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The Great Chess Game
Authored by Luke Eastwood,
The Great Chess Game
Everyone is aware of a multitude of problems that besets our world, however the nature of these problems and why they exist is distorted by the media and by governments all over the world. Our leaders, corporate heads, military top-brass etc. all have a fairly good idea of what is really happening, they just don’t want us – the ignorant masses known as the general public to know what they know.
The multiple crises on this planet are caused by our insane mode of living – one that seems to be dominated by economics. Our way of life (unfortunately now for most of the world) depends on an ever-expanding economic system, for if it is not expanding it is contracting.
This system was all well and good while there was plenty of capacity for continued expansion, but unfortunately for all of us the limits of expansion are not far off. The ‘people in the know’ are well aware of this, although they are not going to admit to anyone outside of their ‘club’ that this is the case, at least not in any direct or honest manner.
Capitalism requires growth and markets to exploit – in the past there were always new markets and new people to exploit, which fueled growth and the resources needed to run the engine of commerce seemed inexhaustible.
At this point in time the number of new markets is shrinking, the number of people who can be easily exploited is shrinking and the availability of resources is shrinking. So that really doesn’t leave modern ‘civilised’ countries or coalitions of countries with a lot of options with regard to the continued expansion of their economies.
It strikes me that there are only really three options available:
- Expand the planet and the resources available on it by 50% or more.
- Reduce the demand on resources and reduce the number of people expecting a fair deal (i.e. not being exploited).
- Give up on a redundant system that is destined to crash and find a new economic paradigm.
Hopefully you will realize that option 1. is my little joke and that option 2. is in the realms of megalomaniac fantasy.
Unfortunately for us, many of the people in powerful positions in the world are hopeful of achieving something equivalent to option 1. (e.g. colonizing Mars) and are quite confident of achieving option 2.; hence are still not even close to considering option 3. It seems that option 2. is the historical precedent for solving economic woes, generally implemented through war and the by-products of this – famine, sickness, relocation and disempowerment etc.
If we look at the current global situation it is clear that there is a struggle for power and resources, which is only partially viewable to the ordinary ‘man in the street’. The intrigues and complexities of this struggle or game are concealed from the average consumer of mainstream media. This has been the case for a long time, which is clearly evidenced by the periodic release of state secrets relating to events of previous decades – in some cases clandestine activities/ambitions of up to a century ago. Despite the clear evidence that we have been continuously lied to in the past by mainstream media and our governments, it seems that many people do not seem to correlate that information with current lying and propaganda.
The truth is that this struggle for dominance and control is like a giant chess game, with USA and its allies/friends on one side of the board and Russia/China and their allies/friends on the other. They represent the kings and queens of this game and ultimately decide the strategy and the actions of their ‘pieces’. Countries like Britain, France, Japan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Turkey, India etc. represent the middle ranking pieces – they are important players in the game, they are not instantly expendable but they are coerced or seduced into following the game plan.
The pawns of the game are all the other minor and relatively powerless countries that make up the world. These are all seen as expendable, but at times they may be given an inflated sense of their own worth by either or both sides in order to achieve a goal. Of course, like a real pawn, once their purpose has been fulfilled or they are no-longer useful they are thrown to the wolves or just ignored.
Two perfect examples of a pawn are Afghanistan and Iraq – neither were particularly unique strategically, in terms of resources or influential politically or militarily. For a time Iraq seemed important but it was just a piece being played as a part in a much larger game. Afghanistan seemed important for a while both to the Americans and the Soviets but (in terms of the game) again it is just a fairly resource-rich non-entity that needed to be exploited as part of a far greater plan.
What many people in the world do not understand is that this great chess game is about control of resources and their flow around this planet. He who controls the oil, gas, rare-earth metals, uranium, water, and food has control of everybody else. The instability in the Middle East may appear to be related to terrorism, the struggle for democracy or religious preferences but this is all just a smoke screen. If we look below the surface we can easily see that this is about transit routes of resources – in particular for oil and gas. The big boys (USA, China and Russia) are jostling for position, their allies want in on the action (as a kickback for helping out) and the fate of the remainder rests on the success of the competing strategies for dominance of the board.
Unfortunately for us, this obsessive game over resources seems to completely ignore the basic premise that we must continue to live in a world of finite resources. Instead of deciding to give up the game and concentrate on finding a way to remodel society in a way that can sustain our future; the game seems to have intensified in recent decades. I would liken this to two men on the Titanic fighting over the silver cutlery while the ship continues to sink! I wonder at what point governments will actually wake up to the fact that these ‘traditional’ solutions can no-longer work in a world where there is nowhere new left to colonize, nowhere new to discover, and precious few new resources to find.
Of course, people pay lip-service to the ideas of a new paradigm at the UN, at environmental summits etc. but this is really just candy-floss. The big boys and their minions are still focusing most of their energy, political, intellectual and creative resources on fighting to maintain their economies instead of seeking solutions to a glaringly obvious problem.
