How Capitalism Really Started | Machine God

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  • čas přidán 1. 06. 2024
  • Here is a tale of the birth of the Machine God in 1551. Videos like this would not be possible without the support of my community, so I thank them all for that.
    This video referenced (directly or indirectly)
    Open Sky (amzn.to/3Do2WRg)
    The Creation of the World or Globalization - (amzn.to/3xnNDVc)
    The Nag Hammadi Scriptures - (amzn.to/3LfEXph)
    Bible - (amzn.to/3qFPikU)
    Capital I - (amzn.to/3UbkZjx)
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    / pillpod and there's more where that came from every week at www.patreon.com/plasticpills.
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    #capitalism #marx #heidegger #conspiracy #colonialism #myths

Komentáře • 256

  • @IndustrialBonecraft
    @IndustrialBonecraft Před rokem +261

    Ah, I love Gieger-Lovecraftian horror philosophy. We all end up sounding like gibbering cultists while making a startling, perhaps unnerving, amount of sense.

    • @iwouldprefernotto4381
      @iwouldprefernotto4381 Před rokem +9

      Yes! I love this film though because cosmic horror can tip into more theory-fiction terrain and be very abstract whereas this feels very real world and rooted in history.

    • @elclaustrocl
      @elclaustrocl Před 8 měsíci +1

      "to produce new markets for the surplus of ideas", brilliant.

    • @Lokitellus
      @Lokitellus Před 5 měsíci +1

      Praise the omnissiah!

    • @Dan-yh4uz
      @Dan-yh4uz Před 4 měsíci

      ​@@iwouldprefernotto4381it's very reminiscent of a more grounded outline for cyclonopedia in it's infant stages

  • @thestellarator815
    @thestellarator815 Před rokem +76

    Determining when the Machine God first emerged is probably like trying to ascertain when the first life-form emerged. There are turning points, certainly. There are notable benchmarks, but the boundary between life and not life, between Moloch and this planet, is murky indeed.

  • @MGSVxBreakpoint
    @MGSVxBreakpoint Před rokem +69

    "Corps have long controlled our lives, taken lots. And now they're after our souls."
    -Johnny Silverhand, 2077.

    • @asiblingproduction
      @asiblingproduction Před rokem +9

      I’ve declared war not cause capitalism is a thorn in my side or out of nostalgia of an America gone by.
      This is a peoples war against a system that spiraled out of our control. It’s a war against the fn forces of entropy.
      -Johnny Silverhand

    • @MGSVxBreakpoint
      @MGSVxBreakpoint Před rokem +2

      @@asiblingproduction V. You still don't see it...
      But you will someday.

  • @zarkc4
    @zarkc4 Před rokem +81

    I happily accept this as birthday present, thank you

  • @stephencoyle5884
    @stephencoyle5884 Před rokem +43

    Great video. Ellen Meikens Wood wrote a really good book on the origins of capitalism ( title of the book), which focuses more on how England's transition into an absolute monarch state by consolidating military power soley under the king, stripping that privilege from aristocrats who originally used it as extra economic coercion, led to those very aristocrats using markets as a means to extracting wealth by leasing property, and driving competition among farmers for best land, as well as competition for best output (through developing mainly new farming techniques, as well as some technological advances. Absolutist France at the time didn't go by this model, but instead focused on sheer numbers of people tilling the land to produce, and although England had less, still managed to outproduce). This led to proletarianization amongst tenant farmers who couldn't succeed. She also goes into the waterway networks of England to its success in creating a national market, as well as its naval prowess, in aifing in success in trade and colonialozation, but the main driving point she makes is that the underlying logic of capital was created through this process. It was pretty interesting.

    • @felixii4931
      @felixii4931 Před rokem +6

      Henry Heller wrote a book on the origins of the capitalism too, but he critiques the 'political marxist' version which ellen meikens belongs to and shows how capitalism was a global process rather than a singular location in england, also talks about how political marxists neglect the total circuit of capital,, it's a great book & should be read too

    • @stephencoyle5884
      @stephencoyle5884 Před rokem +1

      @Felix II
      I'll definitely read that. Always looking for new books.

