No. Not everybody have internal mono/dialogue. Neither is that form of "debate" necessarily very efficient. Can link to podcast, where someone highly competent talks about how it, works for them. Was in a Jordan Peterson pod.
Yes, please, send the link. The way I interpreted internal monologue was not as a synonym for debate but rather as, how should I put it, active thinking, perhaps.
The ultimate response is not in what we say, or what we tweet. the ultimate response is in what we do. Contrary to what everybody has been taught, the US government does not respond to votes. It responds to money. To Pressure groups. To lobbyists. To campaign contributions, and bribes.
There is a different way to state the maxim for investors, "buy low, sell high". It is "buy when everyone else is selling. Sell when everyone else is buying". That Is how I make money in my business.
And then, I move the money in directions which I think will be most beneficial for my future and the future of all the people who depend on me. I spend that way.
In the long run,going against the grain is the only way to do better than the crowd. These days, the crowd is busy suiciding.
What I say and even what I write is just making noise, its like the patter of a poker player. Its a distraction. Even a lot of what I think.
Where my money goes, that's where the reality is.
Just like John Kerry's private jet and Barack Obama's $40 million beach house. That is where the reality is.
Its more important to understand why things are so, than to continue trying to win an argument you can't win. The story or "science" is just a cover, so don't struggle with it. Struggle with the reasons behind it.
The Energy Transition is about the electrification of our economy and creating a new digital commodity that the USA can use to replace the Petrodollar. Electrification is not so much about the fuel used to produce it, as it is about modernizing the US infrastructure and about controlling who will pay for it.
A carbon tax that is embedded in everything (every product, service, or process) and that can be digitized and tracked cradle to grave on the Blockchain, is the means. The motive is the money and who will control the new emerging economy.
Oil has a few decades to go, at best. It's finite and it's being consumed at an alarming rate. It takes time and a plan to transition, and it takes money. Your money. Your willingness to pay.
"How long, I stepped it up, until scientists who dare question “the consensus” lose their funding and possibly their jobs? How long until the regulators start banning books? And then people?"
Sadly, that ship sailed during the first decade of this century, Irina. Even more sadly, it sunk during the COVID panic, and now rests at the bottom of the dustbin of history.
Here is the US, we still have (for now) our first amendment Constitutional protections, but they are being severely curtailed by everything from social media to government, but I repeat myself.
The American left is hellbent on doing away with our 2nd Amendment rights, (CA Gov. Gavin Newsom just called for its abolishment), and if they strike that one down, the First will fall right behind it.
Then this thing finally goes kinetic, which at this point almost seems inevitable.
It has always scared me when someone says they know the truth, as in "the science is settled". What small minds they have! It has always made me stop and think - how can they? I want to scream at them - just open your eyes and look around you at this wonderful world and see if you know the truth, or what is real or what is happening right this instant beneath your feet. No - you are right most never seem to see a "Bigger Picture".
Some of us do a little glimpse of it and the question arises do we keep up the conversations? Censorship and control have always been part of the equitation, now it seems that there must be more. What worries me most is that neighbor will turn on neighbor and family will turn on family - I see that already part of the narrative with wind and solar and it is ugly, but it is used by the companies to get what they want and people can't see past the money to see their neighbor. Master manipulators.
Lets hope we don't become criminals, or they take away funding for projects that make sense or we get more BS studies coming out of universities to suit the narrative.
And please don't stop your narrative - I love a good sensible dialogue. ...... only 1,500 words on green hydrogen and how useful it will be??
Scientists themselves have repeatedly pointed out that no science is ever "settled" because that's not how science works. It continuously questions itself. That's decidedly not what the IPCC has been doing, not to mention the questionable modelling, etc. And that's precisely why there is such a focus on language like "the science is settled", "scientific consensus" and similar.
