If you'll indulge me, this second piece is a break away from my usual creatively-focused style. I think it's good to know a little about where I come from, aside from music & poetry, when my thinking cap is on and I'm writing about my thoughts and meanderings.
So, the much maligned topic of conspiracy theories!
This subject has both intrigued and annoyed me in equal measure for many years, but never before has it seemingly been a more prevalent thing. The internet is absolutely rife with conspiracy - such is the nature of freedom of expression and thought, unregulated and unchecked as it so often is by the rigours of logic, reasoning and the scientific method. This freedom of expression, this sharing of ideas and theories, is both a good and bad thing - but wading into this arena can get you bogged down in a quagmire really quickly!
With that in mind, I've decided to wade in anyway. I will keep this as concise as possible, although that is not an easy task! Much of what I am sharing here is from articles and writings I have collected over recent years. Wherever possible I have cited the original sources. I do not wish to plagiarise but obviously I can't delve into the topic without quoting these pieces. I invite anyone who is unhappy with my use of their work, if found here, to get in touch with me and I will happily amend or remove it.
Okay, caveat's over with. Let's dive in...
First off, I included a piece on my Whispering In The Wind blog from last year, written by an unknown author, touching on the subject of conspiracy theory which you may want to read first - 'Tin Foil Hats'
The most important paragraph from this article is this:
"Most people can’t resist getting the details on the latest conspiracy theories, no matter how far-fetched they may seem. At the same time, many people quickly denounce any conspiracy theory as untrue … and sometimes as unpatriotic or just plain ridiculous.
Conspiracy theory is a term that originally was a neutral descriptor for any claim of civil, criminal or political conspiracy. However, it has come almost exclusively to refer to any fringe theory which explains a historical or current event as the result of a secret plot by conspirators of almost superhuman power and cunning. To conspire means “to join in a secret agreement to do an unlawful or wrongful act or to use such means to accomplish a lawful end.” The term “conspiracy theory” is frequently used by scholars and in popular culture to identify secret military, banking, or political actions aimed at stealing power, money, or freedom, from “the people”.
To many, conspiracy theories are just human nature. Not all people in this world are honest, hard working and forthcoming about their intentions. Certainly we can all agree on this. So how did the term “conspiracy theory” get grouped in with fiction, fantasy and folklore? Maybe that’s a conspiracy, just kidding. Or am I?"
What follows are several pieces I have gathered from the web over the years. I have included them in full rather than linking to them, as most of these pieces seem no longer to be available online - how appropriately suspicious and sinister! There is an awful lot to this - so please don't let your eyes glaze over and zone out! Judicious use of scrolling may be required!
If you're not up to speed and have some hours to invest, here's my list of documentaries I think one must at least try to watch in order to help separate fact from fiction, to make sense of this whole 'conspiracy theory' thing:
Documentary
must-see's:
It is my
belief, that everyone who is interested in gaining knowledge and understanding
should have a chance to inform him / herself, therefore I am
happy to be able to share this list of freely accessible, and from my point of
view, important documentaries with you.
Available on Youtube:
1. Home
2. Thrive: What
On Earth Will It Take?
3. Kymatica
4. Paradise or
Oblivion
5. Earthlings
6. Zeitgeist
7. Zeitgeist:
Addendum
8. The Money Fix
9. The Wikileaks
Documentary
10. Owned and
Operated
11. Overdose: The
Next Financial Crisis
12. Apologies of
an Economic Hitman
13. The Beautiful
Truth
14. Love,
Reality, and the Time of Transition
15. The Awakening
16. What Would It
Look Like?
17. Making a
killing
Not available on
Youtube:
1. Fierce Light:
When Spirit Meets Action
2.
Religulous
Personally, I
would also add the work of Adam Curtis as a whole to this list. Specifically
essential docs, available on Youtube:
- Bitter Lake
-
Hyper-Normalisation
- The Century Of
The Self
- Pandora's Box
- The Mayfair Set
- The Power Of NightmaresSo, on the assumption that you have at least some grounding and/or awareness of these highly popular, acclaimed and factual documentaries which expose pretty much the bulk of what is today decried as 'conspiracy', I shall continue...
I love that phrase, "real eyes
realise real lies." For me it sums up what it is to be a thoughful, discerning, thinking human being - interested in the world and how it works, and ultimately invested in humanity as a force for good and positivity. Here's a short piece I found on this:
The Toltecs have
a saying, that we are all like "mirrors of smoke" and see each
other's reflections in it, distorted by the smoke. The one who clears the smoke
in his mirror, knows the smoke that is covering the other mirrors. Be a
transparent mirror, and you will see all people reflecting themselves on you,
because you know we're all a mirror. You will see what it is that makes them
view you as they view you, and what smoke is still clouding them.
Once a person
reaches to a certain spiritual enlightenment, he is able to see the lies or
weaknesses of common people and work on betterment of people in general. (
Since they have their inner eyes or real eyes).
It means if you
try to see the world as it really is, rather than believing things because you
want them to be true (for example), you will spot deception more easily.
