1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,735 This is probably the first presentation I've made of this nature 2 00:00:02,875 --> 00:00:06,504 because the majority of my work surrounds the Zeitgeist Movement 3 00:00:06,644 --> 00:00:09,113 or things that are related to my film series 4 00:00:09,253 --> 00:00:11,887 but I've tailored this very carefully to 5 00:00:12,027 --> 00:00:17,163 what I felt the audience of this event would find interesting. 6 00:00:17,303 --> 00:00:19,418 The working title as noted in the program is: 7 00:00:19,558 --> 00:00:23,869 'When Normality Becomes Distortion: Reflections on a World Gone Mad' 8 00:00:24,009 --> 00:00:26,473 but as the talk developed I experimented with a few other 9 00:00:26,613 --> 00:00:29,447 less sensationalized titles to see what would work better. 10 00:00:29,587 --> 00:00:31,203 The 2nd one I came up with was 11 00:00:31,343 --> 00:00:35,018 'When Intuition Fails: The Inevitable Breakdown of Human Assumption 12 00:00:35,158 --> 00:00:37,074 and its Social Consequences'. 13 00:00:37,214 --> 00:00:38,996 Not bad, a bit too wordy, though 14 00:00:39,136 --> 00:00:41,112 so when I finished the presentation 15 00:00:41,252 --> 00:00:44,155 it struck me to have a little more intellectual one 16 00:00:44,295 --> 00:00:48,240 'Limited Dimensional Thought in a Multi-Dimensional Reality'. 17 00:00:48,723 --> 00:00:52,536 All right, annoyingly intellectual but still OK. 18 00:00:52,755 --> 00:00:56,100 Regardless, I point this out so you can make your own decision 19 00:00:56,240 --> 00:00:58,245 which title you think is more applicable 20 00:00:58,385 --> 00:01:02,110 because they cognitively highlight different context 21 00:01:02,250 --> 00:01:04,475 of what I am going to present here. 22 00:01:04,615 --> 00:01:07,411 As far as myself, as introduced, it's usually at this point 23 00:01:07,551 --> 00:01:10,741 I might say something about who I am, my credentials and experience 24 00:01:10,881 --> 00:01:13,296 as though frankly, any of us should care. 25 00:01:13,436 --> 00:01:15,637 One of the great failures of critical thought 26 00:01:15,777 --> 00:01:18,631 is the assumption of authority around a given data set. 27 00:01:18,771 --> 00:01:21,902 People might think "This person's considered an expert in a given field 28 00:01:22,042 --> 00:01:24,707 due to the standard set forth by culture, so therefore 29 00:01:24,847 --> 00:01:27,290 I can just trust blindly anything they say 30 00:01:27,430 --> 00:01:29,133 without critical evaluation." 31 00:01:29,273 --> 00:01:32,417 A rather ominous perspective and I think most would agree 32 00:01:32,557 --> 00:01:35,005 a large number of atrocities historically can be found 33 00:01:35,145 --> 00:01:38,106 sourced to this blind dedication to the statements 34 00:01:38,246 --> 00:01:40,647 of supposed authority. 35 00:01:40,787 --> 00:01:42,794 Who am I? I'm just like you. 36 00:01:42,934 --> 00:01:45,494 I'm a compiler and a messenger. 37 00:01:45,634 --> 00:01:48,115 You should have no faith in anything I say here 38 00:01:48,255 --> 00:01:50,461 and rather be prepared to critically assess 39 00:01:50,601 --> 00:01:53,014 whatever issues noted on your own accord 40 00:01:53,154 --> 00:01:57,374 within the bounds of your logical reasoning and training. 41 00:01:57,514 --> 00:01:59,701 As I will expand upon later in this talk 42 00:01:59,841 --> 00:02:04,891 there is actually no such thing as the origin of any information. 43 00:02:05,946 --> 00:02:09,912 I view knowledge as a life form in and of itself. 44 00:02:10,052 --> 00:02:12,029 There is no empirical source 45 00:02:12,169 --> 00:02:15,747 and it evolves and multiplies just like any other organism 46 00:02:15,887 --> 00:02:20,679 utilizing the vehicle of our collective human experience: transference 47 00:02:20,819 --> 00:02:24,088 and like biological evolution it is self-correcting. 48 00:02:24,228 --> 00:02:26,546 Any false thought will eventually 49 00:02:26,686 --> 00:02:29,582 (even after long struggles) be seen by the environment and 50 00:02:29,722 --> 00:02:32,631 selected out by the collective awareness 51 00:02:32,771 --> 00:02:35,427 or what could also be called 'The Group Mind' 52 00:02:35,567 --> 00:02:39,319 which I will talk about again a little bit later. 53 00:02:39,459 --> 00:02:42,800 Furthermore, the premise of this talk regards 54 00:02:42,940 --> 00:02:46,467 not the specifics of any discipline of knowledge or understanding 55 00:02:46,607 --> 00:02:48,912 but the mechanics of it 56 00:02:49,052 --> 00:02:51,679 specifically the nature of its change. 57 00:02:51,819 --> 00:02:55,264 I'm less interested in what people think and more interested in 58 00:02:55,404 --> 00:03:00,233 how they came to think it, and how they maintain it as valid. 59 00:03:01,687 --> 00:03:04,767 This talk will not only consider such frames of reference 60 00:03:04,907 --> 00:03:06,759 as they're often called 61 00:03:06,899 --> 00:03:09,620 frames of reference individual people utilize 62 00:03:09,760 --> 00:03:12,561 to generate and support their decisions and beliefs 63 00:03:12,701 --> 00:03:15,466 but also the larger order institutions 64 00:03:15,606 --> 00:03:18,354 that arise from those referential assumptions 65 00:03:18,494 --> 00:03:21,378 once they are shared by a large enough group of people 66 00:03:21,518 --> 00:03:24,250 to define social normality 67 00:03:24,390 --> 00:03:28,197 which is the status quo that we all know. 68 00:03:29,064 --> 00:03:34,050 Then the status quo practices will be qualified or even quantified 69 00:03:34,190 --> 00:03:38,808 against what we could haphazardly call 'Our Objective Reality' 70 00:03:38,948 --> 00:03:42,730 which will draw its assumptions from a completely different referential benchmark 71 00:03:42,870 --> 00:03:45,309 than most of the population of the world is familiar with 72 00:03:45,449 --> 00:03:49,503 a frame of reference we have come to know as 'The Scientific Method'. 73 00:03:49,643 --> 00:03:54,711 You'll notice I said haphazardly termed an objective reality. Why? 74 00:03:54,851 --> 00:04:00,031 Because the concept of objective can only be hyperbole, right? 75 00:04:00,171 --> 00:04:02,690 How could we possibly be so arrogant to assume 76 00:04:02,830 --> 00:04:04,735 at any point in time in human history 77 00:04:04,875 --> 00:04:07,153 that we have ever been empirically right? 78 00:04:07,293 --> 00:04:11,058 It simply hasn't happened yet, if you take the broad view. 79 00:04:11,198 --> 00:04:13,516 It wasn't until the past couple of hundred years 80 00:04:13,656 --> 00:04:18,042 that The Scientific Method has barely been taken seriously 81 00:04:18,182 --> 00:04:21,737 with respect to human affairs and society. 82 00:04:23,986 --> 00:04:27,754 What is the core mechanism of the Scientific Method, really? 83 00:04:27,894 --> 00:04:29,829 Self-correction. 84 00:04:29,969 --> 00:04:34,251 Self-correction through testing and logical calculation and hypothesis. 85 00:04:34,391 --> 00:04:38,956 The self-correction attribute of science is what enables its evolution. 86 00:04:39,096 --> 00:04:41,139 There is no recognized phenomenon 87 00:04:41,279 --> 00:04:44,662 that isn't undergoing a constant change of definition 88 00:04:44,802 --> 00:04:47,283 as the evolution of knowledge continues. 89 00:04:47,423 --> 00:04:50,083 Truth itself is an emergent distinction. 90 00:04:50,223 --> 00:04:53,470 It's not a noun; it's more of a verb 91 00:04:53,610 --> 00:04:56,658 which constitutes an approach towards reality 92 00:04:56,798 --> 00:04:59,584 but never, ever, getting there. 93 00:04:59,724 --> 00:05:01,243 That said 94 00:05:01,383 --> 00:05:04,717 it's obvious that we're doing something right. 95 00:05:04,857 --> 00:05:09,034 The fact that this building we're in hasn't collapsed upon us means 96 00:05:09,174 --> 00:05:12,025 we have been able to come in harmony with some kind of 97 00:05:12,165 --> 00:05:17,428 natural physical law that exists beyond our control. 