It’s high time that the ‘superpowers’ and their allies took a serious look at option 3. (a new economic paradigm). Once the penny drops that our system is fatally flawed, the necessity for economic, psychological and physical warfare becomes redundant. Once we truly accept that we cannot have infinite growth, that our planet and human society is in danger of collapse then it should shift our focus away from conflict towards co-operation.
Humans are selfish creatures, we all want the best for ourselves, our family, our town, our tribe, our country – that is just part of human evolution that has enabled us to succeed. However that competitive streak has outlived its purpose and is in fact destroying us. The ultimate in selfishness is really the desire to survive – don’t we all want to survive (and hopefully prosper)? If we are going to fulfill that ultimately selfish wish then it’s actually necessary for us to evolve beyond competing and abandon clearly failed and destructive actions.
Co-operation is the only real hope for humanity. It’s time for the game players to tear up the chess board and throw it away forever. And if our governments do not want to change or listen then it is up to all of us to make sure that they do – for our own selfish desire to live and to have a country and a planet to live on.
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Sounds like a good idea to me if I want to go have a couple glasses of scotch... No problem.
Right. So you will go in debt just to make sure you don't get a DWI? Perhaps a little critical thinking would lead to you a much better and cheaper solution. Or are you stuck at the bar now?
Who said I'd go into debt? It's a tool, that's all. If it were a 1k extra on a new/ used car, it might be of value. On an empty road, on a long trip, I could take a nap, read, etc. it's a tool that amplifies productivity. Do you hate your dishwasher or washing machine? Lots of people find value in GPS, what's the difference?
I wash dishes manually about half the time, but sometimes I can't be bothered. Same principle.
Why do we need people? By your technocrat thinking, people merely take up space which is better occupied by machines and masters.
You are a sociopath.
Jobs change with technology. Some go away, and some are created. The new ones are most always better paying. We could certainly return to feudal Japan, or Rome where people did the jobs of livestock or machines. You'd have full employment, but everyone would be in unbelievable poverty.
FYI: slavery wasn't ended by governments, automation became cheaper than slave labor, ending the economic incentive for it. It made the world a better place. Advancing technology means greater prosperity for all human beings. It would be immoral to stand in the way of it.
Sgt.
Some technology is good, some is bad. Pursuing a technocratic agenda alone would be the ruin of good society, for the lonely enriched world of sociopaths, imo.
There is no good future in killing off most for the advancement of technocrats.
FYI: slavery wasn't ended by governments, automation became cheaper than slave labor, ending the economic incentive for it. It made the world a better place.
________________________________
Perfectly. That is why convict leasing kicked in the US after the civil war...
But, hey, 'americans' build their generalities by excluding counter examples. It works.
If you look at every other country, you'd find it to be true. Read Niall ferguson's civilization
Soon getting food from a man will be like riding a horse work.....
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=robot%20restaurant%20china&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&sqi=2&ved=0CB8QFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Feater.com%2Farchives%2F2012%2F06%2F28%2Fallrobot-staff-serves-cooks-at-chinas-robot-restaurant.php&ei=p8V4UOKXFcStygHZxYCYAg&usg=AFQjCNFyo9We_zaHGJ7FHctSFO57B6UVmg
What the fuck is a "horse work?'
His master will reset his programme soon, no doubt. Give him/her/it a break...it's still trying to communicate with humans.
I agree. Look at his conclusions.
1) Humans are selfish creatures, we all want the best for ourselves, our family, our town, our tribe, our country – that is just part of human evolution that has enabled us to succeed. (I generally agree. But mostly with ourselves, family first and everything very far behind)
2) It’s high time that the ‘superpowers’ and their allies took a serious look at option 3 (This kinda contradicts the point above right? I mean the superpowers have it pretty fuckin good, yet they should find their altruistic side?)
3) Co-operation is the only real hope for humanity. (again, pretty contradictory, no?)
He should argue with himself some more.
He should drink more beers with his friends. Hopefully they will all get drunk and forget the whole thing.
I have a feeling that co-operation is a one-way street with this guy. You work and generate value, then you co-operate and give that value to people who don't work at all.
Everyone has different skills to offer; we are all equal members of society, contributing our diverse talents for the collective good.
In the example above the cook man is good at preparing delicious meals from sunup to sundown, and his customers are good at eating delicious meals from sunup to sundown. We must celebrate and embrace this arrangement without valuing the cook's contribution above that of the customers'. The cook man shouldn't be taking money from his customers simply for contributing what he's good at doing. He wouldn't have the opportunity to cook all day if there weren't other people in society who are skilled at eating.
There are enough SNAP cards for everyone if we all just learn to share. Barney The Enlightened Purple Tyrannosaurus Rex teaches us this.
Funny comment about Barney. I have a 3yr old and was thinking about that the other day. I realized that while I want my kid to have compassion and to do unto others, I want her to succeed. I can see that I am going to be seriously at odds with the world around me as I instill values in her that I don't know are endorsed anymore by society. The really cool thing is I don't give a fuck.
f...