A usual a thought provoking article, I feel a little spoiled and very lucky when I look for these in my mail in the morning. My 2 cents as an anthropology major from the early 70's. For thousands of years homo sapiens has featured belief as a vehicle to manage fear of death. Earliest man showed burial rituals indicative of belief in an afterlife. Early settlements showed intellectual development around spiritual and religious social structures. This is part of our genetic code. As creatures who understand their mortality intellectually, belief in something more was important to survival. In order for religious organizations to evolve, certainty in the truth of their central beliefs was mandatory. It used to be a question of survival. In a very short time period, say 200 years, we have attempted to forcibly rip out that which has been built into us as a survival mechanism for thousands of years. Instead of Revelations and a second coming, as Christians believe, we have substituted Climate apocalypse and hysteria, in a Middle Ages sense, over a very bad cold virus. These are beliefs, not based on "science" but are a replacement for lost religious beliefs. Other examples - Germany in the 1930's, the creation of a new social order in the USSR in the early 19th century, the adherence to atheistic principles in the education system and the recent backlash against Christianity in the west. Religion binds us into a specific belief system which cannot be questioned. That is now going away for a large number of people, in particular those who are educated/indoctrinated. They, the NPC's as you put it, are simply searching for tools to return to their natural state, which is one of adherence to certain belief. I do not think it is a conscious action, I think it is more reflexive in response to deep seated fear. I do share your concern about belief run wild so to speak. One needs only to think of the Inquisition in European history or the Cultural revolution in China in the 1960's to see how quickly belief in the social good turns on independent thought and forces conformity. I would suggest that America provides a good view as to how far the new beliefs will progress in suppression of their traditional Christian beliefs. Right now it is about a 50-50 split. Canada is similar. A very good synopsis of the implications of this American struggle are the books by Yeonmi Park who provides a comparison of DEI to growing up in North Korea and how our society is, as you suggest, moving quickly towards "happy" authoritarianism. Again thanks for making me think as soon as I woke up and sorry for the long comment.
Thank you so much for the expert take on the issue. I'm going to paste it into a document and refer to it in future stories. You've detailed what I have caught glimpses of here and there in the news stream. People need to believe in something and will look for it anywhere they can.
I have to say my own opinions on religion and beliefs have changed over the past 20 years -- not radically but significantly enough to make me more appreciative of other people's choices (if they are choices). I'm also reminded of an observation made by a fellow Substacker that religious people handled the lockdowns better than the non-believers. Certainly food for thought.
It's sad that this ersatz replacement for traditional religion, the climate cult, is so overwhelmingly negative. Other religions, I believe, have some positive tenets, too, to balance out the promise of hellfire, but not the climate cult.
The is a term , a correct conceptual word that accurately describes fallacious thinking. Reasoning means non contradictory analysis. We are reasoning when we consider something in full context and ignore none of the relevant information, as it pertains to the real world. As soon as we let our imagination guide us , we are guilty of mythological thinking. Accepting as true what another person claims to be true has always been the key human downfall. Charlatan, liars and foolish people all expect and become angry when their statements are questioned. Never try to make them happy as it is impossible to sway a mind that reject reason. Always look for people who have retained a mind capable of independent thinking.
That said, aggravating critics and censors by speaking the truth is the only weapon we have against mythological thinking. The simple myths are easy to refute. Few people will argue that Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy are real but billions of people are prepared to die defending their belief in god, something that equally can not be supported with real evidence.
The Overton Window is a real feature in every discussion. Some things are comfortable to discuss, others are taboo. As I think Voltaire said, "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." But equally as Ayn Rand said, "The unchallenged absurdities of today become the normal tomorrow."
Establishment censorship started years ago when Creationist scientists who questioned evolution could no longer get published or get research grants. Many lost their jobs, and they couldn't get PhDs unless they kept their opinions in the closet. Now censorship has spread to anything anti-vaccine, anti-woke, or anti-climate change. Thank goodness for substacks. I appreciate your articles.
