Why Some Billionaires Are Actively Trying To Destroy The World

What if I told you that

billionaires

are actually

trying

to

destroy

the

world

? Have you ever seen

some

of the decisions the rich and powerful make and wonder what they are thinking? Are they

trying

to make everything worse? Actually, yes,

some

of them anyway. but why would anyone

actively

try to cause the collapse of society? Well there's a kind of logic to this, let's say you have colon cancer, you have a tumor one way or another, you're going to have to have surgery, it's going to be painful, there's going to be a scar, it's going to suck but you have to do it, would you rather do it early? when the problem is small or wait until it becomes huge and life threatening surgery early obviously that's why they push for colonoscopies?

Well, some people believe, for reasons that we will enter into that coming social collapse, that it is inevitable that our current path is unsustainable and if it is going to happen anyway, it is better to do it as soon as possible and as quickly as possible, believing, for Of course, a better

world

is on the other side, a world where we can correct the mistakes we inherited and remake them in our own image. This belief system or philosophy, whatever you want to call it, is called accelerationism and it's a whole thing, yeah, it's a weird kind of political philosophy because it's being embraced by the extremes of both sides, as you know, they say you can go so far. right that you end up going left again and vice versa, well, this is where the two extremes meet, as we are about to head into Another Greatest Election Year Ever.

I thought I'd delve deeper into accelerationism, who's behind it, where it comes from, and why it's the worst kind of doomsday prophecy, the self-fulfilling kind, so before I get into it I just want to say this. It is not a political channel. I generally try to keep my political views out of my videos, although it does pop up from time to time. I know this because I hear about it and for the most part this will not be a political video. It's actually more about society and the future and where things are going, but there are definitely political elements to it, so if you're the type of person whose comments explode in capital letters, the mere recognition of an idea that you you don't agree no I suggest maybe taking an aspirin and here they help prevent strokes despite the ism in the name.

Accelerationism is not so much a movement as it is a concept, a concept that can be applied to any political inclination, hence the fact that it has been adopted by both sides of the world. the political spectrum, yes, if the left is blue and the right is red, then accelerationism is Magnum. The basic gist, as I said at the beginning, is that if a system is doomed to fail, speeding up that system will help it fail faster. Exactly how you do it will vary depending on the system, but the goal is the same to speed up the system to the point that it can no longer sustain itself and watch it collapse.

The ter itself is fairly new, but this concept has been around for a long time. Actually, an early example that we can point to is none other than KL Marx, the same year that the Communist Manifesto debuted, published a series of statements that might be surprising today because they are actually very pro-capitalism on free trade, but They make a little more sense next to his belief that the quote from capitalism pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeois, in other words, by favoring free trade, he was promoting revolution, he defended accelerationism long before it had a name, he took aim at capitalism as many modern accelerationists do, but the same concepts have been applied to all kinds of social systems, including racism sexism wokeism just to name a few, one could argue that there is a kind of technological accelerationism inherent in the talk about the uniqueness of people like Ray KW Elon Musk Sam mman all those guys.

You know the idea that the singularity comes. Super intelligent AI is inevitable and the best option is to help it emerge so that we can shape what it will be and then whatever problems arise, we need to start working now to innovate and get out of it and so far this could Doesn't sound too crazy, wait, but taking a step back, the actual term accelerationism has been attributed to a 2008 blog post by critical theory professor Benjamin Noise in the post he cited trademarks in some of his earlier writings, although he later admitted that may I accidentally got that term from someone else.

Yes, there is a fantasy novel called Lords of Light from 1967 that uses the term. It was written by Rogers Elzi, although he uses it in a very different way in the book. In reality, it is more about accelerating human development. at a higher level, a divine state and the accelerationists in the book of the people who work to make that happen, noise and strange that he read the book and that maybe you know, it sneaked into his brain unconsciously, who knows what happens By the way, the name Lords of Light sounds familiar. You might be thinking about the movie Argo, where Ben Affle played a CIA agent and they produced a fake movie to get into Iran and rescue some American diplomats who were imprisoned there. movie The script they were using to make the movie was called Argo, but it was an adaptation of Lords of Light, so you know that, so it was Benjamin Noise who gave the idea a name, but it was the English philosopher Nick Land who took the name and ran with it, it was an idea I had been playing with for decades, but I just didn't have a name for it now I had it, it was Nick L who made the Karl Marx connection I talked about earlier um, he wrote about this in an article he wrote called a quick and dirty guide to accelerationism.

