So, really, Musk and Bezos are just echoing a thought virus that has infected much of humanity since the early days of evangelical religion and warfare…
So very glad to see this post, as I am the physician who coined the term "population density stress" after a 42 yr. medical/psychiatric practice and coming to the realization that modern urban/suburban humans suffer from a myriad of fatal illnesses that our ancestral Hunter-Gatherers never experience or even have names for. I laid this all out in my free online e-book PDF, "STRESS R Us", PB on Amazon. Thus, our health problems began to multiply, and our plethora of technological "cures" (at a price of $4T/yr. in the US). It's a sort of (un)health Ponzi scheme, and the vast majority of us lose-out in the miserable ends we come to. We are 3,000 times more populous today than were those migratory Hunter-Gatherer ancestral clans/bands, who were fairly well represented in the Americas by long established "natives" until our ancestral European/African/etc. massive overpopulation spilled over like Niagara Falls into the "undiscovered" "New World". Many thanks, Thom, for all you do and write so brilliantly about!
Doc, One thing I can't wrap my head around is PTSD, another is Stress. I've been in combat, lost team mates, seen and smelled stuff of nightmares, but never had a day of PTSD, my life as a child was one of overcoming diversity, grew up poor, single mom in a project., clawed my way up hill, been in some tight stuations, more than I can recount, but kept on trucking, still do. When they found my lung and brain cancer and told me I had stage 4 and would go into pallative care. I shrugged off, and drew up my will and final arrangements, that was in Oct 2017,
I don't know what stress is, I have never been depressed or euphoric for that matter. My outlook is best described as Zen, but I do care, and I care a lot about the world I live in. I am charitable to a fault, but only for real charities, charities I trust and who I can see perform a real service, not the "official" ones you see on TV begging $19 a month, to pay the salaries of high living executives and staff. (Oh, I worked for the Red Cross for three years, so know of what I speak, Iran a Senior Transportation program, which they didn't fund, but which was part of our budget, not theirs)
IMO, much mental health issues come from people being too self centered to pre occupied with self, and then over compensating because they can't deal with their own issues, sublimate by taking on larger issues, be it the economy or foreign affairs.
I see so much of that in our society, especially in groups.
Thank you, William, for your reply and honest comment. PTSD, symptoms/signs of which include flashbacks, reliving dreams (nightmares), emotional self numbing, hypervigilance, social isolation/avoidance, disrupted relationships, abuse of anesthetic chemicals (alcohol, opiates, sedatives, etc.), and avoidance of any and all possible triggers of flashbacks. I was sexually abused by an uncle on (?) occasions and at 78, had a reliving night terror two nights ago, where I struggle to awaken in deep fear for my life and only awaken when I scream for "help". Thank God, they are rare now, but were every few months throughout my lifetime since age 8. I was a football star but remember none of it, as I was no doubt dissociated and just not conscious of my surroundings. For my first 8 yrs. of 12-step meetings, when I spoke ("shared"), I only saw a black screen, but now see the faces of others in the room at 12 1/2 yrs. sober.
My father was abandoned by his father, and, so abandoned me, as I have abandoned my 4 children (long story). Unknowingly, 12-step meetings gave me the "protection and care" I did not receive in childhood or adult life. I, too, am a cancer survivor (prostate cancer) and was chemically castrated for over a year, as well as 28 radiation treatments. I have Long COVID and very nearly died from cardiac involvement until I received the 2 Pfizer vaxs in 2021, but have damage to heart and lungs, brain, CNS, etc.
As a practicing psychiatrist for 42 yrs., treating 25K+ pt's. with 1M Rx and supportive psychotherapy, I could relate well to fellow sufferers, but had to drink every night to numb my troubles and theirs I identified with. I treated hundred of abuse survivors and soldiers, perhaps not unlike yourself. I pray you do not suffer from the near death reliving nightmares I have, nor have any of the other symptoms I've mentioned. I understand my life today and all of those who harmed/ignored me in the past and reach out to young folks who are abuse survivors. Sadly, the 12-step groups seem to be filled with those of us who had difficult/abusive childhoods, but refuse to work on that part of a full recovery program. So very glad that you are doing well, as am I, and I hope you have some understanding of PTSD from my comments. Have a blessed and glorious evening!
Japan today -- a case study in how population decline can look and why it's not all that bad.
We have just returned from two weeks in Japan visiting some large cities--Osaka, Kyoto, & Toyko--and many less populated areas. Our last trip was 2017. The changes with the rapid population decline--about 800,000 per year--were noticable.
There is much more automation in services. Very few restaurants have table service and orders for food and payment in even the smallest of restraurants take place at a machine near the entry to the restaurant. The use of cash is still common but even cashiers making change at points of payment do so with a machine. Our hotel check-ins were automated and quick. At the hotel in Kyoto we used an iPad to check in with the whole process taking about two minutes. Another hotel had us enter a code to check in and we never saw a staff person.
This is not the stuff of sci fi robots running around but automation using existing technologies. The low level service jobs that are often used to claim employment growth in places like the U.S. are just no longer there in Japan.
We did see the effects of de-population in many of the rural areas with shuttered stores and empty homes. There was still clearly a rural agricultural economic sector but even the planting of rice was mechanized. How the rural areas transition back to nature over time will be interesting to watch. There are temples in these areas for sale at 0 Yen, if anyone is interested.
What one does not see in Japan is an ecomonic collapse. Even the most rural of places were cleaner and better kept than Switzerland. Public services operate in even rural areas. Delivery services have displaced many small retailers.
My guess is that the combined Shinto and Buddhist traditions in Japan allow the population to accept the change. Humans are seen as a part of a broader universe of existence rather than something special and unique.
Doc G. I've seen a bit of the world, Learned Vietnamese and Spanish, seen Korea and Japan, and what I have noticed is that Americans are more ego centric, self centered,perhaps it is our myth and culture of the rugged individual.
The migrants that drove ox pulled Conestoga wagons, along corduroy roads, and military trails were not rugged individuals, those that tried, did not survive, They raised and razed barns together (to gather the precious nails)
Perhaps because of, maybe a good thing, when we lived in communities,under the eye of and subject to social terrorism from our neighbors.
I lived in Southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana for part of my life. And have seen social terrorism at work. I had a second cousin, never married but lived with another woman, quite old as I recall being a young un, they were he subject of town gossip and called spinsters
I
I had a gay great uncle, my grandmother would only say, He was different. Queers were quiet, not seen or heard and didn't threaten the status quo, so all was well, so long as they didn't try to obtain the same rights as the rest of the tax paying citizenry. Then woosh, women, blacks, gays demanded their space in the sun, to come out of the closet, to be recognized as equal citizens, and the whole world started to unravel and now we have MAGAts, and the threat of massive violoence.
My husband, who just declared he is no longer a republican but rather leans toward No Labels, has often told me it's fine for minorities to have equal rights but they don't need to flaunt it in our faces every hour of the day. He is quite broadminded which always made me think he should be a democrat but his tolerance is definitely limited. And he really has a deep hatred for democratic politicians.
Please inform your husband that a vote for No labels is by default a vote for Trump.
In our two party system, you either vote for or you vote against. I have voted against,because a third party vote is in reality a vote for Trump.
I understand your husbands frustration. The blacks have suffered under Slavery and Jim Crow and are living with the remnants and after effects, and unfortunately it has created tunnel vision ,myopia, in which the only justice, the only problem that they can see is of racial inequality and discrimination, and they are thus blind to the other social ills, that are the battle ground of today, be it women's rights, gay rights, or self sovereignty.
Mos of us, the vast majority are myopic, as we think that we are the center of the universe and we are the only thing that counts.
What I pity, and would thank god that I wasn't born as, if there were a god, is being born a black lesbian.
Imagine being black, a woman and queer in America. My AA sponsor, Pat, was just that and she kept herself and me sober, I don't know how she did it, strong stuff.
He admitted he will probably vote for trump. Oddly he told me he decided on No Labels because he hates Biden so much. I just don't get his reasoning, he's pretty rational otherwise.
I'm glad Pat was able to help you & herself. My husband was in AA too. It was in a roundabout way how we met. I worked in a hospital & my ex had been a drunken speedfreak heroin addict so I knew exactly what I didn't want in my life. So one day I mused out loud that I wished I could meet a reformed alcoholic because of the character it would take to be able to do that. An ICU nurse I knew was subbing at the nurse's station & overheard me. I was walking with a gas can back to my car when a guy pulled up to offer me a ride. As he filled my gastank he mentioned that his aunt worked at the hospital in ICU. I knew right then we were meant for each other & it has been 32 years of wedded happiness. I love to tell that story.
The stigma of being childless has certainly shifted over my lifetime. In earlier days, there would be talk about how selfish you were for not having children. With the population explosion, the doubling in America between 1950 and 2010, that attitude has most certainly changed.
The younger generations dealing with the climate crisis have been thinking about the moral concept of bringing someone into the world. That's a good thing. They will likely be involved with some work to better our situation whether they decide to have a biological family or not.
