You seem like you know more than me on the subject, but I think I’ve a few things to point out about your argument (correct me if I’m wrong).

Governments have, in the past, bolstered their gold reserves and then “declared” a new (higher) price for all gold within their borders. This might not seem so significant, but the US did it like so:

• 1933: The U.S. government made private ownership of most gold illegal
• 1934: After collecting gold from citizens at the old price, the government raised the official price of gold by ~69%

The value of the US dollar took a nose dive. The $35/oz peg held until 1971, when Nixon ended gold convertibility entirely. Queue the recession of the 1970s, the US dollar lose even more of its value while gold continued to rise in value (comparatively). By January 1980, gold hit about $850 per ounce at its peak. All this shows is that gold is constantly being manipulated for its market value, by state actors. None of this volatility is inherent to the value of gold in its own right, not due to mining issues or anything of the sort.

Secondly, trust in government is a misleading way to describe why fiat currency works — is it not? Fiat currency has value because the state imposes obligations (especially taxes) that are only payable in that currency, and then manages its issuance through spending, taxation, and debt instruments. Taxation alone is enough to produce nonzero value in fiat currency. This demonstrates that trust is secondary to obligation.

If you need $1000 from the government as a contractor, the Fed does something like this:

• Credits a Bank’s reserve account by $1,000
• Marks Treasury’s account down by $1,000

Key point: The Fed is the issuer of reserves. It cannot “run out” of them. If Treasury’s account balance is low, the Fed still clears the payment. Treasury balance management is a legal constraint, not an operational one. In my example, the private sector’s net financial assets increased by $1,000 while the public sector’s debt increased by $1,000.

Later, that $1,000 of public sector debt is paired with treasury securities (e.g., bonds). We sell those little securities with the promise of interest paid (via taxation), which creates the bond market and the national debt. This further demonstrates, the mechanisms here are long chains of obligations depending on other obligations, which creates the value of the fiat currency. Trust is only what allows people to willfully partake in the economy, as is the case for any other life experience. You drink water because you trust it will make you less thirsty, but you would not say trust is the reason that you drink water.

Bold of you to deduce the natural evolution of a language is “a mistake.” Next you’ll tell me the sun ought be a little more to the South when it sets, too.

Don’t forget about China selling their US bonds off, not too long ago, in what was a “yippy” move from the market.

What was the typo? “I’m horny?”

I can’t wake up from hibernation… the monitors don’t get signal again, so I have to restart.

It sounds like the downside here would be that you loose reliability in your connection. Probably fine for most things.