Children learn by example, not words. Perhaps you should give a fck...oops, you already did for your pleasure, otherwise she wouldn't be here.
You may be disappointed that others overlook your high opinion of your own words and worth, but that is no reason for you to be a hypocrite if you abandon what you know is good.
She will be following your example, not your words.
you could not have missed my point anymore if you tried, and it looks like u tried pretty hard. i believe in competition and compassion and my kid will see plenty of both. i won't abandon the values instilled in me. who the hell said i have a high opinion of my own words? you sound like the one who is trying to come off a bit high and mighty. i am not totally cool with barney. please forgive me.
Read The Righteous Mind by Jonathan Haidt so you can understand your own mind better.
Teach your daughter to collect and organize things as soon as you are able.
Teach her to challenge her own beliefs, as well as other's.
Forgive my forwardness.
Good luck.
Now that is good advice. Thank you.
Somedays... You just feel like you just should'nt have posted.. LOL
man u read my mind. last night was it for me. I need to leave the philosophy on here to others and just enjoy the show.
Some contibutions are more fundamental to a society than others. Without food and energy SNAP cards are useless, and chefs are unemployed in the dark.
In your scenario, why should the cook man get up at the crack of dawn to prepare food for his customers when he too is entitled to a SNAP card? Why should he labor for the benefit of others when he is entitled to the same largess? In such a world, any producer is a fool. He is expending his life force for the benefit of others when he could conserve his own energy by simply switching roles from producer to consumer. If all are equal, then all are equal to do nothing.
The author is trapped In a paradigm of Malthusian bullshit. Capitalism isn't about finite resources, a normal market and prices solve that. Capitalism and wealth are created from INNOVATION!
Supply constraints only emerge when central bankers and governments attempt to engineer markets. Socialism and fascism result in all parties fighting over a shrinking pie. Capitalism makes the pie bigger. The pie is an analogy for wealth and prosperity. Governments and central banks have made a monumental mess of things, but longer term, after nobody trusts governments to manage currency anymore, and after an epic currency collapse, things will get better.
We have the most interconnected society in history. The Internet has accelerated innovation to unthought of proportions. It is a scale free system. The human race will be fine, and in fact, will thrive, if governments don't kill us all first. People have been warning of supply constraint caused destruction of humanity since the 17th century. The world isn't static, people are independent rational actors out of self interest.
These Malthusian blow hards should be banned from zh, and or mocked. They are no different than neo-keynesians. Zh, please stop this bullshit, or alternatively, I'd be happy to pen a real article that is based on reality.
References: The price of everything - Russ Roberts
The rational optimist - Matt Ridley
The ultimate resource 2 - Julian Simon
Doesn't Option 3 then get a New World Order title applied to it, and if so, maybe it should have a different moniker.
Option 4: The Republic, the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence.
Only greed drives people to socialism, communism or corporatism: the rule of a Big Brother state, allied to central banks, and their favorite bailed out corporations who - like the tax funded bureaucracy and other dependents - tell everyone else to pay for their pet projects and themselves...while using every resource OWNED by the people who till the land, manufacture from the land, trade accordingly, with no intention other than honest community; neighbor to neighbor.
Eastwood,
Learn to drive a tractor or make something - other than excuses and trolling for Lenin's legacy which suits Big Brother very well, comrade.
I'm pretty sure they have plans for a controlled nuclear exchange to rapidly decrease the population of the world. And then they will take it from there. Don't be suprised at what they have agreed to do. Also I would not call the micro management of every aspect of human life by Agenda 21 candy. There is some serious control being implimented at this time.
The Socialist Internationale and the Trilateral Commission...the project continues.
Billionaire George Soros chose Obama who now looks like a hostage to fortune: thin, grey-haired, lethargic, on message only if the words are fed to him. I've no doubt that he was an idealist. Now, he is weary of the show. Put lipstick on Biden the career politician and see the face of The Joker, scamming all.
Next up: Romney, the Mormon, full of zeal.
That's Soros of the Socialist Internationale and the Trilateral Commission, by the way.
Luke, Malthus is your father!
Awesome!
What me Worry?
It is the month of August, on the shores of the Black Sea. It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted. It is tough times, everybody is in debt, and everybody lives on credit.
Suddenly, a rich tourist comes to town.
He enters the only hotel, lays a 100 Euro note on the reception counter, and goes to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one.
The hotel proprietor takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the butcher.
The Butcher takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the pig grower.
The pig grower takes the 100 Euro note, and runs to pay his debt to the supplier of his feed and fuel.
The supplier of feed and fuel takes the 100 Euro note and runs to pay his debt to the town’s prostitute that in these hard times, gave her “services” on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel, and pays off her debt with the 100 Euro note to the hotel proprietor to pay for the rooms that she rented when she brought her clients there.
The hotel proprietor then lays the 100 Euro note back on the counter so that the rich tourist will not suspect anything.