Both of these things are a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately neither have anything to do with Republicans, because I swear all I EVER hear from them is bitching about the economy, support for their psychopath, and religious nonsense.
I have three children, 11 grands, 30 greats and one great great. My wife has none.
We are elderly, both of us are on our own, at present we have each other. I am relatively healthy all considered, still weed whip and mow, carry heavy things. I am 14 years her senior and worry should I leave first, what she will do.
There was a time when children were the farmers social security, and in some countries, particularly Latin America, they still are.
certainly many beliefs are nonsense but belief requires no proof......that's most of it's reason.......who would waste their energies believing in a known fact?
Thom, this a a great breakdown of how we can better flourish. Don’t recall ever being taught about the positive impact the Black Death had on what followed, and I imagine some others haven’t connected that plague to the flowering of the Renaissance. Reminds me of ‘the scheduled burnings’ that stimulates renewed growth. As for Musk, he can afford 11 children. However… let’s imagine someone else, too many others who cannot even provide for themselves.
And it’s not just India-China- as we were told as children when we refused spinach. It’s down the street here or there.
I agree with Thom except that I don't think we have poisoned the environment and food supply due to trying to meet the needs of 8 billion people. Capitalism and greed are the major causes of the poisoning, so far. The human population has less diversity, including immune diversity, than other primates due to the population bottleneck at the time we left Africa (down to about 1000 people that lasted over 100,000 years). We should be able to remedy that problem with science rather than to increase the population if we would devote the resources in that direction.
As for the GOP wanting more workers to bring down the cost of labor, the hell with them. We have the families we think we can afford when we have them. Unfortunately, because of the way we pay for healthcare, employers seek to keep their healthcare cost low by getting rid of older workers who have more medical problems and may still be raising their children. We would have the necessary number of workers if we had family friendly benefits such as Universal Health Care, government funded childcare, a liveable minimum wage, a guaranteed basic income, mandatory family leave, and free or low cost college or apprenticeships.
BTW Louisville, Ky just elected a Democratic Socialist in district 6. He beat the Democratic candidate and has no Repub to run against.
I read that around 75,000 years ago there were only 5000 humans. My take away from that was good grief, we are much more related than we realize! Glad you explained it even further, Gloria.
Gotta admit humans are a scrappy bunch when it comes to primates. Solid assessment. Looked-up JP from Louisville, he's scrappy too. Beautiful inside and out.
The huge decline in human population about 75,000 years ago (as determined by studies of DNA and RNA samples) has been attributed to the explosion of the supervolcano Toba in current Indonesia. Some estimates are that only a very few thousand humans survived that eruption. Our population problem is that we have few natural enemies except ourselves. Occasionally nature does strike back as in the 14th century, but mostly we are free to over-breed if the living conditions are right. The other problem is that for sustainable living on this planet, humans need to limit their population to 1.5-2 billion people and recycle everything - what will people 500 years, 1000 years from now say about how we used up all the recoverable metals and minerals and left nothing for them?
1,000 or 5,000 doesn't matter much. Either is a very small total (estimated) population with a great deal of inbreeding - for better or worse. That small population, though in danger of extinction, was sustainable, as we can now see in perspective. The ever-growing population of today, with its corporate-engendered "must have' amenities, is simply not sustainable.
Both musk and Besos, based on this particular story, are obviously nuts. This planet is already severely overpopulated. The only thing that you come from that overpopulation is disaster. Apparently the so-called bright minds of today cannot fathom the future at all. Look at the planet now. Now, Think of the planet with 16 billion people, double what it is today. If you don't think that that is running us into economic disaster, possibly the collapse of civilization and even the eradication of humanity altogether then your name must be Musk or Bezos. No one else could be that dumb. Well, except for the new American fascist party and the convicted felon that runs them. What was his name? Camera Hitler 2. They need all hands on deck with their handy dandy ak-45s shooting at the enemy. Unfortunately for us, the enemy is us. The Greeks of ancient times did asimilar thing when they needed more soldiers. They made women perform - make babies make babies make babies. When they didn't need the soldiers well then contraception was in order. Apparently we haven't learned anything in the last 3 to 4,000 years when it comes to population.
Some fools points to the Bible and say, "God said go forth and multiply." That is totally true. That is exactly what the Jewish Bible says. Not the Christian Bible but the Jewish Bible. Christians need to remember that the Torah or the Hebrew tanakh it's not their effing book. The point however is that the storytellers claimed that god said that to two people who according to the Bible were the only two people on the entire planet. It was totally logical for them to go forth and multiply. Unfortunately the authors of the Bible are not too smart when they put words into God's mouth. They couldn't see the future they didn't realize that 8 billion people on this planet is going to cause the ecosystem to collapse and practically everyone to die.
In the back of their minds, Musk and other billionaires conceive of final escape to their bunkers, on another planet or here at home, well hidden and well fortified, bunkers being constructed for their safety, leaving the deplorables to feast on Soylent green. They will furthur their financial acumen and their business expertise by being the manufacturers OF Soylent Green. You know, the very essence of today's capitalism is seizing opportunities wherever they crop up, while of course continuing to eschew all pesty moral considerations. Preemtorilly, they have already financed the evangelicals to shape-shift the moral fight for them.
You say: In the back of their minds, Musk and other billionaires conceive of final escape to their bunkers, on another planet or here at home, well hidden and well fortified, bunkers being constructed for their safety, leaving the deplorables to feast on Soylent green.
I totally concur. They say Armageddon is coming, ( they know because they are pushing for it) and therefor all is fair in love and war. They are off the deep end and no longer believe in reality. These folks are certainly insane and in a religious form of mental ejaculation.
The fortunes of Musk and Bezos depend on population density. The more dense, the greater the demand for their services and goods, the more control and wealth they accumulate.
It is not stupidity on their part, it is pure self interest. S Howard
“These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures [the Old Testament]” (Luke 24:44–45).
Many early Church Fathers made statements condemning the use of contraception including John Chrysostom, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, Augustine of Hippo and various others.
Sorry my friend Daniel, but I don't get the antisemitism of S Howards' comments.
Nor the significane of your quote from Luke 24.
Luke is problematic for Christians at leas the modern "loving" variety, because he told his disciples to sell their cloaks and buy a sword, and to bring before him those who would not have him reign over them and slay them.
It also deals in end times astrology, like when the disciples asked for a sign when he would come again and he told them to follow the man carrying a pitcher of water (Aquarius) into the (strological) house that he enters.
As regards the law, (Leviticus) he also aid in Mathew 5:17, that “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.. In other words contrary to the claims of the Christians preachers, he didn't set aside Leviticus.
There are 613 laws in Leviticus, and I don't know of any Christian, much less any but the most orthodox of Jews, that are willing to live by all of them, especially Dominionists like Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, Mike Johnson whose creed is to restore order under Mosaic laws.
"Christianity" as you know it began with the First Council of Nicaea. Jesus was a Jew. Probably had a big nose. Said the Shema at least 3 times a day. Laid tfillin every morning. Wore peus. Wore magic underwear. Kept glatt kosher.
Originally the big Christian festival was the Feast of the Circumcision. Bigger than Christmas. Bigger than Easter.
At the catacombs under the coliseum, Rome, all the inscriptions of the Christian martyrs are in Hebrew.
One more time, his words as quoted in Luke derive from what you call the Old Testament. We went through this a few months ago when I was taking a course at UM. In essence, most sects, especially the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, etc. observe Paulism, not Christianity as defined by the Council of Nicea.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
Thanks Daniel. Yeh I know Jesus was a Jew who did all of that, the picture of this Jesus was a blonde haired blue eyed Aryan is a fraud. There are images on the web of what he probably looked like, had he actually existed. I think not. I think he is a composite of people from Barabas to Apollonius of Tyana, and Dionysos and his name was not Jesus, but Yahooshua or Joshua, whih means savior. It was the Romanized Greeks that gave him the name that stuck. Jesus Christ.
There was no word in Greek for messiah, but since messiahs are anointed and oil is used to anoint, the used the Greek word for one who is anointed with olive oil, Christos (see also Crisco)
Dionysos, the name means son of god, Zeus is Dios, used in Latin and Romance languages for god, was the god of wine, his feast day was the 25th of December called the Dionysia, Rome called him Bacchus and had the same feast day.
Dec 21st is the day that the sun stops its descent into the underworld, and hangs three days in "the grave" on Dec 25th the son arises from it's grave and starts its journey northward again and praise ye ya (elileuia or hallalujah, so long as the son (sun) rises there will be everlasting life on earth.
The name Jesus comes from the signet of Dionysos, which is iota eta sigma, or IES to which the Romans added the male ending of "us" or Iesus.
The eta serves as a consonant and a vowel sound in Greek, placed at the beggining of a word it is harsh and sounds like the H, but in the word itself it is soft and has and E sound.
Latin has no J , but the I has two sounds as well, at the beginning of a word or name it has a J sound, , in the middle of a word it has a softer E sound which is I in English. The name Iulius Caesar is actually pronounced somethng like Dzulius Kyser . The Germans pronounce Caesar correctly as Kaiser.