Moving on, here's something about 'awakening' - that process which one goes through when one begins to see past the mainstream media bubble, the myths and fairy tales one is raised on, and the outright lies and propaganda which society and culture would have us believe is reality:
A
new way of thought:
Would
you agree it is apparent there is something going on in the collective mind of
humanity right now? With information so readily available to us, we have been
able to stir the consciousness of humanity in a way that has allowed for a
greater awakening. As we become more aware of hidden information we begin to
organize that information critically, which now has created a consensus of
thought that is spreading like wild fire.
As
more and more people adopt this new way of thought, the power of the collective
consciousness begins to push harder in that direction. At the same time, this
new way of thinking is under siege by the old way of thinking. It is the fear
of changing the world and giving the power of freedom of thought back to the
collective that causes a hesitation to go forward and a desire to revert back
to our reliance on a failing system. Much like becoming sober if one is an
alcoholic, one must undergo a detoxification period where one is getting get
rid of the substances that have limited their potential for too long of a time.
Another
way to look at it:
Picture society on a boat in the middle
of the ocean, the boat is slowly sinking, and the captain is reassuring the
passengers that everything will be fine. Meanwhile, more and more water keeps coming
on board. There is a life raft on the side of the boat, although the captain
has said specifically for no one to touch it.
The
vast majority of the passengers believe the captain still has the situation
under control, and think the people getting in the life raft are crazy for
disobeying him. After the captain discovers that some of the passengers have
started loading into the life raft, he immediately tells the other passengers
to stop them. His loyal obedient passengers try to stop the passengers from
getting in the life raft at the expense of everyone on board.
There
are also the onlookers who haven’t taken a side yet. They hope it doesn’t get
to the point where they have to get involved in this conflict. Most of them
aren’t ready to take sides because they feel they have too much to risk. Only
once their survival depends on it, will they decide to intervene. These are the
people both sides are fighting over, because these people will ultimately
decide the outcome of the situation.
There
is, and always has been enough room for everyone on the life raft. The
passengers getting on the life raft are the mavericks, the messengers, and the
catalyst for change. They know the boat is sinking and the captain is insane,
so they want to get off of the boat. They also know that once they leave on the
raft, unless they have enough people with them they will surely not survive.
The loyal obedient passengers are the captains army, they worship the captain
because he gives them direction and security. They are willing to risk their
lives for the captain than ever betray him. The onlookers are the creators.
They hold the power of change.
The
situation on the boat is a reflection of what is going on right now in society.
It is a battle that will ultimately determine the future of humanity. Will
humanity go down with the ship and lose everything, or will humanity gain full
control of the resources available and save civilization?
It is up to us:
We
are all in charge of our own destiny, and it is a matter of not sitting back
and watching, but following what truly resonates with us, without fear.
It
is when the masses decide to take charge and change their lives in a direction
they know is the right one, and lose the false dependency on a system that has
failed them time and time again, will society be able to begin to rebuild.
It
is a matter of taking control of one’s self, regardless of what anyone else
thinks, and break free of the shackles that are holding one back from reaching
one’s full potential.
Humanity
is at a point in time where we all have the option to jump on the safety boat,
drift throughout the sea until we reach a place where we can work on rebuilding
a better society. Some might think we will repeat the mistakes of the past and
will lose touch with what we are trying to achieve. This might be true, but we
will never progress if we aren’t willing to try.
We
are a collective being, we are ready to achieve what we want to receive, and we
are ready to let go of negative influences and destructive ways of thinking to
find a greater purpose of humanity. Let’s rise up during this critical time of
growth and become what we are meant to be.
Great people, representing a greater
cause of progression as an intelligence in a wonderfully expansive, and dynamic
playground, we call the universe.
Source: Tim Marshall, Activist Post -
So, a lot to take in for some, no doubt, but for others this will be preaching to the converted. The next short piece is, for me, another part of how we can think of our existence, our place in the present and also where we're going in the future:
"The truth is that everything is both light and dark but the world has become too obsessed with this whole light business, so be warned that through the upcoming transition we will all know the power, beauty and perfection of the dark.
All this positive thinking and 'be happy' BS is half of the story. You have been shown through nature and all of creation that light and dark are necessary but you seem to need a storm to change direction in your thinking, and so this coming shift will be your storm. Some of you will learn to dance in the storm. The way to prepare yourself is to learn to dance in the storm now and everyday, and to see the light in chaos everyday.
The yin yang sign is the biggest joke. People have it on their bracelets, tattooed on their foreheads etc. but nobody really gets it. Because it is light and dark at the same time. Within dark there is light and within light there is dark. And that's the truth. In the transition of realities you will have to embrace your dark as well.
With these earth changes people are going to freak out and there will be violence, but violence has been a part of humanity for a long time and by now you should know how to handle violence. You just need to be strong, very strong, and know your truth....know this truth. Because with what's coming, the people that will make it through will be the ones that can see past the illusion. And those people that won't will be consumed by their illusion - they will be consumed by their own fear."
- The General
Some may see that as a bleak and extreme picture. Indeed when I first read it, though stirred and affected by its simple poignant truth, I found it harsh and unwieldy. That was some years ago though, and I now see it as bold and unbridled fact. The best kind!
