Certainly not a great book, but I like his stuff in general so gave it whirl when it came out... but it did make some very accurate predictions around the dissemination of mis-information, deep fakes, and the governments manipuation of the populace to keep control, etc...
So here's a discussion point - what if some people are quite happy with a life of bread & circuses and manual labour and care of home & children regardless if there was, or they knew about, an element of control or not?
Funny you should mention that, because that’s one of the central themes of the rather strange second book in Matthew Abaitua’s trilogy, “If, Then”. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0857664662?ref_=dbs_m_mng_wim_calw_tpbk_1&storeType=ebooks
What makes anyone happy? Happy is a concept most cannot describe. It’s one of the modern ills: everyone thinks not being happy is being depressed or having some kind of mental illness. Driven by ‘we can all be what we want to be’ and ‘we have a right to everything’ mentality, which is a method to drive debt, want, pursuance of ‘things’ and never-ending work…. But if someone is happy in their world of unknown compliance, hard to argue there is anything wrong with that
Some years ago we used to have an escort where I worked in Cheltenham (not allowed to walk around on our own) any way this fella was a bit of a dreamer. (He’d been a painter, cleaner now an escort) he was from the south. One day I was talking about my Hero Barry Sheene, fella pipes up “I used to work in a bike shop that Barry used to buy parts” “oh yeah” says I. “Yeah, I’ll bring a photo” Next day he brings in the photo, “which one is you then” I ask, “erm, oh, I took the photo”
Life's a lot less complicated pre red pill, just go along with the herd and don't question anything. It would be difficult to convince a person to give up a safe comfortable existence. Why would you? There's nothing wrong with seeking comfort and safety (to a point) that's what has brought mankind out the caves. It's when these things become your master, or used as control. We'll all be safer when we have CCTV on very corner, won't we? John Muir the explorer considered the safe happy home to be the most dangerous place on earth. I believe we can all benefit from a little mindfulness, ask ourselves why we need or think we need the latest iphone or a new car/bike. It's perhaps an extreme view, but the buddhists write that all pain comes from desire, don't give a man what he wants, but take away the want. Our consumer driven culture would soon crash if we all adopted this ethos. Edit: We all need stuff, we just have to be mindful of who is telling us we need it and who would like to lend us the money for the stuff we don't really need. Namaste mofos...
Interesting view point. Borrowing money we can't afford to buy things we don't need to impress people we don't like.
CCTV makes us safer. ANPR is only to catch criminals. ID cards are only to catch illegal immigrants. All things we have walked into blindly without any thought to consequence. Doing 70 on a deserted A road with zero victims these things make you a criminal. Crossing an empty street not in a crossing these things make you a criminal. The world would be far better without the, all.
Happiness is a combination of many things, not least a large dollop of contentment, and a perceived notion of possibilities. At least it is for me!
Sadly this is very much the way with the younger/insta generation, where your whole life is documented and on show. If I go to the gym in the evenings the car park is full of £40-£50k cars all 'owned' by youngsters under the age of 25. No fancy car then no punani.
Yep, and possibly even if it's a known compliance... (?) One man's control is another man's compliance. To have semblance of a cohesive society there does need to be underlying rules (moral, ethical & legal) by which it is maintained and people are compliant with. Anarchy is all well and good but the of quoted difficulty there is who would do the sewers? But doubt concerning trust & honesty can soon become corrosive to the whole.
Rules do not mean manipulation. Alas they have morphed more and more into that, especially the last 5 years have just been so obvious they don’t even hide it now. The contempt the ruling elite (which is more bankers than govt) is openly shown against the working population that keeps them in power