At that moment, the rich tourist comes down after inspecting the rooms, and takes his 100 Euro note, after saying that he did not like any of the rooms, and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However, the whole town is now without debt, and looks to the future with a lot more optimism.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is doing business today.
- Economics Lesson by Gary
That is priced in euros first, comrade. Enjoy the show.
Many versions to the same story, enjoy comrade!
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/friday-humor-unspinning-%E2%82%AC100-bill-or-how-european-bailout-really-works
;-)
Only if it worked that way! The problem is that each of the borrowers have borrowed money not from each other, but from the local bank. The bank is demanding 100 Euros plus interest from each of the five borrowers, where it really only had 100 Euros to start with...
Clearly, it is not the hooker who has been screwing the townspeople but the bank.
You just described total economic collapse, under the current monetary system.
Seems he wants to replace testosterone with estrogen. Not a world I would want to live in.
Although, with all the gmo/chemical mimicry shenanigans going on, we are on that road.
This essay resembles a sophomore midterm in a social science class.
Well said.
For clarification, you did mean high school sophomore, didn't you?
State college, close enough.
+1
You get -3s for a +1... You must be really popular around here! :D
People hate cooperation. There's no heroic glory in it for the single winner. The hero usually gets killed. Hung on a cross or shot. Later he may be reviled or elevated, depending on the use of history by the winners. People would rather be Sparticus than MLK.
Until they really try Sparticus. Or get old. Or have children. Or think very hard.
illiya,
Why would you let your enemy teach your children, asked Malcolm X.
Your sort of sophistry has failed, comrade.
Fact: humans co-operate in order to live and thrive; defend the person stood next to him/her, thereby making a genuine community; one for all, all for one.
Only the freak socialist, communist, corporatists have foisted their hateful idea that humans are bad, machines are better, and central banks printing money to pay for failed Big Brother is good...contrary to the evidence of most people's eyes and ears, comrade.
The Republic will be ruined if your sort of nihilism prevails.
Nothing is forever. One of my buddies was the Al Bundy. High School football hero. He looks like shit now. Has a shit job. Lives a shit life. Or so you would think. It's amazing how he can live off his memories and almost feel pity that the rest of us will never know of the greatness he achieved by scoring 3 td's against polk high. He convinced himself that the game is over and he already won. It's great what the mind can do.
You only struggling if you feel you need to get ahead. That man has peace
I agree with your first sentence, kind of. It's a valid point. But that man is so far from peace it's not even funny. There is no point in all the other details of his life. He had two choices. He could have tried to improve his situation, or he could resign himself to a miserable life living off old memories. That man has no peace. IMO he took the wrong road.
Hey Fonz. What's going in with the Steelers? I'm not liking the direction they're headed.
Their defense looks suspect, especially the secondary. I can't believe they gave up a game scoring td the Titans.
Check Mate
The Crisis - The legend of 1900
Wash, rinse and repeat cycle ditch attempt. This time, it will not end well for gambling architects who think they can roll out independent society goals for personal gains.
Mark my words. In fact, bookmark this post!!
Marx your words.
There, fixed it for you.
It is sad that people from foreign lands suffered terribly and came to the U.S. for a better life which they strived to make better for themselves, away from the old world corporatism, corruption, monarchy, abuses.
Since 1913 and the founding of the Federal Reserve Board, those old powers have worked diligently to hijack the Republic, and they are winning in demoralising your sort, apparently.
stop giving every one of your 50 posts a green arrow. it looks pathetic.
f...
I don't arrow my own comments, and you appear to have a problem with counting posts, and other things perhaps.
A new "economic paradigm": where have I heard that before...
...every huckster that ever bought a vote with someone else's money, labour, blood, sweat and tears.
The modern career political class are out of control, and quite probably out of their minds - encouraged by central banks, and aided by bureaucrats.
But this time its new and improved! Lets do what we did before and failed, because this time its different.
What's the old saying - God made weathermen just to make economists look good? Or was it the other way around. Too drunk to remember............
I think the real problem is that everyone has enough junk and those living off the state realize, with all their free time, that THINGS don't mean a thing... Only when you stress out in some overworked job you feel that you gotta spend spend into debt to feel good about yourself
Who owns ZH, who pays for it? Hmmm. Consider the source.
I like the Tylers, the most bad ass guys in the media room, but I do wonder where they are coming from and going to when an article like this is featured.
Oh gee, I dunno. Maybe they wanted to foster a discussion about it, which has proven to be successful.
You hit the nail on the head. Some of the best discussions come from the worst articles.
Yep. Apparently some people 'think' that by putting up an article like this one that the TD's are advocating it.
And good morning to you, Doc.
Good morning Sloane. Yeah it drives me nuts when people assume the Tyler's wrote or support the article. The Tyler's are very clear about where they stand on things.
edit. My thoughts are scrambled. Have a good day guys, time to get movin.
Take care Fonz.
Have a good one, Fonz.
