Annotated captions of Zeitgeist: Moving Forward (2011) in English
Last Modified By | Time | Content |
---|---|---|
wurmd |
00:03 00:07 |
In a decaying society, Art, if it is truthful, |
wurmd |
00:08 00:13 |
must also reflect decay. |
cigano |
00:13 00:19 |
And unless it wants to break faith with its social function, |
wurmd |
00:19 00:24 |
Art must show the world as changeable. |
wurmd |
00:24 00:28 |
And help to change it. |
dwsimeone |
00:28 00:31 |
-Ernst Fischer |
dwsimeone |
00:31 00:33 |
... deadly riots over the government's plan |
dwsimeone |
00:33 00:36 |
to avoid defaulting on its loans ... |
dwsimeone |
00:36 00:39 |
is that the unemployment keeps rising |
wurmd |
00:39 00:40 |
and it has to keep rising |
wurmd |
00:40 00:44 |
just because we have an excess supply of goods... |
wurmd |
00:44 00:45 |
this is all borrowed money... |
tzmofficial |
00:46 00:50 |
and that debt is owned by banks in other countries... |
wurmd |
00:50 00:55 |
M-O-N-E-Y, in the form of a convenient personal loan... |
dwsimeone |
00:55 00:57 |
... a filter cigarette that delivers the taste... |
wurmd |
00:57 01:00 |
45 malt liquor... Are You Hot?!... |
wurmd |
01:00 01:03 |
is the US planning to bomb Iran?... |
tzmofficial |
01:03 01:07 |
...America is sponsoring terror attacks in Iran... |
cigano |
01:07 01:10 |
Now, my grandmother was a wonderful person. |
cigano |
01:10 01:13 |
She taught me how to play the game Monopoly. |
wurmd |
01:13 01:17 |
She understood that the name of the game is to acquire. |
dwsimeone |
01:17 01:19 |
She would accumulate everything she could |
dwsimeone |
01:19 01:23 |
and eventually, she became the master of the board. |
dwsimeone |
01:23 01:24 |
And then she would always say the same thing to me. |
cigano |
01:25 01:26 |
She would look at me and she would say: |
tzmofficial |
01:27 01:30 |
“One day, you'll learn to play the game.” |
tzmofficial |
01:30 01:34 |
One summer, I played Monopoly almost every day, all day long. |
dwsimeone |
01:34 01:37 |
And that summer, I learned to play the game. |
dwsimeone |
01:37 01:39 |
I came to understand the only way to win |
wurmd |
01:39 01:42 |
is to make a total commitment to acquisition. |
dwsimeone |
01:42 01:44 |
I came to understand that money and possessions- |
tzmofficial |
01:44 01:47 |
that's the way that you keep score. |
dwsimeone |
01:48 01:51 |
And by the end of that summer, I was more ruthless than my grandmother. |
cigano |
01:51 01:51 |
. |
cigano |
01:51 01:55 |
I was ready to bend the rules if I had to, to win that game. |
cosmic.synergy |
01:55 01:58 |
And I sat down with her to play that fall. |
wurmd |
01:59 02:00 |
I took everything she had. |
dwsimeone |
02:00 02:05 |
I watched her give her last dollar and quit in utter defeat. |
wurmd |
02:06 02:10 |
And then she had one more thing to teach me. |
wurmd |
02:10 02:14 |
Then she said: |
cigano |
02:14 02:17 |
“Now it all goes back in the box. |
tzmofficial |
02:20 02:22 |
All those houses and hotels. |
wurmd |
02:23 02:25 |
All the railroads and utility companies... |
wurmd |
02:25 02:29 |
All that property and all that wonderful money... |
tzmofficial |
02:30 02:33 |
Now it all goes back in the box. |
tzmofficial |
02:34 02:37 |
None of it was really yours. |
tzmofficial |
02:38 02:40 |
You got all heated up about it for a while. |
cigano |
02:41 02:45 |
But it was around a long time before you sat down at the board |
dwsimeone |
02:45 02:50 |
and it will be here after you're gone: players come, players go. |
tzmofficial |
02:52 02:54 |
Houses and cars... |
cigano |
02:55 02:56 |
Titles and clothes... |
tzmofficial |
02:57 02:59 |
Even your body.” |
wurmd |
03:00 03:03 |
Because the fact is that everything I clutch and consume and hoard |
tzmofficial |
03:04 03:07 |
is going to go back in the box and I'm going to lose it all. |
wurmd |
03:07 03:09 |
So you have to ask yourself |
wurmd |
03:09 03:11 |
when you finally get the ultimate promotion |
wurmd |
03:11 03:13 |
when you have made the ultimate purchase |
wurmd |
03:13 03:15 |
when you buy the ultimate home |
wurmd |
03:15 03:17 |
when you have stored up financial security |
wurmd |
03:17 03:19 |
and climbed the ladder of success |
wurmd |
03:19 03:22 |
to the highest rung you can possibly climb it... |
wurmd |
03:23 03:25 |
and the thrill wears off |
tzmofficial |
03:25 03:28 |
- and it will wear off - |
tzmofficial |
03:29 03:31 |
Then what? |
cigano |
03:32 03:34 |
How far do you have to walk down that road |
cigano |
03:34 03:38 |
before you see where it leads? |
wurmd |
03:39 03:42 |
Surely you understand |
wurmd |
03:42 03:44 |
it will never be enough. |
tzmofficial |
03:45 03:48 |
So you have to ask yourself the question: |
tzmofficial |
03:48 03:52 |
What matters? |
dwsimeone |
04:49 04:51 |
They're Hot! |
dwsimeone |
04:52 04:54 |
They're Rich! |
tzmofficial |
04:56 04:58 |
And They're Spoiled! |
tzmofficial |
05:03 05:05 |
America's #1 Show is Back! |
dwsimeone |
05:32 05:37 |
Gentle Machine Productions Presents |
dwsimeone |
05:43 05:48 |
A Peter Joseph Film |
dwsimeone |
05:55 05:57 |
When I was a young man |
dwsimeone |
05:57 06:00 |
growing up in New York City |
dwsimeone |
06:00 06:03 |
I refused to pledge allegiance to the flag. |
dwsimeone |
06:05 06:07 |
Of course I was sent to the principal's office. |
cigano |
06:08 06:11 |
And he asked me, 'Why don't you want to pledge allegiance? |
cigano |
06:11 06:12 |
Everybody does!' |
dwsimeone |
06:13 06:16 |
I said, 'Everybody once believed the Earth was flat |
dwsimeone |
06:16 06:18 |
but that doesn't make it so.' |
dwsimeone |
06:18 06:21 |
I explained that America owed everything it has |
dwsimeone |
06:21 06:24 |
to other cultures and other nations |
cigano |
06:24 06:24 |
. |
dwsimeone |
06:24 06:26 |
and that I would rather pledge allegiance |
dwsimeone |
06:26 06:30 |
to the Earth and everyone on it. |
cigano |
06:30 06:30 |
. |
dwsimeone |
06:30 06:35 |
Needless to say it wasn't long before I left school entirely |
cigano |
06:35 06:35 |
. |
dwsimeone |
06:35 06:38 |
...and I set up a lab in my bedroom. |
cigano |
06:38 06:42 |
There I began to learn about science and nature. |
cigano |
06:42 06:42 |
. |
dwsimeone |
06:42 06:46 |
I realized then that the universe is governed by laws |
dwsimeone |
06:46 06:46 |
. |
dwsimeone |
06:46 06:50 |
and that the human being, along with society itself, |
dwsimeone |
06:50 06:50 |
. |
cigano |
06:50 06:52 |
was not exempt from these laws. |
dwsimeone |
06:53 06:56 |
Then came the crash of 1929 |
dwsimeone |
06:56 06:58 |
which began what we now call |
cigano |
06:59 07:00 |
“The Great Depression”. |
cigano |
07:00 07:04 |
I found it difficult to understand why millions |
dwsimeone |
07:04 07:07 |
were out of work, homeless, starving, |
dwsimeone |
07:07 07:10 |
while all the factories were sitting there; |
dwsimeone |
07:10 07:12 |
the resources were unchanged. |
cigano |
07:13 07:15 |
It was then that I realized |
cigano |
07:15 07:18 |
that the rules of the economic game |
dwsimeone |
07:18 07:20 |
were inherently invalid. |
dwsimeone |
07:21 07:23 |
Shortly after, came World War II |
dwsimeone |
07:24 07:26 |
where various nations took turns |
cigano |
07:26 07:29 |
systematically destroying each other. |
dwsimeone |
07:29 07:32 |
I later calculated that all the destruction |
dwsimeone |
07:32 07:36 |
and wasted resources spent on that war |
dwsimeone |
07:36 07:36 |
. |
dwsimeone |
07:36 07:38 |
could have easily provided for every |
dwsimeone |
07:38 07:41 |
human need on the planet. |
tzmofficial |
07:43 07:46 |
Since that time, I have watched humanity |
cigano |
07:46 07:50 |
set the stage for its own extinction. |
cigano |
07:50 07:53 |
I have watched as the precious finite resources |
cigano |
07:53 07:56 |
are perpetually wasted and destroyed |
dwsimeone |
07:56 07:59 |
in the name of profit and free markets. |
dwsimeone |
07:59 08:02 |
I have watched the social values of society |
dwsimeone |
08:02 08:07 |
be reduced into a base artificiality of materialism |
dwsimeone |
08:07 08:09 |
and mindless consumption. |
cigano |
08:09 08:13 |
And I have watched as the monetary powers |
cigano |
08:13 08:15 |
control the political structure |
dwsimeone |
08:15 08:18 |
of supposedly free societies. |
cigano |
08:19 08:22 |
I'm 94 years old now. |
dwsimeone |
08:22 08:26 |
And I'm afraid my disposition is the same as it was |
cigano |
08:26 08:26 |
. |
dwsimeone |
08:26 08:28 |
75 years ago. |
cigano |
08:30 08:34 |
This shit's got to go. |
dwsimeone |
08:40 08:45 |
[ ZEITGEIST ] |
cigano |
08:45 08:53 |
[ ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD ] |
dwsimeone |
09:00 09:02 |
[ Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful |
dwsimeone |
09:03 09:06 |
committed citizens can change the world. |
dwsimeone |
09:06 09:09 |
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. -Margaret Mead ] |
cigano |
09:10 09:10 |
. |
cigano |
09:10 09:12 |
[ Part 1: Human Nature ] |
dwsimeone |
09:13 09:16 |
So you're a scientist, and ... |
dwsimeone |
09:16 09:19 |
somewhere along the way, hammered into your head |
dwsimeone |
09:19 09:22 |
is the inevitable “nature versus nurture” |
dwsimeone |
09:22 09:25 |
and that's at least up there with Coke versus Pepsi |
dwsimeone |
09:25 09:27 |
or Greeks versus Trojans. |
dwsimeone |
09:27 09:30 |
So, nature versus nurture: This, by now |
cigano |
09:30 09:33 |
utterly over-simplifying view of |
dwsimeone |
09:33 09:35 |
where influences are- |
dwsimeone |
09:35 09:40 |
influences on how a cell deals with |
dwsimeone |
09:40 09:42 |
an energy crisis up to |
dwsimeone |
09:42 09:45 |
what makes us who we are on the most individualistic |
cigano |
09:45 09:47 |
levels of personality. |
dwsimeone |
09:48 09:50 |
And what you've got is this complete false dichotomy |
cigano |
09:51 09:54 |
built around nature as deterministic |
dwsimeone |
09:54 09:57 |
at the very bottom of all the causality. |
dwsimeone |
09:57 10:00 |
Of 'life is DNA' and the 'code of codes' |
dwsimeone |
10:00 10:03 |
and the Holy Grail, and everything is driven by it. |
dwsimeone |
10:03 10:06 |
At the other end is a much more social science perspective |
dwsimeone |
10:06 10:06 |
. |
dwsimeone |
10:06 10:09 |
which is: We are 'social organisms' |
dwsimeone |
10:09 10:12 |
and biology is for slime molds; |
dwsimeone |
10:12 10:15 |
humans are free of biology. |
dwsimeone |
10:15 10:18 |
And obviously both views are nonsense. |
dwsimeone |
10:18 10:20 |
What you see instead is that |
dwsimeone |
10:20 10:25 |
it is virtually impossible to understand how biology works |
dwsimeone |
10:25 10:25 |
. |
dwsimeone |
10:25 10:27 |
outside of the context of environment. |
cosmic.synergy |
10:28 10:30 |
[ It's Genetic ] |
dwsimeone |
10:30 10:35 |
One of the most crazy making yet widespread |
dwsimeone |
10:35 10:35 |
. |
dwsimeone |
10:35 10:38 |
and potentially dangerous notions is: |
dwsimeone |
10:38 10:42 |
“Oh, that behavior is genetic.” |
dwsimeone |
10:42 10:46 |
Now what does that mean? It means all sorts of subtle stuff if you |
dwsimeone |
10:46 10:46 |
. |
dwsimeone |
10:46 10:49 |
know modern biology, but for most people out there |
dwsimeone |
10:49 10:51 |
what it winds up meaning is: |
dwsimeone |
10:51 10:54 |
a deterministic view of life, |
dwsimeone |
10:54 10:56 |
one rooted in biology and genetics. |
dwsimeone |
10:57 11:00 |
Genes equal things that can't be changed. |
dwsimeone |
11:00 11:03 |
Genes equal things that are |
dwsimeone |
11:03 11:05 |
inevitable and that you might as well |
dwsimeone |
11:05 11:08 |
not waste resources trying to fix, |
dwsimeone |
11:08 11:11 |
might as well not put societal energies into trying to improve |
dwsimeone |
11:11 11:14 |
because it's inevitable and it's unchangeable. |
dwsimeone |
11:14 11:17 |
And that is sheer nonsense. |
cosmic.synergy |
11:20 11:23 |
[ Disease ] |
dwsimeone |
11:23 11:26 |
It is widely thought that |
dwsimeone |
11:26 11:29 |
conditions like ADHD are genetically programmed, |
dwsimeone |
11:29 11:31 |
conditions like schizophrenia are genetically programmed. |
dwsimeone |
11:31 11:34 |
The truth is the opposite. Nothing is genetically programmed. |
dwsimeone |
11:35 11:35 |
. |
dwsimeone |
11:35 11:38 |
There are very rare diseases, a small handful, |
dwsimeone |
11:38 11:38 |
. |
dwsimeone |
11:38 11:42 |
extremely sparsely represented in the population, |
dwsimeone |
11:42 11:45 |
that are truly genetically determined. |
dwsimeone |
11:46 11:48 |
Most complex conditions |
dwsimeone |
11:48 11:51 |
might have a predisposition that has a genetic component, |
dwsimeone |
11:52 11:55 |
but a predisposition is not the same as a predetermination. |
tzmofficial |
11:56 12:00 |
The whole search for the source of diseases in the genome |
dwsimeone |
12:00 12:03 |
was doomed to failure before anybody even thought of it, |
dwsimeone |
12:03 12:07 |
because most diseases are not genetically predetermined. |
dwsimeone |
12:07 12:11 |
Heart disease, cancer, strokes, |
dwsimeone |
12:11 12:16 |
rheumatoid conditions, autoimmune conditions in general, |
dwsimeone |
12:16 12:18 |
mental health conditions, addictions- |
dwsimeone |
12:18 12:21 |
none of them are genetically determined. |
dwsimeone |
12:21 12:25 |
Breast cancer, for example. Out of 100 women with breast cancer |
cigano |
12:25 12:27 |
only seven will carry the breast cancer genes. |
dwsimeone |
12:28 12:29 |
93 do not. |
dwsimeone |
12:30 12:32 |
And out of 100 women who do have the genes |
tzmofficial |
12:32 12:35 |
not all of them will get cancer. |
cosmic.synergy |
12:37 12:39 |
[ Behavior ] |
dwsimeone |
12:39 12:42 |
Genes are not just things that make us behave in |
dwsimeone |
12:42 12:46 |
a particular way regardless of our environment. |
dwsimeone |
12:47 12:51 |
Genes give us different ways of responding to our environment. |
dwsimeone |
12:51 12:55 |
And in fact it looks as if some of the early |
dwsimeone |
12:55 12:58 |
childhood influences and the kind of child rearing, |
dwsimeone |
13:00 13:01 |
affect gene expression: |
dwsimeone |
13:01 13:04 |
actually turning on or off different genes |
dwsimeone |
13:04 13:08 |
to put you on a different developmental track |
dwsimeone |
13:08 13:11 |
which may suit the kind of world you've got to deal with. |
dwsimeone |
13:12 13:13 |
So for example, |
dwsimeone |
13:13 13:18 |
a study done in Montreal with suicide victims |
dwsimeone |
13:18 13:21 |
looked at autopsies of the brains of these people. |
dwsimeone |
13:21 13:24 |
And it turned out that if a suicide victim |
dwsimeone |
13:24 13:26 |
(these are usually young adults) |
dwsimeone |
13:26 13:29 |
had been abused as children, the abuse actually |
dwsimeone |
13:29 13:32 |
caused a genetic change in the brain |
dwsimeone |
13:32 13:36 |
that was absent in the brains of people who had not been abused. |
dwsimeone |
13:37 13:38 |
That's an epigenetic effect. |
dwsimeone |
13:38 13:41 |
“Epi” means on top of, so that |
dwsimeone |
13:41 13:45 |
the epigenetic influence is what happens |
dwsimeone |
13:45 13:50 |
environmentally to either activate or deactivate certain genes. |
dwsimeone |
13:51 13:53 |
In New Zealand, there was a study |
dwsimeone |
13:53 13:56 |
that was done in a town called Dunedin, |
dwsimeone |
13:56 14:01 |
in which a few thousand individuals |
dwsimeone |
14:01 14:05 |
were studied from birth into their 20s. |
dwsimeone |
14:05 14:10 |
What they found was that they could identify |
dwsimeone |
14:11 14:14 |
a genetic mutation- an abnormal gene- |
cosmic.synergy |
14:14 14:17 |
which did have some relation to |
cosmic.synergy |
14:17 14:21 |
the predisposition to commit violence, |
dwsimeone |
14:21 14:24 |
but only if the individual had also |
dwsimeone |
14:24 14:28 |
been subjected to severe child abuse. |
dwsimeone |
14:28 14:31 |
In other words, children with this abnormal gene |
dwsimeone |
14:31 14:34 |
would be no more likely to be violent than anybody else, |
dwsimeone |
14:34 14:37 |
and in fact, they actually had a lower rate of violence |
dwsimeone |
14:37 14:39 |
than people with normal genes |
dwsimeone |
14:39 14:41 |
as long as they weren't abused as children. |
cigano |
14:43 14:45 |
Great additional example of the ways |
dwsimeone |
14:45 14:47 |
in which genes are not “be all - end all.” |
dwsimeone |
14:47 14:49 |
A fancy technique where you can |
dwsimeone |
14:49 14:51 |
take a specific gene out of a mouse, |
dwsimeone |
14:52 14:54 |
that mouse and its descendants will not have that gene. |
dwsimeone |
14:54 14:56 |
You have ”knocked out” that gene. |
dwsimeone |
14:56 14:58 |
So there's this one gene that encodes for a protein |
dwsimeone |
14:58 15:01 |
that has something to do with learning and memory. |
dwsimeone |
15:01 15:05 |
And with this fabulous demonstration you “knock out” that gene |
cigano |
15:05 15:05 |
. |
cigano |
15:05 15:07 |
and you have a mouse that doesn't learn as well. |
dwsimeone |
15:07 15:10 |
“Ooh! A genetic basis for intelligence!” |
tzmofficial |
15:10 15:13 |
What was much less appreciated in that landmark study |
dwsimeone |
15:13 15:16 |
that got picked up by the media left and right, |
cigano |
15:16 15:19 |
is take those genetically impaired mice |
cigano |
15:19 15:21 |
and raise them in a much more enriched |
dwsimeone |
15:21 15:24 |
stimulating environment than your normal mice in a lab cage, |
dwsimeone |
15:24 15:28 |
and they completely overcame that deficit. |
cigano |
15:28 15:32 |
So, when one says in a contemporary sense that |
dwsimeone |
15:32 15:35 |
“Oh, this behavior is genetic” |
dwsimeone |
15:35 15:38 |
to the extent that that's even a valid sort of phrase to use, |
cigano |
15:38 15:41 |
what you're saying is: there is a |
cigano |
15:41 15:45 |
genetic contribution to how this organism responds to environment; |
cigano |
15:45 15:46 |
. |
cigano |
15:46 15:49 |
genes may influence the readiness with which |
cigano |
15:50 15:53 |
an organism will deal with a certain environmental challenge. |
cigano |
15:53 15:53 |
. |
dwsimeone |
15:53 15:56 |
You know, that's not the version most people have in their minds. |
dwsimeone |
15:56 15:59 |
And not to be too 'soap-boxing' |
dwsimeone |
15:59 16:04 |
but run with the old version of “It's genetic!” and |
cigano |
16:04 16:04 |
. |
dwsimeone |
16:04 16:09 |
it's not that far from the history of Eugenics and things of that sort. |
cigano |
16:09 16:09 |
. |
tzmofficial |
16:09 16:11 |
It's a widespread misconception |