98 00:05:17,568 --> 00:05:20,922 The fact that we understand to a certain degree how our bodies work 99 00:05:21,062 --> 00:05:23,767 creating medicines that can help us 100 00:05:23,907 --> 00:05:26,109 in positive ways over statistical time 101 00:05:26,249 --> 00:05:28,666 shows that we are indeed in some kind of alignment 102 00:05:28,806 --> 00:05:30,756 with what we call nature 103 00:05:30,896 --> 00:05:33,475 as opposed to blaming our sickness on gods and demons 104 00:05:33,615 --> 00:05:35,431 as we did in the past 105 00:05:35,571 --> 00:05:39,377 as this organism of knowledge continues to evolve. 106 00:05:40,363 --> 00:05:43,293 There does seem to be a pre-existing logic 107 00:05:43,427 --> 00:05:45,989 (this is important to note because people take this for granted) 108 00:05:46,129 --> 00:05:49,258 a logic which dictates our reality 109 00:05:49,398 --> 00:05:53,040 doesn't give a damn what we think of it and impose upon it. 110 00:05:53,180 --> 00:05:57,309 It appears we can either be vulnerable and align as best we can 111 00:05:57,449 --> 00:06:01,478 and engage this harmony, or we can walk against it 112 00:06:01,618 --> 00:06:05,819 fight it, to our personal and social disadvantage. 113 00:06:06,575 --> 00:06:08,628 The unfortunate thing is 114 00:06:08,768 --> 00:06:11,753 (as I will continue to address later in detail) 115 00:06:11,853 --> 00:06:15,074 our basic social construct 116 00:06:15,214 --> 00:06:17,498 as a whole, top to bottom 117 00:06:17,638 --> 00:06:22,133 along with the dominant human values inherent to it that support it 118 00:06:22,273 --> 00:06:24,784 appear to be firmly walking against 119 00:06:24,924 --> 00:06:28,563 the natural order that exists (that we are slowly discovering) 120 00:06:28,703 --> 00:06:32,733 becoming more and more decoupled from reality as it were 121 00:06:32,873 --> 00:06:36,071 and hence, really, our life support. 122 00:06:37,196 --> 00:06:40,930 For the sake of argument, I would like to quickly reduce human perception 123 00:06:41,070 --> 00:06:45,849 into two basic modes of operations: emergent and traditional. 124 00:06:45,989 --> 00:06:50,501 Today the traditional element is clearly the most dominant. 125 00:06:50,641 --> 00:06:54,897 The cultural zeitgeist (no pun intended) is always based on 126 00:06:55,037 --> 00:06:58,322 institutions that are tending to perpetuate themselves 127 00:06:58,462 --> 00:07:02,927 non-emergent thought processes and their consequences. 128 00:07:03,383 --> 00:07:07,108 Why? Because they're forms of psychological security, aren't they? 129 00:07:07,248 --> 00:07:09,507 They're also forms of financial security. 130 00:07:09,647 --> 00:07:12,148 Our whole society is actually based upon 131 00:07:12,288 --> 00:07:14,343 institutional self-perpetuation 132 00:07:14,483 --> 00:07:17,768 whether it's the preservation of a political administration 133 00:07:17,908 --> 00:07:21,666 a corporation's market share and dominance 134 00:07:21,806 --> 00:07:24,647 or even a religious demographic. 135 00:07:25,221 --> 00:07:27,979 The traditional notion is so powerful 136 00:07:28,120 --> 00:07:29,992 that the very act of questioning 137 00:07:30,132 --> 00:07:32,877 is often met with disdain in the culture today. 138 00:07:33,017 --> 00:07:35,660 Some, in their defense, have even gone so far to suggest 139 00:07:35,800 --> 00:07:39,259 that all beliefs and values must be equal and respected 140 00:07:39,399 --> 00:07:42,823 and they must be tolerated in the same element of quality. 141 00:07:42,963 --> 00:07:45,821 Is that true? Are all values equal? 142 00:07:45,961 --> 00:07:48,086 Does everyone have the right to believe 143 00:07:48,226 --> 00:07:50,389 and act upon whatever they choose? 144 00:07:50,529 --> 00:07:54,801 Are we all to respect everything others want us to? 145 00:07:55,288 --> 00:07:57,983 If I put a gun to your head and have the value and belief 146 00:07:58,123 --> 00:08:00,524 that you should die, is that acceptable to you? 147 00:08:00,664 --> 00:08:02,896 Are you a bigot for not allowing me 148 00:08:03,036 --> 00:08:05,660 to express my freedom of belief? 149 00:08:05,800 --> 00:08:07,728 Obviously, values are not equal. 150 00:08:07,868 --> 00:08:09,811 Some work and some don't 151 00:08:09,951 --> 00:08:13,931 or more specifically, some represent a closer approximation 152 00:08:14,071 --> 00:08:16,243 to reality and others do not. 153 00:08:16,383 --> 00:08:19,965 The farther those values are from this natural order 154 00:08:20,105 --> 00:08:22,268 the more destructive they often become 155 00:08:22,408 --> 00:08:24,439 not just to the individual or group 156 00:08:24,579 --> 00:08:28,098 but to all of us as a collective society. 157 00:08:28,528 --> 00:08:31,774 There rests a distinct, social imperative 158 00:08:31,914 --> 00:08:34,291 that is often ignored or feared. 159 00:08:34,431 --> 00:08:37,750 The taboo associated with challenging what others think 160 00:08:37,890 --> 00:08:41,389 under the still convenient notion that all values are equal 161 00:08:41,529 --> 00:08:43,499 is simply not tenable. 162 00:08:43,639 --> 00:08:46,203 You are partially responsible 163 00:08:46,343 --> 00:08:48,556 for the thoughts and values of others 164 00:08:48,696 --> 00:08:51,363 and they are responsible for yours. 165 00:08:51,503 --> 00:08:55,100 There is nowhere to hide from the collective consciousness 166 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:57,855 and an underlying thesis of this presentation 167 00:08:57,995 --> 00:09:01,067 is that until human society is able to 168 00:09:01,207 --> 00:09:03,260 find and share a basic, common 169 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:07,338 working, responsible, near-empirical value set 170 00:09:07,478 --> 00:09:10,044 we're basically doomed. 171 00:09:10,806 --> 00:09:12,863 My hope here is to generate 172 00:09:13,003 --> 00:09:15,460 a personal and social reflection 173 00:09:15,600 --> 00:09:18,652 with respect to what you believe and why 174 00:09:18,792 --> 00:09:23,032 eventually to be framed within the social context I keep alluding to. 175 00:09:23,172 --> 00:09:27,297 It will be argued that the failure of emergent perception 176 00:09:27,437 --> 00:09:30,135 to be open and listen to the world we live in 177 00:09:30,275 --> 00:09:32,949 rather than impose upon it 178 00:09:33,089 --> 00:09:36,691 with these traditional assumptions we blindly hold as empirical 179 00:09:36,831 --> 00:09:41,439 is the psychological root of the problems we see in the world today: 180 00:09:41,579 --> 00:09:43,706 environmental, social. 181 00:09:43,846 --> 00:09:45,789 It is a value system disorder 182 00:09:45,929 --> 00:09:48,441 that is continually created and reinforced 183 00:09:48,581 --> 00:09:52,487 by the social system we inhabit and share ideologically 184 00:09:52,627 --> 00:09:54,961 and if uncorrected, it could lead 185 00:09:55,101 --> 00:09:57,958 to the collapse of human society as we know it today. 186 00:09:58,098 --> 00:10:01,148 A collapse which (if you're paying attention) 187 00:10:01,288 --> 00:10:04,235 is accelerating right now across the world 188 00:10:04,375 --> 00:10:06,758 fueled again by a set of detrimental 189 00:10:06,898 --> 00:10:09,392 perspectives that go largely unrecognized 190 00:10:09,532 --> 00:10:13,683 like cancer cells go unrecognized to an immune system. 191 00:10:15,048 --> 00:10:19,775 In 1884, a unique book was published called 'Flatland' 192 00:10:19,915 --> 00:10:22,290 and apart of some very clever social commentary 193 00:10:22,430 --> 00:10:24,105 the work gave a perspective of 194 00:10:24,245 --> 00:10:27,130 what it would be like to live in a 2-dimensional reality 195 00:10:27,270 --> 00:10:29,829 as opposed to the 3-dimensional one that we share. 196 00:10:29,969 --> 00:10:32,653 One can go left and right, forward and back 197 00:10:32,793 --> 00:10:34,922 but there was no such thing as up and down. 198 00:10:35,062 --> 00:10:37,074 Perspective was hence restricted. 