Anyway the Greek Dionysos became Jesus., his attributes and teachings were a composite of a Hebrew guerilla leader and Apollonius of Tyana.
The Jesus of Luke is the guerrilla leader, that of Matthew Apollonius
None of the so called apostles in the book lived at the time of this so called Jeus. Certainly not Paul, he lived 3 centuries later, and there is the thing, one can read Paul and see clearly the influence of Octavian or Augustus Caesar, and his law of Pater Familia among other things
The Bible wasn't hashed together until after Constantine and the council of Nicea.
Constantine after the battle of the Milivian Bridge where he defeated Maxentius, had a need to consolidate power, and the best tool fo rhat is the one Ahkenaton Tried, monotheism,
The Romans had hundreds of gods and priesthoods, each one demanding attention and a temple, noisy and expensive and impossible to control, then there were these revolutionaries preaching pacificism, each competing for attention and followers, each with their own spin. Something had to be done, so he shut down all the cultrs, their priesthoods,their temples and embraced the noisiest and most troublesome that seemed to be attacting adherents..
Gathered the noise makers together, shiped them off to Anatolia, sequestered them in Nicea, plied them with wine and young boys, until they came up with a consensus and a cohesive message.
It must have been a raucous and bloody affair inside the temple in which they were confined. But they came up with a consensus ideology, one which Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers found incomprehensible" the trinity.
The Bible came later, when a committee was formed to sift and sort all of the blatherings committed to parchment.
A monk named Jerome put together the first bible, the Latin Vulgate, and he was assisted by a former Manichean priest, that is known by the name, The Great one, or Augustine, a title not a name
This Augustine was a Manichean priest, who watched in horror as Pope Leon "the great" (they weren't Popes then, but a bishop of Rome, threw Manicheans to the lions and had the first "coming to Jesus moment".
Mani was a Greek disciple of Zoroastrianism, and his disciples held Zoroastrian beliefs, like the duality of god, a good god and a bad god, good and evil, and Augustine's Manichean influence in hashing together and translating the documents into the Bible is obvious. The introduction of Satan, the bad god or Ahriman in Zoroastrian)
Satan also called Lucifer
saiah 14:12: The Hebrew word for "morning star" in this passage is translated as "Lucifer" in the Latin version. The passage also mentions a "son of the morning" who "fell from heaven" and was "cast down to the earth". Some interpret this passage as a metaphorical reference to the king of Babylon.
2 Peter 1:19: In the Latin Vulgate, the word "Lucifer" is used to refer to Jesus.
Exsultet: The Latin version of the Easter proclamation, Exsultet, also uses the word "Lucifer".
Wikipedia
Lucifer - Wikipedia
Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage (Isaiah 14:12), where the Greek Septuagint reads ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωὶ ἀνατέλλων, as "morning star" or "shining one" rather than as a proper noun, Lucifer, as found in the Latin Vulgate. The word "Lucifer" appears in The Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 1:19) in the Latin Vulgate to refer to Jesus. The word "Lucifer" is also used in the Latin version of Exsultet, the Easter proclamation. As a name for the planet in its morning aspect, "Lucifer" (Light-Bringer) is a proper noun and is capitalized in English.
The name Heylel, meaning "morning star" (or, in Latin, Lucifer), was a name for Attar, the god of the planet Venus in Canaanite mythology, who attempted to scale the walls of the heavenly city, but was vanquished by the god of the sun. The name is used in Isaiah 14:12 in metaphorical reference to the king of Babylon.
Parallels are drawn to the passage in Isaiah 14:4–17 that mentions the "son of the morning" who had "fallen from heaven" and was "cast down to the earth". In verse 12 of this passage, the Hebrew word that referred to the morning star was translated into Latin as lucifer.
The planet Venus is known as the morning star, because it precedes the sun, Phosphorus (Ancient Greek: Φωσφόρος, romanized: Phōsphoros) is the god of the planet Venus in its appearance as the Morning Star. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is "Eosphorus" (Ancient Greek: Ἑωσφόρος, romanized: Heōsphoros), which means "dawn-bringer" Also light bringer
Venus also appears as the evening star Hesperus (Roman Vesper) is the name ancient Greeks gave to the evening star that appears in the sky for an hour after the Sun sets. The Greeks and Romans thought that they were two different planets.
Worse, in the beginning, the leader was James, the brother of Jesus, who probably was semiliterate. At best, he was limited to Hebrew, Aramaic, not to Greek, which was the lengua franca of the period. He wrestled with Simon Peter, who was taken to Rome to become the first Pope and who was martyred. Paul, who never met Jesus was the PR guy who sold the religion to the goyim. The medium became the message.
A number of modern scholars, even some Catholics, know this. A number of churches now study Hebrew/Aramaic, in an effort to get to the root.
I personally doubt the existence of a Jesus, but do not discount that the archetype had a brother or brothers. I lost some friends at the age of 12, all of the families who lived in the project were Catholic, at least all of my playmates and friends were. I had read the Bible when I was 12, luckily without being guided by a Sunday school teacher, and saw with my own eyes that this Jesus has brothers When I told my friends that, and that Mary was not a virigin her whole life, they called me ignorant, turned on their heels and walked away, which is what they were instructed to do by the nuns of St Ambrose.
My assessment of the situation is this. Rome had invaded Jerusalem, plundered the temple and the Jews, hauled the silver and Jewels back to Rome to build the Coliseum and pay the legions, and then enslaved the people and hauled them back to Rome to build the Coliseum which their treasure built.
Successive guerrilla campaigns like those of Barabas, cme to naught and finally when the Romans build a mile long ramp to destroy the Essenes at Masada, the educated class of Jews, the stoic Pharisees, had the bright idea of attacking militaristic Rome from within, by proselytizing and ideology of pacific ism, , and it worked, but it didn't happen in their life time, nothing of endurance does, it took over 300 years
Edward Gibbons, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is just one of many who try to find a cause.
There were many, including the moralization, pacifism and softness that centuries of plunder and enslavement, lead piping, but IMO Christianity was a major contributor,
However Rome did not fall, it merely changed from a secular power to a sectarian power, and promoted other thugs, we all Kings and Emperors, to do the dirty work.
I just love that a super rich fool like Bezos can imagine 1000 Einsteins coming from a trillion people when education is rapidly becoming bible-centered & with the denial of science-based anything from the christian nationalists. These men have been so immersed in their own billionaire bubble that they have lost all knowledge of how the world works for people of ordinary income or little money at all. The world cannot survive the coming onslaught of trillionaires with their greed for money & the addled thought processes that got them there. In my lifetime we have gone from 2 billionaires worldwide to 750 & counting in the US alone. It seriously affects the nature of society. People either strive to become billionaires or figure out ways to con, grift & dupe to become rich.
Wow Sharon. Thanks for thinking of that dilemma. The educational trend towards idiocy, increasing population leads to an inevitable Idiocracy. I love that movie, I have the DVD
So true Sharon. Expecting 1000 Einsteins from private schools who hate science, reality, truth, rational thinking and God in my very humble opinion. They would rather their sons grow up to be like Trump than Jesus.
Daniel, I fallowed the link, other than one reference to Jews, I don't see the anti antisemitism their, maybe I need an education. I am open to such, seriously.
Everyone knows that political stability and equality for women lower birth rates from over growth to decrease in population. Europe and Japan are the prime examples. Make everyone wealthy and safe and life goes on well. Mudsill gives abundant cheap labor is essentially slavery. The GOP control of women is just their desire for cheap labor below poverty levels and unnatural generation of unearned millionaires. Chaos is natural with a society based on lies.
It is part of the American disease of worshipping money that these overly ambitious self-centered billionaires think they are brilliant in solving problems they know nothing about. Musk admits he has difficulty empathizing with and understanding other people. If they really cared they would give a billion dollars to any big city school system.
The source of their fortunes has already contributed to the solution to the need for more population. They have added lots to raising the temperature of Earth and that will continue to keep migrants fleeing unlivable climates in the countries closer to the equator. Migration is not a problem, it’s the solution.
Ignore all the good science on overpopulation. Musk, first among lousy equals, will lead us down the path to inevitable population collapse. It won't be due to intelligent family planning. We will thank famine and infectious disease. But of course, it won't affect them, hiding behind their gates, walls and armed guards.
1. When Musk, Bezos, Viktor Orbán, et al., worry about declining birth rates, I submit that they are mostly worried about declining *white* (i.e., of European-descent) birth rates.
2. About those allegedly halcyon days "when an average worker with a single income could buy a home, raise a family, put their kids through college, buy a new car every two years, and take a vacation every summer. Ask any boomer." I'm a boomer (b. 1951, just turned 73) so you can ask me. I'll remind you that this "average worker with a single income" was overwhelmingly white and male. As you know, people of color who'd served in the military didn't benefit from the GI Bill to anywhere near the extent that white men (like my father) did. You've probably heard of redlining, yes? Well, that tended to shut people of color out of neighborhoods where property values rose, and it was often rising property values that helped make it easier to finance cars and college (both of which were cheaper relative to average income in the postwar decades).