tzmofficial |
16:11 16:13 |
and it's a potentially fairly dangerous one. |
dwsimeone |
16:14 16:16 |
One reason that the |
dwsimeone |
16:18 16:20 |
biological explanation for violence, |
dwsimeone |
16:20 16:24 |
one reason that hypothesis is potentially dangerous- |
dwsimeone |
16:24 16:27 |
it's not just misleading it can really do harm- |
cigano |
16:27 16:28 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
16:28 16:32 |
is because if you believe that, you could very easily say: |
cigano |
16:32 16:32 |
. |
cigano |
16:32 16:35 |
“Well, there's nothing we can do |
dwsimeone |
16:35 16:39 |
to change the predisposition people have to becoming violent. |
dwsimeone |
16:39 16:42 |
All we can do, if somebody becomes violent is |
dwsimeone |
16:42 16:45 |
punish them- lock them up or execute them- |
cigano |
16:45 16:45 |
. |
tzmofficial |
16:45 16:48 |
but we don't need to worry about changing the |
cigano |
16:48 16:52 |
social environment or the social preconditions |
cigano |
16:52 16:55 |
that may lead people to become violent |
dwsimeone |
16:55 16:57 |
because that's irrelevant.” |
cigano |
16:58 17:02 |
The genetic argument allows us the luxury of ignoring |
dwsimeone |
17:02 17:05 |
past and present historical and social factors. |
dwsimeone |
17:05 17:08 |
And in the words of Louis Menand |
dwsimeone |
17:08 17:11 |
who wrote in the New Yorker, very astutely he said: |
cigano |
17:11 17:11 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
17:11 17:15 |
“It's all in the genes, an explanation for the way things are |
cigano |
17:15 17:18 |
that does not threaten the way things are. |
dwsimeone |
17:18 17:21 |
Why should someone feel unhappy or |
dwsimeone |
17:21 17:24 |
engage in antisocial behavior when that person is living |
dwsimeone |
17:24 17:24 |
. |
dwsimeone |
17:25 17:28 |
in the freest and most prosperous nation on Earth? |
cigano |
17:28 17:30 |
It can't be the system. |
cigano |
17:30 17:33 |
There must be a flaw in the wiring somewhere.” |
cigano |
17:33 17:35 |
Which is a good way of putting it. |
dwsimeone |
17:35 17:39 |
So, the genetic argument is simply a cop-out |
dwsimeone |
17:39 17:41 |
which allows us to ignore |
cigano |
17:41 17:44 |
the social and economic and political factors |
dwsimeone |
17:44 17:50 |
that, in fact, underlie many troublesome behaviors. |
cigano |
17:51 17:51 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
17:53 17:55 |
[ Case Study: Addiction ] |
dwsimeone |
17:55 17:59 |
Addictions are usually considered to be a drug-related issue. |
cigano |
17:59 17:59 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
17:59 18:03 |
But looking at it more broadly, I define addiction as any behavior |
cigano |
18:04 18:04 |
. |
cigano |
18:04 18:08 |
that is associated with craving, with temporary relief |
cigano |
18:09 18:09 |
. |
cigano |
18:09 18:11 |
and with long-term negative consequences |
dwsimeone |
18:11 18:14 |
along with an impairment of control over it, so that the person |
cigano |
18:14 18:18 |
wishes to give it up or promises to do so |
dwsimeone |
18:18 18:20 |
but can't follow through. |
dwsimeone |
18:20 18:23 |
And when you understand that, you see that |
cigano |
18:23 18:25 |
there are many more addictions than simply those related to drugs. |
cigano |
18:26 18:26 |
. |
dwsimeone |
18:26 18:29 |
There's workaholism, addiction to shopping, |
dwsimeone |
18:29 18:30 |
to the Internet; to video games. |
cigano |
18:30 18:33 |
There's the addiction to power. People that have power but |
dwsimeone |
18:33 18:36 |
they want more and more; nothing is ever enough for them. |
cigano |
18:36 18:40 |
Acquisition - corporations that must own more and more. |
dwsimeone |
18:40 18:42 |
The addiction to oil, or at least to the wealth |
cigano |
18:43 18:47 |
and to the products made accessible to us by oil. |
cigano |
18:47 18:47 |
. |
cigano |
18:47 18:50 |
Look at the negative consequences on the environment. |
dwsimeone |
18:50 18:53 |
We are destroying the very earth that we inhabit |
dwsimeone |
18:54 18:56 |
for the sake of that addiction. Now, these addictions |
cigano |
18:56 18:59 |
are far more devastating in their social consequences |
cigano |
18:59 18:59 |
. |
dwsimeone |
18:59 19:03 |
than the cocaine or heroin habits of my downtown Eastside patients. |
dwsimeone |
19:04 19:08 |
Yet, they are rewarded! And considered to be respectable. |
tzmofficial |
19:08 19:11 |
The tobacco company executive that shows a higher profit |
tzmofficial |
19:11 19:14 |
will get a much bigger reward. |
cigano |
19:14 19:18 |
He doesn't face any negative consequences legally or otherwise. |
dwsimeone |
19:19 19:20 |
In fact he is a respected member |
dwsimeone |
19:20 19:24 |
of the board of several other corporations. |
cigano |
19:24 19:27 |
But, tobacco smoke related diseases |
dwsimeone |
19:27 19:31 |
kill 5 ½ million people around the world every year. |
cigano |
19:31 19:35 |
In the United States they kill 400,000 people a year. |
cigano |
19:35 19:37 |
And these people are addicted to what? To profit. |
cigano |
19:37 19:39 |
To such a degree that they are addicted |
cigano |
19:39 19:41 |
that they are actually in denial |
cigano |
19:42 19:44 |
about the impact of their activities |
dwsimeone |
19:44 19:47 |
which is typical for addicts, is denial! |
cigano |
19:47 19:50 |
And that's a respectable one. It's respectable to be |
dwsimeone |
19:50 19:52 |
addicted to profit, no matter what the cost. |
tzmofficial |
19:52 19:56 |
So, what is acceptable and what is respectable |
dwsimeone |
19:56 19:59 |
is a highly arbitrary phenomenon in our society. |
dwsimeone |
19:59 20:01 |
And it seems like the greater the harm |
cigano |
20:01 20:03 |
the more respectable the addiction. |
cosmic.synergy |
20:05 20:07 |
[ The Myth ] |
cigano |
20:07 20:10 |
There is a general myth that drugs, in themselves, are addictive. |
cigano |
20:10 20:13 |
In fact, the war on drugs is predicated on the idea |
cigano |
20:14 20:15 |
that if you interdict the source of drugs |
cigano |
20:16 20:18 |
you can deal with addiction that way. |
pscigulinsky |
20:18 20:21 |
Now, if you understand addiction in the broader sense |
pscigulinsky |
20:21 20:24 |
we see that nothing in itself is addictive. |
tzmofficial |
20:24 20:27 |
No substance, no drug is by itself addictive |
pscigulinsky |
20:27 20:29 |
and no behavior is by itself addictive. |
pscigulinsky |
20:29 20:32 |
Many people can go shopping without becoming shopaholics. |
cigano |
20:32 20:34 |
Not everyone becomes a food addict. |
cigano |
20:34 20:37 |
Not everyone who drinks a glass of wine becomes an alcoholic. |
dwsimeone |
20:37 20:40 |
So the real issue is: what makes people susceptible? |
dwsimeone |
20:40 20:43 |
Because it's the combination of a susceptible individual |
cigano |
20:44 20:47 |
and the potentially addictive substance or behavior |
pscigulinsky |
20:47 20:51 |
that makes for the full flowering of addiction. |
dwsimeone |
20:51 20:54 |
In short, it's not the drug that's addictive, |
cigano |
20:54 20:57 |
it's the question of the susceptibility of the individual |
dwsimeone |
20:57 21:00 |
to being addicted to a particular substance or behavior. |
dwsimeone |
21:00 21:02 |
[ Environment ] |
dwsimeone |
21:02 21:04 |
If we wish to understand what then |
dwsimeone |
21:04 21:06 |
makes some people susceptible |
cigano |
21:06 21:08 |
we actually have to look at the life experience. |
dwsimeone |
21:08 21:14 |
The old idea- although it's old but it's still |
dwsimeone |
21:14 21:17 |
broadly held- that addictions are due to some genetic cause |
dwsimeone |
21:17 21:19 |
is simply scientifically untenable. |
cigano |
21:20 21:22 |
What the case is actually is that |
cigano |
21:22 21:25 |
certain life experiences make people susceptible. |
cigano |
21:25 21:29 |
Life experiences that not only shape the person's |
cigano |
21:29 21:33 |
personality and psychological needs |
cigano |
21:33 21:36 |
but also their very brains in certain ways. |
cigano |
21:36 21:39 |
And that process begins in utero. |
cosmic.synergy |
21:41 21:42 |
[ Prenatal ] |
dwsimeone |
21:43 21:44 |
It has been shown, for example, |
cigano |
21:44 21:48 |
that if you stress mothers during pregnancy |
cigano |
21:48 21:50 |
their children are more likely to have traits |
dwsimeone |
21:50 21:52 |
that predispose them to addictions. |
dwsimeone |
21:53 21:55 |
And that's because development is shaped |
cigano |
21:55 21:57 |
by the psychological and social environment. |
cosmic.synergy |
21:57 22:00 |
So the biology of human beings is very much affected by |
cosmic.synergy |
22:00 22:06 |
and programmed by the life experiences beginning in utero. |
pscigulinsky |
22:06 22:08 |
Environment does not begin at birth. |
cigano |
22:08 22:11 |
Environment begins as soon as you have an environment. |
cigano |
22:11 22:14 |
As soon as you are a fetus, you are subject to |
cigano |
22:14 22:17 |
whatever information is coming through mom's circulations. |
cigano |
22:17 22:19 |
Hormones, levels of nutrients... |
cigano |
22:19 22:21 |
A great landmark example of this is |
cigano |
22:21 22:24 |
something called the Dutch Hongerwinter. |
cigano |
22:24 22:28 |
In 1944, Nazis occupying Holland |
cigano |
22:28 22:30 |
for a bunch of reasons, they decide to take all the food |
dwsimeone |
22:30 22:32 |
and divert it to Germany; |
cigano |
22:32 22:34 |
for three months everybody there was starving. |
cigano |
22:34 22:36 |
Tens of thousands of people starve to death. |
cigano |
22:36 22:38 |
What the Dutch hunger winter effect is: |
cigano |
22:38 22:43 |
if you were a second or third trimester fetus during the starvation |
pscigulinsky |
22:43 22:47 |
your body 'learned' something very unique during that time. |
cigano |
22:47 22:50 |
As it turns out, second and third trimester is when |
cigano |
22:50 22:53 |
your body is going about trying to learn about the environment: |
pscigulinsky |
22:53 22:56 |
How menacing of a place is it out there? |
pscigulinsky |
22:57 23:00 |
How plentiful? How much nutrients am I getting |
pscigulinsky |
23:00 23:02 |
by way of mom's circulation? |
dwsimeone |
23:02 23:05 |
Be a fetus who was starving during that time and |
dwsimeone |
23:05 23:08 |
your body programs forever after to be |
dwsimeone |
23:09 23:13 |
really, really stingy with your sugar and fat |
dwsimeone |
23:13 23:16 |
and what you do is you store every bit of it. |
cigano |
23:16 23:19 |
Be a Dutch Hunger Winter fetus and half a century later, |
dwsimeone |
23:20 23:23 |
everything else being equal, you are more likely to have |
cigano |
23:23 23:23 |
. |
cigano |
23:23 23:26 |
high blood pressure, obesity or metabolic syndrome. |
dwsimeone |
23:26 23:30 |
That is environment coming in a very unexpected place. |
pscigulinsky |
23:30 23:34 |
You can stress animals in the laboratory when they're pregnant |
dwsimeone |
23:34 23:36 |
and their offspring will be more likely to use |
dwsimeone |
23:36 23:38 |
cocaine and alcohol as adults. |
cigano |
23:38 23:42 |
You can stress human mothers. For example, in a British study |
cigano |
23:42 23:44 |
women who were abused in pregnancy |
dwsimeone |
23:44 23:46 |
will have higher levels of the |
dwsimeone |
23:46 23:49 |
stress hormone cortisol in their placenta at birth |
pscigulinsky |
23:49 23:51 |
and their children are more likely to have conditions |
pscigulinsky |
23:52 23:55 |
that predispose them to addictions by age 7 or 8. |
pscigulinsky |
23:55 23:58 |
So in utero stress already prepares the gun |
cigano |
23:58 24:00 |
for all kinds of mental health issues. |
cigano |
24:00 24:04 |
An Israeli study done on children |
pscigulinsky |
24:04 24:06 |
born to mothers who were pregnant |
cigano |
24:07 24:11 |
prior to the onset of the 1967 war... |
cigano |
24:12 24:14 |
These women, of course, were very stressed |
cigano |
24:14 24:16 |
and their offspring have a higher incidence of schizophrenia |
pscigulinsky |
24:16 24:18 |
than the average cohort. |
dwsimeone |
24:18 24:22 |
So, there is plenty of evidence now that prenatal effects |
dwsimeone |
24:22 24:26 |
have a huge impact on the developing human being. |
dwsimeone |
24:28 24:30 |
[ Infancy ] |
dwsimeone |
24:30 24:32 |
The point about human development and specifically |
dwsimeone |
24:32 24:33 |
human brain development is that it occurs mostly |
dwsimeone |
24:34 24:37 |
under the impact of the environment and mostly after birth. |
dwsimeone |
24:37 24:37 |
. |
pscigulinsky |
24:37 24:39 |
Now, if you compare us to a horse |
pscigulinsky |
24:39 24:41 |
which can run on the first day of life |
dwsimeone |
24:41 24:44 |
we see that we are very undeveloped. |
dwsimeone |
24:45 24:49 |
We can't muster that much neurological coordination |
pscigulinsky |
24:49 24:52 |
balance, muscle strength, visual acuity |
pscigulinsky |
24:52 24:54 |
until a year and a half, two years of age. |
pscigulinsky |
24:54 24:56 |
That's because the brain development in the horse |
tzmofficial |
24:56 24:58 |
happens in the safety of the womb |
dwsimeone |
24:58 25:01 |
and in the human being, it has to happen after birth, |
claudiaheugel |
25:01 25:04 |
and that has to do with simple evolutionary logic. |
dwsimeone |
25:04 25:07 |
As the head gets larger, which is what makes us into human beings- |
dwsimeone |
25:07 25:10 |
the burgeoning of the forebrain |
dwsimeone |
25:10 25:12 |
is what creates the human species, actually. |
dwsimeone |
25:13 25:16 |
At the same time we walk on two legs, so our pelvis narrows |
dwsimeone |
25:16 25:20 |
to accommodate that. So now we have a narrower pelvis, a larger head- ... |
cigano |
25:20 25:20 |
. |
dwsimeone |
25:20 25:22 |
Bingo! We have to be born prematurely. |
cigano |
25:22 25:24 |
And that means the brain development that in other animals |
cigano |
25:25 25:28 |
occurs in utero, in us, occurs after birth |
cigano |
25:28 25:28 |
. |
dwsimeone |
25:28 25:31 |
and much of that under the impact of the environment. |
dwsimeone |
25:32 25:34 |
The concept of Neural Darwinism simply means |
claudiaheugel |
25:35 25:37 |
that the circuits that get the appropriate input from the environment |
claudiaheugel |
25:38 25:40 |
will develop optimally and the ones that don't |
claudiaheugel |
25:41 25:43 |
will either not develop optimally or perhaps not at all. |
claudiaheugel |
25:43 25:46 |
If you take a child with perfectly good eyes at birth |
cigano |
25:46 25:48 |
and you put him in a dark room for five years |
cigano |
25:48 25:50 |
he will be blind thereafter for the rest of his life |
dwsimeone |
25:51 25:55 |
because the circuits of vision require light waves for their development, |
dwsimeone |
25:55 25:58 |
and without that even the rudimentary circuits |
cigano |
25:58 26:00 |
present and active at birth |
dwsimeone |
26:00 26:03 |
will atrophy and die and new ones will not develop. |
cosmic.synergy |
26:05 26:07 |
[ Memory ] |
cigano |
26:07 26:09 |
There is a significant way in which |
dwsimeone |
26:10 26:14 |
early experiences shape adult behavior, |
dwsimeone |
26:15 26:18 |
and even and especially |
cigano |
26:18 26:21 |
early experiences for which there is no recall memory. |
cigano |
26:21 26:23 |
It turns out that there are two kinds of memory: |
cigano |
26:24 26:26 |
there is explicit memory which is recall; |
cigano |
26:26 26:29 |
this is when you can call back facts, |
dwsimeone |
26:29 26:32 |
details, episodes, circumstances. |
cigano |
26:32 26:35 |
But the structure in the brain which is called the hippocampus |
cigano |
26:35 26:37 |
which encodes recall memory |
cigano |
26:37 26:40 |
doesn't even begin to develop fully until a year and a half |
cigano |
26:40 26:42 |
and it is not fully developed until much later. |
dwsimeone |
26:42 26:44 |
Which is why hardly anybody has any recall memory |
dwsimeone |
26:45 26:47 |
prior to 18 months. |
cigano |
26:47 26:49 |
But there is another kind of memory which is called implicit memory |
cigano |
26:49 26:49 |
. |
dwsimeone |
26:49 26:52 |
which is in fact, an emotional memory |
cigano |
26:52 26:56 |
where the emotional impact and the interpretation the child makes |
dwsimeone |
26:56 26:59 |
of those emotional experiences are ingrained in the brain |
cigano |
26:59 27:03 |
in the form of nerve circuits ready to fire without specific recall. |
cigano |
27:03 27:03 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
27:03 27:06 |
So to give you a clear example, people who are adopted |
cigano |
27:06 27:06 |
. |
cigano |
27:06 27:09 |
have a lifelong sense of rejection very often. |
dwsimeone |
27:09 27:11 |
They can't recall the adoption. |
cigano |
27:11 27:13 |
They can't recall the separation of the birth mother |
tzmofficial |
27:13 27:15 |
because there's nothing there to recall with. |
cigano |
27:15 27:18 |
But the emotional memory of separation and rejection |
cigano |
27:18 27:20 |
is deeply embedded in their brains. |
cigano |
27:21 27:24 |
Hence, they are much more likely to experience a sense of rejection |
cigano |
27:24 27:24 |
. |
cigano |
27:24 27:26 |
and a great emotional upset |
cigano |
27:26 27:30 |
when they perceive themselves as being rejected by other people. |
cigano |
27:30 27:30 |
. |
cigano |
27:30 27:31 |
That's not unique to people who are adopted |
cigano |
27:32 27:33 |
but it is particularly strong in them |
cigano |
27:33 27:36 |
because of this function of implicit memory. |
dwsimeone |
27:36 27:39 |
People who are addicted, given ... |
dwsimeone |
27:39 27:42 |
all the research literature and in my experience, |
cigano |
27:42 27:46 |
the hard-core addicts virtually were all |
cigano |
27:47 27:49 |
significantly abused as children |
cigano |
27:49 27:51 |
or suffered severe emotional loss. |
cigano |
27:51 27:53 |
Their emotional or implicit memories |
dwsimeone |
27:54 27:56 |
are those of a world that's not safe |
dwsimeone |
27:57 28:00 |
and not helpful, caregivers who were not to be trusted |
cigano |
28:00 28:03 |
and relationships that are not |
dwsimeone |
28:04 28:06 |
safe enough to open up to vulnerably. |
dwsimeone |
28:06 28:07 |
And hence their responses tend to be |
dwsimeone |
28:07 28:12 |
to keep themselves separate from really intimate relationships; |
cigano |
28:12 28:12 |
. |
cigano |
28:12 28:14 |
not to trust caregivers, doctors |
dwsimeone |
28:14 28:16 |
and other people who are trying to help them |
cigano |
28:17 28:20 |
