One Giant Ponzi 3

Chapter 3 - (Human Capital)

People close to me often give me stick for not getting to the point when I'm explaining something. I reply; "I can't help it! My brain needs lots of context!". So I hope that this chapter brings the first two chapters to their conclusion for you like it did for me.

I've covered how the human mind is capable of developing stories which bring order to the collective chaos, and that all of the knowledge and utility in history has led us to a strange point in time. A crossroads almost. And the ethical choices we make along with where we apply our attention in this moment will have arguably greater consequences than in any other moment in history.

Open mindedness can often lead in the wrong direction and before we know it we’re down the proverbial rabbit hole being led by whichever algorithm can hold our monkey brained attention the longest. Tinfoil hat on and angry. "They're my reasons and I'm stickin to em!"

Greed

Greed and desperation for power are born from the darker side of human nature, but what difference does it make if that greedy and desperate person is part of the upper classes or they’re sat in their mothers basement with nothing to their name but a smart phone and a WIFI connection? It’s the same thing but the money and power is in someone else’s hands. Greed is greed, narcissism is narcissism, insecurity is insecurity. These are all pretty normal human traits to have, and just because the “haves” seem to get all the girls and money, it doesn’t make them better humans, it articulates a class divide or a hierarchy if you will, and just makes us rather resentful. Or at least it did me.

One Giant Ponzi

But here’s where the theory that a cabal of elites are controlling the world really doesn’t make sense to me:

Conspiracists/Truth seekers reason that the Cabal that are controlling everything (almost exclusively through capitalism and the control of our money) are reliant on us earning more money. The more we earn and slave away for, the more they earn so that they can sit on top of it, or swim around in it like Scrooge McDuck.

Greedy and power hungry. Hoarding their wealth and might like Smaug the dragon.

The rich get richer, the powerful remain in power, and we blindly carry on, not knowing how oppressed we really are.

I can see how this idea is appealing because I used to think in this way too and a tiny part of me still does, hence writing three articles about it. It brings sense and order to an extremely complex issue.

I realised that this reasoning lacked knowledge and perspective in the same way I used to poo-poo religion. It even lacks common sense. It feels like “the Illuminati run the world” story is designed to fit a pre written narrative from long ago. A square peg into a round hole... so not really much reasoning going on at all. Yes once upon a time there may have been leaders of the state, most likely Royalty, which the common person had no access to. There was a means of communicating with each other which we had no access to either, and could make decisions with little influence from pesky democracies or commoners, unlike today. And there was certainly belief in an all seeing God that an intelligent and literate "person of God" could conjure up to vast numbers of unintelligent and illiterate believers.

But the post internet world is far more complex than it was a thousand years ago, or even one hundred years ago. And if the Cabal really is at the top of the giant global pyramid, (or Giant Ponzi, seeing as its primarily a money conversation) this implies that people need to be earning money in order for them to benefit from. The more of it the better.

Remember the golden rule: “He who has the gold makes the rules”.

Their plan requires people to be mentally present enough to want to earn more money, and healthy enough to continue to earn that money for as long as possible without it negatively affecting another persons chances of them earning more money.

It’s a simple system. Basically: MORE MONEY from the blood, sweat and tears of our effort. And it works! The elites are obscenely wealthy. The richest 1% in the world own around 44% of the worlds wealth. That leaves the other 99% to be employed by and then to generate the wealth for the “one percent”. That’s 99% sharing almost a half of the worlds wealth, and 1% sharing the rest.

So if the conspiracies are correct, and these Cabals really do want to control and oppress the masses through lockdowns, locksteps and surveillance, slavery and murderous vaccinations, where do they expect their money to come from once their grand plan is integrated?

I’m no economist but the last time I looked businesses were closing down faster than ever with a quarter of all businesses closing in 2020. GDP is down by 6.5 percentage points, and overall consumer confidence is at a low that’s deeper than the 2008 crash.

Not a good situation for anyone wanting more “gold”.

Wouldn’t it make better business sense for people to be free to earn, spend, procreate and prosper rather than be enslaved like in some sort of modern gulag? Slave Labour isn’t a good business model because it can’t last.

Human Capital

“Human capital” is a term for the average persons potential monetary value to the world. It's explained very clearly in this report from the World Bank. I recommend that you read it. It makes it easy to measure a persons and a countries value although it does sound a bit sinister.

Basically the better educated, happier, healthier and creative a society is, the higher the human capital value per person. And the more people there are with a high Human Capital value, the more money is created in that country.

The goal for the leaders of any modern country and the businesses which operate within them (or the global elites) is to increase human capital, as this results in higher revenues and higher GDP. The higher the GDP, the more money in the pockets of the people, then the flow of that money invariably makes it to alphas at the top of the tree. Thus more gold and power for the top chimps. The order continues...

Conspiracy Thinking

Conspiracy thinking is natural. Our brains are designed to worry because it’s a kind of safety mechanism. It prevents us charging headlong into a darkened cave inhabited by bears. We should worry about future dangers! Its healthy..... up to a point. In 2021 I feel Conspiracy thinking (like anti-religious thinking) is also na?ve if not researched broadly. We only stopped burning witches 300 years ago, such was our desire to lay the blame on things that go badly in our lives. We are people, and are prone to motivated reasoning, narcissism, confirmation bias and manipulation. We all are, it's in our nature. We discount other people’s stories that differ from our current beliefs rather than searching for what’s true. And in the case of burning witches it's safe to say we went far beyond motivated reasoning.

