On 9 April, the coalition program was presented, and Berlin will now 'mandate' (verpflichten) all its citizens to both digital ID (BürgerID) and digital currency (Bürgergeld)
Obviously I can't prove this, because since I'm not a total egomaniac (no promise I'm not a limited one...) I don't record everything I say, but:
I said this before 2005.
Credits instead of money. All other forms of dealings made illegal.
Total surveillance. You and your home and your car will be always online, and fines will be deuducted from your credit score automatically.
Implants and cybernetics and neurospace. Live your life hooked up in a capsule (no, The Matrix wasn't the first - I think that goes to E. M. Forster for "The Machine Stops" from 1909, read it and shudder).
The Earth turned into a resource-extraction area to take the affluent classes into space - too many examples to mention. Hello SpaceX.
Total corporatisation, where MegaCorps divide the world into sectors and a technocratic bureaucracy rules all with the only goal being no change of or to the system, in any way. The original 'Rollerball' from '75 shows us such a world. You are not a human, not even a person; you are a function in the system.
Given that the push to corporatise/financialise drinking water resources is quite old news, let's see what else could be corporatised/financialised; I'll start with the air we breath (CO2 certificates), roads and sidewalks we use, etc. Note that whatever used to be a 'good' (as in: tangible objects) has long since been 'virtualised' (think: whatever you buy and 'own' online, such as movies, etc.).
At this point, I'm unsure what can be done except for waiting for this system to break down under the weight of its own contradictions. And be prepared not to give in.
Money as a medium of exchange for resources, goods and services.
vs.
Modern times:
Money as the good itself
I think that shift post-WW2 is a large part of the problem; all activities that increases the money-supply cause inflation to some degree, mitigated by the value of the good (et c) produced since money really only has value as a medium of exchange.
With the shift to creating money from moving money around, speculation, and so on inflation became a real problem and various policies had to be gradually inteoduced to keep inflation down; migration, artificial scarcity of whatever assets are held by banks, inc. national banks (most evidenced by the housing market) and the re-introduction of a de facto-guild system what with the enormous increase in all kinds of things requiring certificates, licenses and such.
The international policies enacted from the 1970s all have as their goal inflation-mitigation, by using the nation states as collateral and a resource extration area; we may be apporaching within sight of that no longer being feasible since (I suspect) the original evaluations didn't take the development in China, nor the end of the Cold War into account - and thus inflation has increased much more than anticipated, leading to the current troubles for the US, since that's where most of the oligarchs reside and use as a safehouse/-guard for their profits (though most of the original culprits are long dead by now).
And when all else fails for an inflation-driven economy, now a global one at that, is default, eminent domain, resetting the currency, and war. Those are the compass-points, and trying to avoid one may well lead to another.
I will for all my days regret that we failed in becoming a Nordic-Scandinavian union. United in the 1910s, we could have become a third option between rampant cosmopolitan capitalism (a very large part of what caused WW1 being that) and Soviet planned-economy communism, but no.
Our sibling rivalries run too deep, and each nations upper crust would rather be a minnow in small bowl, than form a school in the sea.
It has been fascinating to watch the new coalition forming. They appear to govern an entirely fictitious reality of their own making. Nothing in there bears any connection to anything actually going on and they have removed all the feedback mechanisms that could alert them to this discrepancy.
I wonder how they will interpret the coming blackouts for example. Probably the fault of Putler.
If it's not Mr. Putin, then whatever outrage du jour will be blamed, you know, perhaps domestic dissenters.
As to your main point, it is fascinating to observe, I mean, from an ethnographic/anthropologic point of view, although it's disheartening at the same time.
I am actually in a great mood. Since the late 90s it has been clear that the Western countries wouldn’t be able to reform their fiscal incontinence and addiction to debt and consequently would create a debacle of some kind. I was afraid that the form of the debacle would be somehow clever and therefore difficult to unfuck. But this? This is fantastic. A two-bit megalomaniacal dystopia out of a 1960s penny dreadful, implemented by toddlers. Future generations will make fun of us for taking this even slightly seriously.
At a certain level, I share your thoughts: it's amazing how fast and comprehensive the decline was (is). I suppose future generations will shake their heads in disbelief, refusing to countenance just how stupid we could actually be.
Obviously I can't prove this, because since I'm not a total egomaniac (no promise I'm not a limited one...) I don't record everything I say, but:
I said this before 2005.
Credits instead of money. All other forms of dealings made illegal.
Total surveillance. You and your home and your car will be always online, and fines will be deuducted from your credit score automatically.