and generally see the world as an unsafe place. |
dwsimeone |
28:20 28:24 |
And that is strictly a function of implicit memory |
dwsimeone |
28:24 28:29 |
which sometimes has to do with incidents they don't even recall. |
cosmic.synergy |
28:32 28:33 |
[ Touch ] |
dwsimeone |
28:34 28:37 |
Infants who are born premature are often in incubators |
cigano |
28:37 28:39 |
and various types of gadgetry and machinery |
dwsimeone |
28:39 28:42 |
for weeks and perhaps months. |
dwsimeone |
28:42 28:44 |
It's now known that if these children |
dwsimeone |
28:44 28:47 |
are touched and stroked on the back for just 10 minutes a day, |
dwsimeone |
28:47 28:49 |
that promotes their brain development. |
cigano |
28:49 28:52 |
So, human touch is essential for development |
cigano |
28:52 28:56 |
and in fact, infants who are never picked up will actually die. |
cigano |
28:56 28:59 |
That is how much of a fundamental need |
cigano |
28:59 29:01 |
being held is to human beings. |
dwsimeone |
29:01 29:04 |
In our society, there is an unfortunate tendency |
cigano |
29:04 29:07 |
to tell parents not to pick up their kids, not to hold them, |
dwsimeone |
29:07 29:12 |
not to pick up babies who are crying for fear of spoiling them or |
dwsimeone |
29:12 29:16 |
to encourage them to sleep through the night- you don't pick them up- |
cigano |
29:16 29:16 |
. |
dwsimeone |
29:16 29:18 |
which is just the opposite of what the child needs. |
dwsimeone |
29:18 29:21 |
And these children might go back to sleep because they give up |
cigano |
29:22 29:24 |
and their brains just shut down as a way of |
cigano |
29:25 29:27 |
defending against the vulnerability |
cigano |
29:27 29:29 |
of being abandoned really by their parents. |
cigano |
29:30 29:32 |
But their implicit memories will be |
cigano |
29:32 29:34 |
that of the world that doesn't give a damn. |
cosmic.synergy |
29:35 29:37 |
[ Childhood ] |
tzmofficial |
29:37 29:42 |
A lot of these differences are structured very early in life. |
dwsimeone |
29:43 29:48 |
In a way, the parental experience of adversity- |
cigano |
29:48 29:52 |
how tough life is or how easy it is- is passed on to children |
cigano |
29:52 29:52 |
. |
dwsimeone |
29:52 29:55 |
whether through maternal depression |
dwsimeone |
29:55 29:57 |
or parents being bad tempered with their kids because they have |
cigano |
29:58 29:58 |
. |
cigano |
29:58 30:02 |
had a hard day or just being too tired at the end of the day. |
dwsimeone |
30:02 30:05 |
And these have very powerful effects |
dwsimeone |
30:05 30:09 |
programming children's development, which we know a lot about now. |
cigano |
30:09 30:14 |
But that early sensitivity isn't just an evolutionary mistake. |
cigano |
30:14 30:17 |
It exists again in many different species. |
cigano |
30:17 30:20 |
Even in seedlings, there's an early adaptive process |
dwsimeone |
30:20 30:22 |
to the kind of environment they are growing up in. |
dwsimeone |
30:22 30:28 |
But for humans, the adaptation is to the quality of social relations. |
cigano |
30:28 30:30 |
And so, early life: |
dwsimeone |
30:31 30:35 |
how nurturing, how much conflict, how much attention you get- |
dwsimeone |
30:36 30:40 |
is a taster of the kind of world you may be growing up in. |
dwsimeone |
30:40 30:41 |
Are you growing up in a world where you have to |
dwsimeone |
30:42 30:44 |
fight for what you can get, watch your back, |
dwsimeone |
30:44 30:47 |
fend for yourself, learn not to trust others? |
dwsimeone |
30:47 30:50 |
Or are you growing up in a society where you depend on |
dwsimeone |
30:50 30:55 |
reciprocity, mutuality, cooperation, where empathy is important, |
cigano |
30:55 30:58 |
where your security depends on good relations with other people? |
dwsimeone |
30:59 31:03 |
And that needs a very different emotional and cognitive development. |
cigano |
31:03 31:03 |
. |
dwsimeone |
31:03 31:06 |
And that's what the early sensitivity is about. |
dwsimeone |
31:06 31:10 |
And parenting is almost- quite unconsciously- |
dwsimeone |
31:10 31:13 |
a system for passing on that experience to children, |
dwsimeone |
31:14 31:15 |
of the kind of world they are in. |
dwsimeone |
31:16 31:20 |
The great British child psychiatrist, D.W. Winnicott, said |
cigano |
31:20 31:23 |
that fundamentally, two things can go wrong in childhood. |
cigano |
31:23 31:26 |
One is when things happen that shouldn't happen |
cigano |
31:26 31:29 |
and then things that should happen but don't. |
cosmic.synergy |
31:29 31:33 |
In the first category, is the traumatic and abusive |
cigano |
31:33 31:36 |
and abandonment experiences of my |
dwsimeone |
31:36 31:39 |
downtown Eastside patients and of many addicts. |
tzmofficial |
31:39 31:41 |
That's what shouldn't happen but did. |
dwsimeone |
31:42 31:46 |
But then there is the non-stressed, attuned, |
dwsimeone |
31:46 31:51 |
non-distracted attention of the parent that every child needs |
cigano |
31:51 31:51 |
. |
cigano |
31:51 31:53 |
that very often children don't get. |
cigano |
31:53 31:55 |
They're not abused. They are not neglected |
cigano |
31:55 31:57 |
and they're not traumatized. |
dwsimeone |
31:58 31:59 |
But what should happen- |
cigano |
31:59 32:02 |
the presence of the emotionally available nurturing parent- |
dwsimeone |
32:02 32:04 |
just is not available to them because |
dwsimeone |
32:04 32:07 |
of the stresses in our society and the parenting environment. |
wurmd |
32:08 32:14 |
The psychologist Allan Schore calls that "Proximal Abandonment" |
dwsimeone |
32:14 32:18 |
when the parent is physically present but emotionally absent. |
cigano |
32:19 32:19 |
. |
dwsimeone |
32:20 32:22 |
I have spent |
dwsimeone |
32:23 32:26 |
roughly the last 40 years of my life |
cigano |
32:27 32:31 |
working with the most violent of people our society produces: |
cigano |
32:32 32:34 |
murderers, rapists and so on. |
dwsimeone |
32:34 32:37 |
In an attempt to understand what causes this violence, |
dwsimeone |
32:38 32:42 |
I discovered that the most violent of the criminals in our prisons |
dwsimeone |
32:42 32:45 |
had themselves been victims |
dwsimeone |
32:45 32:48 |
of a degree of child abuse that was beyond the scale |
dwsimeone |
32:48 32:51 |
of what I ever thought of applying the term child abuse to. |
cigano |
32:51 32:54 |
I had no idea of the depth |
cigano |
32:54 32:58 |
of the depravity with which children in our society |
dwsimeone |
32:58 33:00 |
are all too often treated. |
dwsimeone |
33:01 33:04 |
The most violent people I saw were themselves the survivors |
dwsimeone |
33:04 33:07 |
of their own attempted murder often at the hands of their |
dwsimeone |
33:07 33:11 |
parents or other people in their social environment |
dwsimeone |
33:11 33:14 |
or were the survivors of family members who had been killed- |
dwsimeone |
33:14 33:18 |
their closest family members- by other people. |
cigano |
33:19 33:23 |
The Buddha argued that everything depends on everything else. |
dwsimeone |
33:23 33:26 |
He says 'The one contains the many and the many contains the one.' |
dwsimeone |
33:26 33:30 |
That you can't understand anything in isolation from its environment. |
dwsimeone |
33:30 33:36 |
The leaf contains the sun, the sky and the earth, obviously. |
cigano |
33:38 33:41 |
This has now been shown to be true, of course all around |
cigano |
33:41 33:44 |
and specifically when it comes to human development. |
dwsimeone |
33:44 33:46 |
The modern scientific term for it |
cigano |
33:47 33:49 |
is the "bio-psycho-social" nature of human development |
cigano |
33:49 33:52 |
which says that the biology of human beings |
cigano |
33:52 33:54 |
depends very much on their interaction with |
cigano |
33:54 33:56 |
the social and psychological environment. |
cigano |
33:56 34:02 |
And specifically, the psychiatrist and researcher |
cigano |
34:02 34:06 |
Daniel Siegel at the University of California, Los Angeles, UCLA |
cigano |
34:06 34:10 |
has coined a phrase “Interpersonal Neurobiology” |
cigano |
34:10 34:14 |
which means to say that the way that our nervous system functions |
dwsimeone |
34:14 34:17 |
depends very much on our personal relationships: |
dwsimeone |
34:17 34:19 |
in the first place with the parenting caregivers, |
dwsimeone |
34:20 34:21 |
and in the second place with other important |
dwsimeone |
34:22 34:23 |
attachment figures in our lives |
dwsimeone |
34:23 34:25 |
and in the third place, with our entire culture. |
cigano |
34:26 34:28 |
So that you can't separate the |
cigano |
34:28 34:31 |
neurological functioning of a human being |
cigano |
34:31 34:34 |
from the environment in which he or she grew up in |
cigano |
34:35 34:37 |
and continues to exist in. |
dwsimeone |
34:37 34:40 |
And this is true throughout the life cycle. |
dwsimeone |
34:40 34:42 |
It's particularly true when you are |
cigano |
34:42 34:44 |
dependent and helpless when your brain is developing |
cigano |
34:44 34:48 |
but it's true even in adults and even at the end of life. |
wurmd |
34:51 34:53 |
[ Culture ] |
dwsimeone |
34:53 34:56 |
Human beings have lived in almost every kind of society, |
dwsimeone |
34:56 34:59 |
from the most egalitarian- |
dwsimeone |
34:59 35:03 |
hunting and gathering societies seem to have been very egalitarian- |
dwsimeone |
35:03 35:06 |
for instance based on food sharing, gift exchange... |
dwsimeone |
35:06 35:09 |
Small bands of people living |
dwsimeone |
35:09 35:13 |
predominately off of foraging and a little bit of hunting, |
dwsimeone |
35:13 35:15 |
predominantly among people you have |
dwsimeone |
35:15 35:17 |
at the least, known your entire life |
dwsimeone |
35:17 35:20 |
if not surrounded by third cousins or closer, |
dwsimeone |
35:20 35:22 |
in a world in which there is a great deal |
dwsimeone |
35:22 35:24 |
of fluidity between different groups, |
dwsimeone |
35:24 35:25 |
in a world which there is not |
dwsimeone |
35:25 35:28 |
a whole lot in terms of material culture... |
tzmofficial |
35:28 35:30 |
this is how humans have spent most of their hominid history. |
dwsimeone |
35:31 35:34 |
And, no surprise, that makes for a very different world. |
dwsimeone |
35:34 35:38 |
One of the things you get as a result of that is far less violence. |
dwsimeone |
35:38 35:41 |
Organized group violence is |
dwsimeone |
35:41 35:43 |
not something that occurred at that time |
dwsimeone |
35:43 35:46 |
of human history and that seems quite clear. |
dwsimeone |
35:46 35:49 |
So where did we go wrong? |
dwsimeone |
35:50 35:56 |
Violence is not universal. It is not symmetrically distributed |
dwsimeone |
35:56 36:00 |
throughout the human race. There is a huge variation |
dwsimeone |
36:00 36:02 |
in the amount of violence in different societies. |
dwsimeone |
36:03 36:07 |
There are some societies that have virtually no violence. |
dwsimeone |
36:07 36:10 |
There are others that destroy themselves! |
dwsimeone |
36:10 36:16 |
Some of the Anabaptist religious groups |
dwsimeone |
36:16 36:18 |
that are complete strict pacifists |
dwsimeone |
36:18 36:21 |
like the Amish, the Mennonites, the Hutterites... |
dwsimeone |
36:21 36:24 |
Among some of these groups, the Hutterites- |
dwsimeone |
36:24 36:28 |
there are no recorded cases of homicide. |
dwsimeone |
36:29 36:32 |
During our major wars, like World War II |
dwsimeone |
36:33 36:34 |
where people were being drafted |
dwsimeone |
36:34 36:36 |
they would refuse to serve in the military. |
dwsimeone |
36:36 36:39 |
They would go to prison rather than serve in the military. |
dwsimeone |
36:40 36:42 |
In the Kibbutzim in Israel |
dwsimeone |
36:42 36:45 |
the level of violence is so low that the criminal courts there |
dwsimeone |
36:45 36:48 |
will often send violent offenders |
dwsimeone |
36:48 36:51 |
-people who have committed crimes- |
dwsimeone |
36:51 36:54 |
to live on the Kibbutzim in order to |
dwsimeone |
36:54 36:56 |
learn how to live a non-violent life. |
dwsimeone |
36:56 36:58 |
Because that's the way people live there. |
dwsimeone |
36:58 37:02 |
So, we are amply shaped by society. |
dwsimeone |
37:02 37:07 |
Our societies, in the broader sense, including our theological, |
dwsimeone |
37:07 37:10 |
our metaphysical, our linguistic influences, etc., |
dwsimeone |
37:11 37:14 |
our societies help shape us as to whether or not we think |
dwsimeone |
37:14 37:17 |
life is basically about sin or about beauty; |
dwsimeone |
37:18 37:20 |
whether the afterlife will carry a price |
dwsimeone |
37:20 37:23 |
for how we live our lives or if it's irrelevant. |
dwsimeone |
37:23 37:26 |
In a broad sort of way, different large societies |
dwsimeone |
37:27 37:30 |
could be termed as individualistic or collectivist, and |
dwsimeone |
37:30 37:33 |
you get very different people and different mindsets and |
dwsimeone |
37:33 37:33 |
. |
dwsimeone |
37:33 37:35 |
I suspect different brains coming along with that. |
dwsimeone |
37:35 37:40 |
We, in America, are in one of the most individualistic of societies, |
dwsimeone |
37:41 37:43 |
with capitalism being a system that allows you to go |
dwsimeone |
37:43 37:47 |
higher and higher up a potential pyramid and |
dwsimeone |
37:47 37:50 |
the deal is that it comes with fewer and fewer safety nets. |
dwsimeone |
37:50 37:54 |
By definition, the more stratified a society is, |
dwsimeone |
37:54 37:57 |
the fewer people you have as peers; the fewer people with whom |
dwsimeone |
37:57 38:00 |
you have symmetrical, reciprocal relationships |
dwsimeone |
38:00 38:05 |
and instead, all you have are differing spots and endless hierarchies. |
dwsimeone |
38:05 38:09 |
A world in which you have few reciprocal partners |
dwsimeone |
38:09 38:11 |
is a world with a lot less altruism. |
tzmofficial |
38:14 38:16 |
[Human Nature] |
dwsimeone |
38:17 38:22 |
So, this brings us to a total impossible juncture which is |
dwsimeone |
38:22 38:25 |
to try to make sense in perspective science |
dwsimeone |
38:25 38:28 |
as to what that nature is of human nature. |
tzmofficial |
38:28 38:30 |
You know, on a certain level |
dwsimeone |
38:30 38:33 |
the nature of our nature is not to be |
dwsimeone |
38:33 38:35 |
particularly constrained by our nature. |
dwsimeone |
38:36 38:37 |
We come up with more social |
dwsimeone |
38:37 38:40 |
variability than any species out there. |
dwsimeone |
38:40 38:44 |
More systems of belief, of styles, of family structures, |
dwsimeone |
38:44 38:47 |
of ways of raising children. The capacity |
dwsimeone |
38:47 38:51 |
for variety that we have is extraordinary. |
dwsimeone |
38:52 38:55 |
In a society which is predicated on competition |
dwsimeone |
38:55 39:00 |
and really, very often, the ruthless exploitation |
dwsimeone |
39:01 39:02 |
of one human being by another- |
dwsimeone |
39:03 39:06 |
the profiteering off of other people's problems |
dwsimeone |
39:06 39:08 |
and very often the creation of problems |
dwsimeone |
39:08 39:11 |
for the purpose of profiteering- |
dwsimeone |
39:11 39:14 |
the ruling ideology will very often justify that behavior |
dwsimeone |
39:14 39:18 |
by appeals to some fundamental and unalterable human nature. |
dwsimeone |
39:19 39:20 |
So the myth in our society |
dwsimeone |
39:20 39:22 |
is that people are competitive by nature |
tzmofficial |
39:22 39:26 |
and that they are individualistic and that they're selfish. |
dwsimeone |
39:27 39:30 |
The real reality is quite the opposite. |
dwsimeone |
39:30 39:31 |
We have certain human needs. |
tzmofficial |
39:31 39:34 |
The only way that you can talk about human nature concretely |
dwsimeone |
39:34 39:37 |
is by recognizing that there are certain human needs. |
dwsimeone |
39:37 39:40 |
We have a human need for companionship and for close contact, |
dwsimeone |
39:40 39:43 |
to be loved, to be attached to, to be accepted, |
dwsimeone |
39:43 39:47 |
to be seen, to be received for who we are. |
dwsimeone |
39:47 39:49 |
If those needs are met, we develop |
dwsimeone |
39:50 39:55 |
into people who are compassionate and cooperative and |
dwsimeone |
39:56 39:58 |
who have empathy for other people. |
tzmofficial |
39:58 40:00 |
So... |
dwsimeone |
40:01 40:03 |
the opposite, that we often see in our society, |
dwsimeone |
40:03 40:05 |
is in fact, a distortion of human nature |
dwsimeone |
40:05 40:09 |
precisely because so few people have their needs met. |
dwsimeone |
40:09 40:11 |
So, yes you can talk about human nature |
dwsimeone |
40:11 40:14 |
but only in the sense of basic human needs |
dwsimeone |
40:14 40:16 |
that are instinctively evoked |
dwsimeone |
40:16 40:18 |
or I should say, certain human needs |
tzmofficial |
40:18 40:21 |
that lead to certain traits if they are met |
dwsimeone |
40:21 40:24 |
and a different set of traits if they are denied. |
cosmic.synergy |
40:27 40:28 |
So... |
dwsimeone |
40:28 40:31 |
when we recognize the fact that the human organism, |
dwsimeone |
40:31 40:34 |
which has a great deal of adaptive flexibility |
dwsimeone |
40:34 40:37 |
allowing us to survive in many different conditions, |
dwsimeone |
40:37 40:42 |
is also rigidly programmed for certain environmental requirements |
dwsimeone |
40:42 40:44 |
or human needs, |
tzmofficial |
40:44 40:47 |
a social imperative begins to emerge. |
dwsimeone |
40:47 40:50 |
Just as our bodies require physical nutrients, |
tzmofficial |
40:50 40:55 |
the human brain demands positive forms of environmental stimulus |
dwsimeone |
40:55 40:57 |
at all stages of development, |
dwsimeone |
40:57 40:59 |
while also needing to be protected |
dwsimeone |
40:59 41:02 |
from other negative forms of stimulus. |
tzmofficial |
41:03 41:05 |
And if things that should happen, do not... |
dwsimeone |
41:05 41:08 |
or if things that shouldn't happen, do... |
dwsimeone |
41:08 41:11 |
it is now apparent that the door can be opened for not only |
dwsimeone |
41:11 41:14 |
a cascade of mental and physical diseases |
dwsimeone |
41:14 41:18 |
but many detrimental human behaviors as well. |
dwsimeone |
41:18 41:20 |
So, as we turn our perspective now outward |
dwsimeone |
41:21 41:23 |
and take account for the state of affairs today, |
cigano |
41:23 41:25 |
we must ask the question: |
tzmofficial |
41:26 41:28 |
Is the condition we have created in the modern world |
tzmofficial |
41:28 41:31 |
actually supporting our health? |
dwsimeone |
41:31 41:34 |
Is the bedrock of our socioeconomic system |
dwsimeone |
41:35 41:36 |
acting as a positive force |
cosmic.synergy |
