“A child of the forest counting the dreams of men.” At Yale University, a team of scientists once conducted an experiment to test how a colony of tufted capuchin monkeys would respond to money. They gave the monkeys small metal tokens that could be exchanged for food rewards such as grapes or sweetened gelatin. The monkeys learned the system quickly. Within days, they were not only trading the tokens but also stealing, hoarding, and even gambling with them. What began as a simple behavioral study became a miniature reenactment of human economic history. The introduction of currency transformed the troop’s cooperative order into a hierarchy of possession. One reported moment has since become legend: a male monkey handed a token to a female, copulated with her, and the female then exchanged the token for food. The gesture, whether seen as anecdote or evidence, carried extraordinary symbolism. In that small exchange, the monkeys demonstrated what philosophers, prophets, and economis...