Why We Lose.

This article is not about elections, politics, parties, economics, or the future, except that it is about all of these things and how they are not what most of us were taught that they are.

So I've been watching Big Think for a while now. I find it a nice break from the highly skewed, controlled product that TED has become and came across this:
[video:https://youtu.be/mAOyOULWKUo]

This might be the most accurate, succinct explanation of how things actually work that I've ever seen. It is short and general enough that I don't think it will loose too many viewers to boredom, but specific enough to point out in the right direction.
Growth has been used to mask the theft built into the system, and the system has reached the environmental limit in which grow con be sustained. In biology, we have a name for exactly this scenario. Cancer.

Unlike biological cancer however, we absolutely have the option to cure this one. We know exactly what causes it, how it works, and who keeps it going.

We built the internet to be open because that's the only way it can work.
TCP/IP makes it both universally accessible and inherently unsecured. It is a medium to facilitate human communication, not a market to be carved up and sold off to the highest, or best connected bidder, but that's what the world wide web has been turned into.

Whether we want to look at politics, media, or society at large, all we are permitted, without going to considerable effort, and assuming expertise that does not generally exist in the population at large, is the sales presentation they believe you are looking for.

If you aren't paying for the product, you are the product.

All we have to do to help stop this game is to quit volunteering to be the next product on the block.

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Greyhound's picture

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Raggedy Ann's picture

It's been a month. Now that we've been through the withdrawals, we're happy with our decision. It's a start.

Raggedy Andy is also a great barterer. Resist them taking us to a cashless society in the way of emoney. It's to our detriment for them to know every penny we have, which would be the result.

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"The “jumpers” reminded us that one day we will all face only one choice and that is how we will die, not how we will live." Chris Hedges on 9/11

riverlover's picture

c99p is people powered until limitations are put on the internet. Which I expect to happen soon as another extraction method.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

martianexpatriate's picture

I think that it's valuable for people here to understand, and to become wary of what they are handed.

In time, the current way of things is going to end in disaster for a great many people. The trick is to make it to that point, and be ready when it happens to build something new. Optimally you want to make people as many people as you can aware of the problems, so we can shift to something new as soon as we can.

The thing about us is that every time we get a great new technology, we tend to use it without limits, because we live in a society that places no value on our community or our individual lives. We have no self-discipline, so every shortcut is taken.

What we will realize in time is that everytime a new technology is developed, you have to think a little about the dangers of it a little. Frequently you have to build it into your community with some rules. We shouldn't force the community to adapt to every new technology that appears.

One other problem that has developed out of technology is that an existing trend has been strengthened. Young people never see any danger in it, until they are no longer you. Families are separating, and for an increasing number of people old age is spent alone, because all these social networks prioritize other relationships.

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Damnit Janet's picture

it can assist you or enslave you.

It's up to us which.

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"Love One Another" ~ George Harrison

They create tools and systems only to serve their individual and collective needs. That dynamic never gets flipped. When a tool or system is no longer useful, they simply abandon it and create something new. Nothing they build ever gains power over them. Of course, some of them are assholes, especially those in the crow community, but I have to wonder if they're onto something. I also wonder if this is why they spend so much time studying us. Maybe they're trying to figure out where we went wrong so that they can avoid making the same mistake? Maybe they don't want to end up being controlled by two political parties that siphon and divert so much of their energy that their final effort each election cycle takes form as an epic individual struggle to summon enough remaining strength to leave a message in a complaint box that never gets opened?

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riverlover's picture

I have had to listen to fledged young whining in the trees, pup being stymied by a mob (they did not murder).

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EyeRound's picture

this talk is pure ideology.

Too many shortcuts, pretzel logic, and real factors just overlooked.

Family businesses succeed in this economic environment?? What?? The Pritzker family, maybe. Everyone else is stuck in small-business-startup hell.

That's just one problem, among many others, with the messages conveyed in this video. Best feature is that it's only 12 minutes long.

(Also I find the smiley-face delivery cringeworthy.)

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riverlover's picture

Wake up! That was the message.

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