41:36 41:39 |
for human and social development and progress? |
dwsimeone |
41:40 41:44 |
Or, is the foundational gravitation of our society |
dwsimeone |
41:44 41:48 |
actually going against the core evolutionary requirements |
dwsimeone |
41:48 41:51 |
needed to create and maintain |
dwsimeone |
41:51 41:54 |
our personal and social well-being? |
tzmofficial |
42:11 42:17 |
[Part II: Social Pathology] |
dwsimeone |
42:17 42:21 |
So, one might ask where did this all begin? |
dwsimeone |
42:21 42:24 |
what we have today... really a world in a state of |
dwsimeone |
42:24 42:26 |
cumulative collapse. |
tzmofficial |
42:27 42:30 |
[The Market] |
tzmofficial |
42:30 42:33 |
You get it started with John Locke. |
dwsimeone |
42:33 42:36 |
And John Locke introduces property. |
dwsimeone |
42:36 42:40 |
He has three provisos for just private right and property. |
dwsimeone |
42:40 42:43 |
And the three provisos are: |
dwsimeone |
42:43 42:45 |
There must be enough left over for others |
dwsimeone |
42:45 42:47 |
and that you must not let it spoil |
tzmofficial |
42:47 42:50 |
and that you, most of all, must mix your labor with it. |
dwsimeone |
42:51 42:54 |
It seems justified- you mix your labor with the world |
dwsimeone |
42:54 42:56 |
then you are entitled to the product. |
dwsimeone |
42:56 42:59 |
And as long as there's enough left over for others |
dwsimeone |
42:59 43:01 |
and as long as it doesn't spoil |
dwsimeone |
43:01 43:03 |
and you don't allow anything to go to waste then that's okay. |
dwsimeone |
43:04 43:07 |
He spends a long time on his famous Treatises of Government |
dwsimeone |
43:07 43:10 |
and it's since been the canonical text |
dwsimeone |
43:10 43:13 |
for economic and political and legal understanding. |
dwsimeone |
43:13 43:16 |
It is still the classic text that's studied. |
dwsimeone |
43:16 43:20 |
Well, ... after he gives the provisos |
dwsimeone |
43:20 43:21 |
and you're almost thinking at the time |
dwsimeone |
43:21 43:23 |
whether you are for private property or not- |
dwsimeone |
43:23 43:27 |
he has given a very good and plausible and powerful defense |
dwsimeone |
43:28 43:29 |
of private property here- |
dwsimeone |
43:29 43:31 |
Well, he drops them! |
dwsimeone |
43:31 43:33 |
He drops them like that. Right in one sentence. |
dwsimeone |
43:33 43:35 |
He says, 'Well, once the introduction |
dwsimeone |
43:35 43:40 |
of money came in by men's tacit consent..." then it became- |
dwsimeone |
43:40 43:40 |
. |
dwsimeone |
43:40 43:43 |
and he doesn't say all the provisos are canceled or erased- |
dwsimeone |
43:43 43:46 |
but that's what happens. |
dwsimeone |
43:46 43:48 |
So, now we have not |
dwsimeone |
43:48 43:50 |
product and your property earned by your own labor- |
tzmofficial |
43:50 43:53 |
oh no- money buys labor now. |
dwsimeone |
43:53 43:55 |
There is no longer consideration |
dwsimeone |
43:55 43:57 |
whether there is enough left over for others; |
dwsimeone |
43:57 44:00 |
there is no longer consideration of whether it spoils- |
dwsimeone |
44:00 44:03 |
because he says money is like silver and gold and gold can't spoil- |
dwsimeone |
44:03 44:03 |
. |
dwsimeone |
44:03 44:06 |
and therefore money can't be responsible for waste... |
dwsimeone |
44:07 44:10 |
which is ridiculous. We are not talking about money and silver, |
dwsimeone |
44:10 44:11 |
we are talking about what its effects are. |
dwsimeone |
44:11 44:14 |
It's one non sequitur after another. |
dwsimeone |
44:14 44:17 |
Just the most startling |
dwsimeone |
44:17 44:21 |
logical legerdemain that he gets away with here. |
dwsimeone |
44:21 44:25 |
But it fits the interests of capital owners. |
dwsimeone |
44:26 44:28 |
Then Adam Smith comes along |
dwsimeone |
44:28 44:30 |
and what he adds is the religion to this... |
dwsimeone |
44:30 44:34 |
Locke started with 'God made it all this way- this is God's right...' |
dwsimeone |
44:34 44:34 |
. |
dwsimeone |
44:34 44:39 |
and now we get also with Smith saying 'it's not only God's...' |
dwsimeone |
44:39 44:39 |
. |
dwsimeone |
44:39 44:40 |
well, he's not actually saying this but this is |
dwsimeone |
44:40 44:43 |
what's happening philosophically, in principle- |
dwsimeone |
44:43 44:46 |
he's saying that 'it is not only a question of private property...' |
dwsimeone |
44:46 44:48 |
That's all now 'presupposed'- It's Given! |
tzmofficial |
44:49 44:51 |
And that there's 'money investors that buy labor' – Given! |
dwsimeone |
44:51 44:54 |
There's no limit to how much they can buy of other men's labor, |
dwsimeone |
44:55 44:57 |
how much they can accumulate, how much 'inequality'- |
dwsimeone |
44:57 44:59 |
that's all given now. |
dwsimeone |
44:59 45:02 |
And so he comes along and what his big idea is- |
dwsimeone |
45:02 45:07 |
and again it's just introduced in parentheses, in passing... |
dwsimeone |
45:07 45:12 |
You know, when people put out goods for sale- ... the supply- |
dwsimeone |
45:12 45:15 |
and other people buy them- the demand and so forth, |
dwsimeone |
45:15 45:21 |
how do we have supply equaling demand or demand equaling supply? |
dwsimeone |
45:21 45:21 |
. |
dwsimeone |
45:21 45:22 |
How can they come into equilibrium? |
dwsimeone |
45:23 45:25 |
And that is one of the central notions of economics, |
dwsimeone |
45:25 45:27 |
is how do they come into equilibrium. |
dwsimeone |
45:28 45:32 |
And he says: it's the “Invisible Hand of the Market” |
dwsimeone |
45:32 45:34 |
that brings them into equilibrium. |
tzmofficial |
45:34 45:37 |
So, now we have God as actually immanent! |
cosmic.synergy |
45:37 45:40 |
He just didn't give the rights to property |
dwsimeone |
45:40 45:45 |
and all its wherewithal and its "natural rights" |
dwsimeone |
45:45 45:47 |
regarding what Locke said... |
dwsimeone |
45:47 45:51 |
now we have the system itself AS "God". |
cosmic.synergy |
45:51 45:54 |
In fact, Smith says, when he talks |
dwsimeone |
45:54 45:57 |
and you'll never find this quote, and you have to read the whole of |
dwsimeone |
45:57 45:59 |
the Inquiry into the Wealth of Nations to find it. |
dwsimeone |
45:59 46:02 |
He says: 'the scantiness of subsistence |
dwsimeone |
46:02 46:06 |
sets limits to the reproduction of the poor |
tzmofficial |
46:06 46:10 |
and that nature can deal with this in no other way |
tzmofficial |
46:11 46:14 |
than elimination of their children.' |
tzmofficial |
46:14 46:18 |
So he anticipated evolutionary theory in the worst sense... |
dwsimeone |
46:19 46:20 |
this is well before Darwin. |
dwsimeone |
46:20 46:23 |
And so he called them the 'Race of Laborers'. |
dwsimeone |
46:23 46:26 |
So you can see: there was inherent racism built in here, |
dwsimeone |
46:27 46:34 |
there was an inherent life blindness to kill innumerable children. |
dwsimeone |
46:34 46:34 |
. |
dwsimeone |
46:34 46:37 |
And he thought: 'That's the Invisible Hand making supply |
dwsimeone |
46:37 46:39 |
meet demand and demand meet supply.' |
dwsimeone |
46:40 46:43 |
So, see- how wise "God" is? |
dwsimeone |
46:43 46:46 |
So you can see a lot of the really virulent |
dwsimeone |
46:46 46:50 |
life destructive, eco-genocidal things |
dwsimeone |
46:50 46:54 |
that are going on now have, in a way, |
tzmofficial |
46:54 46:58 |
a 'thought gene' back in Smith too. |
dwsimeone |
47:00 47:02 |
When we reflect on the original concept of |
dwsimeone |
47:02 47:05 |
the so-called free market capitalist system |
dwsimeone |
47:05 47:08 |
as initiated by early economic philosophers |
dwsimeone |
47:08 47:09 |
such as Adam Smith |
dwsimeone |
47:09 47:12 |
we see that the original intent of a “market” |
tzmofficial |
47:12 47:17 |
was based around real, tangible, life supporting goods for trade. |
dwsimeone |
47:17 47:19 |
Adam Smith never fathomed that the most |
dwsimeone |
47:19 47:22 |
profitable economic sector on the planet |
dwsimeone |
47:22 47:24 |
would eventually be in the arena of financial trading |
dwsimeone |
47:25 47:28 |
or so-called investment, where money itself is simply |
dwsimeone |
47:28 47:28 |
, |
dwsimeone |
47:28 47:31 |
gained by the movement of other money in an arbitrary game |
dwsimeone |
47:31 47:31 |
. |
dwsimeone |
47:32 47:35 |
which holds zero productive merit to society. |
dwsimeone |
47:35 47:38 |
Yet, regardless of Smith's intent |
dwsimeone |
47:38 47:40 |
the door for such seemingly anomalous advents |
tzmofficial |
47:40 47:45 |
was left wide open by one fundamental tenet of this theory: |
dwsimeone |
47:45 47:49 |
Money is treated as a Commodity, in and of itself. |
dwsimeone |
47:50 47:52 |
Today, in every economy of the world |
dwsimeone |
47:52 47:54 |
regardless of the social system they claim |
dwsimeone |
47:54 47:58 |
money is pursued for the sake of money and nothing else. |
dwsimeone |
47:58 48:01 |
The underlying idea, which was mysteriously qualified |
dwsimeone |
48:01 48:07 |
by Adam Smith with his religious declaration of the 'Invisible Hand' |
dwsimeone |
48:07 48:07 |
. |
dwsimeone |
48:07 48:10 |
is that the narrow, self-interested pursuit |
dwsimeone |
48:10 48:13 |
of this fictional commodity will somehow |
dwsimeone |
48:13 48:13 |
. |
dwsimeone |
48:13 48:18 |
magically manifest human and social well-being and progress. |
dwsimeone |
48:18 48:22 |
The reality is that the monetary incentive 'interest' |
dwsimeone |
48:22 48:25 |
or what some have termed the "Money Sequence of Value” |
dwsimeone |
48:26 48:29 |
has now completely decoupled from the foundational |
dwsimeone |
48:29 48:31 |
'life interest', which could be termed the |
dwsimeone |
48:32 48:34 |
"Life Sequence of Value". |
dwsimeone |
48:34 48:38 |
What has happened is that there is a complete confusion |
dwsimeone |
48:38 48:42 |
in economic doctrine between those two sequences. |
dwsimeone |
48:42 48:42 |
. |
dwsimeone |
48:42 48:44 |
They think that the Money Sequence of Value |
dwsimeone |
48:44 48:46 |
delivers the Life Sequence of Value. |
dwsimeone |
48:47 48:49 |
And that's why they say if more goods are sold, |
dwsimeone |
48:49 48:51 |
if GDPs rise and so forth... |
dwsimeone |
48:51 48:54 |
there would be more enhanced well-being |
dwsimeone |
48:54 48:58 |
and we could take the GDP as being our basic layer indicator |
dwsimeone |
48:58 48:58 |
. |
dwsimeone |
48:58 49:01 |
of social health. Well, there you see the confusion. |
dwsimeone |
49:01 49:03 |
It's talking about Money Sequences of Value- |
dwsimeone |
49:03 49:05 |
that is, all the receipts and all the revenues |
dwsimeone |
49:05 49:08 |
that are derived from selling goods- |
dwsimeone |
49:08 49:11 |
and they're confusing that with life reproduction. |
dwsimeone |
49:11 49:15 |
So, you have built right into this thing from the beginning |
dwsimeone |
49:15 49:18 |
a complete conflation of the money |
dwsimeone |
49:18 49:20 |
and life sequences of value. So, |
dwsimeone |
49:20 49:24 |
we are dealing with a kind of structured delusion |
tzmofficial |
49:24 49:26 |
which becomes more and more deadly |
tzmofficial |
49:26 49:29 |
as the money sequence decouples from producing |
dwsimeone |
49:29 49:33 |
anything at all. So it's a system disorder. |
dwsimeone |
49:33 49:33 |
. |
dwsimeone |
49:33 49:36 |
And the system disorder seems to be fatal. |
tzmofficial |
49:38 49:40 |
[Welcome to the Machine] |
dwsimeone |
49:41 49:44 |
In society today, you seldom hear anyone speak |
dwsimeone |
49:44 49:47 |
of the progress of their country or society |
tzmofficial |
49:47 49:50 |
in terms of their physical well-being, state of happiness, |
tzmofficial |
49:51 49:53 |
trust or social stability. |
dwsimeone |
49:53 49:55 |
Rather, the measures are presented to us |
dwsimeone |
49:55 49:57 |
through economic abstractions. |
dwsimeone |
49:57 50:01 |
We have the gross domestic product, the consumer price index, |
dwsimeone |
50:01 50:04 |
the value of the stock market, rates of inflation, |
dwsimeone |
50:04 50:05 |
and so on. |
dwsimeone |
50:05 50:08 |
But does this tell us anything of real value |
cigano |
50:08 50:11 |
as to the quality of peoples' lives? |
dwsimeone |
50:11 50:13 |
No. All of these measures have to do with |
cigano |
50:13 50:16 |
the money sequence itself and nothing more. |
dwsimeone |
50:17 50:20 |
For example, the Gross Domestic Product of a country |
cigano |
50:20 50:23 |
is a measure of the value of goods and services sold. |
cigano |
50:23 50:25 |
This measure is claimed to correlate to the |
cigano |
50:26 50:28 |
“standard of living” of a country's people. |
dwsimeone |
50:29 50:31 |
In the United States health care accounted |
dwsimeone |
50:31 50:34 |
for over 17% of GDP in 2009 |
dwsimeone |
50:35 50:37 |
amounting to over $2.5 trillion spent, |
dwsimeone |
50:38 50:41 |
hence creating a positive effect on this economic measure. |
dwsimeone |
50:41 50:45 |
And, based on this logic it would be even better for the US economy |
cigano |
50:45 50:45 |
. |
cigano |
50:45 50:48 |
if health care services increased more so... |
dwsimeone |
50:48 50:50 |
perhaps to $3 trillion or 5 trillion, |
dwsimeone |
50:51 50:52 |
since that would create more growth, |
dwsimeone |
50:53 50:55 |
more jobs and hence boasted by economists |
cigano |
50:55 50:58 |
as a rise in their country's standard of living. |
dwsimeone |
50:59 51:00 |
But- ... wait a minute. |
tzmofficial |
51:00 51:04 |
What do health care services actually represent? |
tzmofficial |
51:04 51:07 |
Well, SICK AND DYING PEOPLE. |
dwsimeone |
51:07 51:11 |
That's right: the more unhealthy people there are in America |
dwsimeone |
51:11 51:13 |
the better the economy. |
cigano |
51:13 51:17 |
Now, that is not an exaggeration or a cynical perspective. |
dwsimeone |
51:17 51:21 |
In fact, if we step back far enough you will realize that the GDP |
cigano |
51:21 51:21 |
. |
dwsimeone |
51:21 51:23 |
not only doesn't reflect real public or social health |
dwsimeone |
51:24 51:25 |
on any tangible level, |
dwsimeone |
51:25 51:28 |
it is, in fact, mostly a measure |
cigano |
51:28 51:32 |
of industrial inefficiency and social degradation. |
cigano |
51:32 51:32 |
. |
dwsimeone |
51:32 51:35 |
And the more you see it rise, the worse things are becoming |
dwsimeone |
51:35 51:38 |
with respect to personal, social |
tzmofficial |
51:38 51:40 |
and environmental integrity. |
cigano |
51:40 51:44 |
You have to create problems to create profit. |
dwsimeone |
51:44 51:47 |
There is no profit under the current paradigm |
dwsimeone |
51:47 51:50 |
in saving lives, putting balance on this planet, |
cigano |
51:50 51:53 |
having justice and peace or anything else. |
dwsimeone |
51:53 51:55 |
There is just no profit there. |
dwsimeone |
51:56 51:59 |
There's an old saying: 'Pass a law and create a business.' |
cigano |
52:00 52:00 |
. |
dwsimeone |
52:00 52:02 |
Whether you are creating a business for a lawyer or whatever. |
dwsimeone |
52:02 52:05 |
So, crime does create business |
dwsimeone |
52:05 52:08 |
just like destruction creates business in Haiti. |
cigano |
52:08 52:08 |
. |
dwsimeone |
52:08 52:12 |
We have now roughly 2 million people incarcerated |
dwsimeone |
52:12 52:13 |
in this country (USA) |
dwsimeone |
52:13 52:17 |
and of those many are in prisons run by private corporations: |
dwsimeone |
52:17 52:17 |
. |
dwsimeone |
52:17 52:19 |
Corrections Corporation of America, Wackenhut, |
dwsimeone |
52:19 52:21 |
who trade their stock on Wall Street |
dwsimeone |
52:21 52:24 |
based upon how many people are in jail. |
dwsimeone |
52:24 52:26 |
Now that's sickness! |
dwsimeone |
52:26 52:28 |
But that is a reflection |
dwsimeone |
52:28 52:31 |
of what this economic paradigm calls for. |
cigano |
52:32 52:35 |
So what exactly does this economic paradigm call for? |
cigano |
52:35 52:39 |
What is it that keeps our economic system going? |
tzmofficial |
52:39 52:40 |
Consumption. |
cigano |
52:40 52:44 |
Or more accurately- Cyclical Consumption. |
dwsimeone |
52:44 52:47 |
When we break down the foundation of classic market economics |
cigano |
52:47 52:47 |
. |
dwsimeone |
52:47 52:50 |
we are left with a pattern of monetary exchange |
dwsimeone |
52:50 52:52 |
that simply cannot be allowed to stop |
dwsimeone |
52:52 52:54 |
or even substantially slowed |
cigano |
52:54 52:58 |
if the society as we know it is to remain operational. |
cigano |
52:58 52:58 |
. |
cigano |
52:58 53:01 |
There are three main actors on the economic stage: |
cigano |
53:01 53:04 |
the employee, the employer and the consumer. |
cigano |
53:04 53:04 |
. |
tzmofficial |
53:04 53:07 |
The employee sells labor to the employer for income. |
dwsimeone |
53:08 53:10 |
The employer sells its production services and hence goods, |
dwsimeone |
53:11 53:12 |
to the consumer for income. |
dwsimeone |
53:13 53:15 |
And the consumer, of course, is simply another role |
dwsimeone |
53:15 53:17 |
of the employer and employee, |
dwsimeone |
53:17 53:19 |
spending back into the system |
cigano |
53:19 53:22 |
to enable the cyclical consumption to continue. |
dwsimeone |
53:22 53:25 |
In other words, the global market system is based |
dwsimeone |
53:25 53:27 |
on the assumption that there will always be enough |
dwsimeone |
53:27 53:31 |
product demand in a society to move enough money around |
dwsimeone |
53:31 53:31 |
. |
dwsimeone |
53:31 53:34 |
at a rate which can keep the consumption process going. |
cigano |
53:35 53:36 |
And the faster the rate of consumption |
dwsimeone |
53:36 53:39 |
the more so-called economic growth is assumed |
cigano |
53:39 53:41 |
and so the machine goes... |
tzmofficial |
53:42 53:43 |
But, hold on- |
tzmofficial |
53:43 53:46 |
I thought an economy was meant to, I don't know... |
cigano |
53:46 53:48 |
“Economize”? |
cigano |
53:48 53:51 |
Doesn't the very term have to do with preservation |
dwsimeone |
53:51 53:54 |
and efficiency and a reduction of waste? |
tzmofficial |
53:54 53:58 |
So how does our system, which demands consumption |
dwsimeone |
53:58 54:00 |
and the more the better, efficiently preserve |
dwsimeone |
54:00 54:02 |
or “Economize” at all? |
tzmofficial |
54:03 54:04 |
Well... it doesn't. |
dwsimeone |
54:05 54:08 |
The intent of the market system is, in fact, the exact opposite |
dwsimeone |
54:08 54:11 |
of what a real economy is supposed to do, |
cigano |
54:11 54:13 |
which is efficiently and conservatively |
dwsimeone |
54:13 54:15 |
orient the materials for production and distribution |
dwsimeone |
54:15 54:18 |
of life supporting goods. |
dwsimeone |