He also named Friederich n GES Delo and Felix Gari as members of the same group N. He needs no introduction, but I'll take a moment to explain the other two. names I'm sure I'm murdering delus was a French philosopher and guari was a French psychoanalyst and in 1972 they published a book together where they introduced the concept of deterritorialization this is the opposite of territorialization which refers to restrictions that maintain a system in verifying deterritorialization means remove those restrictions so you can see why Nick L drew a line between deterritorialization and accelerationism. Could we put more syllables in these words?

Jus in the 1990s he was part of a group that was founded at the University of Warwick called the Cyber ​​Culture Research Unit. or the ccru uh, which sounds like some kind of evil organization from a Terminator movie or something that might have been intentional. They imagined themselves as a collective of renegade academics who banded together in part to quote, undermine, according to one, the cheerful utopianism of the time. Of the group's co-founders, the STI plant published numerous articles, held in-person conferences, and reportedly did a lot of drugs, it is that not all of the university experience of the 1990s did not, the ccru eventually petered out and its members moved on to Do other things. but this is where the split between left and right began to occur, another influential member named Mark Fiser began blogging under the name KP Punk, attracted followers and eventually co-wrote a Manifesto that became the founding document of left-wing accelerationism or LX.

Nick Lan's writings, which are considered central to right-wing accelerationism or RX, both sides envision a post-capitalist future and a technological singularity. LX is concerned with producing a more equal and just world after the revolution and believes that technology is the key to improving the human. Condition that is actually not that far from the original meaning of Lords of Light if you think about it. Meanwhile, Nick Lyn has gone further to the right since 2013. He has actually been associated with a far-right Neo reaction movement also known as nrx. arose from the blog of a software engineer named Curtis Yarvin who publishes under the name menus mul but they are anti-democracy and pro-authoritarian to the point that some of the nrx actually criticize Donald Trump for not declaring himself King and the collapse of Western Civilization brought to you by Kong and mous mul buug, so obviously there are some dangerous ideas we're running into here, but it helps to keep in mind that at least most of these people think they're actually bringing us closer to a better world and that's It is based on the idea of ​​the four turns.

I've been reading this book lately. Not for this video. I've had this for a while. I'm only halfway done, but I feel like I can talk coherently about it. It's called The Fourth Turning It's here and it's written by Neil How and it's a continuation of an earlier book from 1997 called The Fourth Turning By How and the historian William Strauss now seeing me holding this book is having a hard time with each and every one of you. have at least one of three reactions right now, yes, Jesus Christ, yes, finally, yes, just do this, this is a polarizing book for some people.

This is gospel to others, it's rubbish on par with the writings of Nostradamus, but for those who aren't familiar, the basic gist is. so, the theory of the four turns, which is also called Strauss, how the generational theory basically argues that civilization is cyclical, that it operates in cycles, this applies primarily to Western civilization, but very specifically to the United States, these Cycles last between 80 and 90 years, approximately the length of a long human life, and they call these Cycles seculum, which is an ancient Roman word that has a similar meaning. Each of these Cycles is made up of what they call changes, uh, kind of like seasons of a civilization that they call.

The seasons are high, The Awakening, the collapse and the crisis, and each of these lasts about 20 or 30 years. It works like this. Each culum is defined by a major crisis point, a world-changing event that improves established institutions and is usually marked by a massive war. total war in your Parliament this is the last turn in a seculum that is why they call it the fourth turn many defenders of this Theory consider that the Second World War is the most recent era of crisis after the crisis it is the high period the first turn of a new culum This is when peace returns and society is booming.

It is an optimistic era. Social cohesion is high. Community participation is strong and a collective vision for the future is widely shared in the United States. The post-war years of the 1950s and early 1960s were our most recent. period which is why it is often romanticized ANZ like the old days when people say they want to make things great again this is the time period they often talk about the second twist is called The Awakening this is when Strict Conformity The high period begins to arrive and people begin to seek greater individual autonomy, often through spirituality and cultural rebellion, while the crisis years are marked by political upheaval.

The Awakening years are marked by cultural upheaval, this is analogous to the consciousness revolution of the hippies in the 60s and 70s, the third turn is the period of collapse, this is basically the opposite of the high period where Collective energy is at its lowest and individualism is at its peak, it is marked by a lack of trust in government and institutions and, as a result, inequality begins to increase. divisions grow and form in society divisions which eventually lead again to a period of crisis which closes the cycle and the cycle begins again now the reason why this works and the reason why it is called generational theory is because each generation is shaped by the environment they were raised in and as they grow up they seek to change the world away from the values ​​that were imposed on them when they were young, you know everyone wants to undo the problems that they inherited so there is an idea um or a saying: I don't think it's really related to this book or anything, but you know a generation that goes through war and experiences all the terrible things that war does.