Super article brother:)
"Humans are selfish creatures, we all want the best for ourselves" = The core problem = EGO and GREED. Recognized here in the commentaries too ;)
If you don't want what's best for yourself, why the hell should I give you any part of what's best of mine?
Metaphysical materialism in all of its manifestations also sells very well.
Can we stop pretending like we live in a capitalistic system? ... Then once we've done that we can move in and dissect this garbage for what it is.... a sophomoric attempt to suggest that there is a better system than one where free people try to define their destiny. If i didn't know any better I would say this article was written by an EU control as many lives possible technocrat. This is probably the most ridiculous line in this whole piece of garbage:
"However that competitive streak has outlived its purpose and is in fact destroying us"
Let's set the record straight...Corruption ,not competition is destroying us. If we had more competition to solve our problems we could find solutions. However, thanks to the corruption in the system competition is getting drowned out and we are getting dictated to us what TPTB think is the best solution. Competition would help us find answers for currency,energy., and sustainability. The answer isn't going to come from some body that says" this is the way it's going to be." The answers are going to come from the bottom up where somebody hopes to profit from their idea.
What a bunch of communistic garbage. I gave this article a one.. only because the system doesn't register below that.
"Co-operation" for this guy means the value you generate with your labor is the entitlement of other people who don't labor at all. He does not mention the exchange of value for goods and services on an open and free market as even a futuristic possibility. IMO his world view is a one-way street or the antithesis of co-operation.
When any socialist or communist says "co-operation" its code for "you are about to be looted".
What this guy doesn't get is that it's the debt based monetary system that requires continued growth It's not a capitalistic system at all. If we had a free market system it would adjust to downturns and shortages. As a matter of fact they would be welcomes , since poorly allocated capital would be wiped out and efficiencies would be made in the system. But this economy requires exponential growth to service the debt and that is what's not sustainable.
I agree. If you get people to buy into the concept that what we have is a capitalistic system then you are in a much better place to destroy capitalism itself. There are no free markets anywhere. Hell, we can't even establish true price discovery at this time in any market anywhere. Again I agree, not allowing the system to function efficiently is not a feature of capitalism. Supporting aspects of the economy such as false exponential growth to service an unsustainable debt is called something much different than capitalism. I wonder what system would foster such a notion?
Here's how to cooperate :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4e3-YK3rVA
Josey and Ten Bears style.
And EASTWOOD style. I should win some type of prize for a tie in like this.
We do not have an energy problem, our way of life (the industrial societies) combined with our misunderstanding of "what energy is" has.
I am wondering how the Earth does not have an energy problem propelling itself with an elliptic speed of 69,360 m/h and the answer is painfully simple: It uses the underlying DYNAMIC Natural forces in the Universe.
Till we start looking in these DYNAMIC Natural forces, we always will see in front of us THE BIG Energy problem.
"Throughout space there is energy. Is this energy static or kinetic! If static our hopes are in vain; if kinetic — and this we know it is, for certain — then it is a mere question of time when men will succeed in attaching their machinery to the very wheelwork of nature." - Tesla
The Club of Rome predictions and the 'limits to growth' are still on track. Instead of spending all this money on wars and armament, the world's countries need to come together to develop alternative energies such as hydrogen and nuclear fusion or Thorium salt plants (or whatever they are called).
This article's author must be a Chevy Volt owner - the thinking here has all the same qualities built in, and is a direct-to-junkyard special.
The archaic notion that somehow competing superpowers are involved in some kind of gigantic "chess match" has just about the same amount of traction and sales appeal as an exploding electric car....some time in the last century, nation states were replaced by a centralized control mechanism run out of sionist headquarters...all that's left is a thin veneer of political puppets and a somnolent mass of dupes indulging in an orgy of materialism under the ever-watchful eye of the kosher mafia. If there were any hold-outs from the program after G-Daff was nixed, they are currently being dealt with in the usual manner. China is in no way outside of this hegemonist, top-down control program either.
The rest of the article is just fluff. I'm all for fresh new voices, but what's up with the ultra-lights here lately?
Tellin' it like it is - spot on bro'
Whats the physical (delivery) address of your mysterious "centralized control mechanism"?
A partisan MSM based on propaganda, paid for by the same people who buy politicians.
Power rules, bitchez!
Always has, always will. You can't overturn the economic systems without fist changing the power structure, which must involve decentralization I.e. more democracy. Good luck with that.
Luke Eastwood, is that the nom de plume for Barroso or Von Rompuy? Time to award the Nobel Peace Prize!
Re ...the limits of expansion are not far off
The author might just as well be talking about America's waistline.
Arise, the workers of all nations!
Arise, oppressed of the earth!
For justice thunders condemnation:
A better world's in birth!
It is time to win our liberation,
Stand up, you slaves, no more in thrall!
The earth shall rise on new foundations:
We, who were nothing, shall be all!
This is our final battle,
Let each stand in his place;
The Internationale
Unites the human race!
This is our final battle,
Let each stand in his place;
The Internationale
Unites the human race!
Luke, Marx said it better.