199 00:10:37,214 --> 00:10:39,574 If something from the 3rd dimension was to come 200 00:10:39,714 --> 00:10:41,728 and visit this 2-dimensional reality 201 00:10:41,868 --> 00:10:45,536 the perception of that object would be confined 202 00:10:45,676 --> 00:10:49,108 to the properties enabled by the 2-dimensional view. 203 00:10:49,248 --> 00:10:51,368 A 3-dimensional object moving up and down 204 00:10:51,508 --> 00:10:54,435 through the 2-dimensional plane, would be perceived by the inhabitants 205 00:10:54,575 --> 00:10:58,629 as this mysterious mutating 2-dimensional line. 206 00:10:59,395 --> 00:11:01,544 I would like to use this abstract notion 207 00:11:01,684 --> 00:11:05,941 as a very loose metaphor with respect to cultural perception. 208 00:11:06,081 --> 00:11:08,619 What if those in the 2-dimensional flatland 209 00:11:08,759 --> 00:11:11,935 had actually always been in the 3-dimensional space 210 00:11:12,075 --> 00:11:14,232 but their frame of reference was so limited 211 00:11:14,372 --> 00:11:16,391 by the tools of measurement they had 212 00:11:16,531 --> 00:11:20,559 their experience so consistent with the 2-dimensional world 213 00:11:20,699 --> 00:11:25,648 their associated values so ingrained and stubborn as generations past 214 00:11:25,788 --> 00:11:28,802 that they were simply unable to reconcile its presence 215 00:11:28,942 --> 00:11:32,000 even though it was obviously there? 216 00:11:32,140 --> 00:11:34,518 They might have even established whole philosophies 217 00:11:34,658 --> 00:11:37,156 and institutions based on the appearance of their world 218 00:11:37,296 --> 00:11:40,173 perhaps 'The Church of Squares' 219 00:11:40,313 --> 00:11:45,260 or 'Linear Economics' or the party 'Line of Politics'. 220 00:11:46,904 --> 00:11:49,846 But as time went on and their tools and education grew 221 00:11:49,986 --> 00:11:54,207 the consequences of their perceptual folly started to manifest 222 00:11:54,347 --> 00:11:56,701 and the beliefs and institutions they had created 223 00:11:56,841 --> 00:11:59,826 started to draw a confusion and disorder as a natural evolution. 224 00:11:59,966 --> 00:12:02,456 They might have thought "How could the very fabric 225 00:12:02,596 --> 00:12:05,041 of our assumptions that we all share of this reality 226 00:12:05,181 --> 00:12:08,839 that seem correct and almost provable over long periods of time 227 00:12:08,979 --> 00:12:11,909 how could they actually be wrong?" 228 00:12:13,062 --> 00:12:16,628 Around 200 BC a Greek mathematician named Eratosthenes 229 00:12:16,768 --> 00:12:18,626 estimated the circumference of the planet Earth 230 00:12:18,766 --> 00:12:22,717 likely the first mathematically to solidify that it was truly round and not flat 231 00:12:22,857 --> 00:12:28,134 a rather dramatic finding since, it certainly looks flat, doesn't it? 232 00:12:29,196 --> 00:12:32,257 In Psalm 93 of the Bible it states "The world is firmly established. 233 00:12:32,397 --> 00:12:34,636 It cannot be moved." In another passage it states 234 00:12:34,776 --> 00:12:39,068 "The sun rises and the sun sets and then hurries to rise again." 235 00:12:39,208 --> 00:12:41,096 That would make sense too, wouldn't it? 236 00:12:41,236 --> 00:12:44,845 After all, when you look at the sky it appears to be moving around us. 237 00:12:44,985 --> 00:12:47,643 We still use that premise of thought in our language: 238 00:12:47,783 --> 00:12:51,414 We still say 'up and down' when it's really 'out and in'. 239 00:12:51,554 --> 00:12:54,648 We even still say 'sunrise' and 'sunset', interestingly enough. 240 00:12:54,788 --> 00:12:57,433 It wasn't until Galileo 241 00:12:57,573 --> 00:13:01,709 really introduced our now obvious heliocentric universe 242 00:13:01,849 --> 00:13:03,563 solar system, excuse me 243 00:13:03,703 --> 00:13:05,664 and it was confirmed, obviously 244 00:13:05,804 --> 00:13:08,957 among much traditional controversy. 245 00:13:09,097 --> 00:13:11,204 Since we're on the subject of the stars 246 00:13:11,344 --> 00:13:14,796 (to continue this type of example as I inch into value systems that 247 00:13:14,936 --> 00:13:17,461 might be shared in the common community) 248 00:13:17,601 --> 00:13:19,640 one of the most persistent pastimes 249 00:13:19,780 --> 00:13:22,165 of human indulgence since the beginning of recorded history 250 00:13:22,305 --> 00:13:25,886 a practice that has generated a flourishing economic industry to this day 251 00:13:26,026 --> 00:13:28,496 spreading across virtually all cultures 252 00:13:28,636 --> 00:13:30,803 is the practice of astrology. 253 00:13:30,943 --> 00:13:32,969 In Western astrology, the signs of the zodiac 254 00:13:33,109 --> 00:13:36,308 depending on their positions at a certain time 255 00:13:36,448 --> 00:13:39,205 are thought to have predictive power in some interpretive form 256 00:13:39,355 --> 00:13:40,863 horoscopes, etc. 257 00:13:41,003 --> 00:13:44,090 Astrology is so popular today across the world 258 00:13:44,230 --> 00:13:47,257 that you can't really read a newspaper without finding a column on it. 259 00:13:47,397 --> 00:13:51,230 I even tend myself to be asked what my sign is a few times a month 260 00:13:51,370 --> 00:13:55,981 when I engage in different conferences. It's very, very common. 261 00:13:57,428 --> 00:14:02,508 But what is the basic perceptual source of this belief 262 00:14:02,648 --> 00:14:04,571 especially Western tradition? 263 00:14:04,711 --> 00:14:07,359 It might as well be straight out of the book 'Flatland'. 264 00:14:07,499 --> 00:14:10,260 First of all, the view of all constellations are seen as 2-dimensional 265 00:14:10,400 --> 00:14:14,541 yet the luminance of those celestial bodies that make up those forms 266 00:14:14,681 --> 00:14:17,303 are actually distributed across vast distances 267 00:14:17,443 --> 00:14:19,383 in 3-dimensional space. 268 00:14:19,523 --> 00:14:22,043 Constellations as we know them simply do not exist 269 00:14:22,183 --> 00:14:26,909 outside of the prima facie pictures we see in the night sky. 270 00:14:27,400 --> 00:14:29,945 Second, stars are not fixed as we came to understand. 271 00:14:30,085 --> 00:14:32,760 They are born and they die like us. 272 00:14:32,900 --> 00:14:35,328 It is the illusion of permanence given a 273 00:14:35,468 --> 00:14:37,455 very short duration on this planet 274 00:14:37,595 --> 00:14:40,144 in regards to human evolution in cosmic time 275 00:14:40,284 --> 00:14:44,242 that we think these 2D pictures will be the same for eternity 276 00:14:44,382 --> 00:14:47,438 holding empirical value. 277 00:14:47,578 --> 00:14:51,957 Third, to reintegrate the 2D flaw: 278 00:14:52,097 --> 00:14:54,446 It's only a fixed perception from the planet Earth. 279 00:14:54,586 --> 00:14:56,727 If we are viewing these same stars from another side 280 00:14:56,867 --> 00:14:58,887 of the Milky Way galaxy from a different angle 281 00:14:59,016 --> 00:15:04,182 they would not represent anything close to the forms we see from here. 282 00:15:04,322 --> 00:15:06,645 Despite the popular culture's interest 283 00:15:06,785 --> 00:15:10,865 which is actually quite romantic given the deep yearning 284 00:15:11,005 --> 00:15:13,828 to understand our place and relationship to the universe 285 00:15:13,968 --> 00:15:15,846 (relationship by the way 286 00:15:15,986 --> 00:15:19,213 is the most common definition of spirituality) 287 00:15:19,353 --> 00:15:21,805 we are only left to realize that 288 00:15:21,945 --> 00:15:25,350 in what I will call the 'Expanded Dimensional Reality' 289 00:15:25,490 --> 00:15:29,033 debunking the limited dimensional perception 290 00:15:29,173 --> 00:15:34,236 no different than thinking the world was flat or 291 00:15:34,376 --> 00:15:37,858 that the sun moved around the Earth 292 00:15:37,998 --> 00:15:40,457 most today won't argue those facts 293 00:15:40,597 --> 00:15:45,035 as adamantly as they will argue their belief in astrology. 294 00:15:45,698 --> 00:15:48,889 Another example of this limited dimensional perception 295 00:15:49,029 --> 00:15:51,056 comes from the cultural characteristics 296 00:15:51,196 --> 00:15:53,736 of the period of origin of certain ideas. 