    • @OsirusHandle
      @OsirusHandle Před rokem +1

      I think the ideological process occurs first, there is a radical gap within feudalism that demands something poke into it and produce something more; Perhaps contingently/coincidentally then, this bourgeois trading process stuck its head out and saw something juicier and more sexually satisfying than the uncomfortable present of feudalism.
      Could something else have happened? I think yes, whereas classic marxists usually think no. But i think whatever did would need to exploit that gap just as much as capitalism does.

    • @kerycktotebag8164
      @kerycktotebag8164 Před rokem +1

      i read it a book called Black Marxism that outlined the same trajectory, and the markets themselves were heavily fortified through Mediterranean mercantilism too

    • @edwardn.8938
      @edwardn.8938 Před 8 měsíci

      the ‘political marxist’ approach outlined by ellen meiksins wood et al has some good insights, but its framework has some fundamental limitations too. highly suggest you read How the West Came to Rule: The Geopolitical Origins of Capitalism
      by Alexander Anievas and Kerem Nisancioglu!

  • @japoonboals718
    @japoonboals718 Před rokem +18

    Great description of the throughline of reducing human and natural potential into capital. That visual with tentacles and machine parts almost pulling the earth.
    The tone of this video hit so well. I had a twinge of angst but entirely justified given the implied gravity of what horrors colonization will go on to wreak across the globe.

  • @joaopauloadamerodrigues7432

    What an amazing storytelling and video producing skills Pills, each video gets better. Congrats my man.

  • @innerauthority2439
    @innerauthority2439 Před rokem +69

    Well done Mr Pills, you’ve increased my dystopian anxiety by showing us even more depth to the abyss of capitalism.

  • @OsirusHandle
    @OsirusHandle Před rokem +5

    The problem with the notion of capitalism as a god is precisely that it doesnt have agency, we are its agency: i believe there is always a fundamental ambiguity in any hegemony that leaves a crack for something different to emerge, perhaps this crack is even constituitive.

  • @anarcki13
    @anarcki13 Před rokem +6

    Even in death I serve the Omnissiah

  • @ArtinSalimi
    @ArtinSalimi Před rokem +34

    Inspiring work as always🙏🏼.
    Made me think about how the machine has its own popes, bishops, priests, and denominations with different approaches on how to keep the machine god pleased (and what sacrifices are required🦑).

    • @9an13l
      @9an13l Před rokem +7

      Praise the omnissiah, for the flesch is weak, but the machine is immortal

  • @gardnjw
    @gardnjw Před 5 měsíci +2

    I've only recently (about a year or so) started reading Deleuze/Guattari but found myself "hooked" after it started to simmer a bit in my psyche... I think I first clicked on one of your videos by accident and would've probably gone on to something else if you hadn't put the Wilhelm scream in there... You seem to have a pretty good idea of what the landscape is like... I haven't watched your videos in any particular order but your prose seems to have improved here...

  • @sara-yk1sq
    @sara-yk1sq Před rokem +14

    PILLS is back let's goooo

  • @TheYopogo
    @TheYopogo Před rokem +7

    Comment-sacrifice for the Algorithm-God.

    • @isymfs
      @isymfs Před 5 měsíci

      I'm here with my own offering 🙌🏼👐🏼🙌🏼

  • @trickbaby8441
    @trickbaby8441 Před rokem +7

    I hope this is part of a series cos I was left wanting more.

  • @Retro_oo
    @Retro_oo Před rokem +5

    I'm so happy you are producing videos like this again. Thank you.

  • @kallashnykov
    @kallashnykov Před rokem +12

    This is amazing. I've known most of this information, but the way you presented it is wonderful truly. Although, I'd say to someone that doesn't know the history, it may all seem like a big conspiracy.

