First of all before I begin, I’ll just explain (if it wasn’t already obvious): I put the word “elite” in quotation marks to make it absolutely clear: this is a joke of a title people have given themselves.

There’s nothing elite whatsoever about being an arsehole; in fact that’s easy & anyone can do it, because what it means is you’re holding yourselves to a LOWER STANDARD of behaviour.

Furthermore: the proclamation of insecurity inherent in the title, coupled with the fact you haven’t noticed any of this when so entitling yourselves, means you’re also really stupid … and there’s definitely nothing elite about being a stupid, insecure arsehole who thinks they’re “better than” others, with no better evidence than the sheer good fortune of your birth, or the achievements made with all the odds stacked in your favour.

The thing is: if you’re part of this self-proclaimed “elite”, you’re more responsible for the clusterfuck that is the world today, because you control a greater proportion of the resources & power of this world; yet with all those resources at your disposal, the problems of the world continue to get worse … there may be some exceptions, but otherwise this is arguably the case, and I personally have no respect for you as long as you prop up this bullshit system, and so long as you continue in your idiotic conviction of being superior while proving yourself inferior … there’s simply nothing dignified or elite about it.

IF I’ve offended anyone … good.

IF I’ve motivated anyone to dump this idiotic attitude … better.

Now to the article.

Property Trade & Currency:

Property:

Prior to The Industrial Revolution (especially) in the 18th century, human beings like any other species were extremely vulnerable to significant environmental changes & events, as we had only limited ability to manipulate our environment.

This pivotal change in European culture was in many respects far behind the more advanced culture of the region that is now China (and some other nations of the Asian region), whom had already invented many things well ahead of the Europeans … however (in their defence) Europe had been recovering from a handicap known as the Dark Ages, which lasted a millennia … following which, the cultural and intellectual revolution of The Renaissance, followed by The Enlightenment (which coincided with The Industrial Revolution), saw the start of the end of this ecological vulnerability.

Unfortunately this did not result in a fair society, as certain psychopaths & sociopaths of the time figured out how to control society (despite the fact such control was no longer necessary for their own security & comfort), resulting in a technologically driven system of militarisation, brainwashing & social engineering …

… thus our new “Dark Ages” of modern-day slavery, wealth inequality, social engineering, religious & other ideological indoctrination & brainwashing, media manipulation / misinformation, environmental pollution, species exploitation, extinction, ecological habitat destruction & ecosystem collapse.

But let’s just step back a little in history & see how this situation evolved from a biological ecological & evolutionary perspective.

The Evolution of Property & Social Control:

We understood machines long before we understood fuels, so we certainly had tools & machines long before the industrial revolution; going back as far as our earlier hominid ancestors who made and used tools. In fact we know now that we’re not (after all, as previously believed) the only species that uses tools.

However, it wasn’t until we understood how to drive machines with a non-living, energy dense, and (potentially) portable power-supply via a fuel (such as coal-fire to generate steam and drive turbines, pumps or pistons), as opposed to human & horse power, or wind & solar power (or gravity), that we really started to overcome this vulnerability to ecological conditions affecting resource scarcity & thus survival.

If we want to find the origins of our individual & collective behavioural patterns, we have to look at the question from a perspective of evolutionary biology & behavioural psychology, where we share common motivations with our many cousin species via common ancestry.

Survival:

So from the simple perspective of survival, we have the proposition put forward by Sir Richard Dawkins (yes I know some of you don’t like him, but some of the stuff he says is quite valid, so just put that aside for now – I’m not saying he’s perfect, I’m just quoting his concept) in his book “The Selfish Gene” … where there is a certain truth to the value of selfishness from a survival perspective; though there’s also value in what we might call the “enlightened self-interest” of communal & familial care between individuals, and we see this also in the notion of interspecies symbiosis.

So what we’re talking about here is the balancing of interest between self-interest & communal-interest, driven by the motivation of species & ecosystems survival, and the desire to carry forward one’s genes.