54:18 54:21 |
We live on a finite planet, with finite resources |
dwsimeone |
54:21 54:23 |
where, for example, the oil we utilize |
dwsimeone |
54:23 54:25 |
took millions of years to develop... |
cigano |
54:25 54:29 |
where the minerals we use took billions of years to develop. |
dwsimeone |
54:29 54:32 |
So...having a system that deliberately promotes |
dwsimeone |
54:33 54:34 |
the acceleration of consumption |
cigano |
54:35 54:38 |
for the sake of so-called “economic growth” |
cigano |
54:38 54:41 |
is pure ecocidal insanity. |
cigano |
54:42 54:45 |
Absence of waste, that's what efficiency is. |
dwsimeone |
54:45 54:46 |
Absence of waste? |
dwsimeone |
54:47 54:50 |
This system is more wasteful than all the other |
dwsimeone |
54:50 54:52 |
existing systems in the history of the planet. |
dwsimeone |
54:52 54:55 |
Every level of life organization and life system |
dwsimeone |
54:55 54:58 |
is in a state of crisis and challenge |
cigano |
54:58 55:00 |
and decay or collapse. |
dwsimeone |
55:00 55:03 |
No peer-reviewed journal in the last 30 years |
dwsimeone |
55:03 55:05 |
will tell you anything different: |
dwsimeone |
55:05 55:09 |
that is that every life system is in decline |
cigano |
55:09 55:13 |
as well as social programs... as well as our water access. |
cigano |
55:13 55:13 |
. |
dwsimeone |
55:13 55:17 |
Try to name any means of life that isn't threatened and endangered. |
dwsimeone |
55:17 55:17 |
. |
dwsimeone |
55:17 55:18 |
You can't. |
dwsimeone |
55:19 55:21 |
There really isn't one and that's very, very despairing. |
tzmofficial |
55:21 55:24 |
But we haven't even figured out the causal mechanism. |
cigano |
55:24 55:26 |
We don't want to face the causal mechanism. |
tzmofficial |
55:26 55:29 |
We just want to go on. You know that's what insanity is |
cigano |
55:29 55:32 |
where you keep doing the same thing over and over again |
cigano |
55:32 55:34 |
even though it clearly doesn't work. |
dwsimeone |
55:35 55:37 |
So you're really |
cigano |
55:37 55:39 |
dealing with not an economic system |
dwsimeone |
55:39 55:43 |
but I would go so far as to say an anti-economic system. |
tzmofficial |
55:44 55:47 |
[ The Anti-Economy ] |
cigano |
55:47 55:51 |
There is an old saying that the competitive market model seeks to |
cigano |
55:51 55:51 |
. |
cigano |
55:51 55:55 |
“create the best possible goods at the lowest possible prices”. |
tzmofficial |
55:55 55:58 |
This statement is essentially the incentive concept |
dwsimeone |
55:58 56:02 |
which justifies market competition, based on the assumption |
cigano |
56:02 56:02 |
. |
dwsimeone |
56:02 56:06 |
that the result is the production of higher quality goods. |
tzmofficial |
56:06 56:08 |
If I was going to build myself a table from scratch |
dwsimeone |
56:09 56:11 |
I would naturally build it out of the best |
cigano |
56:11 56:13 |
most durable materials possible, right? |
cigano |
56:13 56:16 |
With the intent for it to last as long as possible. |
cigano |
56:16 56:18 |
Why would I want to make something poor |
cigano |
56:18 56:20 |
knowing I would have to eventually do it again |
tzmofficial |
56:20 56:24 |
and expend more materials and more energy? |
dwsimeone |
56:24 56:28 |
Well, as rational as that may seem in the physical world, |
tzmofficial |
56:28 56:29 |
when it comes to the market world |
cigano |
56:29 56:32 |
it is not only explicitly irrational |
cigano |
56:32 56:34 |
it is not even an option. |
cigano |
56:34 56:37 |
It is technically impossible to produce the best of anything |
cigano |
56:37 56:37 |
. |
tzmofficial |
56:37 56:40 |
if a company is to maintain a competitive edge |
cigano |
56:40 56:43 |
and hence remain affordable to the consumer. |
cigano |
56:43 56:45 |
Literally everything created and set for sale |
dwsimeone |
56:45 56:48 |
in the global economy is immediately inferior |
dwsimeone |
56:48 56:50 |
the moment it is produced, |
cigano |
56:50 56:53 |
for it is a mathematical impossibility |
cigano |
56:53 56:55 |
to make the most scientifically advanced |
cigano |
56:55 56:58 |
efficient and strategically sustainable products. |
cigano |
56:59 57:01 |
This is due to the fact that the market system |
cigano |
57:01 57:03 |
requires that “cost efficiency” |
cigano |
57:03 57:05 |
or the need to reduce expenses |
cigano |
57:05 57:08 |
exists at every stage of production. |
dwsimeone |
57:08 57:10 |
From the cost of labor, to the cost of |
dwsimeone |
57:10 57:12 |
materials and packaging and so on. |
dwsimeone |
57:12 57:15 |
This competitive strategy, of course, |
tzmofficial |
57:15 57:18 |
is to make sure the public buys their goods |
cigano |
57:18 57:20 |
rather than from a competing producer |
cigano |
57:20 57:22 |
...which is doing the exact same thing |
cigano |
57:22 57:26 |
to also make their goods both competitive and affordable. |
cigano |
57:27 57:30 |
This immutably wasteful consequence of the system |
cigano |
57:30 57:33 |
could be termed "Intrinsic Obsolescence". |
dwsimeone |
57:34 57:37 |
However, this is only one part of a larger problem. |
dwsimeone |
57:37 57:40 |
A fundamental governing principle of market economics, |
dwsimeone |
57:40 57:45 |
one you will not find in any textbook by the way, is the following: |
cigano |
57:45 57:45 |
. |
cigano |
57:45 57:49 |
“Nothing produced can be allowed to maintain a lifespan longer |
cigano |
57:49 57:53 |
than what can be endured in order to continue cyclical consumption.” |
cigano |
57:53 57:53 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
57:53 57:56 |
In other words, it is critical that stuff break down, |
cigano |
57:56 58:00 |
fail and expire within a certain amount of time. |
cigano |
58:00 58:03 |
This is termed - “Planned obsolescence”. |
dwsimeone |
58:04 58:07 |
Planned obsolescence is the backbone of the underlying market strategy |
dwsimeone |
58:07 58:11 |
of every goods producing corporation in existence. |
cigano |
58:11 58:14 |
While very few, of course would admit to such a strategy outright |
cigano |
58:14 58:14 |
. |
cigano |
58:14 58:16 |
what they do is mask it within the |
dwsimeone |
58:16 58:20 |
Intrinsic Obsolescence phenomenon just discussed, |
cigano |
58:20 58:24 |
while often ignoring, or even suppressing new advents in technology |
cigano |
58:24 58:24 |
. |
cigano |
58:24 58:28 |
which might create a more sustainable, durable good. |
cigano |
58:28 58:30 |
So, if it wasn't wasteful enough |
dwsimeone |
58:30 58:33 |
that the system inherently cannot allow |
dwsimeone |
58:33 58:36 |
the most durable and efficient goods to be produced, |
cigano |
58:36 58:39 |
Planned Obsolescence deliberately recognizes |
cigano |
58:39 58:41 |
that the longer any good is in operation |
cigano |
58:41 58:44 |
the worse it is for sustaining cyclical consumption |
cigano |
58:44 58:47 |
and hence the market system itself. |
tzmofficial |
58:47 58:50 |
In other words, product sustainability |
dwsimeone |
58:50 58:53 |
is actually inverse to economic growth |
cigano |
58:53 58:57 |
and hence there is a direct, reinforced incentive |
cigano |
58:57 59:01 |
to make sure life spans are short of any given good produced. |
cigano |
59:01 59:01 |
. |
cigano |
59:01 59:06 |
And, in fact, the system cannot operate any other way. |
cigano |
59:06 59:10 |
One glance at the sea of landfills now spreading across the world |
cigano |
59:10 59:12 |
show the obsolescence reality. |
dwsimeone |
59:12 59:15 |
There are now billions of cheaply made cell phones, |
cigano |
59:15 59:17 |
computers and other technology |
cigano |
59:17 59:20 |
each full of precious, difficult to mine materials |
dwsimeone |
59:20 59:22 |
such as gold, coltan, copper, |
cigano |
59:22 59:24 |
now rotting in vast piles |
cigano |
59:24 59:27 |
usually due to the mere malfunction or obsolescence |
cigano |
59:27 59:31 |
of small parts which, in a conservative society |
cigano |
59:31 59:35 |
could likely be fixed or updated and the life of the good extended. |
cigano |
59:35 59:35 |
. |
cigano |
59:35 59:39 |
Unfortunately, as efficient as that may seem in our physical reality |
dwsimeone |
59:39 59:42 |
living on a finite planet with finite resources, |
cigano |
59:43 59:43 |
. |
dwsimeone |
59:43 59:47 |
it is explicitly inefficient with respect to the market. |
cigano |
59:48 59:49 |
To put it into a phrase: |
cigano |
59:49 59:52 |
“Efficiency, Sustainability, and Preservation |
dwsimeone |
59:52 59:56 |
are the enemies of our economic system.” |
dwsimeone |
59:56 59:59 |
Likewise, just as physical goods need to be constantly produced |
dwsimeone |
59:59 1:00:03 |
and reproduced regardless of their environmental impact, |
cigano |
1:00:03 1:00:03 |
. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:00:03 1:00:07 |
the service industry operates with an equal rationale. |
dwsimeone |
1:00:07 1:00:10 |
The fact is, there is no monetary benefit |
dwsimeone |
1:00:10 1:00:12 |
to resolving any problems |
wurmd |
1:00:12 1:00:14 |
which are currently being serviced. |
wurmd |
1:00:14 1:00:15 |
At the end of the day |
wurmd |
1:00:16 1:00:18 |
the last thing the medical establishment really wants |
dwsimeone |
1:00:19 1:00:21 |
is the curing of diseases such as cancer, |
tzmofficial |
1:00:22 1:00:26 |
which would eliminate countless jobs and trillions in revenue. |
dwsimeone |
1:00:27 1:00:28 |
And since we are on the subject, |
dwsimeone |
1:00:28 1:00:32 |
crime and terrorism in this system are good! |
dwsimeone |
1:00:32 1:00:34 |
Well, at least economically. |
dwsimeone |
1:00:34 1:00:35 |
For it is employing police, |
dwsimeone |
1:00:36 1:00:38 |
generating high-value commodities for security, |
wurmd |
1:00:38 1:00:40 |
not to mention the value of prisons |
dwsimeone |
1:00:40 1:00:43 |
that are privately owned- for profit. |
wurmd |
1:00:43 1:00:45 |
And how about war? |
dwsimeone |
1:00:45 1:00:49 |
The war industry in America is a huge driver of GDP- |
dwsimeone |
1:00:49 1:00:51 |
one of the most profitable industries- |
tzmofficial |
1:00:51 1:00:55 |
producing weapons of death and destruction. |
tzmofficial |
1:00:55 1:00:58 |
The favorite game of this industry is to blow things up |
dwsimeone |
1:00:58 1:01:00 |
and then go and rebuild them! For profit. |
wurmd |
1:01:01 1:01:04 |
We saw this with the windfall billion dollar contracts |
wurmd |
1:01:04 1:01:06 |
made from the Iraq war. |
wurmd |
1:01:06 1:01:10 |
The bottom line is that socially negative attributes of society |
dwsimeone |
1:01:10 1:01:10 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:01:10 1:01:14 |
have become positively rewarded ventures for industry. |
dwsimeone |
1:01:14 1:01:16 |
And any interest in problem resolution |
tzmofficial |
1:01:16 1:01:20 |
or environmental sustainability and conservation |
tzmofficial |
1:01:20 1:01:25 |
is intrinsically counter to economic sustainability. |
wurmd |
1:01:25 1:01:27 |
And this is why |
tzmofficial |
1:01:27 1:01:30 |
every time you see the GDP rise in any country |
wurmd |
1:01:30 1:01:33 |
you are witnessing an increase in necessity |
dwsimeone |
1:01:33 1:01:35 |
whether real or contrived. |
dwsimeone |
1:01:35 1:01:39 |
And by definition, a necessity is rooted in inefficiency. |
tzmofficial |
1:01:39 1:01:44 |
Hence, increased necessity means increased inefficiency. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:01:44 1:01:47 |
[ Value System Disorder ] |
wurmd |
1:01:47 1:01:50 |
The American dream is based on rampant consumerism. |
dwsimeone |
1:01:50 1:01:50 |
. |
wurmd |
1:01:50 1:01:53 |
It is based upon the fact that |
cosmic.synergy |
1:01:53 1:01:54 |
mainstream media and |
dwsimeone |
1:01:54 1:01:56 |
especially commercial advertising- |
dwsimeone |
1:01:57 1:01:59 |
all corporations who need this infinite growth- |
dwsimeone |
1:02:00 1:02:02 |
have convinced us or brainwashed |
dwsimeone |
1:02:02 1:02:05 |
most people in America and hence the world |
wurmd |
1:02:06 1:02:08 |
that we have to have X number of material possessions |
wurmd |
1:02:08 1:02:11 |
and the possibility of gaining infinitely more |
tzmofficial |
1:02:11 1:02:13 |
material possessions, in order to be happy. |
wurmd |
1:02:14 1:02:15 |
That's just not true. |
wurmd |
1:02:15 1:02:19 |
So why do people continue to buy in this way |
wurmd |
1:02:19 1:02:21 |
which is ultimately eco-genocidal |
wurmd |
1:02:22 1:02:24 |
in its systemic effects cumulatively? |
cosmic.synergy |
1:02:24 1:02:27 |
And it just is classical operand conditioning. |
tzmofficial |
1:02:27 1:02:32 |
You simply put inputs of conditioning into the organism |
tzmofficial |
1:02:32 1:02:35 |
and you have outputs of desired behaviors |
tzmofficial |
1:02:35 1:02:37 |
or goals or objectives. |
dwsimeone |
1:02:38 1:02:41 |
And it has all the resources of technology. |
dwsimeone |
1:02:41 1:02:44 |
And they boast about how they get into the minds of infants; |
dwsimeone |
1:02:44 1:02:44 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:02:44 1:02:47 |
what they hear is already making them |
wurmd |
1:02:47 1:02:49 |
conditioned to the brand. |
wurmd |
1:02:49 1:02:53 |
Then you see, that's how people have been such fools. |
dwsimeone |
1:02:53 1:02:53 |
. |
wurmd |
1:02:53 1:02:55 |
In a way, they have been taught to be fools. |
tzmofficial |
1:02:55 1:02:58 |
It's a value system disorder. |
wurmd |
1:02:59 1:03:01 |
You know, if there is any testament |
dwsimeone |
1:03:01 1:03:03 |
to the plasticity of the human mind; |
dwsimeone |
1:03:03 1:03:05 |
if there is any proof to how malleable |
wurmd |
1:03:05 1:03:08 |
human thought is and how easily conditioned |
dwsimeone |
1:03:08 1:03:10 |
and guided people can become |
dwsimeone |
1:03:10 1:03:12 |
based on the nature of their environmental stimulus |
tzmofficial |
1:03:12 1:03:14 |
and what it reinforces: |
tzmofficial |
1:03:14 1:03:17 |
the world of commercial advertising is the proof. |
wurmd |
1:03:18 1:03:21 |
You have to stand in awe |
wurmd |
1:03:21 1:03:23 |
at the level of brainwashing |
tzmofficial |
1:03:23 1:03:27 |
where these programmed robots known as "consumers" |
wurmd |
1:03:27 1:03:29 |
wander the landscape |
dwsimeone |
1:03:29 1:03:32 |
only to walk into a store and spend, say- |
cosmic.synergy |
1:03:32 1:03:35 |
$4000 on a handbag |
cosmic.synergy |
1:03:35 1:03:37 |
that likely cost $10 to make |
tzmofficial |
1:03:37 1:03:39 |
in a sweatshop overseas. |
wurmd |
1:03:40 1:03:43 |
Only for the brand status it supposedly represents |
wurmd |
1:03:44 1:03:45 |
in the culture. |
wurmd |
1:03:45 1:03:48 |
Or perhaps the ancient communal traditions |
dwsimeone |
1:03:48 1:03:51 |
which increase trust and cohesiveness in society- |
wurmd |
1:03:52 1:03:53 |
which have now been hijacked |
cosmic.synergy |
1:03:53 1:03:57 |
by acquisitive, materialistic values where now annually |
wurmd |
1:03:57 1:04:01 |
we exchange useless crap a few times a year. |
dwsimeone |
1:04:01 1:04:03 |
And we might wonder why so many today |
dwsimeone |
1:04:03 1:04:05 |
have a compulsion to shopping and acquisition, |
cigano |
1:04:06 1:04:09 |
when it is clear that they have been conditioned from childhood |
wurmd |
1:04:09 1:04:11 |
to expect material goods |
tzmofficial |
1:04:11 1:04:14 |
as a sign of their status with friends and family. |
wurmd |
1:04:15 1:04:17 |
The fact is, the foundation of any society |
dwsimeone |
1:04:18 1:04:20 |
are the values that support its operation. |
dwsimeone |
1:04:20 1:04:22 |
And our society, as it exists |
wurmd |
1:04:22 1:04:25 |
can only operate if our values support |
wurmd |
1:04:25 1:04:27 |
the conspicuous consumption |
wurmd |
1:04:27 1:04:31 |
it requires to continue the market system. |
wurmd |
1:04:31 1:04:34 |
75 years ago consumption in America |
dwsimeone |
1:04:34 1:04:36 |
and much of the first world was half |
tzmofficial |
1:04:36 1:04:38 |
of what we see today, per person. |
wurmd |
1:04:38 1:04:40 |
Today's new consumer culture |
wurmd |
1:04:40 1:04:43 |
has been manufactured and imposed |
wurmd |
1:04:43 1:04:45 |
due to the very real need |
wurmd |
1:04:45 1:04:48 |
for higher and higher levels of consumption. |
wurmd |
1:04:48 1:04:51 |
And this is why most corporations now spend |
dwsimeone |
1:04:51 1:04:53 |
more money on advertising |
wurmd |
1:04:53 1:04:57 |
than the actual process of product creation itself. |
tzmofficial |
1:04:57 1:05:01 |
They work diligently to create a false need for you to fill. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:01 1:05:04 |
And it happens to work. |
cigano |
1:05:05 1:05:07 |
[ The “Economists” ] |
cigano |
1:05:07 1:05:11 |
You know economists, in fact, are not economists at all. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:11 1:05:13 |
They're propagandists of money value. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:14 1:05:16 |
And you will find that all of their models basically |
cigano |
1:05:16 1:05:21 |
get down to token exchanges that are true to profit |
cigano |
1:05:21 1:05:21 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:21 1:05:23 |
of one side or both sides or whatever. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:23 1:05:26 |
But they are completely disconnected from the actually |
dwsimeone |
1:05:26 1:05:28 |
existing world of reproduction. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:28 1:05:32 |
In Ohio, an old man failed to pay his electric bill; |
dwsimeone |
1:05:32 1:05:34 |
you may be familiar with the case. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:34 1:05:38 |
And the electric company turned off the electricity and he died. |
dwsimeone |
1:05:38 1:05:39 |
The reason they turned it off was because |
cigano |
1:05:39 1:05:41 |
it wouldn't have been profitable for them |
tzmofficial |
1:05:41 1:05:44 |
to keep it on because he didn't pay his bill. |
cigano |
1:05:44 1:05:46 |
Do you believe that was right? |
cigano |
1:05:46 1:05:48 |
The responsibility really lies not on |
cigano |
1:05:48 1:05:50 |
the electric company for turning it off |
cigano |
1:05:50 1:05:55 |
but on those of this man's neighbors and friends and associates |
cigano |
1:05:55 1:05:55 |
. |
cigano |
1:05:55 1:05:58 |
who were not charitable enough to enable him, as an individual |
cigano |
1:05:58 1:05:58 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:05:58 1:06:00 |
to meet the electric bill. |
tzmofficial |
1:06:01 1:06:02 |
HMMMMMM... |
dwsimeone |
1:06:02 1:06:04 |
Did I hear that right? |
cigano |
1:06:04 1:06:07 |