    • @breandadavis3168
      @breandadavis3168 Před rokem +4

      Yeah when I was like 18 and I was just really discovering the internet (we were poor and lived in BFE), I had fallen down the conspiracy rabbithole. The way I felt about media and culture and politics is why I was primed to accept some of what I read, not to mention, and maybe even a bigger part of it, was that I had recently left the church (raised Southern Baptist), and its reeeally easy to go from "god is always watching you and controls everything" to "big brother is always watching you and controls everything" (which is my theory on why you see so many conservative Christian's being taken for a ride with this Q shit- religion is the antithesis to critical thinking).
      But luckily for me I reached a point that it started getting batshit insane and it wasn't doing anything positive for my life, so I stepped away. A friend, knowing I really enjoyed philosophy, introduced me to Baudrillard's work and from there I spent years learning about all these pomo philosophers and leftist critiques of capitalism, which sent me into a 5 year long existential crisis(in the most wonderful way) and it clicked for me that THIS is the kind of validation 18 year old me was really searching for. I'm very lucky to have gone down the path I did because if I developed a strong cognitive bias in favor of those batshit crazy conspiracies...ugh, I shudder to think

  • @alexb5383
    @alexb5383 Před rokem +8

    This format really brings its concepts to life!

  • @radicalreaderasmr45
    @radicalreaderasmr45 Před rokem +2

    Loving the audio production on this one

  • @TexTalksSometimes
    @TexTalksSometimes Před rokem +13

    Cool to see everyone coming to the same conclusions around the same time

  • @NewtNuke
    @NewtNuke Před rokem +2

    You and Then&Now are making some great video essays these days.

  • @NO-LIVAS
    @NO-LIVAS Před rokem +18

    The contractions waiting for the birth of capitalism

  • @pipersolanas3322
    @pipersolanas3322 Před rokem +2

    Incredible video. Great information and great vibes

  • @kitchensinkmuses4947
    @kitchensinkmuses4947 Před rokem +5

    this is very very good. Well written, a good black swan that broke the camel's back story. Well paced, fun to listen to, well animated. Great job

  • @NilSatis1983
    @NilSatis1983 Před rokem +6

    Ridiculously great content

  • @kookverslaving
    @kookverslaving Před rokem +5

    Have fun seeing you channel explode over the next 12 months. To the moooon

  • @dantelejeune9372
    @dantelejeune9372 Před rokem +3

    Great video dude!

  • @jackri7676
    @jackri7676 Před rokem +6

    Love this video! I hope you continue making content in this Landian/occultish milieu it’s super fascinating 🥂

  • @ExperienciaWeb3
    @ExperienciaWeb3 Před rokem +2

    This is awesome. Thank you!!

  • @yamitrap9688
    @yamitrap9688 Před rokem +2

    Awesome work!

  • @turpinglipper9171
    @turpinglipper9171 Před rokem +2

    Loved it. Thanks so much!

  • @vauchomarx6733
    @vauchomarx6733 Před rokem +41

    A masterpiece as always!
    The Machine God isn't dead, we have yet to kill him.

  • @ThorMNs
    @ThorMNs Před rokem +4

    I would pay for it (haha) if you made an entire film or short film in this style

  • @nyarparablepsis872
    @nyarparablepsis872 Před 4 měsíci +1

    Awesome. You earned yourself a sub.
    I'm working on a Call of Cthulhu campaign in which various corporations can play the role(s) of BBEG, and found this vid after searching for "limbic capitalism".
    That wonderful Machine God image made me think that this thing needs a name (something with many consonant clusters?). Decided to ask chatgpt, which steadfastly tried to win me over to the invisible hand (without revealing that dreaded name). However, I asked it to rewrite one of its praises of the invisible hand in a lovecraftian style. This is what it spat out:
    "In the eldritch depths of economic realms, the spectral tendrils of the Unseen Grasp weave a malevolent tapestry, ensnaring unwitting souls in a dance of self-interest and market forces. Whispers of the Unseen Hand echo through the corridors of commerce, guiding fates toward an abyssal unknown where profits and sacrifices merge in an infernal embrace." 🦑
    Not bad for a c&p machine...

  • @Cyberphunkisms
    @Cyberphunkisms Před rokem +3

    yesss capitalism is religion that goes into every aspect of our liive

  • @coreolis7
    @coreolis7 Před 6 měsíci +1

    " The definition of God as 'an infinite sphere, whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere' has its roots in the Liber XXIV philosophorum, a Latin booklet by an anonymous author, which consists of 24 commented definitions of what God is. It has been ascribed to the fourth-century grammarian and philosopher Marius Victorinus, but the earliest extant manuscript dates back to the beginning of the thirteenth century."

