The problem we are faced with is traditional thinking,
the mindset of the way forward being growth and jobs.
It is understandable,
we've been raised in this social environment all our lives,
of course
however there are many signs of failure
and they are all pointing at the same cause.
We have massive unemployment to be sure
yet we also have the much less discussed issue of under-employment.
We have climate change marching ever closer
the continual loss of global biodiversity
and the impending depletion of our all important oil reserves.
it is all intertwined.
Our technological advancements are replacing jobs,
faster than new ones can be invented
spending is down resulting in reduced employment hours,
which feeds back to reduced spending.
All the while productivity is actually increasing.
We want growth in the jobs market,
to get people back to work and to increase spending.
Unfortunately this growth has a negative impact on our environment
as we produce and throw away increasing amounts of junk we really never needed.
What we need in society is less, not more,
and the less needs to be done much more efficiently.
Our economy needs to be, well, economic.
We don't need a new iPhone every year or so
we need a phone which is built to last
and
easy to upgrade we don't need 30 different types
hammer or TV or a lawn mower in every home
we need to focus on building the best we
can produce
in short we need global collaboration
not competition
we are currently going through the labor pains of social change
Our hand is being forced as we come to understand that our social model is simply not sustainable.
Change could actually happen very quickly,
but we are all being held back by the antiquated thinking of those,
such as our politicians, whom have only one solution:
more toxic growth.
Growth for the sake of growth on a planet of finite resources is a recipe for disaster,
the only thing on our planet that continually grows is cancer.
It is time for a new way of thinking.
The reality we have created with our old competitive world view
is one of widening inequality and suffering.
We need to start thinking more about each other,
what it is we can do to help each other,
not how we can get ahead of or be better off than each other,
if we are to ever ease suffering and reduce inequality.
We need a society which is focussed on cooperation
and making the best most efficient use of our limited resources
so we may sustain a high standard of living for everyone.
We have all the tools we need in order to start making this a reality.
This very tool we are using right now,
the internet,
allows us to communicate over vast distances instantaneously.
It can carry data from anywhere in the world and make it available for everyone to see,
total transparency and information for all.
Engineers from all over the world
could be collaborating right now on how to construct the most efficient form of transportation.
We could have vertical automated farms in every city,
use 3D printing to produce houses,
transform our energy production from resource intensive power plants
to renewable sources,
and monitor the level of planetary resources, as examples.
All thanks to our ability to communicate, collect and store information on a global scale.
The ability to change is at our fingertips,
it is so tantalizingly close. If only we
could change our attitudes toward each other,
alter our way of seeing and thinking about our world.
You see this is the crux of the problem, the dilemma;
while we have the technical ability to change
we are yet to develop the collective desire.
Social conditioning has made it very difficult to consider
that we could actually be better off if we drastically altered our form of economics.
How could we be better off,
when we have all this great stuff?
We still think so inwardly,
sure the plight of the three billion poverty stricken on our planet is a very serious issue
and we all want that to change,
but I also want my plastic what-cha-ma call it with the three month guarantee and free subscription to pointlessshit.com.
It is fear that keeps this system going,
our fear of failure,
that if we try something new things might get really bad for us.
Things are already really bad.
All we need to do is spend some time looking around
and recognising how things have been continually degrading all our lives.
Sure we have lots of neat toys,
but what has the cost been, socially and environmentally?
Besides, if we looked after each other and our planet,
the things we would have less of might be the things we are happy to do without.
War, famine, ill health, work,
less of these may be desirable
and while we may have less brands of toys
is it possible that we could have better performing toys?
Do we really think we could not do better than this?
If we look at the path we are on objectively
we can see where it is leading,
a future with less animal life, less environmental stability, less opportunity.
To continue down this corporate controlled consumer path,
remaining blissfully ignorant of the reality we are faced with,
stealing from the future to appease our false wants,
will only lead us to a slow grinding self destruction.
We are human beings,
full of potential, we can do anything we put our minds to.
We can have a new social contract, a new economy.
It all starts with us changing our thinking in relation to each other and the world we live on together.
Politicians and the business community at large
would have us believe that the problems in our economy
are a result of poor business confidence
and that the resolution to our socio-economic issues
would be resolved by boosting confidence in the consumer.
Confidence
What are we actually talking about when we discuss consumer confidence?
Shopping,
strong consumer confidence indicates to corporations
that people will head out and spend their hard earned cash on goods and services in a repetitious fashion,
empowering growth
and securing job stability in the market.
Nowhere in that equation is there concern or quarter given to biosphere sustainability
or the impacts of a throw away consumption model,
built around perceived obsolescence,
on our children’s and grandchildren’s futures.