At this point I feel it's important you hear from me where I am in my 'truth-seeking', for want of a better term. So here it is...
Ya' know, I'm an
open-minded kinda' sceptic - a 'careful thinker', for want of a better term.
I form my
opinions, beliefs and ideas using logic and reasoning, garnering facts based on
what can be proved or disproved.
I decide
something is a fact if it has a firm basis in reality and truth, and discard as
fiction that which is based on misinformation, falsehood, fakery or outright
lies.
I'm a person who
likes there to be an explanation for everything.
So, I tend to put anything
that has no logical or reasonable explanation into one of two 'boxes'. The 1st
box is labelled 'awaiting further information' - in that I put anything for
which there is no current satisfactory explanation, but which I believe will be
explainable in the future. The 2nd box is labelled 'magical thinking' - this is
where I put things which are hokum, bogus, debunked etc.
Whilst this
'system' works for me in the main, there are always exceptions to every rule.
In this case, the exception is what I can only label as 'mystery' - that which
is totally inexplicable in nature, yet
which I just somehow 'know' to be real. However, perhaps that which I call
mysterious is just a small compartment in the box I label 'awaiting further
information'.
It is ultimately
a judgment call, deciding fact from fiction and deciding which 'box' I put the
unexplainable into. So I take great care with my thinking. I engage in a
definite process.
First, I
objectively research and study the available information, checking sources and
cross-referencing them. Then I add a few droplets of the subjective stuff - the
anecdotal evidence of any personal experience I may have had, and the personal
experiences that others have told me about. Lastly, I sprinkle in a generous
amount of common sense and a small dose of intuition.
I find scepticism
is mentally healthy, as long as it is flexible. It's actually this healthy
scepticism that helps me to maintain an open mind on things. I know that
separating fact from fiction, the truth from the lies, is essentially a
judgment call.
So at all times my opinions, beliefs and ideas come with a
disclaimer - they are subject to change without notice, pending new
information.
At the end of the
day, I think it's all about being aware of the falsehoods, misinformation and
propaganda that riddles most of our information sources, along with knowing and
understanding your personal biases in order to keep them in check.
Ultimately, whatever the truth may be, awareness is everything.
So I have two more articles to share on this subject. The first unfortunately has no source - it is a declaration of independent free thought, written by, simply, 'the Internet'. If anyone can quote the original author I will of course cite them as the source. Here it is:
Freedom Fighters’
Declaration of Independence
Governments of
the Industrial World, you weary giants of flesh and steel, we come from the
Internet, the new home of Mind.
On behalf of the
future, we ask you of the past to leave us alone. You are not welcome among us.
You have no sovereignty where we gather.
We have no
elected government, nor are we likely to have one; therefore we address you
with no greater authority than that with which liberty it always speaks. We
declare the global social space we are building to be naturally independent of
the tyrannies you seek to impose on us. You have no moral right to rule us, nor
do you possess any methods of enforcement we have true reason to fear. You are
toothless wolves among rams, reminiscing of days when you ruled the hunt,
seeking a return of your bygone power.
Governments
derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. You have neither
solicited nor received ours. We did not invite you. You do not know us, nor do
you know our world. The Internet does not lie within your borders. Do not think
that you can build it, as though it were a public construction project. You
cannot. It is an act of nature and it grows itself through our collective
actions.
We have watched
as you remove our rights, one by one, like choice pieces of meat from a still
struggling carcass, and we have collectively cried out against these actions of
injustice. You have neither usage nor purpose in the place we hold sacred. If
you come, you will be given no more and no less power than any other single
person has, and your ideas will be given the same consideration anyone else
would receive. You are neither special, righteous, nor powerful here.
You have not
engaged in our great and gathering conversation, nor did you create the wealth
of our marketplaces. You do not know our culture, our ethics, or the unwritten
codes that already provide our society more order than could be obtained by any
of your impositions.
You claim there
are problems among us that you need to solve. You use this claim as an excuse
to invade our precincts. This claim has been used throughout the centuries by
many an invading kingdom, and your claims are no different, nor do they ring
any less hollow. Your so called problems do not exist. Where there are real
conflicts, where there are wrongs, we will identify them and address them by
our means. We are forming our own Social Contract. This governance will arise
according to the conditions of our world, not yours.
The Internet
consists of transactions, relationships and thought itself; arrayed like a
standing wave in the web of our communications. It is the last truly free place
in this world, and you seek to destroy even that freedom. Ours is a world that
is both everywhere and nowhere, but it is not where bodies live.
We are creating a
world that all may enter without privilege or prejudice accorded by race,
economic power, military force, or station of birth. A place where anyone, at
any time, is as free to come and go, to say and be silent, and to think however
they wish, without fear, as anyone else. There is no status beyond the merit of
your words and the strength of your ideas.
We are creating a
world where anyone anywhere may express his or her beliefs, no matter how
singular, without fear of being coerced into silence or conformity.