By the way, various world powers have been fighting in and over Afghanistan for two thousand years,
For example:
"The Islamic conquest of Afghanistan (642–870) began in the middle of the 7th century[1] after the Islamic conquest of Persia was completed, when Arab Muslims defeated the Sassanid Empire at the battles of Walaja, al-Q?disiyyah and Nahavand.[2]"
Has anyone else considered the possibility that the end of this evolutionary path is extinction? Ego and greed appears to dominate success traits in business, as evidenced by the concentration of sociopaths in senior positions and among political (and some religious) leaders. Wishing it away won't change the path.
Good point. It seems as if the mutually-assured destruction of nuclear armaments and their production (i.e. nuclear power plants) is well underway. What is the point of fighting over control of resources when the assault on our dna has already won? I for one am not about to get all hot under the collar about whatever species is coming next. That being said, self-defense never goes out of style.
I have writeen about this often: http://addins.waow.com/blogs/weather/2012/10/birth-rate-declines-again-a-good-sign We have to stop building and consuming crap just for the sake of hitting traditional economic growth metrics.
Great article - fully agree we need to stop playing chess as often very few pieces remain at the end of the game.
The way forward seems to be to use social networking and technology to help manage the elite. I see the logical conclusion as this is the creation of virtual God composed of the collective opinion of humanity. It's not that difficult and I'm both an atheist and a hard determinist so I don't blame anyone for the current mess. However making a model God still seems a reasonable game changer and it will get more realistic as bio-gerontology improves.
Mored details on my thinking at:
http://www.scribd.com/doc/98216626/New-Global-Strategy
i wanna get on the silkroad web site. u can get anything there. can anyone out there help me w/ tor?
I'm sure the elite will conclude that it's not a resource problem, there's just too many people. And you know what that means. Them giving up power for the betterment of mankind? Ha. We're all dead.
Very interesting article, indeed more or less what I had been talking about with my dearly beloved just last week. Only it's not just chess any more, it's multi-level chess and someone keeps changing the rules.
I don't have an answer. My observations are:
The general reaction to the EU being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize by US commentators shocked me deeply. It may be flawed but FFS, it is trying to do the right thing.
US politics is now very, very scary to those of us outside looking in. Are they still drinking the Ayn Rand kool-aid??! Just because you have healthcare doesn't make you a commie or anti-capitalism.
The internet and all the cool gadgets we have for communication are part of the answer but I see moms in the street plugged in to their ipods not talking to their kids who have pacifiers in their mouths and this disturbs me. Too much "bread and circus" stuff going on.
JP Morgan/Goldman Sachs are about as close to the Empire but how to strike back?
Capitalism requires drive, ambition, determination, inspiration but it doesn't have to be heartless - don't do evil, first, do no harm etc
Sustainable capitalism scares the pants off the GOP because it means fewer monopolies, fewer oligarchs.
Lawyers and bean counters are part of the problem and the solution.
Why does the SEC not let shareholders really use their voice, why is it always about the market for trading and not the market for owning.
Why does the US not have a BBC of its own? We are so lucky in the UK to have this remarkable resource - we should treasure, protect and nurture it.
The more I know the less I understand.
Thanks
Why does the US not have a BBC of its own? We are so lucky in the UK to have this remarkable resource - we should treasure, protect and nurture it.
The more I know the less I understand.
Thanks
First I tried to laugh, but then I felt something else... it was this feeling like... its not exactly a laughing matter... I mean not anymore...
BTW, thanks for saying Thanks in the end to those who read your post. It was too little too late, but its the thought that counts right?
Normally the readers thank the one who posts, if it has some value ofcourse.
Hey LULZ, the BBC had this great holiday pigeon show that my parents would watch and laugh until they were crying. First, you get some pigeons. Then, one by one, put your lips to their little beeks and blow them up until their chests are poofing out. Yes you can, just like a balloon! After you blow the pigeons up, you dunk them in a vat of dye of various holiday colors. Then after they dry, you release them all to fly around your home in splendiferous rainbow glory to really fly your holiday spirit.
Best holiday show ever, on any station in the world.
WOT?? No animal rights campaigners coming down like a tonne of bricks?
BBC is good, some of the best comedy shows and thats about it. You cannot take their news and analysis seriously, seriously. I only refer to it to gauge what the sheeple is being made to think.
Though have to admit, it is much more sophisticated propaganda tool than any of the US clown shows.
Very encouraged by the warm welcome and intellectual debate.
You are right, it's no laughing matter. JPM and GS run the establishment. We are fed high speed rubbish over the airwaves every minute of the day. Kind hearted fools run our public services and mostly have no clue that they are pawns in a game they don't understand and probably never will. Innocent mugs who can't do simple maths are ripped off by pay day loan sharks. It's sick. Regulators are either buffoons or in on it - just take a look at the SEC revolving door. I could just bitch about it but on a daily basis I try to make a positive difference.
I'll take the BBC over Fox any day oh, and BTW, I've come here to learn and understand, not to take pot shots.