For many in positions of power we are all NPCs or useful idiots, same thing. I am a bit more optimistic than you, that people are starting to open their eyes and be more questioning. Sadly, much of the debate around the"science" of Covid or Climate change legislation may be litigated in the US courts where the hard antiseptic light of depositions will cast its glare on the emails, documents, who knew what, when and where. The very digital tools that are being "misused" to spread disinformation will be brought to bear on this topic. Let's see what happens.
I hope very strongly that you're right and I also see some signs of optimism but I also see how those in power are clamping down on those signs. We'll see what happens, yes. There is hope.
“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”
― George Orwell, 1984
As usual, Orwell saw the future better than anyone since Nostradamus. I fear the number of people who actually think critically about issues is shrinking every day. It is an exhausting fight to keep up, that is all I know.
Thanks for another spot-on discussion of the lunacy which passes for today's dialog
Don’t get too black pilled- this will all get figured out because NPCs can become active players when they become cold, hungry and poor and start asking questions. Then they will find the samizdat in all those special secret corners of the internet not on Facebook or Twitter (and who wants to spend time on those things anyway?!?)
I just like to tell people that I believe both that climate change is happening and that I support increasing fossil fuel use because energy is more important. Either their heads explode or they get confused, but they start to think- and thinking is the way out of NPCdom.
It is interesting to see that most people I know from Central and Eastern Europe are the most immune to all this nonsense. It seems living through totalitarianism isn’t so desirable to repeat...
What a great point! Yes, they certainly can become active players when the going gets tough.
You're right, we are immune to that for reasons of experience. That's why I'm banging the drum about the West trying to do totalitarianism better and I'm far from the only one.
It's good to hear the people you talk to start to think. I see a lot of straight-out refusal to entertain an alternative viewpoint, even when -- especially when -- supported by facts.
It is all in how things are presented to them- in a friendly setting I don’t say what they need to think, I just say how I think and back it up with some simple anecdotes (a billion people with no electricity, all of the most climate alarmed people hate nuclear power, etc. etc.). Then they can do with it what they will...
It's all based on fear AND a lack of trust in God.
Here's a similar situation about 3,470 years ago:
As Pharaoh approached, the people of Isra’el looked up and saw the Egyptians right there, coming after them. In great fear the people of Isra’el cried out to ADONAI and said to Moshe, “Was it because there weren’t enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out to die in the desert? Why have you done this to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we tell you in Egypt to let us alone, we’ll just go on being slaves for the Egyptians? It would be better for us to be the Egyptians’ slaves than to die in the desert!”
- Exodus 14 (CJB)
The people of Israel were panicking. This is what is happening to many people today. Their minds are literally frozen in panic.
But what did Moshe say in response to the people of Israel?
Moshe answered the people, “Stop being so fearful! Remain steady, and you will see how ADONAI is going to save you. He will do it today — today you have seen the Egyptians, but you will never see them again! ADONAI will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!”
- Exodus 14 (CJB)
The rest is history.
What's the solution? Turn back to God. Trust in him fully & completely. Plead to him for help.
No. Not everybody have internal mono/dialogue. Neither is that form of "debate" necessarily very efficient. Can link to podcast, where someone highly competent talks about how it, works for them. Was in a Jordan Peterson pod.
Yes, please, send the link. The way I interpreted internal monologue was not as a synonym for debate but rather as, how should I put it, active thinking, perhaps.
https://www.jordanbpeterson.com/podcast/autism-academics-and-animals-dr-temple-grandin-ep-318/
Reasoning - noncontradictory evaluation, that is what you are doing. Great analysis BTW.
Reasoning! That's the word. Thank you.
Irina, fantastic article on the climate, echonomic, censorship hypocrisy. They are all tied together by the same people. Great job.
The ultimate response is not in what we say, or what we tweet. the ultimate response is in what we do. Contrary to what everybody has been taught, the US government does not respond to votes. It responds to money. To Pressure groups. To lobbyists. To campaign contributions, and bribes.