Your legal
concepts of property, expression, identity, movement, and context do not apply
to us. They are all based on matter, and there is no matter here. There are
only ideas and information, and they are free.
Our identities
have no bodies, so, unlike you, we cannot obtain order by physical coercion. We
believe that from ethics, enlightened self-interest, and the commonwealth, our
governance will emerge. Our identities may be distributed across many of your
jurisdictions.
The only law that
all our constituent cultures would generally recognize is the Golden Rule. We
hope we will be able to build our particular solutions on that basis. But we
cannot accept the solutions you are attempting to impose.
In the United
States, you repeatedly try to pass unjust legislature in an attempt to restrict
us. You disguise this legislature under a variety of different names, and pass
excuses that they are for our own protection. We have watched you, time and time
again; attempt to censor us under the guise of Copyright protection, or for the
protection of Children. These laws come in many shapes and forms, in the name
of ACTA, PIPA, COICA, SOPA, but their intentions remain the same. You seek to
control what you cannot.
We scorn your
attempt to pass these bills, and as a result, our discontent at your misaligned
efforts grows each day.
You are terrified
of your own children, since they are natives in a world where you will always
be immigrants. Because you fear them, you entrust your bureaucracies with the
parental responsibilities you are too cowardly to confront yourselves. In our
world, all the sentiments and expressions of humanity, from the debasing to the
angelic, are parts of a seamless whole, the global conversation of bits. We
cannot separate the air that chokes from the air upon which wings beat.
In China,
Germany, France, Russia, Singapore, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Greece, Egypt,
Canada, the United States and many others you are trying to ward off the virus
of liberty by erecting guard posts at the frontiers of the Internet. These may
keep out the contagion for a small time, but they will not work in a world that
is already blanketed in bit-bearing media.
Your increasingly
obsolete information industries would perpetuate themselves by proposing laws,
in America and elsewhere that claim to own speech itself throughout the world.
These laws would declare ideas to be another industrial product, no different
than pig iron.
In our world,
whatever the human mind may create can be reproduced and distributed infinitely
at no cost. The global conveyance of thought no longer requires your factories
to accomplish.
These
increasingly hostile and colonial measures place us in the same position as
those previous lovers of freedom and self-determination who had to reject the
authorities of distant, uninformed powers. We must declare our presence in the
world we have created immune to your sovereignty, even as we continue to
consent to your rule over our bodies. We will spread ourselves across the
Planet so that no one can arrest our thoughts.
We will create a
civilization of the Mind in the Internet. We have created a medium where all
may partake in the forbidden fruit of knowledge, where egalitarianism reigns
true. May our society be more humane and fair than yours.
We are the
Internet.
We are free.
So folks, tin foil hats at the ready for the final article! It's a very long read, so you may just gloss over it, but if you shoud choose to read it in full, it is a masterpiece of truth and exposes the underlying fact of this whole 'conspiracy theory' label - that the label itself is just another tool of the 'powers that be', those old grey men in suits who currently rule our world, to try to discredit the realities that more and more of us our awakening to.
I hope you will take the time to read at least it's main points. In any case, the documentaries I have alluded to in this piece say it all in visual form too. It just remains for me to say that whether you are blisfully unaware of most of this stuff, or fully 'woke', or at any stage in between - we all have a part to play in educating our children, pointing them in the right direction, and gently guiding them towards the truth and realities of the world as it is now, and the hope we all have in our hearts for a better future.
One love, one heart, one mind - peace, out.
I hope you will take the time to read at least it's main points. In any case, the documentaries I have alluded to in this piece say it all in visual form too. It just remains for me to say that whether you are blisfully unaware of most of this stuff, or fully 'woke', or at any stage in between - we all have a part to play in educating our children, pointing them in the right direction, and gently guiding them towards the truth and realities of the world as it is now, and the hope we all have in our hearts for a better future.
One love, one heart, one mind - peace, out.
The times they are a-changing
16/10/2011 (English translation
11/10/2012 by Josefien Bruijn)
In a world where the laws of the monetary-economic game brings us debt and the
artificial necessity of profit, this law leaves us with real or perceived
scarcity, harsh social inequality, segregation and ecological breakdown, each
of which will have its own disastrous consequences. As a consequence there are
great disaffection and the call for change can be heard clearly. It is time to
start co-operating in order to bring about real change. Where are we today and
which direction could we take?
The disaffection about our present system and search for
change create a need for more profoundness, by which we do not just mean more
profoundness of the present system. We also need to be aware of the
possibilities of today in order to be able to shape the day of tomorrow. With
recent developments around Occupy Together/Occupy Amsterdam and the ensuing
media coverage I feel the need to clarify my position with respect to this.
In
my view many of today’s problems are symptoms of our present paradigm and its
socio-economic design. It shows us an obsolete social structure and therefore
we lack the direction that is required to shape the future, a direction that
recognizes these problems and in whose direction we can move. It does start
with a more profound awareness of our present system – of the game and its
rules.