297 00:15:53,876 --> 00:15:56,776 Just as the constellations still today 298 00:15:56,916 --> 00:16:00,489 are recognized for their names after spoons 299 00:16:00,629 --> 00:16:03,524 and oxcarts and scales and common animals 300 00:16:03,664 --> 00:16:08,341 as opposed to space shuttles and TVs, laptops and smartphones 301 00:16:10,881 --> 00:16:13,321 the projections of thought of any point in time 302 00:16:13,461 --> 00:16:16,810 can only reflect the state of knowledge at that point in time. 303 00:16:16,950 --> 00:16:19,652 It's a dead give-away. 304 00:16:19,792 --> 00:16:22,951 The traditional religious systems of belief 305 00:16:23,091 --> 00:16:26,168 contain the rhetoric, not of an advanced technological society 306 00:16:26,308 --> 00:16:29,469 or a society of advancements in civil rights 307 00:16:29,609 --> 00:16:32,292 or advanced medical treatments, no. 308 00:16:32,432 --> 00:16:35,425 It contains the period-based, cultural values 309 00:16:35,565 --> 00:16:38,696 that occurred thousands of years in the past. 310 00:16:38,836 --> 00:16:42,276 Did God invent man or did man invent God? 311 00:16:42,416 --> 00:16:45,830 Do the depictions of monotheistic gods appear like us? 312 00:16:45,970 --> 00:16:48,064 Why do they? Why do they appear like us? 313 00:16:48,204 --> 00:16:50,638 Why do they have tempers like man? Why are they emotional 314 00:16:50,778 --> 00:16:54,029 and judgmental and volatile and retributive? 315 00:16:54,169 --> 00:16:58,748 Why is it that monotheism is common to desolate, desert cultures 316 00:16:58,888 --> 00:17:03,234 while polytheism is common to lush, diverse, rainforest cultures? 317 00:17:03,374 --> 00:17:07,025 Is it random chance that nearly all the early gods of Greece and Egypt 318 00:17:07,165 --> 00:17:09,843 actually related to natural phenomenon? 319 00:17:09,983 --> 00:17:13,771 The sun, the moon, the stars, the ocean, water... 320 00:17:13,911 --> 00:17:16,401 It's almost as though the minds of 321 00:17:16,541 --> 00:17:19,272 those who created these stories and ideas 322 00:17:19,412 --> 00:17:23,327 were trying to figure out what the natural world was and what it was doing 323 00:17:23,467 --> 00:17:27,989 and they could only impose their culturally specific ideas upon them 324 00:17:28,129 --> 00:17:32,765 as the organism of knowledge continued its evolution. 325 00:17:33,114 --> 00:17:35,902 Why are the gods in traditional African religions black 326 00:17:36,042 --> 00:17:38,184 and the gods in the West white? Why are the gods 327 00:17:38,324 --> 00:17:40,574 of patriarchal societies always male? 328 00:17:40,714 --> 00:17:43,245 And why is it that people born in the cultures 329 00:17:43,385 --> 00:17:47,297 that support these beliefs tend to perpetuate them? 330 00:17:47,437 --> 00:17:50,888 How often do you hear of an Arab person born in the Muslim culture 331 00:17:51,028 --> 00:17:54,179 magically becoming Jewish as a child? 332 00:17:55,078 --> 00:17:58,457 I'm sorry to stand in what could be a controversial opposition 333 00:17:58,597 --> 00:18:02,199 to the beliefs of what are really billions of people 334 00:18:02,339 --> 00:18:06,280 that ascribe to say astrology or theistic religious belief 335 00:18:06,420 --> 00:18:10,297 but when the perceptual context of origin of these belief systems 336 00:18:10,437 --> 00:18:11,985 are taken into account 337 00:18:12,125 --> 00:18:16,210 we find a clear, limited, dimensional perception 338 00:18:16,350 --> 00:18:20,601 cloaked as relevant through traditional perpetuation 339 00:18:20,741 --> 00:18:24,521 denying the emergent nature of our reality. 340 00:18:25,632 --> 00:18:30,191 This leads me to the true focus of this talk (believe it or not) 341 00:18:30,331 --> 00:18:33,023 for the limited dimensional perception (and I apologize 342 00:18:33,163 --> 00:18:37,189 for the annoying techno jargon but it's the best I come up with)... 343 00:18:37,329 --> 00:18:39,851 This limited dimensional perception 344 00:18:39,991 --> 00:18:42,882 is not limited to these obvious examples. 345 00:18:43,022 --> 00:18:45,896 In the very fabric of modern society with respect to 346 00:18:46,036 --> 00:18:49,813 our economic, legal and political system, is no different 347 00:18:49,953 --> 00:18:55,101 not to mention the vast number of contemporary value distortions 348 00:18:55,241 --> 00:19:01,098 that continue to masquerade as viable, applicable and normal. 349 00:19:02,408 --> 00:19:05,387 How many people here are Republicans? 350 00:19:05,527 --> 00:19:08,692 How many people here are Democrats? 351 00:19:09,336 --> 00:19:13,062 How many people here are Independents? 352 00:19:14,222 --> 00:19:16,558 How many people here reject all political parties 353 00:19:16,698 --> 00:19:19,300 and find the political concept itself as outdated 354 00:19:19,440 --> 00:19:21,912 unscientific and detrimental to social progress? 355 00:19:22,052 --> 00:19:24,774 Wow! 356 00:19:27,414 --> 00:19:31,205 How many people here are Capitalists? 357 00:19:31,345 --> 00:19:34,737 How many people here are Socialists? 358 00:19:35,659 --> 00:19:38,809 How many people here find such notions 359 00:19:38,949 --> 00:19:42,744 to be equally as outdated, arbitrary and useless 360 00:19:42,884 --> 00:19:47,412 with respect to truly efficient economic management? Thank you! 361 00:19:47,552 --> 00:19:49,578 Just as people were born into a culture 362 00:19:49,720 --> 00:19:51,738 that supports traditional, religious belief 363 00:19:51,878 --> 00:19:55,340 tend to conform their values 364 00:19:55,480 --> 00:19:58,971 and perpetuate those values without critical thought 365 00:19:59,111 --> 00:20:01,437 so do almost all of us when it comes to 366 00:20:01,577 --> 00:20:03,598 our modern social institutions 367 00:20:03,738 --> 00:20:06,180 which we think are intellectually viable 368 00:20:06,320 --> 00:20:08,905 and separate from the religious dogma. 369 00:20:09,045 --> 00:20:12,638 Let's take government and politics. 370 00:20:13,687 --> 00:20:17,664 Politics in Greek means of, for, or relating to citizens. 371 00:20:17,804 --> 00:20:21,142 It's essentially a decision-making method of social operation 372 00:20:21,282 --> 00:20:24,122 and while variance does exist, the most dominant form today 373 00:20:24,262 --> 00:20:26,748 is that some kind of representative government 374 00:20:26,888 --> 00:20:29,999 where the interests of the people are said to have some expression 375 00:20:30,139 --> 00:20:32,747 through the representation. 376 00:20:32,887 --> 00:20:34,434 In the United States 377 00:20:34,574 --> 00:20:36,774 we are said to have a constitutional republic. 378 00:20:36,914 --> 00:20:40,271 This is basically a form of representative democracy 379 00:20:40,411 --> 00:20:45,265 which must govern within the confines of existing constitutional law 380 00:20:45,405 --> 00:20:48,527 which is a fairly rigid set of preconceived declarations 381 00:20:48,667 --> 00:20:51,026 that apply not only to the conduct of government 382 00:20:51,166 --> 00:20:54,004 but also to the people. 383 00:20:54,144 --> 00:20:56,164 Why not pure democracy? 384 00:20:56,304 --> 00:20:59,974 Because pure democracy is 100 white men hanging one black man. 385 00:21:00,114 --> 00:21:02,713 The originators of this country had a decent intuition 386 00:21:02,853 --> 00:21:05,055 about the dangers of crowd mentality. 387 00:21:05,195 --> 00:21:07,724 In the words of Thomas Jefferson "A democracy 388 00:21:07,864 --> 00:21:10,996 is nothing more than mob rule where 51% of people 389 00:21:11,136 --> 00:21:14,111 may take away the rights of the other 49%." 390 00:21:14,251 --> 00:21:19,537 Democracy, to be applicable, is really contingent upon 391 00:21:19,677 --> 00:21:24,189 the masses being educated about their environment 392 00:21:24,329 --> 00:21:26,724 so their votes have quality. 393 00:21:26,864 --> 00:21:30,306 Since that's very hard to qualify 394 00:21:30,446 --> 00:21:33,417 a benchmark of 'rights' 395 00:21:33,557 --> 00:21:36,094 hence the Constitution had to be created 396 00:21:36,234 --> 00:21:38,178 to enable some form of regulation. 397 00:21:38,318 --> 00:21:39,931 I hope that makes sense 398 00:21:40,071 --> 00:21:42,685 because this train of thought is going to carry farther. 