There is a different way to state the maxim for investors, "buy low, sell high". It is "buy when everyone else is selling. Sell when everyone else is buying". That Is how I make money in my business.
And then, I move the money in directions which I think will be most beneficial for my future and the future of all the people who depend on me. I spend that way.
In the long run,going against the grain is the only way to do better than the crowd. These days, the crowd is busy suiciding.
What I say and even what I write is just making noise, its like the patter of a poker player. Its a distraction. Even a lot of what I think.
Where my money goes, that's where the reality is.
Just like John Kerry's private jet and Barack Obama's $40 million beach house. That is where the reality is.
Well said, John, thank you.
Its more important to understand why things are so, than to continue trying to win an argument you can't win. The story or "science" is just a cover, so don't struggle with it. Struggle with the reasons behind it.
The Energy Transition is about the electrification of our economy and creating a new digital commodity that the USA can use to replace the Petrodollar. Electrification is not so much about the fuel used to produce it, as it is about modernizing the US infrastructure and about controlling who will pay for it.
A carbon tax that is embedded in everything (every product, service, or process) and that can be digitized and tracked cradle to grave on the Blockchain, is the means. The motive is the money and who will control the new emerging economy.
Oil has a few decades to go, at best. It's finite and it's being consumed at an alarming rate. It takes time and a plan to transition, and it takes money. Your money. Your willingness to pay.
Don't fight their story. Tell the real story.
"How long, I stepped it up, until scientists who dare question “the consensus” lose their funding and possibly their jobs? How long until the regulators start banning books? And then people?"
Sadly, that ship sailed during the first decade of this century, Irina. Even more sadly, it sunk during the COVID panic, and now rests at the bottom of the dustbin of history.
Here is the US, we still have (for now) our first amendment Constitutional protections, but they are being severely curtailed by everything from social media to government, but I repeat myself.
The American left is hellbent on doing away with our 2nd Amendment rights, (CA Gov. Gavin Newsom just called for its abolishment), and if they strike that one down, the First will fall right behind it.
Then this thing finally goes kinetic, which at this point almost seems inevitable.
They were already banning books 10 years ago? I guess that means the infection's old, it's just spreading faster now.
Indeed they were. It started rather mundane, with Mark Twain being one of their initial targets, alongside Lovecraft and Dr. Suess, of all people.
But eugenicist George Bernard Shaw? Good to go, as his brand of socialism appeals to them.
And yes, the "woke" censorship has accelerated exponentially since the Obama era, with corporate entities getting on board over the last decade.
Such interesting times we live in!
I remember the Twain censorship push but I thought it was a more recent thing... Time confusion. Interesting times indeed.
It has always scared me when someone says they know the truth, as in "the science is settled". What small minds they have! It has always made me stop and think - how can they? I want to scream at them - just open your eyes and look around you at this wonderful world and see if you know the truth, or what is real or what is happening right this instant beneath your feet. No - you are right most never seem to see a "Bigger Picture".
Some of us do a little glimpse of it and the question arises do we keep up the conversations? Censorship and control have always been part of the equitation, now it seems that there must be more. What worries me most is that neighbor will turn on neighbor and family will turn on family - I see that already part of the narrative with wind and solar and it is ugly, but it is used by the companies to get what they want and people can't see past the money to see their neighbor. Master manipulators.
Lets hope we don't become criminals, or they take away funding for projects that make sense or we get more BS studies coming out of universities to suit the narrative.
And please don't stop your narrative - I love a good sensible dialogue. ...... only 1,500 words on green hydrogen and how useful it will be??
Scientists themselves have repeatedly pointed out that no science is ever "settled" because that's not how science works. It continuously questions itself. That's decidedly not what the IPCC has been doing, not to mention the questionable modelling, etc. And that's precisely why there is such a focus on language like "the science is settled", "scientific consensus" and similar.