You know that they come out of it without ever wanting to see war. Time and time again, their children grow up having heard all the stories about how terrible the things their parents went through were, and in fact, they see some of the physical and emotional scars they carry with them, so they avoid war instead. as they grow, but they are the grandchildren. They come and of course they want to rebel against their parents and they start romanticizing the purpose and greatness of their grandparents' generation and then war and conflict become attractive again anyway. According to this theory, different generations fit into different archetypes based on the turn they were raised in and these archetypes are Prophets Nomads Heroes and Artists and as time progresses through the different turns each generational archetype has a different role to play in those twists and I think at this point I'm going to step back a little bit because this gets very granular and very detailed and frankly exhausting, and there are actually like two or three different books thatThey've posted that they break down all of this, but I think you get the point, but just to drive this point home.

They consider World War II to be the most recent crisis point 80 years earlier it was the Civil War about 85 years earlier it was a revolutionary war 75 or 80 years earlier it was a Glorious Revolution in England and continuing, but proponents of this theory It dates back to the 15th century and for those keeping track World War II was the last crisis, so 80 years later this would clearly be where the theory falls apart because in no way are we experiencing any kind of social crisis. crisis right now, so look, I understand why this is interesting and compelling. I have my criticisms about it.

I'll talk about that later, but it's this kind of thinking that fuels accelerationist ideas. You know, if there's this big Wheel of Time that it moves on. The crisis is inevitable and is followed by a great period of euphoria. I mean, I can, I can see why it's tempting to just rip off the band-aid and be done with everyone wanting to get high. It is especially attractive if you are in a position of privilege and power. Financial or other policy and you know that not only do you have the means to survive the crisis but you can also shape what comes next.

It's like a belief in a secular Rapture, but these kinds of ideas where the end justifies the means, the end. Being a promise of a better world has been used to justify horrible acts since the beginning of time. On May 14, 2022, a man entered Tops Friendly Market in the predominantly black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, and opened fire, killing 10 people and wounding three. murderer whose name I won't publish because that guy not only live-streamed the massacre on Twitch but had also written a Manifesto explaining his actions and, by the way, I feel the need to point out that he later pleaded not guilty in court after you already know. broadcasting himself doing it and writing a Manifesto about it.

A serious question: can anything good come from a Manifesto? Anyway, I can't think of anything. One line from this Manifesto in particular. Read quote. Stability and comfort are the enemies of revolutionary change therefore we must destabilize and unrest society whenever possible the title of that section that quote was on destabilization tactics and accelerationism for victory this quote by the way was basically taken from another Manifesto written by the guy who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christ Church New Zealand in 2019 H many people point to Charles Manson as one of the first accelerationists. Manson and his followers thought a war was inevitable and thought the best way to be victorious was to help it start.

To do so, they murdered at least nine people, including actress Sharon. Tate thought the gray scenes would incite fear in white people who would blame black men for the crimes and declare war on the entire race, but now, before you start thinking they were crazy, they actually thought white people would lose their minds. war and would be eliminated. everyone except the Manson family of course because they were prepared for it, but then Charles Manson could rule all black people because they obviously couldn't rule themselves, okay yeah, they were crazy and racist. They were crazy racists not to be left behind in the crazy racist department.

Acceleration is a language that has been adopted by many neo-Nazi groups in recent years and several of them have been arrested for storing weapons and explosives, as well as committing and planning violent acts. crimes I'll put a couple links to places like the West Point Counterterrorism Center and the Foreign Policy Research Institute that talk about specific groups and the threats they pose. You can go read it, it's sobering, yeah, when it comes to Accelerationism and the four-turn theory they're just another justification that terrible people are using to do terrible things, you know, and like everything else, it's on a spectrum. that you know of people who probably mean well and want to reduce the amount of suffering that a crisis would create, you know, Mad Men, who just want to watch the world burn, I mean the whole four-turn thing, it's not necessarily bad on the surface, you know, some of it even makes sense, like I said before, although I do have.