399 00:21:42,825 --> 00:21:44,676 It's a benchmark. 400 00:21:44,816 --> 00:21:47,113 The issue of a benchmark 401 00:21:47,253 --> 00:21:49,469 as I'd like to present in this exercise 402 00:21:49,609 --> 00:21:51,689 doesn't just occur with democracy. 403 00:21:51,829 --> 00:21:55,158 It's also applicable to the monetary system 404 00:21:55,298 --> 00:21:59,593 or the market system of monetary economics to be specific. 405 00:22:00,071 --> 00:22:02,738 Today we have what is called a 'Free Market'. 406 00:22:02,878 --> 00:22:04,902 It has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? 407 00:22:05,042 --> 00:22:08,204 It seems to feed the same value association 408 00:22:08,344 --> 00:22:10,518 we have regarding democracy 409 00:22:10,658 --> 00:22:13,243 the so-called 'Freedom of Choice'. 410 00:22:13,383 --> 00:22:16,443 The 'Free Market' means that through the movement of money 411 00:22:16,583 --> 00:22:19,816 power and property can be bought and sold 412 00:22:19,956 --> 00:22:22,990 the only limitation being the state of your wealth 413 00:22:23,140 --> 00:22:26,410 your purchasing power, the actions of your competitors 414 00:22:26,550 --> 00:22:30,200 and the laws created to maintain order within the system 415 00:22:30,334 --> 00:22:33,593 and it's the law attribute that I find the most interesting. 416 00:22:33,733 --> 00:22:36,142 This is the benchmark: the legislation 417 00:22:36,282 --> 00:22:40,747 or the regulatory 'game rules' because it's just a game. 418 00:22:40,887 --> 00:22:43,805 This benchmark regulation is inherent in both 419 00:22:43,945 --> 00:22:46,037 the Free Market and democracy 420 00:22:46,177 --> 00:22:52,097 two ideas based upon the broad, romantic view of free choice. 421 00:22:52,237 --> 00:22:54,351 This to me is really interesting 422 00:22:54,491 --> 00:22:57,422 for these benchmarks basically imply 423 00:22:57,562 --> 00:23:02,715 some type of third party, external, empirical reality 424 00:23:02,855 --> 00:23:04,762 an empirical reality that 425 00:23:04,902 --> 00:23:08,776 would have to inherently be absent of some form of choice 426 00:23:08,916 --> 00:23:11,936 and freedom for them to exist as they do. 427 00:23:12,076 --> 00:23:13,877 Think about that for a moment. 428 00:23:14,044 --> 00:23:15,748 It's a contradiction 429 00:23:15,888 --> 00:23:18,976 and this contradiction can be seen as an influence 430 00:23:19,116 --> 00:23:23,999 coming from the new emergent understandings 431 00:23:24,139 --> 00:23:26,569 that arise to the evolution of knowledge 432 00:23:26,709 --> 00:23:29,159 new experience-driven information 433 00:23:29,293 --> 00:23:32,695 trying to self-correct prior beliefs 434 00:23:32,835 --> 00:23:37,927 through trial-and-error or intuitive, step-by-step adaptation. 435 00:23:38,324 --> 00:23:40,839 The very foundational premise 436 00:23:40,979 --> 00:23:43,506 of democracy and the Free Market as far as theory 437 00:23:43,646 --> 00:23:45,916 is intrinsically flawed. Obviously 438 00:23:46,056 --> 00:23:48,301 something is missing, or many things are missing 439 00:23:48,441 --> 00:23:50,814 because it can't work on its own. 440 00:23:50,954 --> 00:23:55,360 It requires influence of a third-party decision process. 441 00:23:55,500 --> 00:23:59,074 Democracy is contingent upon an informed public 442 00:23:59,214 --> 00:24:01,186 along with certain ever-present rights 443 00:24:01,326 --> 00:24:03,755 which are essentially there because it is assumed 444 00:24:03,895 --> 00:24:07,354 that the public doesn't know them, but they should. 445 00:24:07,494 --> 00:24:11,520 The Free Market requires third-party rules to maintain order 446 00:24:11,660 --> 00:24:16,366 rules which often demand certain environmental safeties: 447 00:24:16,506 --> 00:24:21,442 pollution and basic-efficiency protocols. 448 00:24:21,582 --> 00:24:24,459 We all know that the system as it stands in the Free Market 449 00:24:24,599 --> 00:24:27,817 left to its own devices would use up just about everything 450 00:24:27,957 --> 00:24:30,456 as I will allude to here in a little while. 451 00:24:30,596 --> 00:24:34,384 The system can't stand on its own; it will self-destruct. 452 00:24:34,524 --> 00:24:37,750 These rules are needed 453 00:24:37,890 --> 00:24:42,211 to protect the Free Market and democracy from itself 454 00:24:42,351 --> 00:24:45,929 otherwise, they will self-destruct. 455 00:24:46,069 --> 00:24:49,940 As an extended example, if it wasn't for the regulations existing 456 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,287 against corporate monopoly 457 00:24:52,427 --> 00:24:55,018 the world would've been taken over by one corporation 458 00:24:55,158 --> 00:24:57,604 a long, long time ago. 459 00:24:57,744 --> 00:25:00,441 Despite the statistically void 460 00:25:00,581 --> 00:25:04,065 utterly false notions perpetuated by economists 461 00:25:04,205 --> 00:25:08,465 that the more 'free' the market, the more efficient 462 00:25:08,605 --> 00:25:12,247 free market competition is one of the most hegemonic concepts 463 00:25:12,387 --> 00:25:14,616 ever invented. 464 00:25:14,756 --> 00:25:18,490 While mob-rule democracy (again, continuing our comparison) 465 00:25:18,630 --> 00:25:22,615 can generate mass irrationality with no basis in reality 466 00:25:22,755 --> 00:25:26,710 if not properly collared through rights and education. 467 00:25:26,850 --> 00:25:29,566 I'm sorry to drill this in but it's very important. 468 00:25:29,706 --> 00:25:32,104 By the way, I suggest a book called 469 00:25:32,244 --> 00:25:35,859 'The Crowd: A Study of the Popular Mind' 470 00:25:35,999 --> 00:25:38,296 if you want to read about how crowd mentality 471 00:25:38,436 --> 00:25:41,522 can override independent thought in a very caustic way. 472 00:25:41,662 --> 00:25:44,318 It's well documented that people lose their objectivity 473 00:25:44,458 --> 00:25:48,322 and lose their sense of control when involved in mass-appeal. 474 00:25:48,462 --> 00:25:51,741 That isn't just for a soccer riot. It happens through the media. 475 00:25:51,881 --> 00:25:54,829 It happens through many different forms. 476 00:25:54,969 --> 00:25:57,158 So, then... 477 00:25:57,298 --> 00:25:59,818 What is this benchmark that we keep seeing? 478 00:25:59,958 --> 00:26:04,597 What is really being referenced in the broad view? Using the example 479 00:26:04,737 --> 00:26:07,950 of rights for democracy and regulation for the Free Market 480 00:26:08,090 --> 00:26:12,131 what do those two issues really reach for? 481 00:26:12,271 --> 00:26:15,241 It reaches for the natural order 482 00:26:15,762 --> 00:26:19,435 or more operationally, Scientific Causality. 483 00:26:19,575 --> 00:26:23,674 That is what is breaching through the concrete. 484 00:26:24,324 --> 00:26:28,006 The most dangerous value we can have floating around the culture today... 485 00:26:28,146 --> 00:26:30,921 (I hope everyone can really listen carefully to this) 486 00:26:31,061 --> 00:26:33,544 most dangerous value we have floating around the culture today 487 00:26:33,684 --> 00:26:36,838 is the idea that any of us have freedom of choice 488 00:26:36,978 --> 00:26:39,208 or the right to our own opinion 489 00:26:39,348 --> 00:26:42,254 especially when it comes to issues of human survival 490 00:26:42,394 --> 00:26:44,400 and sustainability. 491 00:26:44,540 --> 00:26:46,716 We cannot choose; we can only align 492 00:26:46,856 --> 00:26:50,456 if we wish to survive and prosper, period. 493 00:26:50,596 --> 00:26:52,790 There is simply no such thing as freedom 494 00:26:52,930 --> 00:26:55,116 when the benchmark of Scientific Causality 495 00:26:55,256 --> 00:26:59,183 is brought into the equation with respect to any action or goal. 496 00:26:59,323 --> 00:27:03,068 The only caveat is the emergent uncertainty 497 00:27:03,208 --> 00:27:05,375 of the evolution of knowledge 498 00:27:05,515 --> 00:27:09,279 which does require a threshold of flexibility. 499 00:27:09,419 --> 00:27:12,367 Why? Because we don't know everything 500 00:27:12,507 --> 00:27:15,897 but we do seem to get closer and closer 501 00:27:16,037 --> 00:27:20,330 to more empirical understandings as time moves forward. 