A usual a thought provoking article, I feel a little spoiled and very lucky when I look for these in my mail in the morning. My 2 cents as an anthropology major from the early 70's. For thousands of years homo sapiens has featured belief as a vehicle to manage fear of death. Earliest man showed burial rituals indicative of belief in an afterlife. Early settlements showed intellectual development around spiritual and religious social structures. This is part of our genetic code. As creatures who understand their mortality intellectually, belief in something more was important to survival. In order for religious organizations to evolve, certainty in the truth of their central beliefs was mandatory. It used to be a question of survival. In a very short time period, say 200 years, we have attempted to forcibly rip out that which has been built into us as a survival mechanism for thousands of years. Instead of Revelations and a second coming, as Christians believe, we have substituted Climate apocalypse and hysteria, in a Middle Ages sense, over a very bad cold virus. These are beliefs, not based on "science" but are a replacement for lost religious beliefs. Other examples - Germany in the 1930's, the creation of a new social order in the USSR in the early 19th century, the adherence to atheistic principles in the education system and the recent backlash against Christianity in the west. Religion binds us into a specific belief system which cannot be questioned. That is now going away for a large number of people, in particular those who are educated/indoctrinated. They, the NPC's as you put it, are simply searching for tools to return to their natural state, which is one of adherence to certain belief. I do not think it is a conscious action, I think it is more reflexive in response to deep seated fear. I do share your concern about belief run wild so to speak. One needs only to think of the Inquisition in European history or the Cultural revolution in China in the 1960's to see how quickly belief in the social good turns on independent thought and forces conformity. I would suggest that America provides a good view as to how far the new beliefs will progress in suppression of their traditional Christian beliefs. Right now it is about a 50-50 split. Canada is similar. A very good synopsis of the implications of this American struggle are the books by Yeonmi Park who provides a comparison of DEI to growing up in North Korea and how our society is, as you suggest, moving quickly towards "happy" authoritarianism. Again thanks for making me think as soon as I woke up and sorry for the long comment.
Thank you so much for the expert take on the issue. I'm going to paste it into a document and refer to it in future stories. You've detailed what I have caught glimpses of here and there in the news stream. People need to believe in something and will look for it anywhere they can.
I have to say my own opinions on religion and beliefs have changed over the past 20 years -- not radically but significantly enough to make me more appreciative of other people's choices (if they are choices). I'm also reminded of an observation made by a fellow Substacker that religious people handled the lockdowns better than the non-believers. Certainly food for thought.
It's sad that this ersatz replacement for traditional religion, the climate cult, is so overwhelmingly negative. Other religions, I believe, have some positive tenets, too, to balance out the promise of hellfire, but not the climate cult.
The is a term , a correct conceptual word that accurately describes fallacious thinking. Reasoning means non contradictory analysis. We are reasoning when we consider something in full context and ignore none of the relevant information, as it pertains to the real world. As soon as we let our imagination guide us , we are guilty of mythological thinking. Accepting as true what another person claims to be true has always been the key human downfall. Charlatan, liars and foolish people all expect and become angry when their statements are questioned. Never try to make them happy as it is impossible to sway a mind that reject reason. Always look for people who have retained a mind capable of independent thinking.
That said, aggravating critics and censors by speaking the truth is the only weapon we have against mythological thinking. The simple myths are easy to refute. Few people will argue that Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy are real but billions of people are prepared to die defending their belief in god, something that equally can not be supported with real evidence.
The Overton Window is a real feature in every discussion. Some things are comfortable to discuss, others are taboo. As I think Voltaire said, "It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong." But equally as Ayn Rand said, "The unchallenged absurdities of today become the normal tomorrow."
And how they were both. We never learn, do we? It's a bit sad.
Establishment censorship started years ago when Creationist scientists who questioned evolution could no longer get published or get research grants. Many lost their jobs, and they couldn't get PhDs unless they kept their opinions in the closet. Now censorship has spread to anything anti-vaccine, anti-woke, or anti-climate change. Thank goodness for substacks. I appreciate your articles.
