Hey Christian,
Your statement or question, and the linked video hit deep down into a mindset that I do sympathize with , and do understand to a certain degree, but I do not believe it outright. Your post has prompted me to try to articulate what I actually think on this larger subject of societal control from unaccountable organizations, etc… the conspiracy theories.
Lets start!
Do I believe there are groups trying to control sections of society to their own ends? Yes.
Do I believe that world wide, they are coordinating their actions on a broad and deep level to this “goal” of control? Hmmmm, Yes and No, but I lean more to No, and here we get into the thick of the subject.
The people who we label the conspirators in this, are not as monolithic as we may be lead to believe by people like the “redacted”. Humans are tempted by simple answers to complex problems. We will gladly abdicate our critical thinking to someone who neatly consolidates all our problems in to a narrative that is easy to digest. Populist tyrants know this, so do con men, so do all those that have studied marketing.
Simple messages are much easier to relay and spread to the masses, than complex ones.
It is not a surprise that Youtube has a plethora of these people who will rapidly string together a bunch of complex events and package them with a ill defined top down conspiracy in under 10 min.
The conspiracies exist, but they are more like spontaneous webs and tangles of affiliations that happen to occasionally appear when they align with common purpose. They often yield results far more significant than any one of them could achieve alone. Key takeaway is the aligning of purpose.
These phenomena are very fragile, spontaneous and fleeting.
Understanding them is very complicate, laborious and any revelations are just as fleeting.
In fact this sort of conspiracy is an integral part of “free market* economics”. I conspire all the time with business partners to source and produce my products in the most cost effective way. I also conspire with my dealers and distributors to position myself in the best place in my market in relation to my competitors. This is business. This is also progress as we find new ways to conspire to bring materials and information together to be more efficient in reaching the main goal of increasing profits. It is conveniently assumed that this goal is synonymous with progress.
^(\(not capitalism, though capitalism and free markets are often lumped together by those who seek simple axioms and explanations, and are ok with any contradictions that may be trapped within.))*
Nobody, not me, or you, or anyone individual, or even group, no matter what their resources are, can comprehend in real time how this global web of conspiracies operates, what their goal is at any point in time, nor if their actions are succeeding or not. What we do know, and this in no conspiracy, is that large corporations and governments collude amongst themselves. The reason for this is simple – profits, and the power that goes with them.
The way these 2 players differ vs the rest of us, is the source of many oversimplified conspiracies.
Corporations, despite containing huge numbers of people as workers, enablers, and customers, control huge concentrations of money in very few hands.
Politicians control huge chunks of humanity using the control structures of governments that we collectively accept. Again in very few hands.
These 2 parties see enormous opportunity for collusion to meet their respective goals (profits, and the power that goes with them). The aligning of purpose. Because they are few in number, they find it easy to collude.
To nudge this even further, the laws that would regulate the relationships between these 2 concentrated entities are controlled by one of the 2 parties.
Not ideal to say the least, but its the best we've been able to do so far.
Many vain and greedy people are drawn to politics for this reason, add in some degree of psychopathy which rewards them by removing from them the burden of empathy, and you have fertile ground for nefarious conspiracies.
Free markets are wonderful because the rules are easy to understand and follow, and up until now, it is the best system (tried so far) of societal organization to achieve maximum satisfaction for the largest cross section of humanity using the most efficient allocation of resources.
Does it work for everyone?
No, but no system really does.
Does it create inequality?
Yes, it tends to have a feedback loop which is self reinforcing with inequality as a result. This is consistent with the Pareto principle or the 80/20 rule.
(This is a fascinating principle which plays out all around us, even in nature. Could it be a physical axiom we simply must accept? Intriguing idea.)
Crypto
I believe that Crypto is a spontaneous expression of human ingenuity trying to solve the growing imbalances in our societies.
A spontaneous expression of human ingenuity who's potential may exceed even the ideas of the creators.
Crypto+Internet is a whole much larger than the sum of these parts.
I have faith that when humanity is placed under enough stress, it will inevitably gravitate away from the sources of the stress. It will try to balance again. Cryptos have appeared at the perfect time in my opinion.
They will definitely not solve inequality, but they inherently create very powerful barriers to the extreme collusion between government and corporations we have today.
In my world view, the control of money has been the single largest “lever” that those in power have their hand on to maintain their power, Until 2009 nobody could imagine an idea that could challenge this monopoly.
But someone did imagine, and with the resources that the internet made available, they created Bitcoin! They will be remembered for ever for their achievement.
The plethora of new ideas that Bitcoin has opened are truly amazing. Governments and Corporations are now waking up to this. First they laugh at you, then they ignore you, then they fight you, then you win. This idiom really captures the hubris of power.
So what we are seeing today is not strange at all. It is merely a system that has gotten wildly out of balance and is breaking up. It has done so before, and will do so again and again.
Life and humanity will go on after all this. So try to look at this disruption as a fantastic opportunity to help humanity wherever these goals also align with making a profit.
(here I would like to extrapolate what I mean by profit. When I can comfortably feed myself and my family. House them. See to their need and realistic wants, then my meaning of the word“profit” begins to shift away from ‘the monetary’ to ‘the spiritual’. You would find this is also the case with many philanthropists. This has mixed results as you can imagine.)
I am designing products to help people be more self sufficient at home, and hope this rewards me with profits. I am also supporting cryptos because they point to a way to govern societies with rules rather than rulers. I try to not get caught up in the hopelessness of the growing mountain of problems that are selectively magnified by new media.
They try to distract us. To keep our focus away from things which will interfere with their own goals (profit and power). Logical.
So Christian, I look at this time as a time of change, not a time of despair. Those that will be in despair are those that were not able to see the signs and/or were not mentally prepared for the change (80/20).
You and I are not in the 80, but we know many that are.
Such times of change are times when the 20% can cause out-sized change. I think this is where we should be focusing our positive creativity and energy.
Staying positive, staying informed, are not mutually exclusive.
These are the 2 pillars on which we can construct a mental model of a better way. The first step to making it real. We should focus on our creativity to make our own incremental positive contribution.
Its an amazing time to be alive.
Stay safe and well my friend.