The rules of the monetary game
Debt is a product of our monetary system, which is based on
money, an invention that can be very effective and that can show us the value
of products in a world where scarcity is rife. However, since money is no longer
linked to gold, it has turned into a product of trust; in itself it has no
value. The majority of our money (95%) is created by private institutions,
banks. The value of this money is legitimised by its recognition by the Central
Banks and the monetary rules that pertain to this system. These Central Banks
are not subject to any democratic influence whatsoever. Neither parliaments,
nor the authorities have a voice in the decision-making process.
This moneymaking process is described by Fractional Reserve Banking.
Suppose you saved € 10,000 and you deposit this money in the bank. The bank
only needs to guarantee 3% of the debts that have been put out. This means that
it can subsequently lend € 9,700 of your savings. Your neighbour wants to buy a
new car and is € 9,700 short, so he concludes a loan with the bank. The car
dealer deposits this € 9,700 in his savings account for his old age. The bank
needs to retain only 3% of this € 9,700, € 291; the remainder of the money can
be lent again. And so the remaining amount of € 9,409 will be lent again. The
economy is flourishing and there is enough money for investments!
However, after lending one hundred times an amount of € 317,958.02 will be in
circulation. Deduct the original 10,000 from this amount and by this process €
307.958,02 has been created from the original € 10,000.
Through Fractional
Reserve Banking banks can create a multiple of the original amount
of money – by issuing new loans, money is created from thin air automatically
and without effort. This causes inflation, devaluation of money and thus is a
strain on the money owned by each of us. It means that you will have to work
more for the same level of prosperity. Unless you have enough money in the bank
to compensate for this inflation, you will either be losing out or not profit
in equal measure.
However, the bank charges interest over the amount it lends.
In order to pay the interest money will have to be taken out of the existing
money circulation. This has to be produced somewhere and more loans will have
to be concluded or somebody else will lose out on this monetary scramble. Debt
through interest requires more debt and creates more interest. This is an
exponential development that is not sustainable – a pyramid scheme where on the
one hand interest on debt and on the other hand interest on money owned is a
form of inequality that is built in into the monetary system. We will have to
change from viewing money as a means of exchange to viewing money as a cause of
inequality because of which money becomes a means of power.
"It is well enough that people of the nation do not understand
our banking and monetary system, for if they did, I believe there would be a
revolution before tomorrow morning." -Henry Ford
The rules of the economic game
The socio-economic model itself, which creates its own
supremacy through profit, has its own disastrous consequences as well. Because
of this monetary costs are shifted towards real costs for society. It is more
economical to limit social costs (wages) and it makes more economic sense to
shift these costs to the environment; in doing so these costs are
‘externalised’. Otherwise bankruptcy or take-overs could be imminent.
And inequality is built in through profit as well. The
necessity for companies to make profit causes the joint labour, which results
in profit, to end up with the shareholders, the banks or the wealthy. In the
first instance this was not a problem. However, currently the inequality takes
ever increasingly extreme forms. Small and medium-sized enterprises feel the
multinationals breathing down their necks; they benefit in a more prominent way
from the interest and profit mechanism. They benefit by the privatisation of
public possessions – internationally even forced
by structural adjustment programs
created by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank (WB). Their
voices increasingly jeopardize the voice of democracy.
We live in a world where 1% of the populations own 40% of our
planet. What would your street or village look like if 1% of the residents
would own 40% of the street or village? What kind of consequences would this
have? Yet it would not do to point at culprits. In this example actions and
their consequences can be understood. In our global economy the consequences of
our decisions are concealed by the disassociation between our decisions and
their consequences. Not only does this make accountability virtually
impossible, it also makes it undesirable. We cannot expect a manager or a
consumer to be conscious of the many consequences of their choices.
The authorities could compensate for these consequences,
although I do not think that the authorities actually have this insight. This
would, however, require extensive regulation, bureaucracy and considerable
investments. Instinctively this does not feel like contributing towards society
and in addition there will have to be an authority that will see to it that
these rules are being observed. If we offset this against the huge inequality and the power this would require, this route raises serious questions with
respect to feasibility and desirability.
The macroeconomic influence seems to have surpassed
the influence of democracy. It is characterised by institutions such as
multinationals that hardly pay any taxes. As a consequence the costs for the
maintenance of our state spending are borne by small and medium-sized
enterprises and by people with average incomes. In addition particularly small
and medium-sized enterprises are put at a disadvantage by bureaucracy. The injunction
on provisions issued by the Dutch Finance Minister that should solve the
problem of the usury policies strike small and medium-sized enterprises, the
insurance companies are excluded from this. The people and the scientific world
may endorse sustainable energy but still nuclear and gas-driven power plants
will be built. Iraq?
In addition to the desirability it should be realised that
the authorities themselves are subject to monetary as well as economic rules.
The monetary rules provide them with a national debt which grows exponentially
due to compound interest. This debt is not allowed to exceed sixty per cent of
the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). And if the authorities do not want to exceed
the boundary of this percentage and still want to maintain their spending
pattern – after inflation and interest payments, they will have to follow the
economic rules in the pursuit of economic growth.
In a globalising world we can wonder what shapes the
morality, justice, and organization of our society if neither the market nor
the authorities can supply them.