  • @J_C_Denton
    @J_C_Denton Před rokem +4

    Yesss keep em coming

  • @mahdimighri185
    @mahdimighri185 Před rokem +3

    straight up a masterpiece honest yet shockingly terrifying loved every bit of it keep going, dude ...

  • @drey1407
    @drey1407 Před rokem +2

    Amazing video.

  • @zat1342
    @zat1342 Před rokem +5

    The Machine God has enlisted all the other gods, old and new, to further its only goal: the unparalleled consumption that will result in our complete destruction. Noyce.

  • @classwarhooligan923
    @classwarhooligan923 Před rokem +8

    As always, your editing and story telling is excellent, Mr. Vinyl Capsules.

  • @captainbritain7379
    @captainbritain7379 Před rokem +3

    Love seeing Nancy quoted at the end there. It’s interesting that “mondialisation” sounds so different than globalisation. Globalisation sounds more materially focused, which lends itself more to seeing land as a resource rather than a place to live with people. Makes sense that the English word sounds more capitalist.

    • @flyingteeshirts
      @flyingteeshirts Před rokem

      French has both 'globalisation' and 'mondialization' and they're usually taken as synonymous. But, Nancy pulls apart the two terms to create a distinction between the sense of globalization and the sense of world-forming.

  • @mapleandsteel
    @mapleandsteel Před rokem +7

    The Portuguese East India Company started their colony in my land, Kerala, in 1503, actually. So, earlier than 1551.

    • @adamoosthuizen2409
      @adamoosthuizen2409 Před rokem +3

      I was gonna say, didn't the Portuguese summon the beast first?

    • @PlasticPills
      @PlasticPills  Před rokem +8

      I did wonder if someone might mention this! They did begin in 1500, but it was as a crown monopoly. The crown started selling private shares only after 1570 when it started having money problems

  • @edbop
    @edbop Před rokem +7

    Interesting video. You may want to look into the the creation of the Dutch and English central banks which were the first instances of the legalisation of the creation of new money through debt. Understanding that money is debt is vital to a true understanding of our capitalist system.

    • @kerycktotebag8164
      @kerycktotebag8164 Před rokem

      that's more about the financialization of capital, wouldn't it be? so the origins of the stuff that was later utilized for the neoliberal stage of capitalism but it took awhile to become paramount.

    • @edbop
      @edbop Před rokem

      @@kerycktotebag8164 It is about where all the money came from. If you start a small business and employ a couple of people, you may create a surplus, but you haven't created any more money. Sorry for not replying sooner, I did not get a notification.

  • @tsarXadam
    @tsarXadam Před měsícem +1

    Such a good video

  • @v.vivika
    @v.vivika Před rokem +47

    Amazing video. This is art as much as it is philosophy. Commenting to feed the algorithmic gods

  • @seankelly1749
    @seankelly1749 Před rokem +1

    I'm 3 mins in and blown away, like my thoughts are very much your thoughts XD

  • @rahulsubburaj9
    @rahulsubburaj9 Před rokem +4

    A short but beautiful video about the protospores of capitalism. Keep it up pills!

  • @hegeliankid1226
    @hegeliankid1226 Před rokem +1

    I’m a little new in your channel, so this sounds as if you were pointing at the singularity of multiple events that lead to one of the most parasitical morphings of Capitalism. However, there is a point made by Clayton Crockett in his recently published book, Energy and Change, about the idea that every economy is surrounded by the exchange of energy, since we controlled fire, to our most significant transition of coal to oil; and humans in particular since the start of settlements were particularly attracted to the accumulation of power over the surplus generated by labor. Another reference to this idea comes from Nicholas Gergescu in his book The law of Entropy and the Economic Process. Anyways, if you also want to develop more into the historical multiplicity leading to this event, there is this book the Medieval Super Companies, about the Peruzzi company and its privatization of wool in the England of Edward III, massive dept, and post Great Depression leading into the transition of silver to gold via Mongol connection. Love your videos!