Did he just say the death of a man caused by not having money |
cigano |
1:06:07 1:06:07 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:06:07 1:06:09 |
was the responsibility of... |
tzmofficial |
1:06:09 1:06:11 |
other people... |
tzmofficial |
1:06:11 1:06:13 |
or, in effect, charity? |
dwsimeone |
1:06:13 1:06:17 |
Well then, I guess we're gonna need a whole lot of infomercials, |
cigano |
1:06:17 1:06:21 |
little miserable coin slot donations for bodega counters |
cigano |
1:06:21 1:06:21 |
. |
cigano |
1:06:21 1:06:23 |
and a bunch of pickle jars |
dwsimeone |
1:06:23 1:06:27 |
for the billion people now starving to death on this planet |
cigano |
1:06:27 1:06:27 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:06:27 1:06:32 |
because of the very system Milton Friedman promotes. |
dwsimeone |
1:06:32 1:06:35 |
Whether you are dealing with the philosophies of Milton Friedman, |
dwsimeone |
1:06:35 1:06:39 |
F.A. Hyack, John Maynard Keynes, Ludwig von Mises |
cigano |
1:06:39 1:06:39 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:06:39 1:06:41 |
or any other major market economist |
cigano |
1:06:41 1:06:46 |
the basis of rationale rarely leaves the money sequence. |
cigano |
1:06:46 1:06:46 |
. |
cigano |
1:06:46 1:06:47 |
It is like a religion. |
dwsimeone |
1:06:47 1:06:50 |
Consumption analysis, stabilization policies, |
tzmofficial |
1:06:50 1:06:52 |
deficit spending, aggregate demand... |
tzmofficial |
1:06:53 1:06:55 |
it exists as a never ending, self-referring |
cigano |
1:06:56 1:06:59 |
self-rationalizing circle of discourse |
cigano |
1:06:59 1:07:03 |
where universal human need, natural resources |
dwsimeone |
1:07:03 1:07:06 |
and any form of physical life supporting efficiency |
dwsimeone |
1:07:06 1:07:08 |
is ruled out by default, |
cigano |
1:07:08 1:07:11 |
and replaced by the singular notion that humans |
dwsimeone |
1:07:11 1:07:14 |
seeking advantage over each other for money alone, |
dwsimeone |
1:07:14 1:07:17 |
motivated by their own, narrow self-interest, |
cigano |
1:07:17 1:07:22 |
will magically create a sustainable, healthy, balanced society. |
cigano |
1:07:22 1:07:26 |
There is no life coordinate in this whole theory, this whole doctrine. |
dwsimeone |
1:07:26 1:07:26 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:07:26 1:07:28 |
What are they doing? What are they doing?? |
cigano |
1:07:29 1:07:31 |
What they are doing is tracking the money sequences. |
cigano |
1:07:32 1:07:35 |
That's all it is, is tracking money sequences |
dwsimeone |
1:07:35 1:07:38 |
presupposing everything that matters: |
cigano |
1:07:38 1:07:41 |
One: There is no life coordinates... |
dwsimeone |
1:07:41 1:07:43 |
Whoa- ... no life coordinates! |
tzmofficial |
1:07:43 1:07:48 |
Two: That all the agents are self-maximizing preference seekers. |
cigano |
1:07:49 1:07:49 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:07:49 1:07:51 |
That is, they think of nothing other than themselves |
cigano |
1:07:51 1:07:53 |
and what they can get most for themselves. |
dwsimeone |
1:07:53 1:07:59 |
That's the ruling notion of rationality: self-maximizing choice. |
cigano |
1:07:59 1:07:59 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:07:59 1:08:02 |
And the only thing that they are interested in self-maximizing |
cigano |
1:08:02 1:08:05 |
is money or commodities. |
dwsimeone |
1:08:05 1:08:07 |
Well, where does social relations come in? |
cigano |
1:08:07 1:08:11 |
It doesn't, except in the exchange to self-maximize. |
cigano |
1:08:11 1:08:13 |
Where do our natural resources come in? |
cigano |
1:08:13 1:08:16 |
They don't, except to exploit. |
cigano |
1:08:16 1:08:21 |
Where does the family come in as being able to survive? |
cigano |
1:08:21 1:08:26 |
It doesn't. They have to have money in order to purchase any good. |
cigano |
1:08:26 1:08:26 |
. |
cigano |
1:08:26 1:08:29 |
Well, shouldn't an economy deal somewhere with human need? |
cigano |
1:08:29 1:08:29 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:08:29 1:08:35 |
Isn't that what the fundamental issue is: to satisfy human needs? |
cigano |
1:08:35 1:08:35 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:08:35 1:08:38 |
Oh, "need" isn't even in your lexicon. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:08:38 1:08:41 |
You dissolve it into "wants". |
cosmic.synergy |
1:08:41 1:08:45 |
And what is a want? That means money demand that wants to buy. |
cigano |
1:08:45 1:08:45 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:08:45 1:08:48 |
Well, if it's money demand that wants to buy |
cigano |
1:08:48 1:08:49 |
it has nothing to do with need |
cigano |
1:08:49 1:08:52 |
because maybe the person has no money demand |
cigano |
1:08:52 1:08:55 |
and desperately needs, say, water supply. |
tzmofficial |
1:08:55 1:08:58 |
Or, it may be money demand wants a gold toilet seat. |
cigano |
1:08:59 1:09:02 |
Well, where does it all go? To the gold toilet seat. |
cigano |
1:09:02 1:09:02 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:09:02 1:09:03 |
And you call this economics? |
cosmic.synergy |
1:09:05 1:09:09 |
Really, when one thinks of it, it's got to be the most bizarre |
cigano |
1:09:09 1:09:09 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:09:10 1:09:12 |
delusion in the history of human thought! |
cigano |
1:09:14 1:09:16 |
[ Monetary System ] |
cigano |
1:09:16 1:09:19 |
Now- so far we have focused on the market system. |
cigano |
1:09:20 1:09:24 |
But this system is actually only half of the global economic paradigm. |
cigano |
1:09:24 1:09:24 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:09:24 1:09:28 |
The other half is the “Monetary System”. |
cigano |
1:09:28 1:09:31 |
While the Market System deals with the interaction of people |
dwsimeone |
1:09:31 1:09:34 |
gaming for profit across the spectrum of labor, |
dwsimeone |
1:09:34 1:09:36 |
production and distribution, |
cigano |
1:09:36 1:09:39 |
the Monetary System is an underlying set of policies |
cigano |
1:09:39 1:09:41 |
set by financial institutions |
cigano |
1:09:41 1:09:45 |
which create conditions for the market system, among other things. |
cigano |
1:09:46 1:09:46 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:09:46 1:09:48 |
It includes terms we often hear |
dwsimeone |
1:09:48 1:09:50 |
such as interest rates, loans, debt, |
dwsimeone |
1:09:51 1:09:54 |
the money supply, inflation, etc. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:09:54 1:09:56 |
And while you might want to pull your hair out listening |
cosmic.synergy |
1:09:57 1:09:59 |
to the gibberish coming from the monetary economists: |
dwsimeone |
1:10:00 1:10:04 |
"Modest preemptive actions, can obviate the need |
dwsimeone |
1:10:04 1:10:07 |
of more drastic actions, at a later date." |
dwsimeone |
1:10:07 1:10:09 |
... the nature and effect of this system |
brujo |
1:10:10 1:10:12 |
is actually quite simple: |
dwsimeone |
1:10:12 1:10:16 |
Our economy has- or the global economy has- |
dwsimeone |
1:10:16 1:10:16 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:16 1:10:19 |
three basic things that govern it. One is fractional reserve banking: |
dwsimeone |
1:10:19 1:10:19 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:19 1:10:21 |
the banks printing money out of nothing. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:21 1:10:24 |
[2nd] It's also based upon compound interest. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:24 1:10:27 |
When you borrow money, you have to pay back more |
dwsimeone |
1:10:27 1:10:30 |
than you borrowed which means that you, in effect, |
dwsimeone |
1:10:30 1:10:32 |
create money out of thin air, |
dwsimeone |
1:10:33 1:10:36 |
again which has to be serviced by creating still more money. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:36 1:10:38 |
[3rd] We live in an infinite growth paradigm. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:39 1:10:43 |
The economic paradigm we live in now is a Ponzi scheme. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:43 1:10:46 |
Nothing grows forever. It's not possible. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:46 1:10:46 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:10:46 1:10:49 |
As a great psychologist James Hillman wrote: |
dwsimeone |
1:10:49 1:10:51 |
“The only thing that grows in the human body |
dwsimeone |
1:10:51 1:10:52 |
after a certain age is cancer.” |
dwsimeone |
1:10:53 1:10:56 |
It's not just the amount of money that has to keep growing |
dwsimeone |
1:10:56 1:10:58 |
it's the amount of consumers. Consumers to |
dwsimeone |
1:10:58 1:11:01 |
borrow money at interest to generate more money and obviously, |
dwsimeone |
1:11:01 1:11:01 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:01 1:11:04 |
that's not possible on a finite planet. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:04 1:11:08 |
People are basically vehicles to just create money, |
dwsimeone |
1:11:08 1:11:10 |
which must create more money |
dwsimeone |
1:11:10 1:11:12 |
to keep the whole thing from falling apart, |
dwsimeone |
1:11:12 1:11:14 |
which is what's happening right now. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:15 1:11:17 |
There are really only two things anyone needs to know |
tzmofficial |
1:11:17 1:11:20 |
about the monetary system: |
tzmofficial |
1:11:20 1:11:23 |
1: All money is created out of debt. |
tzmofficial |
1:11:23 1:11:25 |
Money is monetized debt |
dwsimeone |
1:11:25 1:11:28 |
whether it materialized from treasury bonds, |
dwsimeone |
1:11:28 1:11:31 |
home loan contracts or credit cards. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:31 1:11:33 |
In other words, if all outstanding debt |
dwsimeone |
1:11:33 1:11:35 |
was to be repaid right now |
dwsimeone |
1:11:35 1:11:38 |
there would not be one dollar in circulation. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:38 1:11:43 |
And 2: Interest is charged on virtually all loans made, |
dwsimeone |
1:11:43 1:11:46 |
and the money needed to pay back this interest |
dwsimeone |
1:11:46 1:11:49 |
does not exist in the money supply outright. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:49 1:11:52 |
Only the principal is created by the loans |
tzmofficial |
1:11:52 1:11:54 |
and the principal is the money supply. |
dwsimeone |
1:11:54 1:11:57 |
So, if all this debt was to be repaid right now, |
dwsimeone |
1:11:57 1:12:00 |
not only would there not be one dollar left in circulation, |
tzmofficial |
1:12:00 1:12:04 |
there would be a gigantic amount of money owed |
dwsimeone |
1:12:04 1:12:09 |
that is literally impossible to pay back, for it does not exist. |
tzmofficial |
1:12:10 1:12:14 |
The consequence of all of this is that two things are inevitable: |
cosmic.synergy |
1:12:14 1:12:17 |
Inflation and Bankruptcy. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:17 1:12:18 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:18 1:12:21 |
As far as inflation, this can be seen as a historical trend |
dwsimeone |
1:12:21 1:12:23 |
in virtually every country today, |
dwsimeone |
1:12:23 1:12:25 |
and easily tied to its cause, |
tzmofficial |
1:12:25 1:12:28 |
which is the perpetual increase of the money supply |
dwsimeone |
1:12:28 1:12:31 |
which is required to cover the interest charges |
dwsimeone |
1:12:31 1:12:34 |
and keep the system going. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:34 1:12:35 |
As far as Bankruptcy, |
tzmofficial |
1:12:35 1:12:39 |
it comes in the form of debt collapse. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:39 1:12:42 |
This collapse will inevitably occur with a person, |
dwsimeone |
1:12:42 1:12:44 |
a business or a country |
dwsimeone |
1:12:44 1:12:46 |
and typically happens when the interest payments |
dwsimeone |
1:12:46 1:12:50 |
are no longer possible to make. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:50 1:12:52 |
But there is a bright side to all of this... |
dwsimeone |
1:12:52 1:12:55 |
well, at least in terms of the market system. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:56 1:12:58 |
Because debt creates pressure. |
dwsimeone |
1:12:58 1:13:01 |
Debt creates wage slaves. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:01 1:13:04 |
A person in debt is much more likely to take a low wage |
dwsimeone |
1:13:04 1:13:05 |
than a person who isn't, |
dwsimeone |
1:13:05 1:13:08 |
hence becoming a cheap commodity. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:08 1:13:10 |
So it's great for corporations to have a pool of people |
dwsimeone |
1:13:10 1:13:13 |
that have no financial mobility. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:13 1:13:17 |
But hey - that same idea also goes for entire countries. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:18 1:13:20 |
The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, |
dwsimeone |
1:13:21 1:13:25 |
which mostly serve as proxies for transnational corporate interests, |
dwsimeone |
1:13:25 1:13:25 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:25 1:13:27 |
give gigantic loans to troubled countries |
dwsimeone |
1:13:28 1:13:30 |
at very high interest rates. And then, |
dwsimeone |
1:13:30 1:13:33 |
once the countries are deeply in the hole and can't pay, |
dwsimeone |
1:13:33 1:13:33 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:33 1:13:37 |
austerity measures are applied, the corporations swoop in, |
dwsimeone |
1:13:37 1:13:37 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:13:37 1:13:41 |
set up sweatshops and take their natural resources. |
tzmofficial |
1:13:41 1:13:44 |
Now that's market efficiency. |
tzmofficial |
1:13:45 1:13:46 |
But wait – there's more: |
dwsimeone |
1:13:46 1:13:48 |
You see, there's this unique hybrid |
dwsimeone |
1:13:48 1:13:50 |
of the monetary and market system |
dwsimeone |
1:13:50 1:13:52 |
called the stock market. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:52 1:13:56 |
Which rather than, you know, actually produce anything real, |
tzmofficial |
1:13:56 1:13:59 |
they just buy and sell money itself. |
dwsimeone |
1:13:59 1:14:02 |
And when it comes to debt, you know what they do? |
dwsimeone |
1:14:02 1:14:04 |
That's right- they trade it! |
dwsimeone |
1:14:05 1:14:08 |
They actually buy and sell debt for profit. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:09 1:14:10 |
From credit default swaps and |
dwsimeone |
1:14:10 1:14:14 |
collateralized debt obligations for consumer debt, |
dwsimeone |
1:14:14 1:14:16 |
to complex derivative schemes used |
dwsimeone |
1:14:16 1:14:19 |
to mask the debt of entire countries, |
dwsimeone |
1:14:19 1:14:19 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:19 1:14:22 |
such as the collusion of investment bank Goldman Sachs and Greece, |
tzmofficial |
1:14:22 1:14:26 |
which nearly collapsed the entire European economy. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:26 1:14:29 |
So when it comes to the stock market and Wall Street, |
dwsimeone |
1:14:29 1:14:32 |
we have an entirely new level of insanity |
dwsimeone |
1:14:32 1:14:35 |
born out of the Money Sequence of Value. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:35 1:14:37 |
All you need to know about markets |
tzmofficial |
1:14:37 1:14:40 |
was written in an editorial in the Wall Street Journal |
dwsimeone |
1:14:40 1:14:42 |
a couple years ago. It was called |
dwsimeone |
1:14:42 1:14:45 |
"Lessons of the Brain-Damaged Investor". |
tzmofficial |
1:14:45 1:14:48 |
And in this editorial, they explained why |
dwsimeone |
1:14:48 1:14:51 |
people with slight brain damage do better as investors |
dwsimeone |
1:14:51 1:14:51 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:52 1:14:54 |
than people with normal brain functionality. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:54 1:14:56 |
Why? Because the slightly |
tzmofficial |
1:14:56 1:14:59 |
brain-damaged person has no empathy. |
dwsimeone |
1:14:59 1:15:01 |
That's the key. If you don't have any empathy |
dwsimeone |
1:15:02 1:15:03 |
you do well as an investor. |
dwsimeone |
1:15:04 1:15:08 |
And so Wall Street breeds people who have no empathy. |
dwsimeone |
1:15:09 1:15:11 |
To go in there and to make decisions |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:11 1:15:14 |
and to make trades they have no compunction about |
dwsimeone |
1:15:14 1:15:17 |
and no thought whatsoever as to how what they are doing |
dwsimeone |
1:15:17 1:15:18 |
might affect their fellow human being. |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:19 1:15:21 |
So they breed these robots. |
dwsimeone |
1:15:21 1:15:24 |
These people who have no souls. |
dwsimeone |
1:15:24 1:15:26 |
And since they don't even want to pay these people anymore- |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:27 1:15:29 |
they are now breeding robots – real robots – |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:29 1:15:30 |
real algorithmic traders. |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:31 1:15:33 |
Goldman Sachs in the high frequency trading scandal: |
dwsimeone |
1:15:33 1:15:37 |
They put a computer next to the New York Stock Exchange. |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:37 1:15:40 |
This computer, this “co-located” computer, as they call it: |
dwsimeone |
1:15:40 1:15:42 |
it front-runs all the trades on the exchange and |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:43 1:15:45 |
hits the exchange with volumes of orders |
dwsimeone |
1:15:45 1:15:47 |
in ways that "scalp" |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:47 1:15:49 |
pennies and nickels away from the exchange. |
dwsimeone |
1:15:49 1:15:52 |
It's like they're siphoning money all day long. |
dwsimeone |
1:15:52 1:15:54 |
They went one quarter last year |
dwsimeone |
1:15:54 1:15:57 |
30 or 60 straight days without a single down day |
claudiaheugel |
1:15:57 1:16:00 |
and made millions of dollars every single day? |
dwsimeone |
1:16:00 1:16:04 |
That's statistically impossible! |
dwsimeone |
1:16:04 1:16:06 |
When I worked on Wall Street, the way it works is |
dwsimeone |
1:16:06 1:16:07 |
everyone kicks upstairs to bribes. |
dwsimeone |
1:16:08 1:16:11 |
The brokers bribe to the office manager, |
dwsimeone |
1:16:11 1:16:15 |
the office manager bribes to the regional sales manager, |
dwsimeone |
1:16:15 1:16:16 |
the regional sales manager |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:16 1:16:18 |
