In every human being there is an Einstein, a Marie Curie or an Isaac Newton - but many are not aware of this. The difference is mainly in the environment in which you grew up and in which you live.
Every day I rack my brains about how we as a society can solve the ever-worsening global problems and I think about how we can deal with them in the smartest way possible.
Making trading obsolete may sound simplistic and too good to be true - but in fact it is a highly complex problem that is far from easy to solve.
There could be thousands of solutions and some of them could be so simple that in the future it's not even a thing to think about - but I just don't see that most people are even aware of the problem.
As complex as the world may seem, it is so absurdly simple when, as an extraterrestrial, you look at what we humans do: we trade - and to a completely exaggerated extent.
And if you want to try to understand where the problems are coming from, you can't avoid trading.
Example: climate change
A problem caused by? Trading of course...
The fact that people are compelled and incentivized to act at any cost, otherwise they cannot survive in this system, creates a huge consumer demand that leads to people making new cell phones every week - the same ones but in different versions. Millions of cars every year - same cars, different colors. All kinds of useless shit just to trade this for that.
To make all this stuff, humans have to use energy. And a cheap way is to take dead biological matter out of the earth's crust and burn it. Humans are pretty good at that, and it puts a lot of emissions into the atmosphere. Not to mention the forests that are cut down, the loss of biodiversity and the waste that is created to produce more shit that can then be traded.
Of course, humans now have the option to use renewable energy instead of dead animals and plants, so they don't have to blow those bad molecules up in the air. But for one thing, large corporations (groups of people) depend on the dead biomass trade, which are quite powerful and cannot be brushed aside just like the jobs created by this industry, and so on. And secondly, even if we were to do that now, there would be a huge problem in terms of other types of pollution (hello batteries!?!) coming as a cost to our crazy consuming society because of their trade structure.
This problem will never be solved even if it is solved. The immense plastic pollution, nuclear weapons and the possibility of a third world war, the loss of biodiversity, the threat of an asteroid impact on Earth and the fact that people are not even remotely prepared for the eternal chemicals and so much pollution and waste.... these are growing problems that will eclipse the problem of climate change in the future.
That's why it's so important that we understand that the structure of our society is the problem. The fact that some people still believe that everyone on planet earth has to pay a price to be allowed to live on this planet. Humanity has turned their own kind into ruthless and mindless monsters who only want to trade this for that.
And no renewable energy will change the nature of this game.
That's why it's so important to be aware and to question the whole world and not just accept things the way others are showing us - even if you're forced to play the game for a while.
“the world makes much more sense if you realize that the majority of people has no clue what they are actually doing“
When I think about the war in Ukraine, about the tech billionaires Musk, Bezos and Zuckerberg, about ideas like that Web3 with cryptocurrencies, blockchain and NFT's, then I wonder if people are even remotely aware of what they are doing and why. What effects does that have – for other people and the environment.
I will never buy stocks, invest money, buy NFT's, invest in houses or anything else. I'm more or less forced to play the game for a while, have a bank account and a room that I pay rent for, yes - but that's about it.
Just as a brain can ruthlessly strive for power and influence (like the brains of Bezos, Musk, etc.), a brain can also strive for scientific knowledge, progress, and sanity. I try to align my brain with the latter.
That's why I personally find it so important to have my personal space on the Internet - an (actually) free space without borders, without surveillance and without restrictions.
Because what many may not fully understand is that computers and the "digital" itself are an extension of us humans and a very, very powerful tool because we can use them to change reality. People communicate via the Internet, information can be exchanged and ideas can spread around the world at breakneck speed. There are so many incredible people involved with this website alone that have developed the software, the servers, the laptop with the keyboard, the screen and everything else.
We inform ourselves about the world via the Internet, are shaped by it and in turn shape the world with this shape. That's why there's no way around making this tool as sensible as possible, so that human values become more sensible... which has become so difficult in times of fake news, Snapchat and TikTok, where mostly meaningless videos are shared.
Still, there is tremendous potential that the developers behind the Internet have probably seen as well. With the internet you can learn almost anything. you can make your own search engine have that you have control over, your own Facebook have where you can make sure you don't get ads - you can even have your own Instagram have and also help to develop it so that it becomes even cooler.
The Internet gives you access to scientific articles and, theoretically, the knowledge of all mankind, and that is why it is extremely important that the Internet must be free and not censored.
Let’s create our own reality
You can sort of create your own reality.
It is also the case that one does not see the world, but understands it. And the more information you have about the world, the better you can decide what is relevant and what is not.
Here's a perfect example: people might think that Google Chrome is just a fast and efficient browser. But what happens behind what you see as a user of the product makes the browser quite dangerous.
That's why I'm focused on the internet and working to create a digital place that's trade-free. And with that Trade as the cause of most problems-approach we have a pretty good idea of what we as humans want to do here and in which direction we want to steer human behavior.
Attack the world with solutions
If we want a better world for all of us then we need to attack the world with solutions to the main problem of trade and one of them could be Arch Linux:
Arch Linux is an extension for me since I use the trade-free operating system on my laptop. My server is an extension of mine which I use to trade free DRUM Services which in turn other people are free to use so that they can be an extension of them.
As we try more and more to be an extension of other people, then we can grow together as humanity and realize that cooperation is so much more powerful than rivalry, competition and selfish pursuit.
I remember a video of Jacque Fresco (a very interesting personality) in which he said that in the future the word "love" will be replaced by "extensionality" I think I agree.
If you do good deeds, help others, and try to be the best version of yourself, then you're an extension of other people, so you're lovable, and everything else will fall into place.
An interesting video about it:
Redefining relevance
In the “offline world” it is taboo to talk about porn, watch violent videos or what is happening in the Philippines. Yet those are the things that make a human being and when you realize that the internet is full of porn and violent videos maybe that loses its appeal and you start to dig deeper and start asking yourself questions about human behavior, what is money, what is “ Morality” and “ethical behavior” (or what is meant by them) and you will realize that these are human constructs that can and must be questioned. That they are not real and can be altered. Why shouldn't we question everything?
Democracy, free market economy, money, companies, states, governments, school, closing time, 7-day week, holidays, vacation and so on are all human constructs that have manifested themselves socially, but are not laws of nature and of course also upheld by the trading system be obtained.
That's why we don't have to accept them.
When Google, Apple, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft and other corporations offer you something, think carefully about what they want from you and whether it's just complete bullshit and they're just playing the trading game.
And so I try not to live according to these constructs, but to find my own rhythm of life and to live according to it. I'm more or less forced to play the trading game too (for a while at least), but we can all do a little bit for a post-trading society - one step at a time.