My criticisms are that I feel like a lot of the theory behind this is that they basically saw a pattern over the last century and then just looked for evidence that fits their theory by going back in time, but they kind of leave it out. Things that don't fit your model, like World War I, were simply glossed over as a minor war, which I don't agree with at all. I think it could have had more consequences than World War II. I mean, a lot more people died. in World War II, but World War I ushered in an entirely new era of nation states, especially in Europe, as it ended the monarchical system that had been in place for hundreds of years.

At the time of World War I, six monarchies fell, including the Russian monarchy, which brought the Soviet Union and communism a completely new economic model that we would compete with for the next 80 years, perhaps you could call that the Russian seculum, by the way, there is a great video by historian Sean Munger that I will link below. he talks about how the six monarchies fell during the First World War. It's a very long video, but it's worth watching. In fact, I think there's a compelling argument that World War II was just a reverberation of World War I because so much of it was based on you know, the grievances of that first war, uh, it's a massive reverberation, but Still, it kind of got the job done, plus I feel like the generational theory is a bit of a stretch, um, first of all, I mean, yeah, people who are born in various time periods are going to have shared experiences that shape them differently.

Similarly, you absolutely know, but to say you know you're a millennial so you're like that or you're a gen xer so you're like that, I mean, eventually it just becomes zodiac signs. and this theory, by the way, has been heavily criticized by some historians for being closer to astrology or forecasting and, you know, like I said, leaving out things that didn't fit the theory. Hello, future Joe, here, so there is something left. Out of the video originally and the more I think about it, I should probably include it. There's a sort of subset of accelerationism that's becoming very popular right now, it's called effective accelerationism and it's different from what I've been talking about in the rest. of this video because it doesn't focus so much on the collapse of society, it's actually more about wanting to free technology and let it progress as quickly as possible because that's the best possible way out of the problems we have now.

Even the problems that arise with the liberation of technology now I can't help but notice that most of the people who attribute this to themselves are some sort of tech bros and venture capitalists who have the most to gain from liberating the technology. identify themselves on social media with the hashtag EAC, people like y combinator CEO Gary Tan, VC fund billionaire Mark Andre, and infamous pharma bro Martin Scy, these guys aren't necessarily politically motivated, but rather They harbor an almost religious devotion to the idea. of technology as the savior of humanity, although they tend to lean a little more authoritarian just because democratic institutions tend to move more slowly on these things, in fact, in October, Mark Andrees published a blog post that somewhat exposed the principles of an effective strategy. accelerationism and he called it the Techno-Optimistic Manifesto.

It includes a list of enemies, so that's cool. I'll put a link below, as well as a link to some sort of rebuttal post so you can read it and make up your own mind. but I felt it was worth mentioning because, like I said, it's not really so much about the collapse of humanity, although people arguing against it would say their policies would have the same result anyway, that's all linked below, but you can. I don't deny that it feels like we're at a crisis point at this point in history and reading this feels a little validating in a scary way, but if you want to call it my best opinion.

I would say it's not solid enough to

destroy

civilization because of it and I'll be honest with you. I have a lot of anxiety about the future right now. I think things are going to get worse before they arrive. The best thing is that we are extremely divided right now and I don't know how we're going to get out of this without something terrible and historic happening like, seriously, how bad would something have to be to get everyone in America to put aside their grievances and come together? in order to solve it. I can't think of anything and that's a scary thing and whatever it is, I'm pretty sure the answer is not to speed it up.

All I can say is that history is going to do what history is going to do. do and all we can do is take care of each other. I don't know, call me naive if you want, but I think that's how we get to a better world and if you want to create a better world, maybe invest in making your own world. sharper brain with today's sponsor shiny for the shiny guys sorry, actually you know, if we're talking about predicting the future, believe it or not, they have a new course on that kind of shiny, it has a whole learning path in around data analysis and One of the new courses is called predicting with probability.

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It's brilliant.org responds with Joe. I have the link. Below in the description go look for it, thank you very much for watching it if it's your first time here. I have a video here about the singularity, it's a little old, but you still know the same kind of stuff I'm talking about here, um, check that out. Take a look or take a look at any of the thumbnails that you can see on the side if you're viewing them in your browser, give them a click and if you enjoy them I invite you to subscribe if you're not already subscribe.

I post videos every Monday, I hope. You guys are having a good end to the year 2023 and I hope 2024 isn't as scary as this video made it seem, but y'all go out there, have an eye-opening week, have an eye-opening rest of the month while you're in. Stay safe and we'll see you on next Monday. I love you, take care.