bribes to the national sales manager. |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:18 1:16:20 |
It's a common understanding. |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:20 1:16:23 |
At Christmas, who gets the biggest bonus at Christmas |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:23 1:16:26 |
in an average broker job? The compliance officer. |
dwsimeone |
1:16:26 1:16:28 |
The compliance officer sits there all day long; he's supposed |
dwsimeone |
1:16:28 1:16:31 |
to be making sure you don't violate any of the margin rules |
dwsimeone |
1:16:31 1:16:31 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:16:31 1:16:33 |
and you're "complying" with the law. |
dwsimeone |
1:16:34 1:16:36 |
Of course, yeah, to the extent that |
dwsimeone |
1:16:36 1:16:38 |
you can bribe the compliance officer- |
cosmic.synergy |
1:16:38 1:16:40 |
yeah, that's right, you are complying with the law! |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:40 1:16:43 |
So how has fraud become the system? |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:43 1:16:44 |
It's no longer a byproduct. |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:44 1:16:46 |
It is the system. |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:46 1:16:48 |
It's like that old Woody Allen joke. He says: |
claudiaheugel |
1:16:49 1:16:51 |
“Doctor, my brother thinks he's a chicken.” |
dwsimeone |
1:16:51 1:16:53 |
And the doctor says, “Take a pill |
dwsimeone |
1:16:53 1:16:55 |
and that should cure the problem.” |
dwsimeone |
1:16:55 1:16:57 |
And he says, “No doctor. You don't understand. |
dwsimeone |
1:16:57 1:16:58 |
We need the eggs.” |
dwsimeone |
1:16:58 1:17:00 |
Okay? So ... |
dwsimeone |
1:17:00 1:17:03 |
the trading of fraudulent claims back and forth |
dwsimeone |
1:17:03 1:17:07 |
between banks, to generate fees, to generate bonuses, |
dwsimeone |
1:17:07 1:17:07 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:17:07 1:17:07 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:17:07 1:17:12 |
has become the GDP-producing |
dwsimeone |
1:17:12 1:17:13 |
growth engine of the United States economy- |
dwsimeone |
1:17:13 1:17:17 |
even though they are essentially trading fraudulent claims |
claudiaheugel |
1:17:17 1:17:19 |
that there is absolutely no hope of ever paying back. |
tzmofficial |
1:17:19 1:17:22 |
They are processing, generating and re-securitizing nothing. |
dwsimeone |
1:17:22 1:17:25 |
If I write $20 billion on a cocktail napkin |
dwsimeone |
1:17:25 1:17:28 |
and I sell it to J.P. Morgan and J.P. Morgan writes |
dwsimeone |
1:17:28 1:17:31 |
$20 billion on a cocktail napkin |
dwsimeone |
1:17:31 1:17:34 |
and we swap those two cocktail napkins at a bar, |
dwsimeone |
1:17:34 1:17:37 |
and we each pay ourselves a quarter of 1% in a fee, |
dwsimeone |
1:17:37 1:17:39 |
we make a lot of money for our Christmas bonus. |
tzmofficial |
1:17:39 1:17:43 |
We each have on our books a $20 billion cocktail napkin |
dwsimeone |
1:17:43 1:17:46 |
which has no real value, until such time as |
dwsimeone |
1:17:47 1:17:49 |
the system is no longer able to absorb |
dwsimeone |
1:17:50 1:17:52 |
bogus cocktail napkins, in which case we go to the government |
dwsimeone |
1:17:52 1:17:54 |
to get bailed out. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:17:55 1:17:57 |
And because of Wall Street and the global stock market |
dwsimeone |
1:17:57 1:18:01 |
there are now conservatively about 700 trillion dollars |
dwsimeone |
1:18:01 1:18:03 |
of outstanding fraudulent claims, |
dwsimeone |
1:18:03 1:18:05 |
known as derivatives, |
claudiaheugel |
1:18:05 1:18:07 |
still waiting to collapse. |
dwsimeone |
1:18:07 1:18:09 |
A value amounting to over |
dwsimeone |
1:18:09 1:18:11 |
10 times the gross domestic product |
tzmofficial |
1:18:11 1:18:13 |
of the entire planet. |
dwsimeone |
1:18:14 1:18:15 |
And while we have seen the bailouts of |
dwsimeone |
1:18:16 1:18:18 |
corporations and banks by governments, |
dwsimeone |
1:18:18 1:18:20 |
which, of course, comically borrow their money |
dwsimeone |
1:18:20 1:18:22 |
from banks to begin with, |
dwsimeone |
1:18:22 1:18:25 |
we are now seeing attempts to bailout whole countries |
claudiaheugel |
1:18:25 1:18:27 |
by conglomerates of other countries |
claudiaheugel |
1:18:28 1:18:30 |
through the International banks. |
tzmofficial |
1:18:30 1:18:33 |
But how do you bailout a planet? |
tzmofficial |
1:18:34 1:18:38 |
There is no country out there that isn't now saturated in debt. |
claudiaheugel |
1:18:38 1:18:41 |
The cascade of sovereign debt defaults we have seen |
claudiaheugel |
1:18:41 1:18:45 |
can only be the beginning, when the math is taken into account. |
tzmofficial |
1:18:46 1:18:49 |
It has been estimated in the United States alone |
dwsimeone |
1:18:49 1:18:53 |
that income tax would need to be raised to 65% per person |
dwsimeone |
1:18:53 1:18:57 |
just to cover the interest in the near future. |
claudiaheugel |
1:18:57 1:19:00 |
Economists are now foreshadowing that within a few decades |
claudiaheugel |
1:19:00 1:19:05 |
60% of the countries on the planet will be bankrupt. |
tzmofficial |
1:19:05 1:19:09 |
But hold on-- Let me get this straight. |
dwsimeone |
1:19:09 1:19:11 |
The world is going "bankrupt" |
claudiaheugel |
1:19:12 1:19:13 |
whatever the hell that means |
claudiaheugel |
1:19:13 1:19:16 |
because of this idea called "debt" |
claudiaheugel |
1:19:16 1:19:19 |
which doesn't even exist in the physical reality. |
tzmofficial |
1:19:19 1:19:22 |
It's only part of a game we've invented... |
claudiaheugel |
1:19:22 1:19:25 |
and yet the well being of billions of people |
claudiaheugel |
1:19:25 1:19:27 |
is now being compromised. |
dwsimeone |
1:19:27 1:19:31 |
Extreme layoffs, tent cities, accelerating poverty, |
dwsimeone |
1:19:32 1:19:35 |
austerity measures imposed, schools shutting down, |
dwsimeone |
1:19:35 1:19:40 |
child hunger and other levels of familial deprivation- ... |
dwsimeone |
1:19:40 1:19:43 |
all because of this elaborate fiction... |
tzmofficial |
1:19:44 1:19:46 |
What are we, fucking stupid?! |
dwsimeone |
1:19:48 1:19:50 |
Hey! Hey! Mars- my man! |
dwsimeone |
1:19:50 1:19:53 |
Help a brother out, uh? |
dwsimeone |
1:19:55 1:19:56 |
Grow up, kid! |
tzmofficial |
1:20:04 1:20:06 |
Saturn! What's up man? |
dwsimeone |
1:20:06 1:20:08 |
You remember that smokin' nebula I hooked you up with |
dwsimeone |
1:20:08 1:20:10 |
a while back? |
dwsimeone |
1:20:11 1:20:13 |
Uh- listen Earth. |
dwsimeone |
1:20:13 1:20:15 |
We're getting really tired of you. |
dwsimeone |
1:20:15 1:20:18 |
You've been given everything and yet you waste it all. |
dwsimeone |
1:20:18 1:20:21 |
You've got plenty of resources and you know it. |
dwsimeone |
1:20:21 1:20:24 |
Why don't you grow up and learn some responsibility for Christ's sake! |
dwsimeone |
1:20:24 1:20:24 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:20:24 1:20:26 |
You're making your mother miserable. |
dwsimeone |
1:20:32 1:20:34 |
You're on your own, pal. |
tzmofficial |
1:20:34 1:20:36 |
Yeah, whatever. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:20:42 1:20:45 |
[ Public Health ] |
dwsimeone |
1:20:45 1:20:47 |
Now, all of this considered |
dwsimeone |
1:20:47 1:20:50 |
from the waste machine known as the market system |
dwsimeone |
1:20:50 1:20:53 |
to the debt machine known as the monetary system- |
dwsimeone |
1:20:53 1:20:57 |
hence creating the monetary-market paradigm |
dwsimeone |
1:20:57 1:21:00 |
which defines the global economy today- |
dwsimeone |
1:21:00 1:21:02 |
there is one consequence that runs through |
tzmofficial |
1:21:03 1:21:05 |
the entire machine: |
dwsimeone |
1:21:05 1:21:07 |
Inequality. |
dwsimeone |
1:21:07 1:21:10 |
Whether it is the market system which creates |
dwsimeone |
1:21:10 1:21:14 |
a natural gravitation towards monopoly and power consolidation |
dwsimeone |
1:21:14 1:21:17 |
while also generating pockets of wealthy industries |
dwsimeone |
1:21:17 1:21:21 |
that tower over others regardless of utility- |
dwsimeone |
1:21:21 1:21:21 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:21:22 1:21:25 |
such as the fact that top hedge fund managers on Wall Street |
dwsimeone |
1:21:25 1:21:25 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:21:25 1:21:28 |
now take home over $300 million a year |
dwsimeone |
1:21:29 1:21:31 |
for contributing literally nothing, |
dwsimeone |
1:21:31 1:21:35 |
while a scientist looking for a cure for a disease |
dwsimeone |
1:21:35 1:21:37 |
trying to help humanity |
dwsimeone |
1:21:37 1:21:40 |
might make $60,000 a year if they're lucky- |
dwsimeone |
1:21:41 1:21:43 |
or whether it is the monetary system, |
dwsimeone |
1:21:43 1:21:47 |
which has class division built right into its structure. |
dwsimeone |
1:21:47 1:21:50 |
For example: If I have $1 million to spare |
dwsimeone |
1:21:50 1:21:50 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:21:50 1:21:53 |
and I put it into a CD at 4% interest, |
dwsimeone |
1:21:53 1:21:55 |
I will make $40,000 a year. |
tzmofficial |
1:21:55 1:21:59 |
No social contribution- no nothing. |
tzmofficial |
1:21:59 1:22:02 |
However, if I'm a lower class person and have to take loans |
dwsimeone |
1:22:02 1:22:03 |
to buy my car or home, |
dwsimeone |
1:22:04 1:22:07 |
I am paying in interest which in abstraction |
dwsimeone |
1:22:07 1:22:07 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:22:07 1:22:11 |
is going to pay that millionaire with the 4% CD. |
dwsimeone |
1:22:11 1:22:14 |
This stealing from the poor to pay the rich |
dwsimeone |
1:22:14 1:22:18 |
is a foundational, built-in aspect of the monetary system |
dwsimeone |
1:22:18 1:22:23 |
and it could be labeled “Structural Classism”. |
dwsimeone |
1:22:23 1:22:25 |
Of course, historically, social stratification |
dwsimeone |
1:22:26 1:22:30 |
has always been deemed unfair, but obviously accepted overall, |
dwsimeone |
1:22:30 1:22:30 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:22:30 1:22:35 |
as now 1% of the population owns 40% of the planet's wealth. |
dwsimeone |
1:22:35 1:22:37 |
But material fairness aside |
dwsimeone |
1:22:38 1:22:41 |
there is something else going on underneath the surface of inequality |
dwsimeone |
1:22:41 1:22:41 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:22:41 1:22:46 |
causing an incredible deterioration in public health as a whole. |
dwsimeone |
1:22:46 1:22:50 |
Well, I think people often are puzzled by the contrast |
dwsimeone |
1:22:50 1:22:52 |
between the material success of our societies |
dwsimeone |
1:22:53 1:22:55 |
- unprecedented levels of wealth - |
dwsimeone |
1:22:56 1:22:58 |
and the many social failings. |
dwsimeone |
1:22:59 1:23:01 |
If you look at the rates of |
dwsimeone |
1:23:02 1:23:04 |
drug abuse or violence or self-harm |
dwsimeone |
1:23:04 1:23:07 |
amongst kids or mental illness |
dwsimeone |
1:23:07 1:23:10 |
there is clearly something going deeply wrong |
dwsimeone |
1:23:11 1:23:12 |
with our societies. |
dwsimeone |
1:23:12 1:23:15 |
The data I have been describing |
dwsimeone |
1:23:16 1:23:19 |
simply shows that intuition that |
dwsimeone |
1:23:20 1:23:21 |
people have had for hundreds of years: |
dwsimeone |
1:23:21 1:23:24 |
that inequality is divisive and socially corrosive. |
dwsimeone |
1:23:24 1:23:28 |
But that intuition is truer than I think we ever imagined. |
dwsimeone |
1:23:28 1:23:32 |
There are very powerful psychological and social effects |
dwsimeone |
1:23:32 1:23:35 |
of inequality. More to do I suppose with feelings |
dwsimeone |
1:23:35 1:23:38 |
of superiority and inferiority. |
tzmofficial |
1:23:38 1:23:40 |
That kind of division... |
dwsimeone |
1:23:40 1:23:43 |
Maybe going with the respect or disrespect; |
dwsimeone |
1:23:43 1:23:46 |
people feeling looked down on at the bottom. |
dwsimeone |
1:23:46 1:23:47 |
Which, by the way, is why violence is |
cigano |
1:23:47 1:23:50 |
more common in more unequal societies- |
dwsimeone |
1:23:50 1:23:53 |
the trigger to violence is so often people feeling |
cigano |
1:23:53 1:23:55 |
looked down upon and disrespected. |
dwsimeone |
1:23:55 1:23:59 |
If there is one principle I could emphasize |
dwsimeone |
1:23:59 1:24:04 |
that is, the most important principle |
dwsimeone |
1:24:04 1:24:07 |
underlying the prevention of violence |
dwsimeone |
1:24:07 1:24:10 |
it would be “Equality”. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:10 1:24:13 |
The single most significant factor that affects the rate of violence |
dwsimeone |
1:24:13 1:24:13 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:13 1:24:17 |
is the degree of equality versus the degree of inequality |
dwsimeone |
1:24:17 1:24:20 |
in that society. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:20 1:24:22 |
So, what we're looking at is a sort of |
dwsimeone |
1:24:22 1:24:24 |
general social dysfunction. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:25 1:24:27 |
It's not just one or two things that go wrong |
dwsimeone |
1:24:27 1:24:29 |
as inequality increases. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:29 1:24:31 |
It seems to be everything, whether we are talking about |
dwsimeone |
1:24:31 1:24:34 |
crime or health or mental illness or whatever. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:34 1:24:39 |
One of the really disturbing findings out there in public health is: |
dwsimeone |
1:24:39 1:24:43 |
Never ever make the mistake of being poor. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:43 1:24:44 |
Or being born poor. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:44 1:24:47 |
Your health pays for it in endless sorts of ways: |
cigano |
1:24:47 1:24:51 |
something known as the 'health socioeconomic gradient'. |
dwsimeone |
1:24:51 1:24:54 |
As you move down from the highest strata in society |
dwsimeone |
1:24:54 1:24:58 |
in terms of socioeconomic status, every step down, |
dwsimeone |
1:24:58 1:25:01 |
health gets worse for umpteen different diseases. |
cigano |
1:25:01 1:25:01 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:25:01 1:25:02 |
Life expectancy gets worse. |
cigano |
1:25:03 1:25:06 |
Infant mortality rate- everything you could look at. |
cigano |
1:25:06 1:25:06 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:25:06 1:25:09 |
So, a huge issue has been: |
dwsimeone |
1:25:09 1:25:12 |
why is it that this gradient exists? |
cosmic.synergy |
1:25:12 1:25:14 |
A totally simple obvious answer which is |
dwsimeone |
1:25:14 1:25:17 |
'If you're chronically sick, you're not going to be very productive |
cigano |
1:25:17 1:25:17 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:25:17 1:25:21 |
so health causes drive socioeconomic differences.' |
cigano |
1:25:21 1:25:24 |
Not that in the slightest- on the very simple level that |
cigano |
1:25:24 1:25:24 |
. |
cigano |
1:25:24 1:25:28 |
you could look at the socioeconomic status of a 10-year-old |
cigano |
1:25:28 1:25:28 |
. |
karolain |
1:25:28 1:25:31 |
and that's going to predict something about their health decades later. |
karolain |
1:25:31 1:25:31 |
. |
karolain |
1:25:31 1:25:33 |
So, that's the direction of causality. |
dwsimeone |
1:25:33 1:25:37 |
Next one- ... 'Oh, it's perfectly obvious: |
dwsimeone |
1:25:37 1:25:40 |
poor people can't afford to go to the doctor; it's healthcare access.' |
cigano |
1:25:40 1:25:40 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:25:40 1:25:44 |
It's got nothing to do with that, because you see these same gradients |
cigano |
1:25:44 1:25:44 |
. |
cigano |
1:25:44 1:25:47 |
in countries with universal health care and socialized medicine. |
cigano |
1:25:47 1:25:47 |
. |
cigano |
1:25:47 1:25:49 |
Okay – next 'simple explanation': |
dwsimeone |
1:25:49 1:25:53 |
'Oh -on the average- the poorer you are the more likely you are to |
cigano |
1:25:53 1:25:53 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:25:53 1:25:58 |
smoke, to drink and all sorts of lifestyle risk factors.' |
cigano |
1:25:58 1:26:01 |
Yeah, those contribute but careful studies have shown |
cigano |
1:26:01 1:26:04 |
that it explains maybe about a third of the variability. |
karolain |
1:26:04 1:26:05 |
So what's left? |
dwsimeone |
1:26:06 1:26:11 |
What's left is having a ton to do with the stress of poverty. |
cigano |
1:26:11 1:26:11 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:26:11 1:26:14 |
So, the poorer you are- starting off being |
dwsimeone |
1:26:15 1:26:18 |
the person who is one dollar of income behind Bill Gates- |
dwsimeone |
1:26:18 1:26:19 |
the poorer you are in this country |
dwsimeone |
1:26:19 1:26:21 |
on the average, the worse your health is. |
cigano |
1:26:21 1:26:24 |
This tells us something really important: |
karolain |
1:26:24 1:26:26 |
the health connection with poverty |
cosmic.synergy |
1:26:26 1:26:30 |
it's not about being poor, it's about feeling poor. |
cigano |
1:26:30 1:26:34 |
Increasingly we recognize that |
dwsimeone |
1:26:34 1:26:37 |
chronic stress is an important influence on health. |
dwsimeone |
1:26:38 1:26:40 |
But the most important sources of stress |
dwsimeone |
1:26:40 1:26:42 |
are the quality of social relations. |
dwsimeone |
1:26:43 1:26:47 |
And if there is anything that lowers the quality of social relations, |
cigano |
1:26:47 1:26:47 |
. |
cigano |
1:26:47 1:26:51 |
it is the socioeconomic stratification of society. |
karolain |
1:26:51 1:26:55 |
What science has now shown is that regardless of material wealth |
cigano |
1:26:55 1:26:55 |
. |
karolain |
1:26:55 1:26:59 |
the stress of simply living in a stratified society |
dwsimeone |
1:26:59 1:27:02 |
leads to a vast spectrum of public health problems. |
dwsimeone |
1:27:02 1:27:06 |
And the greater the inequality, the worse they become. |
cigano |
1:27:07 1:27:11 |
Life expectancy: longer in more equal countries. |
tzmofficial |
1:27:11 1:27:15 |
Drug Abuse: Less in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:15 1:27:19 |
Mental Illness: Less in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:20 1:27:24 |
Social Capital - meaning the ability of people to trust each other: |
cigano |
1:27:24 1:27:24 |
. |
karolain |
1:27:24 1:27:27 |
Naturally greater in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:27 1:27:32 |
Educational Scores: Higher in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:32 1:27:36 |