This "average worker with a single income" thing also left women, especially married women, in a precarious position. If the female half of this so-called partnership didn't have a job, as was often the case, she generally had minimal savings of her own and little/no access to credit. That changed with the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act -- not only was that in my lifetime, it was in my *adult* lifetime. I remember it. You should too. If she'd been employed before marriage, her job-related skills and/or knowledge either atrophied or became outdated. IOW, she depended on her husband's income and goodwill for almost everything, especially if she had children. Need I say, plenty of husbands were less than dependable and too many were worse than that.
All of the above was a motivating force for the women's movement, especially the white middle-class-and-up part of it. A skim through Betty Friedan's FEMININE MYSTIQUE (1963) might refresh some memories about the box middle-class white women often found themselves in in the '50s. (Another, more radical feminist current was catalyzed by the misogyny of the New Left.)
Oh yeah, one last thing: Back then the Help Wanted ads were sex-segregated. And many women my age, give or take, have at least one story about either not being hired for a job or being passed over for promotion because some guy with a family needed it more.
Ms. Sturgis, when I was young I had a colleague who was turned down by the local bank for a mortgage to buy a house. Meg Hastings was white, grew up in Shaker Heights, and held a PhD from the Ohio State University. The banker told her to come back with her husband. I was junior to her on the faculty, male, as yet had no doctorate. That banker gave me a mortgage. Make America Great Again.
And the MAGAs would just love to go back there -- though I'm guessing many of them, esp. the women, haven't thought it through very carefully. The results of a few red-state referenda on abortion access suggest that some Trump supporters (who aren't necessarily MAGAs) are waking up.
The current population levels have required a huge impact on the natural environment and led to the depletion of the oceans, clearing of forests, draining of ground water supplies, and pollution that will last for centuries. The Mad Max and similar movies depict such a world with accuracy.
Bezos and Musk are the present day nobility who have the attitude of let them eat cake when millions of people are starving. Worse yet was the Kellogg's CEO Gary Pilnick's comment that the poor should be buying cereal and eating it for dinner. A high sugar carbohydrate meal that is nutritionally deficient by all measures.
Bruce, not for your edification but others who might not know. I was always puzzled by Marie's supposed comment, Let them eat cake", for cake as I know it is a treat.
However cake at that time was what we would call hard tack, a milled grain or even a bean, ground into flour to which you add water and bake
"we" are replacing life on earth with ever more human beings....other species are considered less important, less valuable than we; not so humble humans. they need places other than zoos to pursue their inferior existence, no?......places still not exploited to ruin, unfished, unfarmed.....other animals have more practical reasons for killing than people.....predaceous animals generally kill when they are hungry.......mass murder is a rarity among quadrupeds........paradoxically more people means more loneliness which brings more boredom, gambling, porn and unwise drug choices
people dreamt up the concept of 'perfect' and we r not it and the anthropocentric god is certainly not it and even thom is not it because of a rare typo: tenet not "tenant"......sorry mr thom but mucho grats otherwise for enabling my rant
I so agree with that. I would rather see thousands of endangered animals thrive again than see more people, especially those who enjoy dining on near extinct species because they can. I cry over the polar bears, for all the good that will do them.
During junior-year public high school biology class 1958, I had an epiphany that population control was an essential part of allowing more people to share an abundant life. Mr. Hartmann, I salute you and your naming of names of the religious groups that the corporate media is too dishonest to do.
The Catholic Church has been overtly working to take over the country since the 1950s and has gotten the Baptists to go along with them. Muslims; history of conquest by the sword and growing their forces through their Book. I was so happy to read this report today. Encouraging more of the same.
Glen fecundity is a powerful, but slow tool for empire. The Roman Empire did not die, it merely changed from secular to sectarian, thanks to Constantine. Instead of domination by force of arms it uses fecundity, Thus the opposition to birth control and abortion. On the other hand like Islam,which also uses fecundity as a weapon of war, not just the sword. Like the Roman Empire and Spain and England it was the sword at first, then once the flag was firmly planted the tool became fecundity.
"Be fruitful and multiply appears" in the old and new testaments a number of times, emphasizing the importance in the biblical era of having people power. Armies and the populations to support them were seen in those, especially Old Testament TRIBAL times as vital not only for protection, but also for nation-building, spawning of kings and accumulating wealth. Judeo-Christian values have a long history of aggression, sociopathy, patriarchy and despoliation of the earth. These values are in direct conflict with the sustainability approaches we need to implement now to survive on this planet. There will be no survival without a healthy biosphere made up of the interlocking functional ecosystems on which all life depends.
An organization called Population Connection has been hard at work for many years trying to reduce population growth through education and birth control, freeing women to contribute constructively to their social groups and a more sustainable planet.
Educating women is the key to controlling Population. Thom has mentioned this many times on his show and in his newsletters.
It is axiomatic that religions want the opposite, their route to world domination is via overpopulation by people of their cult. I can't say that this applies to the Jews, but it does to Christians, definiely Caholics and
It is interesting that Shia Islam shares the same ideology towards abortion as does Mike Johnson and his ilk
Each of the four Sunni Islam schools of thought—Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Maliki— have their own reservations on if and when abortions are permissible in Islam.[3] The Maliki school holds that "the fetus is ensouled at the moment of conception" and thus "most Malikis do not permit abortion at any point, seeing God's hand as actively forming the fetus at every stage of development."[3] The Sahih al-Bukhari (book of Hadith) writes that the fetus is believed to become a living soul after 120 days' gestation.[4] Therefore, some Hanafi scholars believe that abortion before the hundred-twenty-day period is over is permitted, though some Hanafi scholars teach that an abortion within 120 days is makruh (disapproved, i.e., discouraged).[3] All Islamic schools of thought agree abortion is recommended when the mother's life is in danger, because the mother's life is paramount.
In Shia Islam, abortion is "forbidden after implantation of the fertilised ovum." The leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared that shari'a forbids abortion without any reason "even at the earliest possible stage"[5] a position shared by other Shiite scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_abortion
No matter how many variations on the theme, patriarchal societies are all busy controlling women, hoarding power for men and not giving much of a damn about the common good.
Yep, Judith. Here is one for you though. The Sarmatians, wrote pliny, lived at the foothills of the Carpatian mountains,and required of their women to ride in battle and slay a foe to win the right to marry.
In the Kurgans, burial mounds, of the Steppes of Russia and the Stans, they have found burials of warrior women, with horses, chariots, and weapons. At least three such burials of Viking women have been found. One of them was named Lagertha and is the model for the viking warrior of that name in the series,The Vikings.
So women are not frail,helpess things that need protection by a male, perhaps modern women, because that is the way there are raised, brainwashed, but the pioneer women were hardy fearless souls.
My grandmother was in her 70's when she took me hunting and taught me how to shoot squirrels in their nest., and then plowed a vegetable patch with a push hand plow, 20 rows about 50 ft long.
I was suppose to do the plowing, finished one row, gave up and went off to see a friend, came back and she finished the job. she has been dead since 1974, and I am still ashamed.
Happily, not every society is patriarchal! I too have read about the Viking women warriors, and also about robust Irish women warriors back in tribal days there. Many native American cultures are egalitarian with women having served as chiefs (in New England as recently as colonial times). Joan D'Arc springs to mind. There have been women all over the world who have stepped into warrior roles (often disguised, but no less valorous). As a long-term feminist, I am well aware of the brilliance and strength of women. Your grandmother is a case in point. Pioneer women. Women giving birth repeatedly and raising large families in harsh circumstances... Really, the list of accomplished women, including in the arts, sciences and political arena, when opportunity has existed or could be forged, is endless! We probably agree on that.
The Iroquois nation, whose own "constitution" served as a model for the American constitution, actually ran the tribes, and the women elected the war and other chiefs, but didn't go to war without the permission of the women.
Europeans viewed the natives through their own lenses. In European society there was a king, thus any Chief was a King, an Kingship was hereditary, it became that way after contact with Europeans. But the tribes had different head men for different functions, Like the headman for planting and growing, th headman for travel, the headman for hunting, but the Europeans only recognized the headman for war.
Most of the plains Indians were originally woodland Indians east of the Mississippi driven west by Europeans, like the Shawnee
So very glad to see this post, as I am the physician who coined the term "population density stress" after a 42 yr. medical/psychiatric practice and coming to the realization that modern urban/suburban humans suffer from a myriad of fatal illnesses that our ancestral Hunter-Gatherers never experience or even have names for. I laid this all out in my free online e-book PDF, "STRESS R Us", PB on Amazon. Thus, our health problems began to multiply, and our plethora of technological "cures" (at a price of $4T/yr. in the US). It's a sort of (un)health Ponzi scheme, and the vast majority of us lose-out in the miserable ends we come to. We are 3,000 times more populous today than were those migratory Hunter-Gatherer ancestral clans/bands, who were fairly well represented in the Americas by long established "natives" until our ancestral European/African/etc. massive overpopulation spilled over like Niagara Falls into the "undiscovered" "New World". Many thanks, Thom, for all you do and write so brilliantly about!