For many in positions of power we are all NPCs or useful idiots, same thing. I am a bit more optimistic than you, that people are starting to open their eyes and be more questioning. Sadly, much of the debate around the"science" of Covid or Climate change legislation may be litigated in the US courts where the hard antiseptic light of depositions will cast its glare on the emails, documents, who knew what, when and where. The very digital tools that are being "misused" to spread disinformation will be brought to bear on this topic. Let's see what happens.
I hope very strongly that you're right and I also see some signs of optimism but I also see how those in power are clamping down on those signs. We'll see what happens, yes. There is hope.
“Power is in tearing human minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of your own choosing.”
― George Orwell, 1984
As usual, Orwell saw the future better than anyone since Nostradamus. I fear the number of people who actually think critically about issues is shrinking every day. It is an exhausting fight to keep up, that is all I know.
Thanks for another spot-on discussion of the lunacy which passes for today's dialog
It would be interesting to see research on the role of social media echo chambers on that trend. It is exhausting but there's no alternative to it.
I can’t say I’m Captain Hook anymore. That’s cultural appropriation!!
Nope. You will get cancelled!
Don’t get too black pilled- this will all get figured out because NPCs can become active players when they become cold, hungry and poor and start asking questions. Then they will find the samizdat in all those special secret corners of the internet not on Facebook or Twitter (and who wants to spend time on those things anyway?!?)
I just like to tell people that I believe both that climate change is happening and that I support increasing fossil fuel use because energy is more important. Either their heads explode or they get confused, but they start to think- and thinking is the way out of NPCdom.
It is interesting to see that most people I know from Central and Eastern Europe are the most immune to all this nonsense. It seems living through totalitarianism isn’t so desirable to repeat...
What a great point! Yes, they certainly can become active players when the going gets tough.
You're right, we are immune to that for reasons of experience. That's why I'm banging the drum about the West trying to do totalitarianism better and I'm far from the only one.
It's good to hear the people you talk to start to think. I see a lot of straight-out refusal to entertain an alternative viewpoint, even when -- especially when -- supported by facts.
It is all in how things are presented to them- in a friendly setting I don’t say what they need to think, I just say how I think and back it up with some simple anecdotes (a billion people with no electricity, all of the most climate alarmed people hate nuclear power, etc. etc.). Then they can do with it what they will...
Here’s a great Age of Empires video, it goes into the development of the game.
https://youtu.be/XfIriaDbq4s
I’m personally partial to the way Michael Malice defines NPC.
https://youtu.be/CUal1uAmlKA
Thanks!
It's all based on fear AND a lack of trust in God.
Here's a similar situation about 3,470 years ago:
As Pharaoh approached, the people of Isra’el looked up and saw the Egyptians right there, coming after them. In great fear the people of Isra’el cried out to ADONAI and said to Moshe, “Was it because there weren’t enough graves in Egypt that you brought us out to die in the desert? Why have you done this to us, bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we tell you in Egypt to let us alone, we’ll just go on being slaves for the Egyptians? It would be better for us to be the Egyptians’ slaves than to die in the desert!”
- Exodus 14 (CJB)
The people of Israel were panicking. This is what is happening to many people today. Their minds are literally frozen in panic.
But what did Moshe say in response to the people of Israel?
Moshe answered the people, “Stop being so fearful! Remain steady, and you will see how ADONAI is going to save you. He will do it today — today you have seen the Egyptians, but you will never see them again! ADONAI will do battle for you. Just calm yourselves down!”
- Exodus 14 (CJB)
The rest is history.
What's the solution? Turn back to God. Trust in him fully & completely. Plead to him for help.
I guess some hope is that it’s pretty hard to deny or censor a power blackout when they start to become more frequent.
Good point. You can't censor a blackout. But you could blame it on climate change, I'm sure. :D