So how does this relate to the concept of property?

Again this is pretty simple.

Where the short-term seasonal, geographical & situational access to resources results in scarcity, a species must both cooperate & compete for access to those resources.

Too much competition without enough cooperation, results in increased scarcity, thus increased instability of ecosystems to the detriment of all species in the long-term.

However, the aforementioned short-term conditions may mean that failure to compete results in death or extinction in the long-term.

Therefore: the capacity to acquire and hoard resources evolved as an evolutionary response to uncertainty … and we see many species making stores of resources both inside their own bodies, and in burrows, nests & other external locations where they can later access these resources if times become more challenging (eg: the seasonal onset of winter, or longer term climactic changes).

Conclusion:

Modern society and it’s systems are merely a resultant collective evolutionary response to survival issues; BUT this does not necessarily equate to it being the best possible such response, and it is the contention of this article that quite to the contrary, it has become perhaps the worst possible response we could continue to pursue.

We hoard resources for personal & collective self-interest, but we do so via a system that allows us to completely disregard any ecological or social consequences for which we can offload consequences to someone or something else. This system also (making matters worse) drives the maximisation of resource consumption, waste, and disregard for such consequences.

Trade:

Trade evolved from property, and again it has its origins in evolutionary biology & behavioural psychology; but again this is no excuse for the direction we’ve taken it, and only an idiot would ignore the consequences occurring as a result of that direction.

Both within a species and in the symbiosis between species, we see the origins of trade in the exchange of ecological services; though the “currency” of this trade is not money, it’s thermodynamics.

An example:

Trees take the kinetic energy of particles & photons, and convert it to stored chemical potential energy within the bonds of organic chemistry … in doing so, they remove heat energy from the atmosphere, and thus create shade which is even cooler than the shade created by other non-living and non-photosynthetic objects.

They also create wind-shade, and thus reduce the evaporation of moisture from the soil, then collectively (under the canopy of a forest) increase this impact, thus creating a microclimate which supports many other species.

It is therefore in the interests of other species to support those trees. Since such evolved symbiosis results in an increased probability of survival, it constitutes a genetic advantage, and we thus find a vast array of symbiosis between species within ecosystems.

Cooperation is indeed (as any competent evolutionary biologist will tell you) vastly more important & common than competition … without it: there would be no such thing as colony nor multicellular species, no such thing as colony nor multicellular photosynthetic species, and no such thing as colony nor multicellular oxygen breathing species.

For those of you not familiar with some of these terms: a colony species is comprised of individual organisms (often single-celled) behaving as a collective whole, while a multicellular organism is a single organism comprised of many co-dependent cells. Human beings and other mammals (along with most other species you can name & which are multicellular in nature), are more correctly described as BOTH colonial AND multicellular, as we are a symbiotic colony of largely bacterial (and other microbial) species, surrounding (and in some cases permeating) a central multicellular organism (the thing you think of as “yourself”), but without which symbiosis with that micro biome, you’d die.

Fungi in the soil have evolved exactly such a symbiosis with trees and other plants. They (mycelium) form vast networks of threads (hyphae) through the soil, which extend far past the reaches of the tree roots, and deliver resources to the trees (also assisting in the sharing of resources between trees). In return the trees feed organic materials (synthesised with these and other resources) back to the fungi.

So why would such an evolutionary relationship evolve? Well, just imagine how tough it would be on the fungi (which evolved to eat wood) if the forest was less dense, and the ground less moist … it is quite clearly in their interests, to support the forest above their heads.

Limitations of ecological “trade” in symbiosis:

So the limitations on this trade of biochemical services between species, which is both competitive & cooperative in nature … is thermodynamically determined, by the maximum power principle applied over time, to self & collective interests.

Some events and circumstances which restrict availability of resources are more immediate, regular & perhaps seasonal … while others occur randomly or periodically, over vastly longer geological or astronomical time-scales.