Implants and cybernetics and neurospace. Live your life hooked up in a capsule (no, The Matrix wasn't the first - I think that goes to E. M. Forster for "The Machine Stops" from 1909, read it and shudder).
The Earth turned into a resource-extraction area to take the affluent classes into space - too many examples to mention. Hello SpaceX.
Total corporatisation, where MegaCorps divide the world into sectors and a technocratic bureaucracy rules all with the only goal being no change of or to the system, in any way. The original 'Rollerball' from '75 shows us such a world. You are not a human, not even a person; you are a function in the system.
What is to be done?
Given that the push to corporatise/financialise drinking water resources is quite old news, let's see what else could be corporatised/financialised; I'll start with the air we breath (CO2 certificates), roads and sidewalks we use, etc. Note that whatever used to be a 'good' (as in: tangible objects) has long since been 'virtualised' (think: whatever you buy and 'own' online, such as movies, etc.).
At this point, I'm unsure what can be done except for waiting for this system to break down under the weight of its own contradictions. And be prepared not to give in.
Older times:
Money as a medium of exchange for resources, goods and services.
vs.
Modern times:
Money as the good itself
I think that shift post-WW2 is a large part of the problem; all activities that increases the money-supply cause inflation to some degree, mitigated by the value of the good (et c) produced since money really only has value as a medium of exchange.
With the shift to creating money from moving money around, speculation, and so on inflation became a real problem and various policies had to be gradually inteoduced to keep inflation down; migration, artificial scarcity of whatever assets are held by banks, inc. national banks (most evidenced by the housing market) and the re-introduction of a de facto-guild system what with the enormous increase in all kinds of things requiring certificates, licenses and such.
The international policies enacted from the 1970s all have as their goal inflation-mitigation, by using the nation states as collateral and a resource extration area; we may be apporaching within sight of that no longer being feasible since (I suspect) the original evaluations didn't take the development in China, nor the end of the Cold War into account - and thus inflation has increased much more than anticipated, leading to the current troubles for the US, since that's where most of the oligarchs reside and use as a safehouse/-guard for their profits (though most of the original culprits are long dead by now).
And when all else fails for an inflation-driven economy, now a global one at that, is default, eminent domain, resetting the currency, and war. Those are the compass-points, and trying to avoid one may well lead to another.
I will for all my days regret that we failed in becoming a Nordic-Scandinavian union. United in the 1910s, we could have become a third option between rampant cosmopolitan capitalism (a very large part of what caused WW1 being that) and Soviet planned-economy communism, but no.
Our sibling rivalries run too deep, and each nations upper crust would rather be a minnow in small bowl, than form a school in the sea.
I find the attack on my liberty and curtailment of my basic human rights ‘offensive’.
But that doesn’t count I guess as it’s the wrong type of offence?
‘Prevention of Digital Violence Act’… you can certainly tell when someone has gone their whole life without ever taking a punch to the head…
As you say human nature will win in the end but there will be a whole lot of pain and frustration along the way…
Exactly.
As to your offence (which is roughly in line with mine) doesn't matter. If you object to these policies™, though, you're in the state's crosshair.
It has been fascinating to watch the new coalition forming. They appear to govern an entirely fictitious reality of their own making. Nothing in there bears any connection to anything actually going on and they have removed all the feedback mechanisms that could alert them to this discrepancy.
I wonder how they will interpret the coming blackouts for example. Probably the fault of Putler.
If it's not Mr. Putin, then whatever outrage du jour will be blamed, you know, perhaps domestic dissenters.
As to your main point, it is fascinating to observe, I mean, from an ethnographic/anthropologic point of view, although it's disheartening at the same time.
I am actually in a great mood. Since the late 90s it has been clear that the Western countries wouldn’t be able to reform their fiscal incontinence and addiction to debt and consequently would create a debacle of some kind. I was afraid that the form of the debacle would be somehow clever and therefore difficult to unfuck. But this? This is fantastic. A two-bit megalomaniacal dystopia out of a 1960s penny dreadful, implemented by toddlers. Future generations will make fun of us for taking this even slightly seriously.
At a certain level, I share your thoughts: it's amazing how fast and comprehensive the decline was (is). I suppose future generations will shake their heads in disbelief, refusing to countenance just how stupid we could actually be.
And then some.
„You thought thinking mice were born directly from dirt was a bit daft? We believed we could change the weather by getting cows to fart less!“
Like 👍 👆. Fawning belief in the science of cow emissions has never been anything other than hot air inhaled passionately 😒