Thanks for the lessons.
Am I the only one who finds this editorial a waste of time? No info. Strawmen. Ridiculous categorization. I give it a 1.
I did too, so did Doc.
You guys actually thought about rating it?
This is the first article I ever rated. Doing the little clicky made me feel infinitesimally better but better all the same.
http://www.section9department17.com/1/post/2012/10/new-100-us-dollar-bills-disappeared-from-a-plane.html
This is the type of article that makes sense.
As usual its the comments that are the real gems
"1 From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? 2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. 3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.
James 4
King James Version
Our enlightened author relies upon:
- Darwin
- Malthus
- Marx
Congratulations Luke, you've just won a lifetime membership in the club who've been responsible for over 100 million murders in the twentieth century alone! Mao, Stalin and Hitler await you below. But before you arrive, you might want to study a little bit. Maybe you could even change your destiny. Iraq and Afghanistan are so strategically important for the flow of resources that those piles of sand and rock must be held securely lest the bustling silk road of trade there be hindered? Put down the pipe and learn what petrodollars and narcodollars are, and you may gain some better insight into U.S. foreign policy. If you haven't read Darwin lately, I'll remind you that the method of natural selection requires DEATH. So what you are really saying is that everyone alive today needs to die for us to take the next step of evolution. I nominate you first. Or are you really talking about "spiritual" evolution? Which means that you already recognize Darwinism for the poppycock that it always has been.
"Naess soon gained a large following in the emerging green movement, especially among the youngest and most radical factions. Deep ecology’s uncompromising rhetoric provided a welcome, radical alternative to the New Age earth-loving, tree-hugging Gaia hypothesis. They saw this new anti-human philosophy as a call to arms against western capitalism. Radical environmental activism flourished during the late 1970s, fuelled by recruits from the anti-Vietnam war and Civil Rights movements. News reports were replete with stories about ‘’hippies” chained to trees and activists burning down animal research facilities.
Radical environmental activism seems to have died a slow death since the 1990s as the wider green movement considered their actions to be counter-productive and harmful to the cause. However, the philosophy behind Deep Ecology has continued to spread and infiltrate the movement. Few people realize that ‘respectable’ environmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the Sierra Club and the Nature Conservancy were originally formed by radical activists who recognised that their ultimate goals could only be realized through political and social tools
Many of these organisations now act as consultants to the United Nations. Anti-human sentiment and subtle calls for ‘human reproductive control’ are sprinkled throughout Agenda 21 and the Earth Charter. Many prominent environmentalists are now touting population control as the only answer to the world’s problems. Even the original Gaian, Sir James Lovelock, has taken to calling humans “an out of control cancer that Gaia will soon eradicate.”
http://www.green-agenda.com/deepecology.html
Silver For The People
http://www.brotherjohnf.com/
A nice read, but a deeply flawed article. The author presumes there is a longterm sustainable solution for option 3. Hint: There isn't.
Keep hoping for option 1 (expansion into space). I am.
Another thing...
Option 2 is actually the way of nature. The way it's been done for millions of years. Kill each other in one big war and to the victors go the spoils. After which the victors settle down and breed like crazy again. And so the cycle repeats...
Option 3 is the real dystopian hell. Think 1984 times Brave New World plus more. Forced birth control, energy rations, medical death panels determining your utilitarian usefulness, etc., etc. Basically every nightmare you've ever had about the future come to life. As the Earth is more and more burdened the pressure is ratcheted up more and more. And in the end, all that's really being done is the delay of option 2.
You missed one important point. The cycle ends soon because of peak resources. There may be a killing off or die off, but no breeding frenzy afterwards. No resources left to support that.
The Matrix- Why am I here?
Zero-sum game for many, a new beginning for others! Only you can decide fate…. :P
Luke Eastwood???
Luke Eastwood???
Due to the rising labor cost in south pacific rim, Africa will become the new peripheral production process. China labor will experience the same outsourcing program used in the states. Once a country reaches a poverty level threshold, businesses move back into that region. Recovery & market boom stories echo throughout the media sources. Some call this free market capitalism, I call it a group of gypsy parasites who hinder growth by controlling special interest think tanks. Wish I could type the names of the culprits, but cannot. If you dig hard enough, you’ll find the names on your own. Good luck!
Club of Rome again? How many times does this have to be proven wrong?
Walmart "explots" me when they make available a product I want at a price lower than I could otherwise get it. I can be exploited over and over again, it's OK. I haven't reached my "Limits of Exploitation"
Real exploitation occurs when I can't chose to spend my money on a product I want because the right union beds are not being feathered.
Real exploitation occurs when the wealth I earned is drained away by negative real interest rates to feed the nation's banking cartel at my expense.
Our problem is not capitalism, it's lack of capitalism, lack of free markets, and gross capital misallocation.