Doc, One thing I can't wrap my head around is PTSD, another is Stress. I've been in combat, lost team mates, seen and smelled stuff of nightmares, but never had a day of PTSD, my life as a child was one of overcoming diversity, grew up poor, single mom in a project., clawed my way up hill, been in some tight stuations, more than I can recount, but kept on trucking, still do. When they found my lung and brain cancer and told me I had stage 4 and would go into pallative care. I shrugged off, and drew up my will and final arrangements, that was in Oct 2017,
I don't know what stress is, I have never been depressed or euphoric for that matter. My outlook is best described as Zen, but I do care, and I care a lot about the world I live in. I am charitable to a fault, but only for real charities, charities I trust and who I can see perform a real service, not the "official" ones you see on TV begging $19 a month, to pay the salaries of high living executives and staff. (Oh, I worked for the Red Cross for three years, so know of what I speak, Iran a Senior Transportation program, which they didn't fund, but which was part of our budget, not theirs)
IMO, much mental health issues come from people being too self centered to pre occupied with self, and then over compensating because they can't deal with their own issues, sublimate by taking on larger issues, be it the economy or foreign affairs.
I see so much of that in our society, especially in groups.
Thank you, William, for your reply and honest comment. PTSD, symptoms/signs of which include flashbacks, reliving dreams (nightmares), emotional self numbing, hypervigilance, social isolation/avoidance, disrupted relationships, abuse of anesthetic chemicals (alcohol, opiates, sedatives, etc.), and avoidance of any and all possible triggers of flashbacks. I was sexually abused by an uncle on (?) occasions and at 78, had a reliving night terror two nights ago, where I struggle to awaken in deep fear for my life and only awaken when I scream for "help". Thank God, they are rare now, but were every few months throughout my lifetime since age 8. I was a football star but remember none of it, as I was no doubt dissociated and just not conscious of my surroundings. For my first 8 yrs. of 12-step meetings, when I spoke ("shared"), I only saw a black screen, but now see the faces of others in the room at 12 1/2 yrs. sober.
My father was abandoned by his father, and, so abandoned me, as I have abandoned my 4 children (long story). Unknowingly, 12-step meetings gave me the "protection and care" I did not receive in childhood or adult life. I, too, am a cancer survivor (prostate cancer) and was chemically castrated for over a year, as well as 28 radiation treatments. I have Long COVID and very nearly died from cardiac involvement until I received the 2 Pfizer vaxs in 2021, but have damage to heart and lungs, brain, CNS, etc.
As a practicing psychiatrist for 42 yrs., treating 25K+ pt's. with 1M Rx and supportive psychotherapy, I could relate well to fellow sufferers, but had to drink every night to numb my troubles and theirs I identified with. I treated hundred of abuse survivors and soldiers, perhaps not unlike yourself. I pray you do not suffer from the near death reliving nightmares I have, nor have any of the other symptoms I've mentioned. I understand my life today and all of those who harmed/ignored me in the past and reach out to young folks who are abuse survivors. Sadly, the 12-step groups seem to be filled with those of us who had difficult/abusive childhoods, but refuse to work on that part of a full recovery program. So very glad that you are doing well, as am I, and I hope you have some understanding of PTSD from my comments. Have a blessed and glorious evening!
Great post, Dr. Miklashek!
Japan today -- a case study in how population decline can look and why it's not all that bad.
We have just returned from two weeks in Japan visiting some large cities--Osaka, Kyoto, & Toyko--and many less populated areas. Our last trip was 2017. The changes with the rapid population decline--about 800,000 per year--were noticable.
There is much more automation in services. Very few restaurants have table service and orders for food and payment in even the smallest of restraurants take place at a machine near the entry to the restaurant. The use of cash is still common but even cashiers making change at points of payment do so with a machine. Our hotel check-ins were automated and quick. At the hotel in Kyoto we used an iPad to check in with the whole process taking about two minutes. Another hotel had us enter a code to check in and we never saw a staff person.
This is not the stuff of sci fi robots running around but automation using existing technologies. The low level service jobs that are often used to claim employment growth in places like the U.S. are just no longer there in Japan.
We did see the effects of de-population in many of the rural areas with shuttered stores and empty homes. There was still clearly a rural agricultural economic sector but even the planting of rice was mechanized. How the rural areas transition back to nature over time will be interesting to watch. There are temples in these areas for sale at 0 Yen, if anyone is interested.
What one does not see in Japan is an ecomonic collapse. Even the most rural of places were cleaner and better kept than Switzerland. Public services operate in even rural areas. Delivery services have displaced many small retailers.
My guess is that the combined Shinto and Buddhist traditions in Japan allow the population to accept the change. Humans are seen as a part of a broader universe of existence rather than something special and unique.
Thanks for the assessment, Doc. Are they taking any refugees? Did you meet people that have immigrated there?
As with China, essentially no immigration allowed. That is part of the reason for the rapid population decrease.
Doc G. I've seen a bit of the world, Learned Vietnamese and Spanish, seen Korea and Japan, and what I have noticed is that Americans are more ego centric, self centered,perhaps it is our myth and culture of the rugged individual.
The migrants that drove ox pulled Conestoga wagons, along corduroy roads, and military trails were not rugged individuals, those that tried, did not survive, They raised and razed barns together (to gather the precious nails)
Perhaps because of, maybe a good thing, when we lived in communities,under the eye of and subject to social terrorism from our neighbors.
I lived in Southern Arkansas and northern Louisiana for part of my life. And have seen social terrorism at work. I had a second cousin, never married but lived with another woman, quite old as I recall being a young un, they were he subject of town gossip and called spinsters
I
I had a gay great uncle, my grandmother would only say, He was different. Queers were quiet, not seen or heard and didn't threaten the status quo, so all was well, so long as they didn't try to obtain the same rights as the rest of the tax paying citizenry. Then woosh, women, blacks, gays demanded their space in the sun, to come out of the closet, to be recognized as equal citizens, and the whole world started to unravel and now we have MAGAts, and the threat of massive violoence.
My husband, who just declared he is no longer a republican but rather leans toward No Labels, has often told me it's fine for minorities to have equal rights but they don't need to flaunt it in our faces every hour of the day. He is quite broadminded which always made me think he should be a democrat but his tolerance is definitely limited. And he really has a deep hatred for democratic politicians.
Please inform your husband that a vote for No labels is by default a vote for Trump.
In our two party system, you either vote for or you vote against. I have voted against,because a third party vote is in reality a vote for Trump.
I understand your husbands frustration. The blacks have suffered under Slavery and Jim Crow and are living with the remnants and after effects, and unfortunately it has created tunnel vision ,myopia, in which the only justice, the only problem that they can see is of racial inequality and discrimination, and they are thus blind to the other social ills, that are the battle ground of today, be it women's rights, gay rights, or self sovereignty.
Mos of us, the vast majority are myopic, as we think that we are the center of the universe and we are the only thing that counts.
What I pity, and would thank god that I wasn't born as, if there were a god, is being born a black lesbian.
Imagine being black, a woman and queer in America. My AA sponsor, Pat, was just that and she kept herself and me sober, I don't know how she did it, strong stuff.
He admitted he will probably vote for trump. Oddly he told me he decided on No Labels because he hates Biden so much. I just don't get his reasoning, he's pretty rational otherwise.
I'm glad Pat was able to help you & herself. My husband was in AA too. It was in a roundabout way how we met. I worked in a hospital & my ex had been a drunken speedfreak heroin addict so I knew exactly what I didn't want in my life. So one day I mused out loud that I wished I could meet a reformed alcoholic because of the character it would take to be able to do that. An ICU nurse I knew was subbing at the nurse's station & overheard me. I was walking with a gas can back to my car when a guy pulled up to offer me a ride. As he filled my gastank he mentioned that his aunt worked at the hospital in ICU. I knew right then we were meant for each other & it has been 32 years of wedded happiness. I love to tell that story.
The stigma of being childless has certainly shifted over my lifetime. In earlier days, there would be talk about how selfish you were for not having children. With the population explosion, the doubling in America between 1950 and 2010, that attitude has most certainly changed.
The younger generations dealing with the climate crisis have been thinking about the moral concept of bringing someone into the world. That's a good thing. They will likely be involved with some work to better our situation whether they decide to have a biological family or not.
Both of these things are a glimmer of hope. Unfortunately neither have anything to do with Republicans, because I swear all I EVER hear from them is bitching about the economy, support for their psychopath, and religious nonsense.
there are plenty of parents who wish they weren't and plenty who live their lives for it......no unanimity to b found
I have three children, 11 grands, 30 greats and one great great. My wife has none.
We are elderly, both of us are on our own, at present we have each other. I am relatively healthy all considered, still weed whip and mow, carry heavy things. I am 14 years her senior and worry should I leave first, what she will do.
There was a time when children were the farmers social security, and in some countries, particularly Latin America, they still are.