The term environmental sustainability is not in the lexicon of our business community at large,
the focus is on profit projections, consumption trends,
cuts to financial costs and marketing to capture repeat custom.
An economy that has its basis in environmental concern,
sustainability, equality
and the type of freedom that does not require us to be told we are free:
That is a direction we can head in as a species.
In the direction of what has been termed a Resource Based Economic Model
A Resource Based Economic Model is more than an economic system;
it is a way of life,
a holistic social and economic system that requires the Earth’s resources be viewed
as the common heritage of all the Earth’s inhabitants.
That promotes the understanding
that the Earth is not something to be divided and owned,
but rather is our shared home which requires our collective stewardship.
It makes use of resources, not money
and concentrates on equitable distribution
in the most humane and efficient manner possible.
It provides all goods and services to everyone without the use of money,
barter, credits or any other form of debt of servitude.
Our current scientific understandings and technological advancement
can easily allow us to provide access abundance for all the worlds population
and that is the aim of a Resource Based Economic Model
The implementation of such an economy will require a fundamental values shift.
Hoarding, greed
and superficial commercially manufactured desires,
which are so prevalent in our society today,
have no place in such an economy.
It is the pervasiveness of this values disorder
that can get in the way of understanding or even entering into discourse about this type of economy.
Just as one must be prepared to understand that our monetary economy is not inherently evil,
as it was developed in a time of real scarcity,
as a mechanism by which to ration as fairly as we knew how,
one must also accept that over thousands of years
things have changed.
We understand more about our natural world
and our technical capabilities have exploded
beyond what our rationing system can cope with.
It is for this reason that we must accept
that questioning our current economy and its fundamental mechanics should not be seen as taboo,
but as a part of our natural progression as a social animal on this planet.
As a species we have developed a tendency to mistrust each other.
When operating socially
from the confines of an economic system
that requires us to strive to gain differential advantage over one another in order to elevate our standard of living,
this should come as no surprise.
Such permeating mistrust runs the gambit from the rational;
having a reluctance to divulge personal information to unknown people over the internet,
through to the irrational;
being convinced that scientists are working in collusion with government agencies to gain control over us
via a climate change conspiracy.
This propensity to see conspiracy everywhere shows up as soon as we begin to discuss a computerized system of accounting planetary resources,
which when looking at something as complex as monitoring resource abundance/scarcity on a global scale
is absolutely necessary.
It is a commonly held misunderstanding
that in a resource based economy there will be a centralised supercomputer controlling our lives,
dictating what we can and cannot do.
While it is true that computers will be needed
to collect and store data in relation to resource monitoring systems,
the idea that it will be one all seeing, all controlling computer overlord is a misnomer.
What we could expect is that there would be many computers all over the world
collecting and monitoring data in relation to regional resources and overall use.
This would not include data on individuals,
but on overall collective use and regeneration of resources
constantly updated to give the most accurate assessment of levels of resource availability.
This would not make decisions for us,
but rather empower us with the knowledge of current resource availability
enabling us to contemplate when,
how and what we would use specific resources for.
It would be people that would make decisions.
Not some computer,
the computer would do nothing more than allow us to be aware of impending resource scarcity,
how we reacted to that information would be up to us.
It must be understood that we are not going to awaken in the morning
and suddenly find ourselves living in such an economy,
before that can happen there are fundamental things that must change about the way we view our planet and each other.
We must undergo a values shift,
which will allow us to see each other as brothers and sisters sharing a small delicate planet
that it is in our interests to nurture
as opposed to stripping bare in some vain effort to get ahead of each other.
This wont happen overnight,
but it has already begun to happen all over our world.
The more time we spend understanding our biosphere
and how that relates to the welfare of not only ourselves but every life form we share our home with,
the more inclined we will be to question our current systems approach to life on earth.
The interconnected relationships we have with not only each other,
but the planet itself will become increasingly apparent
and will implore us to reassess our social methods on a continuous basis,
keeping us from entering into some utopian stagnation,
instead encouraging us to constantly update our methodology
to come into line with up to date understandings and environmental circumstances.
It is when it becomes accepted that a system has failed
that emergent ideas can take hold and be allowed to flourish.
It is long since past time to acknowledge that our economy as a system is failing.
The symptoms of that failure are prevalent in the world around us
and to deny their existence
or pontificate about superficial reforms
could come at severe cost to our entire species.
These are the credits
not many people watch the credits
kind of pleased you are watching them
They take longer than you may think to create
besides the music is good
You are about half way now.
May as well keep watching at this stage
I mean really
You have come this far already
Holy crap there are lots of video credits
Not as many stills
Promise
See told you not as many stills
The audio was quick
You can totally share this shit man