The last lap
Often the
increased prosperity that we have experienced since the Second World War has
been ascribed to the way the post-war world has been organized. Or it is
concluded that the capitalist way of free-market thinking and the Washington Consensus may have
gone too far but that it has brought us the prosperity that we know nowadays.
However, this ignores the two most important factors that have caused our
recent prosperity, namely the easy access to oil and the development of
technology, which replace labour and increase production. It is mainly these
factors that our pyramid scheme has profited from.
Paradoxically enough this technology is also the factor that
makes evident the unsustainability of the economic model. The development of
technology is what humanity has innovated time and time again and which has
brought us progress. The bow and arrow were one of the first extensions of our
bodies. The acceleration of technological developments that have subsequently
brought us agricultural implements and the wheel has enabled us to set up
villages. People were freed up from the daily hunt for food. Crafts, trade and
cities came into being.
Subsequently the industrial revolution has brought us the
switch from products that were manufactured manually to products that were
manufactured by machines. This process was refined and has created another
freedom. Gradually the production of goods required increasingly less human
labour. This new freedom made way for the service industry.
In 2010
the service industry provided 72.5% of our jobs, the manufacturing industry
provided 24.9% and agriculture a mere 2.6%. Globally these figures are 63,2%,
30,9% and 6%, respectively. However, a new freedom awaits us.
In our economic model the producer needs the employee to
manufacture his products that are then sold to the consumer. This game is kept
alive by consumption. However, at the moment current technology is automating
the service industry and thus removing the employee and therefore also the consumer
from the equation; this creates technological unemployment. These jobs will not
return. Technology currently frees us from the service industry.
The occupational therapy in economic, financial, legal, and
security jobs, as well as the managers to keep the system alive have hardly any
added value for society and can only absorb this blow for a limited amount of
time, nor can the marketing industry on which many multinationals spend more
money than on actual production costs. However, this type of advertising is
necessary to maintain the system of essential cyclical consumption
through manufactured demand
and advertising. How would our perspective change if we replace the phrase
advertising by ‘propaganda for our money value system’?
"Nobody is more
hopelessly subjected to slavery than those who erroneously believe to be free.’" - Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
In case this technological unemployment or the collapse of
the monetary pyramid scheme is not to herald the fall of the world as we know
it today, it will be the current social unrest. In the increasingly prominent
rat race towards the fulfilment of basic needs an increasingly stronger mentality
develops in which our environment forces us in the direction of a more
individualistic, more stressful, more intolerant and polarised world in which
the solution seems to lie in the success of the individual; thus the empty
concept of free market thinking is stimulated and given an increasingly
prominent role. This is an alarming development in which the lack of social
cohesion heralds the decay of society.
We all played along. The
dissatisfaction and polarization are reflected in current political relations.
This is not limited to the Netherlands or Europe, but it is a global tendency.
We view an increase in prosperity but the majority does not seem to benefit
from this or only to a limited extent. The polarisation of the political
climate is only a recent reinforcement of a few of the many false dichotomies
that we know and of which the antithesis right-wing – left-wing is the most
prominent. The compassionate entrepreneur needs the freedom to pursue his
passion in such a way that this does not contribute to the many disastrous
consequences caused by the profit mechanism. He also should be free from the
excessive restriction in the shape of ‘correcting’ bureaucracy by the
authorities...
And yet each of us contributes to the reinforcement of this
system through the alienated mechanism of our globalised world. The inhuman
effects of the choice of the consumer or the manager limits the moral
accountability because it makes it virtually impossible to have insight into
cause and effect and in doing so says almost nothing about the humanity of the
individual. All of us seem to be caught in a model in which social change can
only be effected to a limited extent. In those of us whose human empathy
inspires us to start treating the symptoms that the game entails, this causes a
feeling of despondent powerlessness.
Beyond the game, the time
has come for a holistic, multidisciplinary approach of our problems, a
direction in which we can shape the future together. Is this at all possible or
is it utopian?
The most important step to real change emerges from
understanding the mechanism of our present society followed by realization of
its possibilities. This awareness requires an effort of the critical mind. This
takes time and energy and is rarely pleasant. It is an effort of the brain to
reach a better understanding with our intellect. It is from this realization
that a change of mentality and a different attitude to life can develop and
from this realization the many individual initiatives can emerge that will find
each other in a shared direction of change.
"Never doubt
that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.
Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead
More profoundness changes ‘Utopia’ into feasibility. However,
change never comes of its own accord – it requires work. Beside the critical
mind this requires a second important human characteristic: empathy. We are not used developing
fundamentally different thoughts about the design of our society. The empathic
ability that our mirror
neurons provide makes us the social beings that we are
and provides us, in combination with our intellect, with the possibility to
devise a different type of society. The need for a fundamentally more humane,
social and liberal economic society is the greatest challenge for our
generation. Science and technology provide our generation with the opportunity
to take up this great challenge and to overcome the problems that our era poses
us.
"You can never
solve a problem on the level on which it was created."