But most unfortunately of all; I find it’s such a tragic waste of human potential.

If we spent the same amount of resources in actively solving the very things that we’re trying to expose and “research”, most of the worlds problems would disappear. If we collectively bet on faith over fear.

Debunking The Bunk

The stories are frustratingly difficult to make sense of and disprove, especially mid conversation. Most have elements of truth within them, but are warped and adapted to suit the narrative of whichever story is currently hot, so there’s always an element of truth to anchor to.

For instance, a Truth Seeking friend of mine sent me the patent for a Covid19 Vaccine. He showed me the line that explains how it’s “unclear” whether one of the components within the vaccine was harmful to pregnant women, and it didn’t confirm or deny whether it may in some extreme cases cause death (aren't most vaccinations like that?).

Being angered by reading it is understandable behaviour as it’s shocking information, but it made me wonder how much refined sugar has been consumed by Anti-Vaxxers this year. Refined Sugar is an ingredient which is proven to kill thousands of people per year, yet its added for more profit. And we don’t have the privilege of warnings on our packaging either. Just a thought.

Blame

We’re all having material success shoved in our faces on a daily basis by marketing campaigns and algorithms so it’s easy to see why we become so detached from what’s real and what truly matters in our world. Why someone might think; “If everyone else has all of this stuff, why don’t I?! I feel worthless!”.

Then resentment kicks in; “It can’t be me. I’m a nice person! It must be someone else... I bet it’s the greedy global elites!”.

So we blame rather than looking in the mirror and deciding to get in the game. It’s easier to blame than to face the rejection of our peers. It’s easier to blame than to level up. It’s easier to watch a documentary on YouTube than it is to read a history book.... Anything worth doing is difficult.

Anthropologically speaking, we are naturally fearful and lazy: “I might need that energy for hunting an antelope, so I’ll let this programme do the thinking for me”. Is what our monkey brain might say.

I feel that when we peel back the onion, behind all of the unshakable conspiracists bluster is a child’s voice crying; “I want to be respected.... I have a voice too and I’m being ignored!”

And that’s human nature too. We all want that.

Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants

Most conspiracy stories online are nothing more than a clever click based business model praying on people with a normal mind and a smart phone and we can agree that there are more of those people now than at any time in history.

We are evolved to think in simple narratives and not in hard data, so we are inclined to favour simple stories describing highly complex things. Religions are unrivalled for this. They describe the hyper complex human psyche in story form. It’s also why we love art so much. Art makes sense of the world in ways that speak to us directly.

When it comes to more modern complexities like the global economy, climate change or outer space, we have scientists and philosophers to explain them for us and more often than not they have the benefits huge computers to help them.

Unless we are physically in the labs with (or the space ships) them we have to admit that we are merely betting on who’s story we believe is correct based upon the experience and data they’ve acquired. We mostly choose these “experts” who have been mentored by experts upon experts. Failure after failure after trial and error and examination. It's called 'believability weighted decision making'.

Our modern day scientists and philosophers are like the great scholars of old. They truly are standing on the shoulders of giants, and when we read their works we are standing next to them. It’s a privileged place to be. Unfortunately it’s easier to read a meme or watch an episode of Coronation Street than it is to study the literature on the front lines of philosophy, science and physics.

We want simplicity, it’s human nature.

Life Is Right In Front Of You

I'm sure you’re really busy, with everything combined proving almost impossible to manage. I know I am, so I just can’t see how a small group of people can predict and control the actions of 7.8 billion humans. Perhaps it’s just too intricate for my monkey mind to comprehend....or perhaps I need to up my game!?!

I am stuck in a strange spot between my primitive conditioning for simplicity and my highly evolved curiosity and complexity, so it’s easy for me to see why we end up wasting so much time on conspiracy thinking. It has its place, but only if we can allow that scepticism to incite affirmative action.

The good and bad news is that we are insignificant in the grand scheme of things. And although we might not be able to change the world we can change our own little world.

Life is right in front of us right now, not on a screen.

We get to choose our next action.

We can become the next Bill Gates, or we can dedicate our lives to disbanding his Cabal of overlords (if we can ever find them!).

Although here’s some advice I was given: “If you focus on what you can actually control your circle of influence grows, and you might slowly become influential enough to make a real difference”. The problem with that is that I can’t do it by blaming other people or circumstances and tapping on a keyboard about it. Damn.

We are sociable creatures and need to work with others.

We are complex with all of our insecurities and strengths.

We love ceremony and stories that bring order to the chaos.

We are lazy but robust, and can adapt and overcome most situations, psychological and physical.

We are part of a natural hierarchy that WE’VE SET over eons of evolution.

We may be insignificant within our 13.8 billion year old cosmos, but we are a miracle in the shape of a person right now and we can make a genuine difference by focussing on the task at hand.

Matt