But not in America.
certainly many beliefs are nonsense but belief requires no proof......that's most of it's reason.......who would waste their energies believing in a known fact?
Thom, this a a great breakdown of how we can better flourish. Don’t recall ever being taught about the positive impact the Black Death had on what followed, and I imagine some others haven’t connected that plague to the flowering of the Renaissance. Reminds me of ‘the scheduled burnings’ that stimulates renewed growth. As for Musk, he can afford 11 children. However… let’s imagine someone else, too many others who cannot even provide for themselves.
And it’s not just India-China- as we were told as children when we refused spinach. It’s down the street here or there.
I agree with Thom except that I don't think we have poisoned the environment and food supply due to trying to meet the needs of 8 billion people. Capitalism and greed are the major causes of the poisoning, so far. The human population has less diversity, including immune diversity, than other primates due to the population bottleneck at the time we left Africa (down to about 1000 people that lasted over 100,000 years). We should be able to remedy that problem with science rather than to increase the population if we would devote the resources in that direction.
As for the GOP wanting more workers to bring down the cost of labor, the hell with them. We have the families we think we can afford when we have them. Unfortunately, because of the way we pay for healthcare, employers seek to keep their healthcare cost low by getting rid of older workers who have more medical problems and may still be raising their children. We would have the necessary number of workers if we had family friendly benefits such as Universal Health Care, government funded childcare, a liveable minimum wage, a guaranteed basic income, mandatory family leave, and free or low cost college or apprenticeships.
BTW Louisville, Ky just elected a Democratic Socialist in district 6. He beat the Democratic candidate and has no Repub to run against.
I read that around 75,000 years ago there were only 5000 humans. My take away from that was good grief, we are much more related than we realize! Glad you explained it even further, Gloria.
Gotta admit humans are a scrappy bunch when it comes to primates. Solid assessment. Looked-up JP from Louisville, he's scrappy too. Beautiful inside and out.
The huge decline in human population about 75,000 years ago (as determined by studies of DNA and RNA samples) has been attributed to the explosion of the supervolcano Toba in current Indonesia. Some estimates are that only a very few thousand humans survived that eruption. Our population problem is that we have few natural enemies except ourselves. Occasionally nature does strike back as in the 14th century, but mostly we are free to over-breed if the living conditions are right. The other problem is that for sustainable living on this planet, humans need to limit their population to 1.5-2 billion people and recycle everything - what will people 500 years, 1000 years from now say about how we used up all the recoverable metals and minerals and left nothing for them?
1,000 or 5,000 doesn't matter much. Either is a very small total (estimated) population with a great deal of inbreeding - for better or worse. That small population, though in danger of extinction, was sustainable, as we can now see in perspective. The ever-growing population of today, with its corporate-engendered "must have' amenities, is simply not sustainable.
Both musk and Besos, based on this particular story, are obviously nuts. This planet is already severely overpopulated. The only thing that you come from that overpopulation is disaster. Apparently the so-called bright minds of today cannot fathom the future at all. Look at the planet now. Now, Think of the planet with 16 billion people, double what it is today. If you don't think that that is running us into economic disaster, possibly the collapse of civilization and even the eradication of humanity altogether then your name must be Musk or Bezos. No one else could be that dumb. Well, except for the new American fascist party and the convicted felon that runs them. What was his name? Camera Hitler 2. They need all hands on deck with their handy dandy ak-45s shooting at the enemy. Unfortunately for us, the enemy is us. The Greeks of ancient times did asimilar thing when they needed more soldiers. They made women perform - make babies make babies make babies. When they didn't need the soldiers well then contraception was in order. Apparently we haven't learned anything in the last 3 to 4,000 years when it comes to population.
Some fools points to the Bible and say, "God said go forth and multiply." That is totally true. That is exactly what the Jewish Bible says. Not the Christian Bible but the Jewish Bible. Christians need to remember that the Torah or the Hebrew tanakh it's not their effing book. The point however is that the storytellers claimed that god said that to two people who according to the Bible were the only two people on the entire planet. It was totally logical for them to go forth and multiply. Unfortunately the authors of the Bible are not too smart when they put words into God's mouth. They couldn't see the future they didn't realize that 8 billion people on this planet is going to cause the ecosystem to collapse and practically everyone to die.
In the back of their minds, Musk and other billionaires conceive of final escape to their bunkers, on another planet or here at home, well hidden and well fortified, bunkers being constructed for their safety, leaving the deplorables to feast on Soylent green. They will furthur their financial acumen and their business expertise by being the manufacturers OF Soylent Green. You know, the very essence of today's capitalism is seizing opportunities wherever they crop up, while of course continuing to eschew all pesty moral considerations. Preemtorilly, they have already financed the evangelicals to shape-shift the moral fight for them.
You say: In the back of their minds, Musk and other billionaires conceive of final escape to their bunkers, on another planet or here at home, well hidden and well fortified, bunkers being constructed for their safety, leaving the deplorables to feast on Soylent green.
I totally concur. They say Armageddon is coming, ( they know because they are pushing for it) and therefor all is fair in love and war. They are off the deep end and no longer believe in reality. These folks are certainly insane and in a religious form of mental ejaculation.
The fortunes of Musk and Bezos depend on population density. The more dense, the greater the demand for their services and goods, the more control and wealth they accumulate.
It is not stupidity on their part, it is pure self interest. S Howard
Excellent point William
@ SHoward. Repeating antisemitic bullshit.
“These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me. “Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures [the Old Testament]” (Luke 24:44–45).
Many early Church Fathers made statements condemning the use of contraception including John Chrysostom, Jerome, Clement of Alexandria, Hippolytus of Rome, Augustine of Hippo and various others.
In Catholic theology, contraception is a mortal sin. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-catholic-church-and-birth-control/#:~:text=A%20Mortal%20Sin,artificial%22%20means%20of%20birth%20control.https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/pill-catholic-church-and-birth-control/#:~:text=A%20Mortal%20Sin,artificial%22%20means%20of%20birth%20control.
Ok. I will grant you that BUT does that make todays religious insanity any less insane?
Sorry my friend Daniel, but I don't get the antisemitism of S Howards' comments.
Nor the significane of your quote from Luke 24.
Luke is problematic for Christians at leas the modern "loving" variety, because he told his disciples to sell their cloaks and buy a sword, and to bring before him those who would not have him reign over them and slay them.
It also deals in end times astrology, like when the disciples asked for a sign when he would come again and he told them to follow the man carrying a pitcher of water (Aquarius) into the (strological) house that he enters.
As regards the law, (Leviticus) he also aid in Mathew 5:17, that “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.. In other words contrary to the claims of the Christians preachers, he didn't set aside Leviticus.
There are 613 laws in Leviticus, and I don't know of any Christian, much less any but the most orthodox of Jews, that are willing to live by all of them, especially Dominionists like Ted Cruz, Mike Pence, Mike Johnson whose creed is to restore order under Mosaic laws.
"Christianity" as you know it began with the First Council of Nicaea. Jesus was a Jew. Probably had a big nose. Said the Shema at least 3 times a day. Laid tfillin every morning. Wore peus. Wore magic underwear. Kept glatt kosher.
Originally the big Christian festival was the Feast of the Circumcision. Bigger than Christmas. Bigger than Easter.
At the catacombs under the coliseum, Rome, all the inscriptions of the Christian martyrs are in Hebrew.
One more time, his words as quoted in Luke derive from what you call the Old Testament. We went through this a few months ago when I was taking a course at UM. In essence, most sects, especially the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, etc. observe Paulism, not Christianity as defined by the Council of Nicea.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Council_of_Nicaea
,
Thanks Daniel. Yeh I know Jesus was a Jew who did all of that, the picture of this Jesus was a blonde haired blue eyed Aryan is a fraud. There are images on the web of what he probably looked like, had he actually existed. I think not. I think he is a composite of people from Barabas to Apollonius of Tyana, and Dionysos and his name was not Jesus, but Yahooshua or Joshua, whih means savior. It was the Romanized Greeks that gave him the name that stuck. Jesus Christ.
There was no word in Greek for messiah, but since messiahs are anointed and oil is used to anoint, the used the Greek word for one who is anointed with olive oil, Christos (see also Crisco)
Dionysos, the name means son of god, Zeus is Dios, used in Latin and Romance languages for god, was the god of wine, his feast day was the 25th of December called the Dionysia, Rome called him Bacchus and had the same feast day.
Dec 21st is the day that the sun stops its descent into the underworld, and hangs three days in "the grave" on Dec 25th the son arises from it's grave and starts its journey northward again and praise ye ya (elileuia or hallalujah, so long as the son (sun) rises there will be everlasting life on earth.
The name Jesus comes from the signet of Dionysos, which is iota eta sigma, or IES to which the Romans added the male ending of "us" or Iesus.
The eta serves as a consonant and a vowel sound in Greek, placed at the beggining of a word it is harsh and sounds like the H, but in the word itself it is soft and has and E sound.