  • @johndoe4073
    @johndoe4073 Před rokem +3

    Excellent! These are getting better and better! Awesome work!

  • @nickbtggl4396
    @nickbtggl4396 Před rokem +1

    @PlasticPills Nice.
    Do a history of the Luddites next 🙏

  • @JohnDoe-vr9bj
    @JohnDoe-vr9bj Před rokem +4

    Very informative and well produced. Great perspective and composition of ideas.
    I love discovering 'small' channels such as this. You have something worth saying, and something that needs to be heard.
    You 'kids' give me hope for humanity.

  • @LucasDimoveo
    @LucasDimoveo Před rokem +1

    My argument is that we should look to Venice or the Henseatic League, but excellent video!

  • @zbyte64
    @zbyte64 Před rokem +4

    Great story telling. This has me thinking about the current sacrifice we're making to capitalism: our art. Capitalism is procuring the means to generate and combine symbols without artists being involved.

  • @jonathantrevino7247
    @jonathantrevino7247 Před rokem

    Really good video

  • @sergeykuzmichev8064
    @sergeykuzmichev8064 Před rokem +3

    Very creative

  • @ioshinigami2165
    @ioshinigami2165 Před rokem +18

    this was way too short for how good it was, but as always love your videos. hope this is the beginning of a series to unravel the tentacles of the machine god

  • @julesdurel
    @julesdurel Před rokem +1

    This was fantastic

  • @Rhizzome
    @Rhizzome Před rokem +3

    Incredible video! Beautiful work as always 🔥

  • @TheJayman213
    @TheJayman213 Před rokem +2

    Feed this mouth of the machine with engagement.
    *I'm doing my part.*

  • @SvalbardSleeperDistrict
    @SvalbardSleeperDistrict Před rokem +3

    Beautiful.

  • @tenzinlekdhen8809
    @tenzinlekdhen8809 Před rokem +3

    🔥 thank you for making these.

  • @khana.713
    @khana.713 Před rokem +4

    Thats some real gangster shit right there. Love storytelling like this.

  • @generalsherman75
    @generalsherman75 Před rokem +1

    This is literally what Nick Land concluded about capitalism in Fanged Noumena.

  • @dakealo
    @dakealo Před rokem +4

    "Man is a God in ruins..." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

    • @MGSVxBreakpoint
      @MGSVxBreakpoint Před rokem +1

      Ah, Emerson. Contemporary of Thoreau. That's exactly the kind of stuff Pills should be covering. He's made the case against capitalism. Now it is time to explore ideas of transcendentalism & self-reliance.

  • @Doctor_Subtilis
    @Doctor_Subtilis Před rokem +1

    This one is really good

  • @martins3993
    @martins3993 Před rokem +3

    Goosebumps.

  • @lokiestraven
    @lokiestraven Před rokem +2

    and that's accelerationism :3

  • @quantumastrologer5599
    @quantumastrologer5599 Před rokem +3

    Holy shit, i think i just understood surplus enjoyment.

  • @kainoa_written
    @kainoa_written Před rokem +3

    The identification of England’s Merchant Adventurer’s Company est.1551 & Pascal’s quote on God’s bubble of personal space
    Top tier
    Find 💊 on Patreon

  • @ignaciolarios6907
    @ignaciolarios6907 Před rokem +1

    Saludos ✌🏼

  • @nessimrihani5962
    @nessimrihani5962 Před 10 měsíci +1

    It's bizarre that this god was procreated in London and was born in Moscow.
    And the other god that challenged it also was procreated in London and born in Moscow.

  • @louiswilliamson5937
    @louiswilliamson5937 Před rokem +2

    This is a great channel. Are you into the parapolitical at all by any chance?

  • @ludviglidstrom6924
    @ludviglidstrom6924 Před rokem +1

    Very good

  • @jacksonduruy4303
    @jacksonduruy4303 Před rokem +1

    Oh but for just one time, I would take the north-east passage! To find the hand of Bonaventure reaching towards the Barents Sea!