502 00:27:20,990 --> 00:27:23,046 Is there really any freedom 503 00:27:23,186 --> 00:27:26,046 to how we organize our economy on a finite planet 504 00:27:26,186 --> 00:27:28,046 if the goal is to create the most 505 00:27:28,186 --> 00:27:30,665 efficient, sustainable means of production 506 00:27:30,805 --> 00:27:33,335 distribution and regeneration? 507 00:27:33,475 --> 00:27:35,076 No, there isn't. 508 00:27:35,216 --> 00:27:39,257 Industry is a technical process, a calculation problem 509 00:27:39,397 --> 00:27:41,548 where the variables of human needs 510 00:27:41,688 --> 00:27:44,414 physical science and earthly resources 511 00:27:44,551 --> 00:27:48,199 are brought into a single, regulatory equation. 512 00:27:48,339 --> 00:27:51,810 The properties of our resources can be scientifically quantified now 513 00:27:51,950 --> 00:27:54,417 strategically assessed as far as their purpose 514 00:27:54,557 --> 00:27:57,150 strategically oriented as far as the design 515 00:27:57,290 --> 00:27:59,306 and the most logical manner 516 00:27:59,446 --> 00:28:02,290 distributed through the exact same logic of pure efficiency. 517 00:28:02,430 --> 00:28:05,232 We have globalization on this planet! What the hell are we doing? 518 00:28:05,372 --> 00:28:07,271 We're taking stuff from all over the world 519 00:28:07,411 --> 00:28:10,222 exploiting labor, moving it around, wasting tons of energy 520 00:28:10,362 --> 00:28:13,526 when we could easily develop production methods in local communities 521 00:28:13,666 --> 00:28:16,030 where you'd save X-fold amount of energy. 522 00:28:16,170 --> 00:28:19,336 The distance between elements moving is X-fold less... 523 00:28:19,476 --> 00:28:20,983 It's insane 524 00:28:21,123 --> 00:28:24,986 but yet, the system perpetuates that. That's for a larger order subject 525 00:28:25,126 --> 00:28:27,016 that I've not enough time to go into). 526 00:28:27,156 --> 00:28:30,692 We could strategically orient industry, in itself evident as we do 527 00:28:30,832 --> 00:28:33,542 based on the physics of our reality in where things are. 528 00:28:33,682 --> 00:28:36,096 We could enable in a efficiency never known before. 529 00:28:36,236 --> 00:28:39,897 It becomes self-evident, and why would we possibly 530 00:28:40,037 --> 00:28:44,440 with regard to sustainability, want to do anything less? 531 00:28:45,088 --> 00:28:48,730 As counter-intuitive and culturally obtuse as it may seem 532 00:28:48,870 --> 00:28:51,566 there is no freedom or opinion in our technical reality. 533 00:28:51,706 --> 00:28:55,819 There is only the most efficient way up until now 534 00:28:55,959 --> 00:28:59,397 and the rest, is simply, inefficient. 535 00:28:59,537 --> 00:29:03,318 The definition of economy in Greek means: management of a household. 536 00:29:03,458 --> 00:29:06,654 A reduction of waste and maximized efficiency is inherent 537 00:29:06,794 --> 00:29:09,339 in this premise. 538 00:29:09,479 --> 00:29:13,479 Is this the way our current free market system is operating? 539 00:29:13,619 --> 00:29:16,810 Let's take a step back again. What drives the global economy? 540 00:29:16,950 --> 00:29:19,209 Consumption, and the more the better. 541 00:29:19,349 --> 00:29:21,795 More consumption means more jobs, better GDP 542 00:29:21,935 --> 00:29:24,211 and hence enabling more consumption 543 00:29:24,351 --> 00:29:27,217 through purchasing power that's enabled. Is that efficient? 544 00:29:27,357 --> 00:29:30,252 Shouldn't preservation and reducing waste 545 00:29:30,392 --> 00:29:34,684 be the basis of an economy of a finite planet by definition? 546 00:29:34,824 --> 00:29:39,000 How can an economy based on the need for constant growth and turnover 547 00:29:39,140 --> 00:29:42,735 and even an economy based on constant need of employment 548 00:29:42,875 --> 00:29:46,224 be 'economizing' anything at all? 549 00:29:47,623 --> 00:29:50,883 Then there's this thing called 'cost efficiency'. 550 00:29:51,023 --> 00:29:53,303 Cost efficiency demands cutting expenses 551 00:29:53,443 --> 00:29:56,296 to remain competitive in the market place. 552 00:29:56,436 --> 00:29:59,713 Every single product created by any corporation today 553 00:29:59,853 --> 00:30:03,860 without exception, is immediately inferior by design 554 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,116 for the market requirement to cut creation costs 555 00:30:07,256 --> 00:30:10,694 in favor of lowering the output purchasing price 556 00:30:10,834 --> 00:30:14,065 to maintain a competitive edge 557 00:30:14,205 --> 00:30:18,189 automatically reduces the quality of any given item by default. 558 00:30:18,329 --> 00:30:22,475 It is impossible to create the strategically best 559 00:30:22,615 --> 00:30:25,790 long-lasting 'anything' in our society 560 00:30:25,930 --> 00:30:30,220 and this translates into outrageous amounts of wasted resources. 561 00:30:30,360 --> 00:30:33,793 Likewise, the same mechanism is also reinforcing 562 00:30:33,933 --> 00:30:37,771 environmental disregard, depletion and pollution. 563 00:30:37,911 --> 00:30:39,935 Everyone is trying to save money. 564 00:30:40,075 --> 00:30:42,728 Why do you think they are really going to care about the environment? 565 00:30:42,868 --> 00:30:44,838 The logic is against it. 566 00:30:44,978 --> 00:30:47,091 We see this constant in the world today 567 00:30:47,231 --> 00:30:49,871 among many other issues I could list. 568 00:30:50,011 --> 00:30:53,600 If you take a moment to really step back and think about this 569 00:30:53,740 --> 00:30:57,708 not only is this inefficiency a characteristic of the market model 570 00:30:57,848 --> 00:31:00,196 it's actually the fundamental driver. 571 00:31:00,336 --> 00:31:03,858 Having clean, unpolluted water in your home 572 00:31:03,998 --> 00:31:06,080 might seem like a nice thing in gesture 573 00:31:06,220 --> 00:31:09,101 but the fact that money is not being exchanged for that 574 00:31:09,241 --> 00:31:14,403 is anathema to the economic sustainability that we've come to understand. 575 00:31:14,543 --> 00:31:19,784 More pollution means more profit. More disease means more jobs 576 00:31:20,621 --> 00:31:22,122 ad infinitum. 577 00:31:22,262 --> 00:31:24,976 I would go so far to say as pointed out here that 578 00:31:25,116 --> 00:31:27,672 sustainability, efficiency and preservation 579 00:31:27,812 --> 00:31:31,819 empirically are the enemies of our economic system 580 00:31:32,289 --> 00:31:35,305 and that's unfortunately, the firm reality. 581 00:31:35,445 --> 00:31:38,765 Those out there who talk about a green economy 582 00:31:38,905 --> 00:31:43,089 as though there is such a thing that could possibly exist in this system 583 00:31:43,229 --> 00:31:45,906 posing solutions within this structural order 584 00:31:46,046 --> 00:31:48,466 such as renewable energies, energy credits 585 00:31:48,606 --> 00:31:50,610 carbon footprint stuff 586 00:31:50,750 --> 00:31:53,384 they are not understanding what's actually at work here. 587 00:31:53,524 --> 00:31:56,494 You cannot have a true green, or even close to 588 00:31:56,634 --> 00:31:59,031 whatever you consider a sustainable economy 589 00:31:59,171 --> 00:32:02,034 in the market model of economics. 590 00:32:02,174 --> 00:32:05,406 It is technically impossible. The system would fail 591 00:32:05,546 --> 00:32:09,534 if we ever wanted to operate on a truly technical, sustainable level 592 00:32:09,674 --> 00:32:11,711 for the system is fueled 593 00:32:11,851 --> 00:32:15,482 by the exact opposite set of mechanics. 