In all cases, each species is effectively using genetically programmed algorithms to determine the highest survival probability response for themselves, their species, and their supporting ecosystems. These algorithms then evolve over time, and thus (with luck) survive & learn to cope with new events that may be never before encountered.

Conclusion:

Herein lies the key to the value of human level sentience, intelligence, our technological ability & our scientific knowledge … as we now have the capacity to manipulate our own software (the thought processes of our brains) to evolve in different directions that nature would otherwise not be able to take us … in doing so, we can respond to and more importantly SURVIVE events that no species could otherwise evolve to survive, by the high-tech manipulation of our environment.

However (following on from the point above): we want to ensure that we’re not mistaking these survival events for the (largely unnecessary) problems we cause ourselves, instead of the larger natural events which threaten our survival, such as the impact of an extinction level NEO (Near Earth Object – aka meteorites / asteroids the size of a mountain travelling at 20,000 kms/minute, dwarfing the combined destructive capacity of every single nuclear device we’ve ever built).

This is the value of humanity, as guardian of all our cousin species on the planet … and if they could speak to us, I hope they’d say: “wake up, stop torturing us, stop exploiting us, stop murdering is, stop wiping us out, polluting and destroying our homes … protect us”. Instead we have entire industries dedicated to the enslavement and butchering of other species, so that you can eat them without having to take any responsibility for the act.

It is in our survival interests to protect other species, to protect ecosystems, to protect the biosphere … but we run economic systems which don’t just dis-incentivise such actions, they actively promote the polar opposite behaviour:

• How can I hoard & exploit this resource maximally & if possible exclusively?
• How can I engineer demand (regardless of waste) and limit supply (increase scarcity) to maximise price & profit?
• How can I avoid the costs of responsibility for all ecological & social consequences of my resource exploitation?

This is the insanity of trade, this is wholly unsustainable.

Currency:

Now, as if matters weren’t dire enough already, along comes currency.

Currency evolved from trade (or so it seems), the idea here is that a common item can become currency for trade of other items, and this item can be a commodity in its own right, or it can be a specially designed currency for specifically this purpose.

We’ll skip all the ins and outs of currency, as they’re really not important for this discussion, I just want to focus on one thing, which is the manner in which currency has continued the evolution of this ecological & social clusterfuck we find ourselves in.

Trade would not exist without the notion of property, and currency would not exist without the notion of trade … and it’s so drummed in to us, dating back (as discussed) into principles of biochemistry, evolutionary biology & behavioural psychology, that most people are incapable of contemplating how we could ever do without it … many of them mistakenly believe in the simplistic argument (which it would seem to them is in fact confirmed by the case I’ve stated so far), that such behaviour is “right & natural” and as such, also “best & unavoidable” … but they could not be further from the truth in this conclusion.

I’m not saying it’s unnatural for us to seek self-interest, that would be foolish & stupid; what I’m saying is that the direction we’ve taken this behaviour is no longer in our best interests, is absolutely not in the best interests of any other species, is absolutely not in the best interests of the ecosystems of the Earth, and without question is also not in the best interests of the biosphere as a whole.

Currency divorces us even further from the original evolutionary reasons WHY we were exchanging resources in the first place with each other, with other species, and with the other non-living elements of the ecosystems that have supported us to get this far … and in forgetting that original set of reasons, we place ourselves at all kinds of risk, not the least of which risks, is that we will evolve (perhaps have already evolved) into a very “spiritually ugly” and disingenuous species, which obsessively & insanely destroys (tortures, exploits and enslaves) any beauty around ourselves, which we can “profit” from so destroying in currency based economic terms (since it’s an oxymoron to call such outcomes profitable in any other less insane & stupid terms).

IS THIS REALLY THE BEST WE CAN BE?

The answer is obviously no. Of course we could do vastly better, but too many people are too cowardly, narcissistic & brainwashed to support any efforts to change what causes all this rotten behaviour.