"Imagination is more
important than knowledge"
- Albert Einstein
A truly sustainable knowledge
economy: the resource-based economy In the past technology has given us
the freedom of labour and shortage, as has been described briefly before. It is
also the technology that will offer this to us in future. The introduction of personal
sustainable electricity will not only create national and regional freedom but
individual freedom as well. Currently the world produces an abundance of food.
On a local and ecological level technology can provide almost fully automated
food production in abundance through aqua- or hydroponics. This can even be
done in stratified
layers in the form of flats
so that less land will be required for agriculture.
The technological know-how to automate our mobility – even cars
– has already been developed. The precision and efficiency will make it
possible to virtually bring down the number of traffic accidents to zero. For
over thirty years we have disposed of the knowledge to power our cars with
electricity. The magnetic elevation trains (maglev) may be able to
realize speeds of 3500 km/h.
Through RepRap and contour crafting we can ‘print’ 3D
products, even houses
with one press on a button. RepRap
3D printers, small-scale printers for home use that can also print their own
parts offer endless possibilities. Why still buy tools?
This list could go on forever
with examples from health care, education or the manufacture of goods. However,
the list is characterised by the main expenditure for which we work for energy,
food, mobility and housing. Through automation technology can provide these
products in abundance and therefore for everyone. This means a dramatic
reduction of the working week. Even more importantly it could make the middle
class as we currently know it redundant in the near future. Any of these
examples is also characterised by the opportunity to decentralise. Both
abundance and decentralisation undermine the power structures by which shortage
currently is maintained and reinforced.
"All truth
passes through three stages: first it is ridiculed, second it is violently
opposed. Third it is accepted as being self-evident." - Arthur
Schopenhauer
A paradigm shift
Let us
consider this for a while. What does technological decentralised abundance
(TDA) actually mean? If this is combined with a sustainable relation with the
environment, this will represent a fundamental, worldwide change in our way of
life. There where sustainable TDA is present, money will not be needed for
these products. If we connect this with a few developments mentioned before
concerning TDA it follows that you do not need to work to pay for energy bills
(personal energy needs), for daily food (hydroculture) or for products in and
around the house (3D printers). The working week will be drastically reduced.
And eventually your own job in the service industry will be discontinued
because of technological unemployment. The labour for money paradigm is nigh.
A continuous movement will have to occur towards the use of
sustainable raw materials as opposed to scarce raw materials and from global
towards local. Science and technology are already providing answers to many of these questions; these
answers range from alternatives for plastic and meat consumption to ideas such
as cradle to cradle. If we are to realise a resource-based economy we
will have to find our answers for tomorrow in a technological approach, instead
of in a monetary or even a political approach.
If the authorities are to play a
part in the resource-based economy they will have to invest in research but
also to provide active support for practical decentralised projects. However,
they will have to be able to rise above the monetary paradigm, above the
mechanisms of profit and economic growth. This challenge will place them
outside of the financial supremacy of the present time. Stuck in the navel
gazing about a left or right-wing approach of fictitious distribution problems
and stuck in the popularity franticness of election times I think the chances
of a vision with future perspective are slim.
The answer is with you
Technological decentralised
abundance as opposed to profit TDA provides us with an open playing field
where we can learn from one another and thus can improve concepts. It is the
world of open-source, science, expertise and experience. It shapes a world that
returns freedom to the individual. It gives us the opportunity to develop
ourselves with respect to our passions and ambitions. It returns insight into
cause and effect and thus provides responsibility and accountability.
Anonymity
is replaced by respect for the individual. It shapes a world that brings back
community spirit. A world in which time will return our humanity and creativity to us. It
shapes an environment that is geared towards our human needs. Possession as a
human reaction to scarcity will make way for access
and for use in ways that are adjusted to these needs. The investment
that will be required during the transition period will be huge, as will the
number of jobs to be created. Not jobs for the sake of jobs, but jobs that make
a genuine contribution. Work that matters again.
“Nothing is
stronger than an idea whose time has come.” - Victor Hugo
Profit gives us shortages: the greater the shortages, the
greater the profit. This self-reinforcing process has a destructive effect on
humans and on their environment. It gives us inequality which results in
possession of land, raw materials and ideas (patents). Access to our land, raw
materials and ideas is obtained through money: a means of scarcity that is
perpetually losing its value through inflation and that keeps us imprisoned in
the individual rat race towards money through labour.
Profit gives us propaganda for a money value system
(advertising) that maintains a fictitious scarcity. Status is derived from
certain scarce products over others. Conformity through propaganda teaches us
to want more. By definition it is a race that cannot be won – the new,
distinguishing scarce product is already waiting in the wings. We accept the
psychological and physical health effects of these status differences and the
struggle to survive, the stress
that is accompanying this pursuit of money for access to land, raw materials
and ideas, and we put up with the sacrifices as well – individualism, lack of parenting, the
crimes committed for possessions or status. The monetary system with its money
is the religion of our time. In ignorance we remain imprisoned in our illusion
of freedom and democracy.