  • @clairebostick9365
    @clairebostick9365 Před rokem +1

    Reminds me of Fredy Perlman and Against Leviathan

  • @allypoum
    @allypoum Před rokem +2

    Pretty damn awesome.

  • @tropical.lluvioso
    @tropical.lluvioso Před rokem +2

    * paying my respects to the alGodrithm *

  • @tormunnvii3317
    @tormunnvii3317 Před rokem +2

    Praise the Omnissiah! Glory to the Machine!

  • @acetoz5158
    @acetoz5158 Před rokem +3

    Very enjoyable. Thank you.

  • @AlbornozVEVO
    @AlbornozVEVO Před rokem +1

    beyond economics and philosophy, Marx's most important contributions were to the study of history; specifically, the notion that history is fundamentally not measured in time. it's measured in people.

  • @comrade_mikey6138
    @comrade_mikey6138 Před rokem +3

    fantastic as always

  • @Al-qi9jg
    @Al-qi9jg Před rokem +1

    Capitalism was born in England later, when the deterritorialized flow of capital met the deterritorialized flow of labor. Then, the machine was assembled to function as a hinge for impersonal and unconscious exchange between both registers.

  • @manueladolfoholzmannillane3050

    tthis it's good, but you would citate every assumtion in every part that you do. Good Content.

  • @PulsatingShadow
    @PulsatingShadow Před rokem +13

    *COUGH* Arabic numerals *COUGH*

    • @MGSVxBreakpoint
      @MGSVxBreakpoint Před rokem +1

      Care to explain or did you just come in here to crack wise?

    • @user-ld7ch1er6j
      @user-ld7ch1er6j Před rokem +2

      Indo-Arabic

    • @PulsatingShadow
      @PulsatingShadow Před rokem +1

      @@MGSVxBreakpoint The wisdom of the Decimal Revelation can only be properly explained on crack.

    • @Synodalian
      @Synodalian Před rokem +2

      @@MGSVxBreakpoint
      Transition from Logos (Letter) to Nomos (Number)?

  • @AlexRider589
    @AlexRider589 Před rokem +2

    What happened to your Noam Chomsky video?

  • @ejws1575
    @ejws1575 Před rokem

    9m37s you meant ‘overstated’
    Great video. Do something on Ted K please

  • @TheAndrew1987
    @TheAndrew1987 Před rokem +1

    did you read ian wright's capital as a real god article, i see some strong parallels between it and this video

  • @josedavidgarcesceballos7

    Well, great story. Some might say god was born in Italy in the 1400s, though...

  • @vinanoir
    @vinanoir Před rokem +4

    capitalism is the worlds longest ongoing pandemic

  • @maxmuller132
    @maxmuller132 Před rokem +7

    According to wikipedia, the Dutch East India Company was the first company to issue stock. How does this relate to the assertion that the Company of Merchant Adventurers to New Lands was the first joint stock company?

    • @LeonBuker
      @LeonBuker Před rokem +3

      en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint-stock_company#Europe
      This wiki page tells a different story. I suggest that it will be all about definitions of what precisely is a stock and/or company. No doubt people have been putting money into business ventures and expecting a return on that investment for a very long time, probably since the invention of money lenders.

    • @MortVaanderwaal
      @MortVaanderwaal Před rokem +1

      Wikipedia has obviously been overrun by Dutch chauvinists. Wikipedia also says Muscovy Company was the first joint stock 🤷‍♂️

    • @PeteSchult
      @PeteSchult Před rokem

      @@LeonBuker Waiting for Fred to pull the mask off of Limited Liability

  • @grand1nquisitor
    @grand1nquisitor Před rokem

    Very good

  • @Manzano89
    @Manzano89 Před rokem +1

    Gracias

  • @akiamini4006
    @akiamini4006 Před rokem +1

    I like to say bravo my man ! Returned after half a year and not disappointed to the least ! Tho i have to say risk taking on communal levels was seen 4.5 bilion years ago and evolution is this actually ... i hope just like other revolutions the remaining have safer and ... hell nah we dont have more fullfilling lives than our ancestors ! I just hope my family line wont fall into the genocidal blackhole

  • @Ucedo95
    @Ucedo95 Před rokem +2

    strong Meditations on Moloch vibes

  • @kerycktotebag8164
    @kerycktotebag8164 Před rokem +1

    was that a Travis Scott Burger reference?