The fundamental flaws of currency:

We have what I call an “information dumb” currency, meaning that a currency has only the following information attached to it:

1. Its “face value” which is in units of absolutely nothing recognised by any science;
2. Its artwork (irrelevant);
3. Its country of origin (irrelevant);
4. Its year of minting (irrelevant);
5. Its serial number (irrelevant).

Currency tells us nothing useful whatsoever about the so called “value” it is supposed to represent, and even less about the ecological & social consequences caused by the creation, exploitation & trade of this “value”. Hence, it is information-dumb.

Yet, let’s have a look at how it influences us … it says:

• Go get me, I don’t care how, I’ll reward you exactly the same as anyone else who holds the same amount of me within the same economy & circumstances at the same time;
• I don’t care what ecological damage you do to get me, I don’t care what sociological psychological or other physical damage you do, nor whether you’ve taken any responsibility for such damage … my reward to you has complete disregard for such things;
• To the contrary if you do take responsibility for such damage, that will likely cost you time & money, and since that will put the price up of whatever you’re selling, your marketplace will likely punish you for it, so you’ll have spent more & gained less … so if I (as a currency) could be said to (anthropomorphically) “care” what you do, it would be said I want you to exploit as much as you can, as fast as you can, with the least responsibility taken for consequences … as such behaviour coincides with the greatest probability of the greatest profit (so long as you get away with breaking any laws, but the laws are a separate issue, and if you have lots of me, I’ll help you bypass them).

Conclusion:

So currency is an evolution of trade, is an evolution of property, is an evolution of ecological exchange … BUT … it is not the only such pathway we could have taken, it has many fundamental flaws inherent in the direction we’ve taken it, and these flaws are to the detriment of every living thing, including ourselves, along with the ecosystems of the Earth and the biosphere as a whole.

If we continue down this path, we will absolutely fuck ourselves up … because this pathway we are on coincides with the greatest probability of ecological & social problems, especially now that we’ve exhausted the capacity of the planet & other species to pay the price of the consequences of our behaviour.

Most importantly: none of this is necessary, we can change it, and we must … to do otherwise should be considered beneath us, and we should look with shame and embarrassment on our belligerent refusal to do so, which has caused the slavery, exploitation, abuse, murder, torture, death, injury, suffering and extinction of countless sentient beings of human and other species.

It is WHOLLY DELUSIONAL to believe this is not the case, and yet we have a self-proclaimed “elite” of the world who defend this insanity, because they are cowards … they’re terrified of the consequences of having to let go their power … they’re afraid of the possible vengeance of those they’ve enslaved exploited tortured killed etc. … and perhaps rightly so, but cowardly and short-sighted nonetheless.

CALL TO ACTION:

I call on you the self-proclaimed elite of the world, who dominate & control the world’s resources, to put aside your fear, and put aside your offence at having to hear the truth … because the moment you drop this bullshit, it starts to diminish its relevance to you, ie – you cease being one of the bad guys, and start becoming one of the good guys … it’s called “redemption”.

One way you can do this is to support me, and contact me to find out how else you can help.

• I’m not going to stop calling it as I see it.
• I’m not going to suck up to you.
• I’m not going to beg or pander to your ego.
• I’m not going to obey, or be controlled.

… and neither of us has time for that shit …

… because here’s the thing:

There’s so much thermodynamic momentum in the system (the biosphere of Earth) already, that it’s going to be really immensely fucking difficult to turn it around … and quite frankly all your bullshit posturing, expectations & bizarre beliefs are way more of a hindrance than a help, so I will not put the outcome at risk by bowing down to that nonsense … I will continue to ridicule it for the absolute fucking crap it is … and you can either eat some humble pie (come have a drink & a meal), find out how you can help … or fuck off and continue to be a thorn in everyone else’s side.

Your call … but personally I’m not sure why you’d want to prove that you’re determined to remain an arsehole, instead of undergoing some momentary discomfort of admitting your wrongs, and committing yourself to amending the situation.