agree 100% on "You seem to be under the impression that only 'better' things exist. That is wrong."

Worse things will also exist, but won't be adopted by the majority.

In terms of weight, gold is a bit more valuable than twenty dollar bills, pound for pound. And its density is much higher. In no sense would the average person be 'lugging around' a bunch of gold coins for day to day activities.

There are many (better) arguments against the readoption of a gold standard. This one doesn't hold its weight (heh).

It is much costlier to verify that a gold bar doesn't contain some lead than to verify that a $20 bill is authentic. That is why if you buy a gold bar and immediately sell it, you will lose 10-20% of its value.

as though everyone hopelessly consumed by anxiety, existential meaninglessness and insecurity nowadays isn’t argument enough in favor of the religions you’re discounting...old things aren’t inherently simple-minded or useless

I find this argument interesting. I want to focus on the anxiety portion.

Is there proof that people are more anxious today than in the past? Is there proof that religious morals and expectations didn't have a negative impact on folks' anxiety levels in the past? What about religion means individuals would be less anxious, and how do you prove that?

It's not that we believe nothing now; it seems clear that nowadays many people will believe anything. It's unwise to assume that forgoing the complex and slowly evolved structures of the past is going to liberate people...many just replace it with nonsense.

My original point was that discounting past things like "religion" in black/white terms ignores that these things were the basis of advanced civilizations that led us to today and managed to withstand circumstances much worse than what we're facing today. Tons of horrible issues, but focusing on the bad parts is too easy and narrow-minded.

Whatever floats your psychology man, do what you have to.