  • @meditationsfortheanxiousmind

    Your videos are absolutely incredible. Where do you get your stock footage from?

  • @ericocccams5865
    @ericocccams5865 Před rokem +4

    the machine god is a extension of the price god a god who originates from the neolithic revolution
    from Peter Joseph's 2020 film Interreflections
    Simon: Hierarchies have remained constant throughout recorded civilization.
    John :For perhaps the last 12,000 years, sure.
    John: but you know as well as I do, before the discovery of agriculture, there was no such thing, ninety-nine percent of human
    history has been egalitarian.
    Simon: I said civilization, John, meandering hunter-gatherer tribes chucking spears and eating grubs isn't civilization.
    John: How contemporacist of you, yet 20th century studies of numerous hunter-gatherer tribes, those still surviving in
    remote areas just as they did thousands of years prior, actually show socially rich cultures. Adult life spans not far from ours.
    John: Relatively peaceful
    in balance with nature.
    John: No leaders, no group hierarchy,
    no inequality.
    John: To argue today's society is somehow
    more civilized is dubious at best.
    Simon: Well, then perhaps you can encourage all your enlightened followers to come together and live out their utopian fantasy in the Amazon jungle.
    John: You mean what's left of it ? what hasn't been destroyed by the supposedly advanced culture that's ravaged the natural world
    into total decline in the name of infinite consumption and economic growth ?
    John: and the point here, Simon, is hunter-gatherer cultures are evidence of human variability, variability which contradicts
    your vague biological determinism.
    Simon: John, just because history shows a range of behaviors across time doesn't prove anything.
    Simon: The introduction of agriculture indeed changed the human condition because it triggered a dormant trait in our evolutionary psychology, a trait that wasn't
    expressed before.
    John: How ?
    Simon: By the advent of economic surplus.
    Simon: Resources and goods that could be stored, hoarded, stockpiled, owned, traded, controlled and
    leveraged for personal gain, a phenomenon that was impossible in a hunter-gatherer reality and it was that realization that sparked our now
    omnipresent drive toward dominance and hierarchy.
    John: I didn't know that.
    John: Genetic dormancy of an evolutionary expression, needed an environmental trigger, psychological drive, but then morphs into complex oppressive institutions
    and structures.
    John: Compelling. Intuitive. Plausible.
    john: Too bad it's wrong
    John: All simpleton, pedestrian, bio-deterministic conclusions that are nothing more than elitist projections.
    John: Agriculture did change everything but not because of someone's dormant psychological drive magically triggered
    by economic surplus.
    John: It was about what a society technically required, dramatically shifting incentives and the very nature of human relationships.
    John: Think about it.
    First you need the proper land, water, the right conditions to farm, then creating settlements around those fruitful areas as opposed to foraging.
    Since land quality varies some settlements will prosper due to their geography and some will falter.
    So what happens when a group finds itself with failed crops and no way to survive the winter ?
    They may trade with other groups, building out what we call a market today, giving way to the idea of property and so on.
    Or if they have
    nothing to trade, desperate, they may invade, they may steal, compete, establishing the need for protection, laws, armies, the state institution itself.
    At the same time, people begin to notice the imbalance and power of this new propertied reality, rationalizing the hoarding of wealth
    for the sake of future security.
    Hence the birth of inequity, poverty, socio-economic class.
    John: Simon, every major structural aspect of society today, from ownership to trade to nation states to institutional warfare
    to the competitive ethic to vast economic inequality and power hierarchy was predictable.
    Snowballing ever since.

  • @fadmad7257
    @fadmad7257 Před rokem

    I'm always interested in knowing the background of youtubers who have a lot of histroical and philosophical knowledge, did you study history/philosophy?

  • @VictorZenloth
    @VictorZenloth Před rokem

    Greetings from Nepal. Good content despite you using big ass words that make my head spin lol