The State of The Species 2020 - Nate Hagens, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQOnfPBSd8g&feature=youtu.be. [[2020-06-27]] Great evolution graphic at the beginning. Capital superseded land in importance in the 19th century (cf Code of Capital). It was the only wealth that could keep up with the sharp rise in fossil fuel consumption. It brought forward our future consumption. Finance not only took over our societies, it took over our explanations of how things work. > Using the social construct of "credit", we pulled our resource consumption forward in time. > We've not only financialized the human experience, but also the explanation of it. > We are optimal foraging creatures. We like to invest a little, and get out a lot. We are constantly looking for surplus. We are also very social. The solution is that we need to find people that are anti-social and inefficient :) - Rossine, Fernando W, Ricardo Martinez-Garcia, Allyson E Sgro, Thomas Gregor, and Corina E Tarnita. “Eco-Evolutionary Signi Cance of ‘Loners,’” n.d., 16. Reframings: We are not consumers, we are humans. The goal of the economy is goods and services. We need to be good to each other, and we need to be in service to the future. > Socialism has to be re-defined as holding our frickin nation together. Instead of collapse, we should be talking about decline, bend, simplify. Neo-classical economics should be called paleoclassical economics! Shift from business to industry. Industry is closer to the cottage industry and crafts that made things that were actually useful. Shift from jobs to work. Over 80% of US GDP went into immediate consumption. Financial capital needs to be converted to other life-sustaining forms of capital as quicky as possible. We should set up shadow councils to talk about the things that are not politically or socially acceptable to say. We need people to have better bullshit detectors. Leave behind the party (dopamine), and shift to oxytocin, serotonin. Tax on non-renewable resources, and remove tax on human labor. (Perhaps my idea of a new energy/carbon currency could address this). Localization of supply chains. We need more unconditional goals, things that we can pursue no matter what the government policies. We need warriors and mystics to speak out. (Alnoor Ladha!) Choose an endangered species that no one else is speaking for to protect. Help someone without letting them know you are helping them. Examine your feelings as you separate personal altruism from virtue signalling. # Q&A We can create money, but we can't create energy. He seems weakest on how to deal with competing versions of the truth. We live in a postmodern world. How do we deal with that? Trying to educate people about the real chessboard. But is his chessboard better than the metamodern chessboard? # My Essential Questions What is missing from this (our) chessboard? Can we use rationalism to overcome our base instincts? Is our rational brain is stronger enough to overcome our primitive brain? Annie has been thinking about frugality and simplicity. How do you undo the financialization?