The next move… is yours
If
we choose to continue the present macroeconomic monetary political decisions,
we opt for a further concentration of power, for greater inequality and
marginalisation of your democratic vote in a system that is bound in this
financial supremacy; in this system the extent to which social change can be
effected is reduced more and more. It precludes economic democracy and
individual freedom. Food prices become the plaything of speculation. The rat
race towards money in a world with increasing scarcity will result in social
unrest. Small and medium-sized businesses will become a pool of patents and
potence for the multinationals and sovereign countries will become obstacles
for the procurement of scarce raw materials.
You will notice none of this; the authorities will keep you
safe and will give you freedom and democracy. Television teaches you that the
world is dangerous – fortunately it offers you amusement as well. You will obtain your
certificate and work towards a job that has been promised to you. It
may not be ideal, but at any rate you will earn some money. For the few for
whom this society does work, as opposed to the majority, the role of
self-appointed guardians of the status quo awaits, the proclaimers of the money
value system.
Caught up in debt we wait until institutions such as the IMF will
help us. We wait for cutbacks and privatisations. We wait until the sovereignty
of countries, companies and even individuals gradually drains away. We will
wait for the social unrest that is the consequence of scarcity and for
polarisation. We will wait for the increase of the number of ‘terrorists’ and
for the governments that will protect us. We will wait. We will wait and then
we shall wonder how it could happen that our society has fallen apart.
"My work (…) is
not directed to intellectuals and politicians. It’s directed to what are called
‘ordinary people’. And what I expect from them is in fact exactly what they
are.
That they
should try to understand the world and act in accordance with their decent
impulses. And that they should try to improve the world. And many people
are willing
to do that, but they have to understand. I feel that I am simply
helping people develop
a course of intellectual self-defence." - Noam Chomsky
Or we could choose the path provided to us by TDA. You, your
neighbourhood, your region will control your life and your living environment
through co-operation and through adjusting available goods towards your needs.
Justice will be done yet again to the word democracy, because it implies that
voters are wise and knowledgeable as to the effects of their choices or of the
choices that will be made for them. Not the voice of scarcity is decisive for
geopolitics but the mutual advantages of co-operation.
The insight into
efficiency created by co-operation will shape decisions taken by authorities,
not from the power provided by money but because municipal hydroculture is more
efficient. The need for possessions inspired by scarcity will make space for
access and use. Not everyone needs a lawn mower and boating excursions on the
lake can be adjusted to demand. Specialised access centres will provide in
people’s needs where frequent use of goods is not required.
Carpe Diem,
seize the day, one of the oldest wisdoms we know. Surviving for the day of
tomorrow will no longer keep us from the freedom of the moment. Time will have
been given back to us to realise what is really important in life. This will
make you think of friends, family, a partner, of doing what you’re passionate about and
subsequently being valued for this. People will find each other in passions and
ideas. TDA will create the space for a society in which people can develop in
balance with their environment and with their human needs. A society that will
even enrich the ‘richest’ person on earth. All of this is possible today. The
choice is yours.
"Be the change
you would like to see in the world" - Mahatma Gandhi
The times they are a-changing
The industrial revolution has freed us from physical labour. It has also
brought us fear of what was to come, fear of the unknown, and fear of the
freedom that the industrial revolution would bring us; on a larger scale it has
also centralised power into the factories, the land owners, a new elite. The
chimney was not only the symbol of economic power and of progress but also of
social inequality. The political movements came into being and people united in
political parties. The problem of distribution could be solved politically and
a new consciousness arose. We will now witness a similar process. Technological
decentralised abundance, however, will move us towards a sustainable era that
will provide us plenitude.
Our generation has the unique opportunity to live through
these developments: the revolution is happening now. It is up to you and thus
to all of us together to shape this future. Maybe it will not be shown you such
black-and-white tones as outlined but it shows the tendencies that we should take
into account when making our daily decisions. We shall have to learn to think
outside of the self-imposed boundaries of the mind. If we stop taking this
system for granted the door to new ways of thinking will be opened. It is
important that we find the courage to start dreaming about the future again.
These developments have provided space for movements that
have been spreading these ideas for a longer period of time, such as Anonymous, The Zeitgeist Movement and
recently perhaps the Occupy
Movement. It is the voice of a generation who have been teaching
itself through the Internet by documentaries such as “Money as Debt” and “Zeitgeist Moving Forward”, who
have studied and found one another. The Internet will be the platform for the
next revolution – a role played by the printing press for the scientific
revolution, the precursor of our industrial revolution.
It is up to us all to develop a new consciousness on the road
to tomorrow. We have a choice between ignorance, apathy, passivity and fear on
the one hand and awareness, empathy and trust in fellow human beings on the
other. And the choice is up to you, here and now.
"Cowardice asks
the question, “Is it safe?”
Expediency asks the question, “Is it politic?”
And Vanity comes along and asks the question,
“Is it popular?”
But
Conscience asks the question “Is it right?”
And there comes a time when one
must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he
must do it because Conscience tells him it is right." – Martin
Luther King
Written by Seth Lievense http://www.limpidus.org/
Translation by Josefien Bruijn.
All original sources credited where possible, Copyright exists to the respective authors of those articles.
Copyright © 2019 R. C. Greenlow. All Rights Reserved.