Latin has no J , but the I has two sounds as well, at the beginning of a word or name it has a J sound, , in the middle of a word it has a softer E sound which is I in English. The name Iulius Caesar is actually pronounced somethng like Dzulius Kyser . The Germans pronounce Caesar correctly as Kaiser.
Anyway the Greek Dionysos became Jesus., his attributes and teachings were a composite of a Hebrew guerilla leader and Apollonius of Tyana.
The Jesus of Luke is the guerrilla leader, that of Matthew Apollonius
None of the so called apostles in the book lived at the time of this so called Jeus. Certainly not Paul, he lived 3 centuries later, and there is the thing, one can read Paul and see clearly the influence of Octavian or Augustus Caesar, and his law of Pater Familia among other things
The Bible wasn't hashed together until after Constantine and the council of Nicea.
Constantine after the battle of the Milivian Bridge where he defeated Maxentius, had a need to consolidate power, and the best tool fo rhat is the one Ahkenaton Tried, monotheism,
The Romans had hundreds of gods and priesthoods, each one demanding attention and a temple, noisy and expensive and impossible to control, then there were these revolutionaries preaching pacificism, each competing for attention and followers, each with their own spin. Something had to be done, so he shut down all the cultrs, their priesthoods,their temples and embraced the noisiest and most troublesome that seemed to be attacting adherents..
Gathered the noise makers together, shiped them off to Anatolia, sequestered them in Nicea, plied them with wine and young boys, until they came up with a consensus and a cohesive message.
It must have been a raucous and bloody affair inside the temple in which they were confined. But they came up with a consensus ideology, one which Thomas Jefferson and other founding fathers found incomprehensible" the trinity.
The Bible came later, when a committee was formed to sift and sort all of the blatherings committed to parchment.
A monk named Jerome put together the first bible, the Latin Vulgate, and he was assisted by a former Manichean priest, that is known by the name, The Great one, or Augustine, a title not a name
This Augustine was a Manichean priest, who watched in horror as Pope Leon "the great" (they weren't Popes then, but a bishop of Rome, threw Manicheans to the lions and had the first "coming to Jesus moment".
Mani was a Greek disciple of Zoroastrianism, and his disciples held Zoroastrian beliefs, like the duality of god, a good god and a bad god, good and evil, and Augustine's Manichean influence in hashing together and translating the documents into the Bible is obvious. The introduction of Satan, the bad god or Ahriman in Zoroastrian)
Satan also called Lucifer
saiah 14:12: The Hebrew word for "morning star" in this passage is translated as "Lucifer" in the Latin version. The passage also mentions a "son of the morning" who "fell from heaven" and was "cast down to the earth". Some interpret this passage as a metaphorical reference to the king of Babylon.
2 Peter 1:19: In the Latin Vulgate, the word "Lucifer" is used to refer to Jesus.
Exsultet: The Latin version of the Easter proclamation, Exsultet, also uses the word "Lucifer".
Wikipedia
Lucifer - Wikipedia
Modern scholarship generally translates the term in the relevant Bible passage (Isaiah 14:12), where the Greek Septuagint reads ὁ ἑωσφόρος ὁ πρωὶ ἀνατέλλων, as "morning star" or "shining one" rather than as a proper noun, Lucifer, as found in the Latin Vulgate. The word "Lucifer" appears in The Second Epistle of Peter (2 Peter 1:19) in the Latin Vulgate to refer to Jesus. The word "Lucifer" is also used in the Latin version of Exsultet, the Easter proclamation. As a name for the planet in its morning aspect, "Lucifer" (Light-Bringer) is a proper noun and is capitalized in English.
en.wikipedia.org
Satan - Wikipedia
The name Heylel, meaning "morning star" (or, in Latin, Lucifer), was a name for Attar, the god of the planet Venus in Canaanite mythology, who attempted to scale the walls of the heavenly city, but was vanquished by the god of the sun. The name is used in Isaiah 14:12 in metaphorical reference to the king of Babylon.
en.wikipedia.org
War in Heaven - Wikipedia
Parallels are drawn to the passage in Isaiah 14:4–17 that mentions the "son of the morning" who had "fallen from heaven" and was "cast down to the earth". In verse 12 of this passage, the Hebrew word that referred to the morning star was translated into Latin as lucifer.
The planet Venus is known as the morning star, because it precedes the sun, Phosphorus (Ancient Greek: Φωσφόρος, romanized: Phōsphoros) is the god of the planet Venus in its appearance as the Morning Star. Another Greek name for the Morning Star is "Eosphorus" (Ancient Greek: Ἑωσφόρος, romanized: Heōsphoros), which means "dawn-bringer" Also light bringer
Venus also appears as the evening star Hesperus (Roman Vesper) is the name ancient Greeks gave to the evening star that appears in the sky for an hour after the Sun sets. The Greeks and Romans thought that they were two different planets.
Worse, in the beginning, the leader was James, the brother of Jesus, who probably was semiliterate. At best, he was limited to Hebrew, Aramaic, not to Greek, which was the lengua franca of the period. He wrestled with Simon Peter, who was taken to Rome to become the first Pope and who was martyred. Paul, who never met Jesus was the PR guy who sold the religion to the goyim. The medium became the message.
A number of modern scholars, even some Catholics, know this. A number of churches now study Hebrew/Aramaic, in an effort to get to the root.
I personally doubt the existence of a Jesus, but do not discount that the archetype had a brother or brothers. I lost some friends at the age of 12, all of the families who lived in the project were Catholic, at least all of my playmates and friends were. I had read the Bible when I was 12, luckily without being guided by a Sunday school teacher, and saw with my own eyes that this Jesus has brothers When I told my friends that, and that Mary was not a virigin her whole life, they called me ignorant, turned on their heels and walked away, which is what they were instructed to do by the nuns of St Ambrose.
My assessment of the situation is this. Rome had invaded Jerusalem, plundered the temple and the Jews, hauled the silver and Jewels back to Rome to build the Coliseum and pay the legions, and then enslaved the people and hauled them back to Rome to build the Coliseum which their treasure built.
Successive guerrilla campaigns like those of Barabas, cme to naught and finally when the Romans build a mile long ramp to destroy the Essenes at Masada, the educated class of Jews, the stoic Pharisees, had the bright idea of attacking militaristic Rome from within, by proselytizing and ideology of pacific ism, , and it worked, but it didn't happen in their life time, nothing of endurance does, it took over 300 years
Edward Gibbons, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, is just one of many who try to find a cause.
There were many, including the moralization, pacifism and softness that centuries of plunder and enslavement, lead piping, but IMO Christianity was a major contributor,
However Rome did not fall, it merely changed from a secular power to a sectarian power, and promoted other thugs, we all Kings and Emperors, to do the dirty work.
I just love that a super rich fool like Bezos can imagine 1000 Einsteins coming from a trillion people when education is rapidly becoming bible-centered & with the denial of science-based anything from the christian nationalists. These men have been so immersed in their own billionaire bubble that they have lost all knowledge of how the world works for people of ordinary income or little money at all. The world cannot survive the coming onslaught of trillionaires with their greed for money & the addled thought processes that got them there. In my lifetime we have gone from 2 billionaires worldwide to 750 & counting in the US alone. It seriously affects the nature of society. People either strive to become billionaires or figure out ways to con, grift & dupe to become rich.
Wow Sharon. Thanks for thinking of that dilemma. The educational trend towards idiocy, increasing population leads to an inevitable Idiocracy. I love that movie, I have the DVD
So true Sharon. Expecting 1000 Einsteins from private schools who hate science, reality, truth, rational thinking and God in my very humble opinion. They would rather their sons grow up to be like Trump than Jesus.
I guess they didn't teach Jonathan Swift at Penn and Princeton. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Modest_Proposal
Daniel, I fallowed the link, other than one reference to Jews, I don't see the anti antisemitism their, maybe I need an education. I am open to such, seriously.
Everyone knows that political stability and equality for women lower birth rates from over growth to decrease in population. Europe and Japan are the prime examples. Make everyone wealthy and safe and life goes on well. Mudsill gives abundant cheap labor is essentially slavery. The GOP control of women is just their desire for cheap labor below poverty levels and unnatural generation of unearned millionaires. Chaos is natural with a society based on lies.
It is part of the American disease of worshipping money that these overly ambitious self-centered billionaires think they are brilliant in solving problems they know nothing about. Musk admits he has difficulty empathizing with and understanding other people. If they really cared they would give a billion dollars to any big city school system.
The source of their fortunes has already contributed to the solution to the need for more population. They have added lots to raising the temperature of Earth and that will continue to keep migrants fleeing unlivable climates in the countries closer to the equator. Migration is not a problem, it’s the solution.
Ignore all the good science on overpopulation. Musk, first among lousy equals, will lead us down the path to inevitable population collapse. It won't be due to intelligent family planning. We will thank famine and infectious disease. But of course, it won't affect them, hiding behind their gates, walls and armed guards.
OK, but a couple of things:
1. When Musk, Bezos, Viktor Orbán, et al., worry about declining birth rates, I submit that they are mostly worried about declining *white* (i.e., of European-descent) birth rates.
