On Not Being a Sign: Gold’s Semiotic Claims
On Not Being a Sign: Gold’s Semiotic Claims
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论不是一个符号：黄金的符号学主张
作者：
E. Ferry
在这篇文章中，我在全球金融市场对黄金的看法的背景下研究了黄金的符号学主张，首先是我的线人在黄金和比特币之间得出的有趣的相似之处。我提出了几个相互关联的论点：(1)在各种文化背景下，黄金已经成为一种非常特殊的符号学主张的场所——根本没有任何意义；(2)在当代实物黄金与其他以黄金为基础的资产的关系中，这表现在对黄金的材料、触觉品质（象征性和指标性均有体现）及其非社会性的关注；(3)对比特币也有类似的说法，经常利用“数字金属主义”和黄金的习语；(4)黄金的自反性符号学属性具有悠久而多样的文化历史。最后，我推测黄金的特殊符号学立场如何反映了自然和习俗作为意义来源的一种可能的表达。
In this essay I examine gold’s semiotic claims in the context of perceptions of gold in global financial markets, beginning with an intriguing parallel drawn by my informants between gold and Bitcoin. I make several interrelated arguments: (1) that in a variety of cultural contexts, gold has become a site for a very particular semiotic claim—that of not signifying at all; (2) that in the contemporary instance of physical gold in relation to other assets based on gold, this is expressed in an attention to gold’s material, tactile qualities (represented both iconically and indexically), and its extrasocial character; (3) that similar claims are made for Bitcoin, often drawing on a “digital metallism,” and idiom of gold; and (4) that the self-reflexive semiotic properties of gold have a long and diverse cultural history. In concluding, I speculate on how gold’s particular semiotic stance reflects one possible articulation of nature and convention as sources of meaning.