594 00:32:16,687 --> 00:32:19,307 I would even go so far to challenge 595 00:32:19,447 --> 00:32:22,799 for those out there that basically 596 00:32:22,939 --> 00:32:27,054 are not in favor of the complete abolition of the market economy 597 00:32:27,194 --> 00:32:30,282 as the solution to the destruction of our environment not to mention 598 00:32:30,422 --> 00:32:34,256 the collapse of the social order itself we are seeing 599 00:32:34,396 --> 00:32:38,405 while working to replace this system with a truly technical approach 600 00:32:38,545 --> 00:32:42,167 for resource management: proper scientific allocation 601 00:32:42,307 --> 00:32:45,704 seeking the highest level of efficiency possible 602 00:32:45,844 --> 00:32:48,345 at every turn in production and distribution 603 00:32:48,485 --> 00:32:52,180 for maximum sustainability which is a technical distinction 604 00:32:52,320 --> 00:32:56,015 including proper allocation of labor and everything else 605 00:32:56,334 --> 00:32:58,611 really, we're just engaging in patchwork. 606 00:32:58,751 --> 00:33:01,155 It's not going to do anything in the long run 607 00:33:01,295 --> 00:33:05,245 and we're wasting time because time is literally running out. 608 00:33:05,385 --> 00:33:07,551 This again, coming back to my premise 609 00:33:07,691 --> 00:33:10,830 is the result of our limited dimensional perception. 610 00:33:10,970 --> 00:33:14,339 We have based our economy on outdated notions of human behavior 611 00:33:14,479 --> 00:33:17,122 and convoluted notions of supposed freedom 612 00:33:17,262 --> 00:33:21,583 and ignored the true technical reality, true environmental reality 613 00:33:21,723 --> 00:33:25,349 that actually supports and sustains our lives 614 00:33:25,489 --> 00:33:28,476 and creates good public health. 615 00:33:28,809 --> 00:33:33,118 This realization that our true economic benchmark 616 00:33:33,258 --> 00:33:35,869 is science, and hence the self-evident 617 00:33:36,009 --> 00:33:39,518 calculation requirement needed to streamline our efficiency 618 00:33:39,658 --> 00:33:42,506 inherently voids the entire basis 619 00:33:42,646 --> 00:33:45,912 of free market economics itself. I can't reiterate that enough 620 00:33:46,052 --> 00:33:49,534 for it simply makes zero technical sense scientifically 621 00:33:49,674 --> 00:33:51,728 and is provably 622 00:33:51,868 --> 00:33:56,071 now working against our survival and accelerating. 623 00:33:59,450 --> 00:34:02,174 Coming back to politics, let's take a quantum leap 624 00:34:02,314 --> 00:34:04,818 outside of our traditional assumptions for a moment. 625 00:34:04,958 --> 00:34:08,607 What does the political institution and government really do? 626 00:34:08,747 --> 00:34:11,110 Why do we even have it? 627 00:34:11,250 --> 00:34:15,167 They work to compensate for the inefficiency of the economy. 628 00:34:15,307 --> 00:34:18,069 That's it! That's the only reason they're there. 629 00:34:18,209 --> 00:34:20,165 When people are not getting their needs met 630 00:34:20,305 --> 00:34:23,355 they often resort to so-called 'crime' 631 00:34:23,495 --> 00:34:25,959 so, government invents laws to silence 632 00:34:26,099 --> 00:34:29,803 those victims of the economic efficiency. 633 00:34:30,263 --> 00:34:34,599 Likewise, if we need resources being held in another sovereign nation 634 00:34:34,739 --> 00:34:36,950 aka region of the planet 635 00:34:37,090 --> 00:34:39,547 and we are not economically getting along with them 636 00:34:39,687 --> 00:34:42,459 we engage in war to steal those resources 637 00:34:42,599 --> 00:34:44,489 not to mention protect ourselves 638 00:34:44,629 --> 00:34:46,558 from others who might want to steal ours. 639 00:34:46,698 --> 00:34:49,326 There is no war in history 640 00:34:49,466 --> 00:34:53,920 that has not been based upon resource acquisition or protection. 641 00:34:55,419 --> 00:34:58,751 Likewise, the world's divided into gangs, ever noticed that? 642 00:34:58,891 --> 00:35:01,951 We still have these things called countries. 643 00:35:02,091 --> 00:35:05,669 We still assume a socially Darwinistic pretense 644 00:35:05,809 --> 00:35:08,201 with the very existence of these nation states 645 00:35:08,341 --> 00:35:11,764 not to mention the divisive, patriotic value distortions 646 00:35:11,904 --> 00:35:14,341 that are born out of it. 647 00:35:14,754 --> 00:35:18,684 Here once again, we have the limited, dimensional perspective 648 00:35:18,824 --> 00:35:22,340 clashing with an emergent, multi-dimensional reality. 649 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:24,755 Are countries relevant in technical terms? 650 00:35:24,895 --> 00:35:28,146 How could we possibly define them outside of our opinions? 651 00:35:28,286 --> 00:35:31,273 a) All humans share the same basic needs 652 00:35:31,413 --> 00:35:34,133 and b) the resources that we all need 653 00:35:34,273 --> 00:35:36,609 have no idea what a country is 654 00:35:36,749 --> 00:35:39,321 and they are dispersed everywhere on this planet 655 00:35:39,461 --> 00:35:42,981 in one single, unified ecosystem. 656 00:35:44,578 --> 00:35:48,685 If there's anything positive that came out of the US and Russian 657 00:35:48,825 --> 00:35:52,938 Cold War that almost triggered complete nuclear disaster decades ago 658 00:35:53,078 --> 00:35:56,495 it was the realization that radiation fallout in nuclear winter 659 00:35:56,635 --> 00:36:00,275 never heard of countries, flags or sovereignty. 660 00:36:00,415 --> 00:36:02,994 Just as the pollution from the Japanese power plants 661 00:36:03,134 --> 00:36:05,090 that melted down a while back 662 00:36:05,230 --> 00:36:10,335 it didn't need passports to cross over to other countries' atmospheres. 663 00:36:10,475 --> 00:36:13,270 I hope my point is clear. The fact is 664 00:36:13,410 --> 00:36:17,787 there is only and can only be one global economy 665 00:36:17,927 --> 00:36:22,679 and there is only one, and can only be one global society 666 00:36:22,819 --> 00:36:25,760 for our economic premise is what defines us 667 00:36:25,900 --> 00:36:28,368 and that's what our survival is. 668 00:36:28,508 --> 00:36:30,729 The socioeconomic system of our time is 669 00:36:30,869 --> 00:36:34,314 as archaic, dogmatically religious and pseudo scientific 670 00:36:34,454 --> 00:36:37,477 as any dogmatic religious belief. 671 00:36:37,617 --> 00:36:39,997 They are completely decoupled from the benchmark of 672 00:36:40,137 --> 00:36:43,513 our scientific emergent reality which is being denied 673 00:36:43,653 --> 00:36:47,380 held in place by traditional, non-emergent institutions 674 00:36:47,520 --> 00:36:49,153 which, mark my words 675 00:36:49,293 --> 00:36:52,856 will be what destroys life on this planet as we know it 676 00:36:52,996 --> 00:36:56,453 if the multi-dimensional reality that is springing up 677 00:36:56,593 --> 00:37:00,666 is not realized and brought to the surface quickly. 678 00:37:00,806 --> 00:37:03,600 The central problem we face is that the economic system is actually 679 00:37:03,740 --> 00:37:06,483 still systematically reinforcing itself 680 00:37:06,623 --> 00:37:08,804 continuing to hold this paradigm in place 681 00:37:08,944 --> 00:37:12,999 by the ongoing values and actions of the masses 682 00:37:13,422 --> 00:37:15,422 who do not see the true source of the problem 683 00:37:15,562 --> 00:37:17,609 because they're trapped inside of it 684 00:37:17,749 --> 00:37:19,745 and they are accelerating its effects. 685 00:37:19,885 --> 00:37:23,049 If anyone out there frames their sense of leadership 686 00:37:23,189 --> 00:37:26,583 or success, based on money or a claim 687 00:37:26,723 --> 00:37:29,526 you have a rude awakening coming to you. 688 00:37:29,666 --> 00:37:32,491 I couldn't help but notice reading the pamphlet 689 00:37:32,631 --> 00:37:35,251 of all the well-meaning presentations in this event 690 00:37:35,391 --> 00:37:38,068 and they seem to frame things in a very similar way 691 00:37:38,208 --> 00:37:40,594 as far as the way they orient themselves in this system. 692 00:37:40,734 --> 00:37:43,274 I don't blame them and I don't put them down 693 00:37:43,414 --> 00:37:45,542 but I hope this definition can eventually change. 694 00:37:45,682 --> 00:37:47,770 What is true success? 695 00:37:47,910 --> 00:37:50,413 Is success how well you manage your company 696 00:37:50,553 --> 00:37:52,531 sell a book, gain a profit 697 00:37:52,671 --> 00:37:55,561 or anything that engages the current socioeconomic paradigm? 