2. About those allegedly halcyon days "when an average worker with a single income could buy a home, raise a family, put their kids through college, buy a new car every two years, and take a vacation every summer. Ask any boomer." I'm a boomer (b. 1951, just turned 73) so you can ask me. I'll remind you that this "average worker with a single income" was overwhelmingly white and male. As you know, people of color who'd served in the military didn't benefit from the GI Bill to anywhere near the extent that white men (like my father) did. You've probably heard of redlining, yes? Well, that tended to shut people of color out of neighborhoods where property values rose, and it was often rising property values that helped make it easier to finance cars and college (both of which were cheaper relative to average income in the postwar decades).
This "average worker with a single income" thing also left women, especially married women, in a precarious position. If the female half of this so-called partnership didn't have a job, as was often the case, she generally had minimal savings of her own and little/no access to credit. That changed with the 1974 Equal Credit Opportunity Act -- not only was that in my lifetime, it was in my *adult* lifetime. I remember it. You should too. If she'd been employed before marriage, her job-related skills and/or knowledge either atrophied or became outdated. IOW, she depended on her husband's income and goodwill for almost everything, especially if she had children. Need I say, plenty of husbands were less than dependable and too many were worse than that.
All of the above was a motivating force for the women's movement, especially the white middle-class-and-up part of it. A skim through Betty Friedan's FEMININE MYSTIQUE (1963) might refresh some memories about the box middle-class white women often found themselves in in the '50s. (Another, more radical feminist current was catalyzed by the misogyny of the New Left.)
Oh yeah, one last thing: Back then the Help Wanted ads were sex-segregated. And many women my age, give or take, have at least one story about either not being hired for a job or being passed over for promotion because some guy with a family needed it more.
Ms. Sturgis, when I was young I had a colleague who was turned down by the local bank for a mortgage to buy a house. Meg Hastings was white, grew up in Shaker Heights, and held a PhD from the Ohio State University. The banker told her to come back with her husband. I was junior to her on the faculty, male, as yet had no doctorate. That banker gave me a mortgage. Make America Great Again.
And the MAGAs would just love to go back there -- though I'm guessing many of them, esp. the women, haven't thought it through very carefully. The results of a few red-state referenda on abortion access suggest that some Trump supporters (who aren't necessarily MAGAs) are waking up.
The current population levels have required a huge impact on the natural environment and led to the depletion of the oceans, clearing of forests, draining of ground water supplies, and pollution that will last for centuries. The Mad Max and similar movies depict such a world with accuracy.
Bezos and Musk are the present day nobility who have the attitude of let them eat cake when millions of people are starving. Worse yet was the Kellogg's CEO Gary Pilnick's comment that the poor should be buying cereal and eating it for dinner. A high sugar carbohydrate meal that is nutritionally deficient by all measures.
Bruce, not for your edification but others who might not know. I was always puzzled by Marie's supposed comment, Let them eat cake", for cake as I know it is a treat.
However cake at that time was what we would call hard tack, a milled grain or even a bean, ground into flour to which you add water and bake
"we" are replacing life on earth with ever more human beings....other species are considered less important, less valuable than we; not so humble humans. they need places other than zoos to pursue their inferior existence, no?......places still not exploited to ruin, unfished, unfarmed.....other animals have more practical reasons for killing than people.....predaceous animals generally kill when they are hungry.......mass murder is a rarity among quadrupeds........paradoxically more people means more loneliness which brings more boredom, gambling, porn and unwise drug choices
people dreamt up the concept of 'perfect' and we r not it and the anthropocentric god is certainly not it and even thom is not it because of a rare typo: tenet not "tenant"......sorry mr thom but mucho grats otherwise for enabling my rant
I so agree with that. I would rather see thousands of endangered animals thrive again than see more people, especially those who enjoy dining on near extinct species because they can. I cry over the polar bears, for all the good that will do them.
call it KILLING THE MIRACLE
During junior-year public high school biology class 1958, I had an epiphany that population control was an essential part of allowing more people to share an abundant life. Mr. Hartmann, I salute you and your naming of names of the religious groups that the corporate media is too dishonest to do.
The Catholic Church has been overtly working to take over the country since the 1950s and has gotten the Baptists to go along with them. Muslims; history of conquest by the sword and growing their forces through their Book. I was so happy to read this report today. Encouraging more of the same.
Glen fecundity is a powerful, but slow tool for empire. The Roman Empire did not die, it merely changed from secular to sectarian, thanks to Constantine. Instead of domination by force of arms it uses fecundity, Thus the opposition to birth control and abortion. On the other hand like Islam,which also uses fecundity as a weapon of war, not just the sword. Like the Roman Empire and Spain and England it was the sword at first, then once the flag was firmly planted the tool became fecundity.
"Be fruitful and multiply appears" in the old and new testaments a number of times, emphasizing the importance in the biblical era of having people power. Armies and the populations to support them were seen in those, especially Old Testament TRIBAL times as vital not only for protection, but also for nation-building, spawning of kings and accumulating wealth. Judeo-Christian values have a long history of aggression, sociopathy, patriarchy and despoliation of the earth. These values are in direct conflict with the sustainability approaches we need to implement now to survive on this planet. There will be no survival without a healthy biosphere made up of the interlocking functional ecosystems on which all life depends.
An organization called Population Connection has been hard at work for many years trying to reduce population growth through education and birth control, freeing women to contribute constructively to their social groups and a more sustainable planet.
Educating women is the key to controlling Population. Thom has mentioned this many times on his show and in his newsletters.
It is axiomatic that religions want the opposite, their route to world domination is via overpopulation by people of their cult. I can't say that this applies to the Jews, but it does to Christians, definiely Caholics and
It is interesting that Shia Islam shares the same ideology towards abortion as does Mike Johnson and his ilk
Each of the four Sunni Islam schools of thought—Hanafi, Shafi'i, Hanbali, and Maliki— have their own reservations on if and when abortions are permissible in Islam.[3] The Maliki school holds that "the fetus is ensouled at the moment of conception" and thus "most Malikis do not permit abortion at any point, seeing God's hand as actively forming the fetus at every stage of development."[3] The Sahih al-Bukhari (book of Hadith) writes that the fetus is believed to become a living soul after 120 days' gestation.[4] Therefore, some Hanafi scholars believe that abortion before the hundred-twenty-day period is over is permitted, though some Hanafi scholars teach that an abortion within 120 days is makruh (disapproved, i.e., discouraged).[3] All Islamic schools of thought agree abortion is recommended when the mother's life is in danger, because the mother's life is paramount.
In Shia Islam, abortion is "forbidden after implantation of the fertilised ovum." The leader of the Iranian Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared that shari'a forbids abortion without any reason "even at the earliest possible stage"[5] a position shared by other Shiite scholars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islam_and_abortion
No matter how many variations on the theme, patriarchal societies are all busy controlling women, hoarding power for men and not giving much of a damn about the common good.
Yep, Judith. Here is one for you though. The Sarmatians, wrote pliny, lived at the foothills of the Carpatian mountains,and required of their women to ride in battle and slay a foe to win the right to marry.
In the Kurgans, burial mounds, of the Steppes of Russia and the Stans, they have found burials of warrior women, with horses, chariots, and weapons. At least three such burials of Viking women have been found. One of them was named Lagertha and is the model for the viking warrior of that name in the series,The Vikings.
So women are not frail,helpess things that need protection by a male, perhaps modern women, because that is the way there are raised, brainwashed, but the pioneer women were hardy fearless souls.
My grandmother was in her 70's when she took me hunting and taught me how to shoot squirrels in their nest., and then plowed a vegetable patch with a push hand plow, 20 rows about 50 ft long.
I was suppose to do the plowing, finished one row, gave up and went off to see a friend, came back and she finished the job. she has been dead since 1974, and I am still ashamed.
Happily, not every society is patriarchal! I too have read about the Viking women warriors, and also about robust Irish women warriors back in tribal days there. Many native American cultures are egalitarian with women having served as chiefs (in New England as recently as colonial times). Joan D'Arc springs to mind. There have been women all over the world who have stepped into warrior roles (often disguised, but no less valorous). As a long-term feminist, I am well aware of the brilliance and strength of women. Your grandmother is a case in point. Pioneer women. Women giving birth repeatedly and raising large families in harsh circumstances... Really, the list of accomplished women, including in the arts, sciences and political arena, when opportunity has existed or could be forged, is endless! We probably agree on that.
The Iroquois nation, whose own "constitution" served as a model for the American constitution, actually ran the tribes, and the women elected the war and other chiefs, but didn't go to war without the permission of the women.
Europeans viewed the natives through their own lenses. In European society there was a king, thus any Chief was a King, an Kingship was hereditary, it became that way after contact with Europeans. But the tribes had different head men for different functions, Like the headman for planting and growing, th headman for travel, the headman for hunting, but the Europeans only recognized the headman for war.
Most of the plains Indians were originally woodland Indians east of the Mississippi driven west by Europeans, like the Shawnee