'paying a lower price'...except what has been happening is that, inflation-adjusted, one hasn't. In the meantime, Inflation in the developing world has been near double-digit for, conservatively, two decades. Remember India's Reserve Bank policy claim of maintaining a ~5% inflation threshold - to mitigate the spread of income-inequality? The lower price paid in Wal-mart - that's an economic exploitation of newly-poor in something called the Core-Periphery model. That 'paradigm' is, or has been,, the basis for 'Western' economic control over the 'Terms of Trade' (setting of Prices)...outsourcing of manufactures has eroded those terms, and now Prices are set by Central-Bank-fiat flooding money-centre Banks, the last bulwark of hegemony... At a guess though, a Free-market is an intellectual construct, a thought-experiment; the reality is that finance empowers the engineering-and-production - the real economy - economic models merely look at ways to juggle the ledgers, which is why Marx proposed that 'the proletariat, bless 'em, Own the factors - and Land-reform has worked miracles, in terms of productivity; a lot of organizations use Stock as an incentive. Because whichever way the ledgers are written, the basis for wealth is having one's own name on the ledger. ..that's all we really need to do for things to start getting back to normal
I think you are right on target! I think this article is way too Machiavellian and fails to hew to proper economic rigor and history before it hurls forth it's take aways. Economics deals with the allocation of resources that are by definition scarce. Wars throughout history have been fought to control assets. This is hardly hot news as though it is now suddenly peak everything. Elites attempting to exploit each other and the great unwashed masses is otherwise called mercantilism and is the system currently in use for the benefit of the banksta and political classes and their corporatist collaborators, all protected by the military, police and judiciary establishments and are not America's finest. Truly free markets (laissez faire) would deny them their advantages and that is why the Whig retread Abraham Lincoln killed it by force of arms.
Co-operation is the only real hope for humanity. It’s time for the game players to tear up the chess board and throw it away forever.
Here is the issue/problem with this statement, who decides how much everyone gets/needs?
True capitalism is the ideal way to allocate resources. No funny money, no cartels, etc. For this to work requires a moral population and impartial/fair administration of the rules to insure a level playing field.
Mankind's history has few examples where the stars align to make this all happen.
So we know what should be done, but are more likely to end up with tyranny and centralization of power and wealth. History and prophecy also tells us the ultimate results of this folly.
"Above all else men desire power" JRR in LOTR.
sschu
Ahhhh.... But you see socialism isn't going to be allowed to fail, or at least to be seen as a failure. That is the entire point of creating world wide ignorance of it's previous failures and all the bloody and broken bodies.
Eventually someone comes along and realizes that lies work very well but only if you can murder the truth, without anyone knowing about it and especially hearing about about the reason it was done. Seems that the average person doesn't respond well to being lied to, have family members abused and even murdered and paying the bill as well.
Fortunately, we have the media to protect us from such knowledge.
Humans are selfish creatures, we all want the best for ourselves, our family, our town, our tribe, our country – that is just part of human evolution that has enabled us to succeed.
__________________
That is what you can call selfishness.
Smaller countries cant be pawns. In chess, no capture system. When you lose a pawn, your opponent does not gain it.
True. So your opponent creates a false terrorist claim by telling you someone could drop by and throw the entire chess board into the air. Do you see how the threat game is played? Too simple huh?
Only three options available?
What about the option 'americans' are supporting? That is pushing 'americanism' for as long as it can be.
This :
"Reduce the demand on resources and reduce the number of people expecting a fair deal (i.e. not being exploited)."
is not an option. It is a given. It's baked in. It's a fait accompli.
By definition supply will equal demand, the hard way.
You see how governments, corporations and financial sectors operate. You understand human behaviour. You know where we are headed and it is inevitable. You know that what you sow you reap. You know that you will inherit whatever you create.
My solution...
Enjoy my life. Be happy. Play my guitar. Have tea and bread pudding. Take walks in the woods. Enjoy all the wonderful people and interaction in the world. Enjoy all art and aesthetics. Nothing to get serious about. It is all a big movie. Life is an illusion. Just ride the wave into eternity in whatever form it takes.
This was a really excellent article. It is certainly frustrating for those of us in the know to watch as we continue to flail with this system that requires infinite growth on a finite planet.
The powers that be above the politicians don't care about anyone. They want to keep their power, control and facade. The bureaucrats running the Troika are totally clueless. Even if they wanted to do something different they can't because they were placed there to do what they are doing which is continuing the status quo.
The game will continue until it ends. The only thing to do is to get prepared for the ending. The Titanic is sinking and nothing is going to save it.
Its fairly obvious the steps to take. Stop using fiat currency and use something else. Gold, silver, commodities, etc. Become self sustainable the best you can. When you do these things you remove the power they have over you.
There is nothing physically impossible about economically free energy. Economically free means a cost of no marginal impact. And there are presently developing energy technologies which approach vanishing marginal impact. And there are presently developing adaptive control technologies which are capable of obsoleting all human labor. Any claims the contrary are sheer denial. The only way to prevent an energy/technology singularity is to bomb hoi polloi back to the stone age.