698 00:37:55,701 --> 00:37:58,049 If you agree with what I have just described 699 00:37:58,189 --> 00:38:00,383 with respect to the economic system 700 00:38:00,523 --> 00:38:03,292 those focusing on short term material success 701 00:38:03,432 --> 00:38:05,410 might very well be assisting 702 00:38:05,550 --> 00:38:08,411 in their own long term failure and demise 703 00:38:08,551 --> 00:38:12,165 for they're only perpetuating a detrimental social system in the end 704 00:38:12,305 --> 00:38:16,279 that will get the best of all of us if it isn't stopped. 705 00:38:16,419 --> 00:38:18,905 Shouldn't true success be your ability to 706 00:38:19,045 --> 00:38:21,968 adapt to the emergence of new information 707 00:38:22,108 --> 00:38:25,234 improving your relationship with the natural order benchmark 708 00:38:25,374 --> 00:38:26,932 that we've spoken of? 709 00:38:27,072 --> 00:38:29,329 Is there really anything else that that can possibly 710 00:38:29,469 --> 00:38:32,622 define success in the broadest possible terms? 711 00:38:32,762 --> 00:38:36,754 Proper alignment with whatever reality happens to be 712 00:38:36,894 --> 00:38:39,814 advancing itself and you being with it. 713 00:38:39,954 --> 00:38:43,635 Do our relationships and marriages and bank accounts 714 00:38:43,775 --> 00:38:46,331 and even our children, our status, our acclaim 715 00:38:46,471 --> 00:38:51,126 really mean anything when it's stepped back to a larger order 716 00:38:51,266 --> 00:38:55,954 of what it means to relate to the world that you live in? 717 00:38:56,569 --> 00:38:59,994 There's a common term we frequently hear these days: corruption. 718 00:39:00,134 --> 00:39:04,626 It seems to be all over the news and you can't possibly escape it. 719 00:39:04,766 --> 00:39:07,139 How would you define corruption, broadly? 720 00:39:07,279 --> 00:39:09,156 I would define it 721 00:39:09,296 --> 00:39:14,026 as the initiation or support of deprivation 722 00:39:14,166 --> 00:39:16,615 exploitation and/or abuse 723 00:39:16,755 --> 00:39:19,638 either social or environmental. 724 00:39:20,437 --> 00:39:22,438 If this definition is accepted 725 00:39:22,578 --> 00:39:24,948 then it is logically correct to say 726 00:39:25,088 --> 00:39:29,611 that all acts of commerce are inherently corrupt. 727 00:39:30,585 --> 00:39:34,205 If you define corruption as deprivation, exploitation or abuse 728 00:39:34,345 --> 00:39:36,955 every time you mark up a value on a good you sell 729 00:39:37,095 --> 00:39:39,088 or cut corners to save money 730 00:39:39,228 --> 00:39:43,183 you are engaging in deprivation, exploitation and abuse 731 00:39:43,323 --> 00:39:47,712 by its systemic causal effect and intrinsic rationale. 732 00:39:47,852 --> 00:39:52,266 That is the behavior our social system requires to continue 733 00:39:52,406 --> 00:39:57,050 and that distortion is currently masked as normality. 734 00:39:57,566 --> 00:39:59,240 In conclusion 735 00:39:59,380 --> 00:40:01,752 and as a final rogue example of this 736 00:40:01,892 --> 00:40:04,423 limited, dimensional perspective 737 00:40:04,563 --> 00:40:07,673 meaning an emergent, multi-dimensional reality 738 00:40:07,813 --> 00:40:09,996 that is forcing its hand 739 00:40:10,136 --> 00:40:13,590 there is no 'you' and there is no 'me'. 740 00:40:13,730 --> 00:40:15,970 We live in a world which assumes division, why? 741 00:40:16,110 --> 00:40:18,773 Because that is what we perceive with our five senses 742 00:40:18,913 --> 00:40:20,711 limited sense organs 743 00:40:20,851 --> 00:40:23,984 but molecular study has proven the opposite. 744 00:40:24,124 --> 00:40:25,931 It doesn't see it that way. 745 00:40:26,071 --> 00:40:29,941 There is a perpetual ebb and flow and exchange in the molecular data 746 00:40:30,081 --> 00:40:33,126 constantly happening within you and outside of you 747 00:40:33,266 --> 00:40:37,963 interweaving with your environment at all times on many levels. 748 00:40:38,456 --> 00:40:42,846 Concurrently, our life support is explicitly symbiotic as well. 749 00:40:42,986 --> 00:40:44,986 We need resources to live and 750 00:40:45,126 --> 00:40:48,496 the connection to our evolutionarily adapted habitat 751 00:40:48,636 --> 00:40:51,503 that basically created us over generational time. 752 00:40:51,643 --> 00:40:54,798 There's absolutely no disconnect. 753 00:40:54,938 --> 00:40:57,809 In the words of Jacque Fresco 754 00:40:57,949 --> 00:41:00,431 "You don't see the plug up our ass 755 00:41:00,571 --> 00:41:03,332 but it happens to be there." 756 00:41:04,387 --> 00:41:06,135 And then we have... 757 00:41:06,275 --> 00:41:08,860 Then we have the knowledge level as well 758 00:41:09,000 --> 00:41:11,110 as I alluded to before. 759 00:41:11,250 --> 00:41:13,278 We exist in a group mind. 760 00:41:13,418 --> 00:41:15,545 Newton did not invent gravity 761 00:41:15,685 --> 00:41:18,424 just as Einstein did not invent relativity. 762 00:41:18,564 --> 00:41:21,031 For him to do so, he would have had to invent 763 00:41:21,171 --> 00:41:24,765 the whole of mathematical development since the beginning of time 764 00:41:24,905 --> 00:41:27,637 along with all the tools and supporting provisions 765 00:41:27,777 --> 00:41:30,497 and everything else that comprised his state of knowledge 766 00:41:30,637 --> 00:41:32,682 naturally, at that point in history. 767 00:41:32,822 --> 00:41:36,028 Every word coming out of my mouth has been learned. 768 00:41:36,168 --> 00:41:38,614 We only have the illusion of novelty 769 00:41:38,754 --> 00:41:40,605 because each of us appear 770 00:41:40,745 --> 00:41:44,230 to originate in seemingly separate pockets of experience 771 00:41:44,370 --> 00:41:46,962 in this connected unison that we share. 772 00:41:47,102 --> 00:41:52,203 Our supposed creations seem unique and original 773 00:41:52,343 --> 00:41:55,332 and novel but they're only expansions. 774 00:41:55,472 --> 00:41:58,049 As stated at the beginning, there's nowhere to hide 775 00:41:58,189 --> 00:42:02,596 from the collective consciousness and we're all responsible for each other. 776 00:42:02,736 --> 00:42:05,393 The underlining meaning of this presentation 777 00:42:05,533 --> 00:42:09,254 is that, until human society again is able to find 778 00:42:09,394 --> 00:42:12,823 a basic, common, working, responsible value set 779 00:42:12,963 --> 00:42:14,864 which we can basically agree upon 780 00:42:15,004 --> 00:42:19,354 which is consistently pinged against the emerging benchmark 781 00:42:19,494 --> 00:42:21,583 of our scientific reality 782 00:42:21,723 --> 00:42:25,432 we have a very difficult road ahead. 783 00:42:25,666 --> 00:42:29,032 Within this context, as we listen to the world around us 784 00:42:29,172 --> 00:42:32,195 I consider the most active value orientation we can have 785 00:42:32,335 --> 00:42:35,461 which almost guarantees an empathetic reaction 786 00:42:35,601 --> 00:42:39,910 which hopefully can maintain this social diligence that's required 787 00:42:40,050 --> 00:42:43,522 I consider the acceptance of our intrinsic unification 788 00:42:43,662 --> 00:42:47,807 to be the most powerful form of expression of these ideas: 789 00:42:47,947 --> 00:42:52,022 an acknowledgment of the oneness as it is poetically termed. 790 00:42:52,162 --> 00:42:55,521 This oneness over division value 791 00:42:55,661 --> 00:42:59,385 seems to be the ultimate example (at least in this point in time) 792 00:42:59,525 --> 00:43:02,348 of our limited dimensional perception 793 00:43:02,488 --> 00:43:05,886 being overcome by the multi-dimensional reality 794 00:43:06,026 --> 00:43:08,549 and if properly understood 795 00:43:08,689 --> 00:43:10,845 there could be no basis for war. 796 00:43:10,985 --> 00:43:12,987 There could be no logic for greed. 797 00:43:13,127 --> 00:43:15,890 There could be no such thing as inefficiency and waste 798 00:43:16,030 --> 00:43:19,269 no basis for poverty. There can't possibly be class 799 00:43:19,409 --> 00:43:22,706 and as abstract and misunderstood as it might sound 800 00:43:22,846 --> 00:43:24,855 there could be no basis to define you 801 00:43:24,995 --> 00:43:27,580 and there could be no basis to define me. 802 00:43:27,720 --> 00:43:30,063 Thank you.