We only have estimates for unknown discoveries, and the margin of error is huge for those. Not well known at all. There is definitely a finite amount of gold in the crust, but no one knows how much, and even "knowing" how much China has locked up in their vaults is difficult (they keep it secret for obvious market manipulation reasons). Of course, we are less than a hundred years away from being able to mine asteroids, but I'll doubt we'll bother mining for something as intrinsically worthless as gold.
The US dollar is still a very stable currency, whatever the libertarian alarmists claim.
1. User A submits link to HN explaining the intrinsic properties of gold that are useful for space program at NASA.
2. User B lists a number of additional areas in science and technology that rely on the intrinsic properties of gold and bemoans financial system reliance on gold. Somewhat off topic and interesting discussion of fiat currencies ensues.
3. User C comments that gold is intrinsically worthless.
Great example of why I find HN so interesting and infuriating.
The value of gold in any of those technologies is only worth as much as the alternatives that accomplish the same effects. Gold as a concurrency is completely detached from gold as a useful commodity.
The US dollar is still a very stable currency, whatever the libertarian alarmists claim.