Homicide rates: less in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:37 1:27:41 |
Crime and Rates of Imprisonment: Less in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:41 1:27:42 |
. |
tzmofficial |
1:27:42 1:27:44 |
It goes on and on: |
karolain |
1:27:44 1:27:47 |
Infant mortality – obesity - teen birth rate: |
karolain |
1:27:48 1:27:49 |
Less in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:49 1:27:52 |
and perhaps most interesting: |
cigano |
1:27:52 1:27:56 |
Innovation: Greater in more equal countries. |
cigano |
1:27:56 1:27:59 |
which challenges the age old notion that a competitive |
tzmofficial |
1:27:59 1:28:04 |
stratified society is somehow more creative and inventive. |
karolain |
1:28:04 1:28:08 |
Moreover, a study done in the UK called The WhiteHall Study |
karolain |
1:28:08 1:28:08 |
. |
karolain |
1:28:08 1:28:11 |
confirmed that there is a social distribution of disease |
cigano |
1:28:11 1:28:15 |
as you go from the top of the socioeconomic ladder to the bottom. |
cigano |
1:28:15 1:28:15 |
. |
karolain |
1:28:15 1:28:18 |
For example, it was found that the lowest rungs of the hierarchy |
karolain |
1:28:18 1:28:22 |
had a 4-fold increase of heart disease based mortality |
karolain |
1:28:22 1:28:22 |
. |
karolain |
1:28:22 1:28:24 |
compared to the highest rungs. |
tzmofficial |
1:28:24 1:28:28 |
And this pattern exists, irrespective of access to health care. |
dwsimeone |
1:28:29 1:28:32 |
Hence, the worse a person's relative financial status, |
cigano |
1:28:32 1:28:35 |
the worse their health is going to be on average. |
karolain |
1:28:35 1:28:38 |
This phenomenon is rooted in what could be termed |
cosmic.synergy |
1:28:39 1:28:40 |
'Psychosocial Stress' |
karolain |
1:28:41 1:28:44 |
and it is at the foundation of the greatest social distortions |
cigano |
1:28:44 1:28:46 |
plaguing our society today. |
tzmofficial |
1:28:46 1:28:48 |
Its cause? |
karolain |
1:28:48 1:28:51 |
The Monetary-Market System. |
tzmofficial |
1:28:51 1:28:53 |
Make no mistake: |
dwsimeone |
1:28:53 1:28:56 |
The greatest destroyer of ecology, |
dwsimeone |
1:28:56 1:29:00 |
the greatest source of waste, depletion and pollution, |
tzmofficial |
1:29:00 1:29:02 |
the greatest purveyor of violence- |
dwsimeone |
1:29:02 1:29:07 |
war - crime - poverty - animal abuse and inhumanity, |
dwsimeone |
1:29:07 1:29:10 |
the greatest generator of social and personal neurosis, |
dwsimeone |
1:29:10 1:29:13 |
mental disorders - depression, anxiety, |
cosmic.synergy |
1:29:14 1:29:17 |
not to mention, the greatest source of social paralysis |
cigano |
1:29:18 1:29:21 |
stopping us from moving into new methodologies |
tzmofficial |
1:29:21 1:29:24 |
for personal health, global sustainability |
dwsimeone |
1:29:24 1:29:26 |
and progress on this planet- |
dwsimeone |
1:29:27 1:29:30 |
is not some corrupt government or legislation, |
dwsimeone |
1:29:30 1:29:34 |
not some rogue corporation or banking cartel, |
dwsimeone |
1:29:34 1:29:37 |
not some flaw of human nature, |
tzmofficial |
1:29:37 1:29:42 |
and not some secret hidden cabal that controls the world. |
cigano |
1:29:42 1:29:42 |
. |
cigano |
1:29:42 1:29:46 |
It is, in fact: The Socio-Economic System itself |
cigano |
1:29:46 1:29:49 |
at its very foundation. |
cosmic.synergy |
1:30:06 1:30:09 |
[ Part 3: Project Earth ] |
cigano |
1:30:10 1:30:13 |
Let's imagine for a moment we had the option |
dwsimeone |
1:30:13 1:30:16 |
to redesign human civilization from the ground up. |
dwsimeone |
1:30:16 1:30:18 |
What if- hypothetically speaking- |
karolain |
1:30:18 1:30:21 |
we discovered an exact replica of the planet Earth |
karolain |
1:30:21 1:30:24 |
and the only difference between this new planet and our current one |
karolain |
1:30:24 1:30:24 |
. |
karolain |
1:30:24 1:30:28 |
is that human evolution had not occurred. It was an open palette. |
cigano |
1:30:28 1:30:28 |
. |
dwsimeone |
1:30:28 1:30:32 |
No countries, no cities, no pollution, no republicans... |
karolain |
1:30:32 1:30:35 |
just a pristine, open environment. |
dwsimeone |
1:30:35 1:30:37 |
So- what would we do? |
karolain |
1:30:37 1:30:40 |
Well, first we need a “goal”, right? |
karolain |
1:30:40 1:30:44 |
And it's safe to say that goal would be to survive. |
karolain |
1:30:44 1:30:46 |
And not to just survive, but to do so |
dwsimeone |
1:30:46 1:30:49 |
in an optimized, healthy, prosperous way. |
dwsimeone |
1:30:49 1:30:51 |
Most people, indeed, desire to live |
dwsimeone |
1:30:51 1:30:53 |
and they would prefer to do so without suffering. |
cigano |
1:30:54 1:30:57 |
Therefore, the basis of this civilization needs to be |
dwsimeone |
1:30:57 1:31:01 |
as supportive and hence sustainable for human life as possible- |
cigano |
1:31:01 1:31:01 |
. |
cigano |
1:31:01 1:31:05 |
taking into account the material needs of all the world's people |
cigano |
1:31:05 1:31:05 |
. |
cigano |
1:31:05 1:31:07 |
while trying to remove anything |
dwsimeone |
1:31:07 1:31:09 |
that can could hurt us in the long run. |
karolain |
1:31:09 1:31:13 |
With that goal of “Maximum Sustainability” understood |
dwsimeone |
1:31:13 1:31:16 |
the next question regards our “method”. |
tzmofficial |
1:31:16 1:31:18 |
What kind of approach do we take? |
tzmofficial |
1:31:18 1:31:20 |
Well, let's see- |
cigano |
1:31:20 1:31:24 |
last I checked, politics was the method of social operation on Earth... |
dwsimeone |
1:31:24 1:31:27 |
so what do the doctrines of the republicans, liberals, |
cigano |
1:31:27 1:31:32 |
conservatives or socialists have to say about societal design? |
cigano |
1:31:32 1:31:35 |
Hmmm... not a damn thing. |
dwsimeone |
1:31:35 1:31:37 |
Okay then- what about religion? |
cigano |
1:31:37 1:31:41 |
Surely the great creator had to have left some blueprints somewhere... |
dwsimeone |
1:31:41 1:31:44 |
Nope... nothing I can find. |
dwsimeone |
1:31:44 1:31:46 |
Okay then- so what's left? |
tzmofficial |
1:31:46 1:31:49 |
It appears something called “Science”. |
karolain |
1:31:49 1:31:53 |
Science is unique in that its methods demand not only |
dwsimeone |
1:31:53 1:31:56 |
that ideas proposed be tested and replicated, |
cigano |
1:31:56 1:32:01 |
but everything science comes up with is also inherently falsifiable. |
cigano |
1:32:01 1:32:03 |
In other words, unlike religion and politics |
cigano |
1:32:03 1:32:05 |
science has no ego |
cigano |
1:32:05 1:32:08 |
and everything it suggests accepts the possibility |
dwsimeone |
1:32:08 1:32:11 |
of being proven wrong eventually. |
cigano |
1:32:11 1:32:14 |
It holds on to nothing and evolves constantly. |
cigano |
1:32:14 1:32:17 |
Well, that sounds natural enough to me. |
dwsimeone |
1:32:17 1:32:20 |
So then: based on the current state of scientific knowledge |
cigano |
1:32:20 1:32:22 |
in the early 21st century |
cigano |
1:32:22 1:32:25 |
along with our goal of “maximum sustainability” |
dwsimeone |
1:32:25 1:32:26 |
for the human population, |
karolain |
1:32:27 1:32:30 |
how do we begin the actual process of construction? |
karolain |
1:32:30 1:32:32 |
Well, the first question to ask is: |
karolain |
1:32:32 1:32:35 |
What do we need to survive? |
karolain |
1:32:35 1:32:38 |
The answer, of course, are Planetary Resources. |
cigano |
1:32:38 1:32:41 |
Whether it is the water we drink, the energy we use |
dwsimeone |
1:32:41 1:32:45 |
or the raw materials we utilize to create tools and shelter, |
cigano |
1:32:45 1:32:48 |
the planet hosts an inventory of resources- |
cigano |
1:32:48 1:32:52 |
many of which are demanded for our survival. |
tzmofficial |
1:32:52 1:32:54 |
So, given that reality |
cigano |
1:32:54 1:32:58 |
it then becomes critical to figure out what we have and where it is. |
tzmofficial |
1:32:58 1:33:01 |
This means we need to conduct a survey. |
cigano |
1:33:01 1:33:05 |
We simply locate and identify every physical resource on the planet |
dwsimeone |
1:33:05 1:33:09 |
we can, along with the amount available at each location. |
dwsimeone |
1:33:09 1:33:12 |
From the deposits of copper, to the most potent locations for |
dwsimeone |
1:33:12 1:33:17 |
wind farms to produce energy, to the natural fresh water springs |
cigano |
1:33:17 1:33:17 |
. |
cigano |
1:33:17 1:33:19 |
to an assessment of the amount of fish in the ocean |
tzmofficial |
1:33:19 1:33:24 |
to the most prime arable land for food cultivation, etc. |
dwsimeone |
1:33:24 1:33:26 |
But, since we humans are going to be |
dwsimeone |
1:33:26 1:33:29 |
consuming these resources over time |
cigano |
1:33:29 1:33:33 |
we then realize that not only do we need to locate and identify- |
tzmofficial |
1:33:33 1:33:36 |
we also need to track. |
dwsimeone |
1:33:36 1:33:37 |
We need to make sure we don't run out |
dwsimeone |
1:33:37 1:33:40 |
of any of this stuff; that would be bad. |
tzmofficial |
1:33:40 1:33:42 |
And this means not only tracking our rates of use |
cigano |
1:33:43 1:33:46 |
but the rates of earthly regeneration as well |
dwsimeone |
1:33:46 1:33:48 |
such as how long it takes for say, |
karolain |
1:33:48 1:33:52 |
a tree to grow or a spring to replenish. |
tzmofficial |
1:33:52 1:33:55 |
This is called “Dynamic Equilibrium”. |
dwsimeone |
1:33:55 1:33:59 |
In other words, if we use up trees faster than they can be grown back, |
cigano |
1:34:00 1:34:03 |
we have a serious problem, for it is unsustainable. |
cigano |
1:34:03 1:34:06 |
So then, how do we track this inventory |
karolain |
1:34:06 1:34:08 |
especially when we recognize that |
dwsimeone |
1:34:08 1:34:11 |
all of this stuff is scattered everywhere? |
dwsimeone |
1:34:11 1:34:15 |
We have large mineral mines in what we call Africa, |
dwsimeone |
1:34:15 1:34:17 |
energy concentrations in the Middle East, |
dwsimeone |
1:34:17 1:34:21 |
huge tidal power possibilities on the Atlantic coast of North America, |
dwsimeone |
1:34:21 1:34:25 |
the largest supply of fresh water in Brazil, etc. |
cigano |
1:34:25 1:34:29 |
Well, once again, good old science has a suggestion: |
dwsimeone |
1:34:29 1:34:32 |
It's called “Systems theory”. |
dwsimeone |
1:34:32 1:34:36 |
Systems theory recognizes that the fabric of the natural world, |
cigano |
1:34:36 1:34:39 |
from human biology to the earthly biosphere |
dwsimeone |
1:34:39 1:34:42 |
to the gravitational pull of the solar system itself, |
cigano |
1:34:42 1:34:47 |
is one huge synergistically connected system - fully interlinked. |
cigano |
1:34:47 1:34:50 |
Just as human cells connect to form our organs |
cigano |
1:34:50 1:34:52 |
and the organs connect to form our bodies |
cigano |
1:34:53 1:34:56 |
and since our bodies cannot live without the earthy resources |
dwsimeone |
1:34:56 1:35:01 |
of food, air and water, we are intrinsically connected to the earth. |
dwsimeone |
1:35:01 1:35:02 |
And so on. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:02 1:35:06 |
So, as nature suggests, we take all of this inventory |
pcmcgee |
1:35:06 1:35:10 |
and tracking data, and create a “system” to manage it. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:10 1:35:13 |
A “Global Resource Management System”, in fact, |
pcmcgee |
1:35:13 1:35:16 |
to account for every relevant resource on the planet. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:17 1:35:21 |
There is simply no logical alternative, if our goal as a species |
dwsimeone |
1:35:21 1:35:26 |
is survival in the long run. We have to keep track as a whole. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:26 1:35:29 |
That understood, we can now consider production. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:29 1:35:31 |
How do we use all this stuff? |
pcmcgee |
1:35:31 1:35:34 |
What will our process of production be, and what do we need |
pcmcgee |
1:35:34 1:35:38 |
to consider to make sure it is as optimized as possible, |
pcmcgee |
1:35:38 1:35:41 |
to maximize our sustainability? |
dwsimeone |
1:35:41 1:35:44 |
Well, the first thing that jumps right out at us, is the fact |
dwsimeone |
1:35:44 1:35:47 |
that we need to constantly try and preserve. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:47 1:35:50 |
The planet's resources are essentially finite. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:50 1:35:53 |
So it is important that we be “strategic”. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:53 1:35:57 |
"Strategic Preservation" is key. |
pcmcgee |
1:35:57 1:36:00 |
The second thing we recognize, is that some resources |
pcmcgee |
1:36:00 1:36:03 |
are really not as good as others in their performance. |
pcmcgee |
1:36:03 1:36:06 |
In fact, some of this stuff when put into use |
pcmcgee |
1:36:06 1:36:08 |
has a terrible effect on the environment, |
tzmofficial |
1:36:08 1:36:10 |
which invariably hinders our own health. |
dwsimeone |
1:36:10 1:36:15 |
For example: oil and fossil fuels, no matter how you cut it, |
pcmcgee |
1:36:15 1:36:18 |
release some pretty destructive agents into the environment. |
pcmcgee |
1:36:18 1:36:22 |
Therefore, it is critical we do our best to use such things |
dwsimeone |
1:36:22 1:36:25 |
only when we really have to- if at all. |
pcmcgee |
1:36:25 1:36:30 |
Fortunately for us, we see a ton of solar – wind – tidal – wave – |
dwsimeone |
1:36:30 1:36:34 |
heat differential and geothermal possibilities for energy production. |
dwsimeone |
1:36:35 1:36:39 |
So we can strategize objectively, about what we use and where, |
pcmcgee |
1:36:39 1:36:43 |
to avoid what could be called “negative retroactions”, |
pcmcgee |
1:36:43 1:36:46 |
or anything that results from production or use |
pcmcgee |
1:36:46 1:36:50 |
that damages the environment and hence, ourselves. |
dwsimeone |
1:36:50 1:36:53 |
We will call this “Strategic Safety” |
pcmcgee |
1:36:53 1:36:57 |
to couple in with our "Strategic Preservation”. |
dwsimeone |
1:36:57 1:37:00 |
But production strategies do not stop there. |
pcmcgee |
1:37:00 1:37:03 |
We are going to need an "Efficiency Strategy”, |
pcmcgee |
1:37:03 1:37:06 |
for the actual mechanics of production itself. |
pcmcgee |
1:37:06 1:37:08 |
And what we find is that there are roughly |
pcmcgee |
1:37:08 1:37:11 |
three specific protocols we must adhere to: |
dwsimeone |
1:37:12 1:37:15 |
1: Every good we produce must be designed |
dwsimeone |
1:37:15 1:37:17 |
to last as long as possible. |
dwsimeone |
1:37:17 1:37:19 |
Naturally, the more things break down, |
pcmcgee |
1:37:19 1:37:22 |
the more resources we are going to need to replace them, |
pcmcgee |
1:37:22 1:37:24 |
and the more waste produced. |
dwsimeone |
1:37:24 1:37:27 |
2: When things do break down, |
karolain |
1:37:27 1:37:30 |
or are no longer usable for whatever reason, |
karolain |
1:37:30 1:37:32 |
it is critical that we harvest, or recycle |
dwsimeone |
1:37:32 1:37:34 |
as much as we possibly can. |
pcmcgee |
1:37:34 1:37:38 |
So the production design must take this into account directly |
pcmcgee |
1:37:38 1:37:41 |
at the very earliest stages. |
dwsimeone |
1:37:41 1:37:45 |
3: Quickly evolving technologies, such as electronics, |
karolain |
1:37:45 1:37:49 |
which are subject to the fastest rates of technological obsolescence, |
karolain |
1:37:49 1:37:51 |
would need to be designed to foreshadow |
pcmcgee |
1:37:52 1:37:55 |
and accommodate physical updates. |
karolain |
1:37:55 1:37:59 |
The last thing we want to do is throw away an entire computer system |
karolain |
1:37:59 1:38:02 |
just because it has only one broken part, or is outdated. |
pcmcgee |
1:38:03 1:38:06 |
So we simply design the components to be easily updated, |
pcmcgee |
1:38:06 1:38:11 |
part by part, standardized and universally interchangeable, |
pcmcgee |
1:38:11 1:38:15 |
foreshadowed by the current trend of technological change. |
dwsimeone |
1:38:15 1:38:19 |
And when we realize that the mechanisms of "Strategic Preservation”, |
dwsimeone |
1:38:19 1:38:22 |
“Strategic Safety” and “Strategic Efficiency” |
karolain |
1:38:23 1:38:25 |
are purely technical considerations |
pcmcgee |
1:38:25 1:38:28 |
devoid of any human opinion or bias, |
karolain |
1:38:28 1:38:32 |
we simply program these strategies into a computer |
karolain |
1:38:32 1:38:34 |
which can weigh and calculate all the relevant variables, |
pcmcgee |
1:38:35 1:38:37 |
allowing us to always arrive |
pcmcgee |
1:38:37 1:38:40 |
at the absolute best method for sustainable production |
tzmofficial |
1:38:40 1:38:43 |
based on current understandings. |
pcmcgee |
1:38:43 1:38:45 |
And while that might sound complex |
karolain |
1:38:46 1:38:48 |
all it is, is a glorified calculator, |
karolain |
1:38:48 1:38:50 |
not to mention that such multi-varied |
karolain |
1:38:50 1:38:52 |
decision making and monitoring systems, |
karolain |
1:38:52 1:38:56 |
are already used across the world today for isolated purposes. |
pcmcgee |
1:38:56 1:39:00 |
It is simply a process of scaling it out. |
pcmcgee |
1:39:00 1:39:01 |
So... |
karolain |
1:39:01 1:39:04 |
Now, we not only have our Resource Management System, |
karolain |
1:39:04 1:39:07 |
but also a Production Management System, |
karolain |
1:39:07 1:39:10 |
both of which are easily computer automated |
karolain |
1:39:10 1:39:14 |
to maximize efficiency, preservation and safety. |
karolain |
1:39:14 1:39:17 |
The informational reality is that the human mind |
karolain |
1:39:17 1:39:21 |
or even a group of humans, cannot track what needs to be tracked. |
karolain |
1:39:21 1:39:25 |
It must be done by computers, and it can be. |
pcmcgee |
1:39:25 1:39:29 |
And this bring us to the next level: Distribution. |
pcmcgee |
1:39:29 1:39:32 |
What sustainability strategies make sense here? |
dwsimeone |
1:39:32 1:39:34 |
Well, since we know that the shortest distance |
dwsimeone |
1:39:34 1:39:36 |
between two points is a straight line, |
pcmcgee |
1:39:37 1:39:40 |
and since energy is required to power transport machines, |
pcmcgee |
1:39:40 1:39:43 |
the less transport distance, the more efficient. |
karolain |
1:39:44 1:39:48 |
Producing goods in one continent and shipping them over to another |
dwsimeone |
1:39:48 1:39:50 |
only makes sense if the goods in question |
dwsimeone |
1:39:51 1:39:53 |
simply cannot be produced in the target area. |
pcmcgee |
1:39:54 1:39:56 |
Otherwise, it is nothing but wasteful. |
pcmcgee |
1:39:56 1:40:00 |
We must localize production, so distribution is simple, |
pcmcgee |
1:40:00 1:40:03 |
fast, and requires the least amount of energy. |
pcmcgee |
1:40:03 1:40:06 |
|