Secret History #1: How Power Works

Good morning class. Welcome to our first

class. And today what I want to do is

provide the framework for how we will

learn the semester. What are we

learning? How are we learning? Why are

we learning? All right. So this is a

class of ideas. So, it's really

important for you to pay attention and

understand how these ideas connect with

each other. If I'm not being clear,

ask me a question. In fact, make it a

habit to ask as many questions as

possible because that way you will learn

more. Learning will be more fun for you

and learning will be much more clearer

to you. Okay? So, let's get in the habit

of asking questions. So wherever I am

confusing, wherever I'm speaking too

fast, wherever you don't understand,

interrupt me. Okay, let's get that

happen. All right, so

um I first want to talk about

Emmanuel

Kant.

We will we will be discussing a lot this

semester because he is the greatest

philosopher

in western history and he teaches us he

taught us how the world works and this

is what he told us. He told us that

we can never know the objective reality.

There is an update reality what he calls

the nomina.

Okay? Or the things

in themselves

that is not knowable to us. That is a

world we can never access. Why? Because

we perceive

the world through our senses.

Our

senses, our perception warps the world

and changes it into a structure that we

can process called the phenomena

which are the things that appear to us.

Okay. So the example is

time and space.

Time and space do not exist outside of

us. Time and space do not exist in

reality.

But for us to understand reality, we

need to add in time and space.

Okay, that's the example.

All right.

So how the world works is we perceive

the world, we perceive the nomena and

turn it into the phenomena for us to

process.

In other words, and this is really

important, reality is what we imagine

it

to be. There is no objective reality.

Reality is what we imagine it to be.

Life is a constant process, a constant

act of imagination.

All right, that's that's Emanuel K.

That's the first idea I want you to

understand.

So what I want I want to do in this

class this semester is train you or

teach you or inspire you to

augment your imagination so that you see

the world much more clearly. This class

is not about what to think. It's about

how to think.

All right.

All right. So, let me explain the

structure of the course. So, there's

past,

there's present,

and there's future.

We'll be looking at all three this

semester. The past, the present, and the

future. We were analyzing all three in

order to construct a more object of

reality for ourselves.

We will not succeed. We will fail. But

the process of trying will train our

minds to think much more critically

about the world. So let me explain how.

In the present we have geopolitics.

We'll be studying geopolitics.

For example, why is there war in

Ukraine? Why is there war in the Middle

East? What happened? We'll be studying

geopolitics

and we will try to understand why this

is happening. We'll try to formulate an

analyical model of geopolitics.

Okay, an analyical model.

We will then use this analytical model

to make predictions

about the future.

Why do we do this? Because these

predictions

will tell us if our analy model is

correct or not. Okay, does that make

sense? It's no different from artificial

intelligence. How do you know if your

artificial intelligence the model is

correct or not? Well, you test it

against reality.

Okay, there's no difference between that

artificial intelligence system and what

we're trying to do here. And why are we

doing this? Because if we're able to

have an ethical model that makes correct

predictions, then we take all this and

go back and analyze the past to un to

reveal the secret history

of the world. That is a project we are

undertaking

this semester

to discover for ourselves the secret

history of humanity.

Because you may not know this but all

the history that you learn in school or

that history that you think you know it

is false.

Okay. The history that you know you the

history that you believe it is a system

implanted into your brains by powerful

people.

Okay. So the real question that we're

looking at this semester is really how

does

power

work?

Because if you if we can figure this

out, then you will achieve liberation.

You will achieve freedom. You understand

how you're being manipulated by others.

And therefore, you'll be free. You'll be

empowered to live the way you want to

live to see the world that is true to

you.

So, let me give you three cover examples

of how power works.

Okay, the first example is money.

Let us do a thought experiment.

I'm a bank. Okay, I decide I want to

open a bank.

And now you're allowed to put money in

the bank. Okay. So, all of you get

together and you put $5 million

in the bank,

not $5 million. Now, why do you put $5

million into my bank? Because I promise

you 1% interest, right? 1% interest.

That's a really good deal. But now,

because I owe you some money, right? I

owe you 1% interest. I now need to go

make money for myself. So, I have a

friend who's building a restaurant and

he says, "I need $5 million to build a

restaurant and after a year I will pay

you back 10% interest."

Okay,

10% interest. And so I make a 9% profit

and I can use that to pay my employees,

to pay myself a salary, to build a new

building. Okay? So now I want you to

think about this.

I'm the bank. I got $5 million in

deposit money. Then I gave out a $5

million 5 million loan.

Today, how much money is in the bank?

Countless.

H countless.

How much money now do I have?

I got $5 million from you guys. Then I

gave it out to someone else, right? So

how much money is in the bank right now?

Zero.

Zero is zero, right?

It should be zero. Logically the answer

is zero. In fact, zero is the answer

that you are taught in economics. It's

what you are taught. Yeah. Zero is not

an answer to economics.

Okay.

You cannot loan all the money that you

you have like for for example if they

will have a limit like like 25 uh% I

don't know okay maybe 10% so you can

only loan like 4 million,000.

Okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Really good

point. Okay. Oh yes. Okay. So that's

really good. So in economics you learn

about the idea of the fractional reserve

system.

Okay. What's fraction reserve? As you

say, you must leave behind

a certain amount of money. It could be

7%, it could be 10%. It depends on on

the country. Okay, let's say 10%. So,

theoretically, I can I can actually lend

out $5 million. I can only lend out $4.5

million.

Okay, you're right. Okay, that's that's

that's law as well. Okay. Um

actually

um okay let's say I land for $4.5

million. Okay. Now how much money do I

have in the bank?

Yeah half a million. Right. Okay. So

again this is what you're taught in

economics. This is what makes logical

sense. Right. The correct answer. What

actually happens in real life is you

have you now have $9.5

million.

Okay, that is the correct answer.

This makes no sense, right? But it

happens in reality. And how do we know?

Because over the past 20 years, Chinese

banks like the Bank of China, uh the

Bank of Industry and Commerce,

Agriculture Bank of China, if you Google

these banks, what you will see is these

past 20 years, these banks have become

the largest in the world. How did that

happen?

Was it because Chinese people got rich

and put all the money in the bank? No,

that's not what happened. What happened,

guys?

supported by the government.

Okay. What happened was these banks

start to lend money out to corporations,

to government, to people to build

skyscrapers, to build roads.

In other words, the banks started to

create money out of nothing in order to

finance China's infrastructure projects.

And that's what banks are allowed to do.

They're allowed to print money, create

money out of nothing. Okay, does that

make sense? Now the question then is

wait a minute here that's kind of

absurd. How this system come into being?

How is it created? Okay. Well, actually

there's a very easy explanation for

where we got the system from.

All right. So, let me explain the

history and the origin of the system.

So in the beginning

it was merchants who engaged

um in finance because merchants needed

money in order to facilitate trade.

Okay. And some merchants became

extremely wealthy and when they became

very wealthy they started banks in order

to support trade and other merchants.

Okay. So um these banks

traded in gold because that was the

primary source and supply of money back

then. Okay. So

um what happened is you would come and

you would put your money your gold in

the bank for safekeeping

and the bank would give you a contract.

Right? A contract is just saying, "Thank

you for giving your gold. I promise to

give back your gold at any time that you

want it." And that's what we call a

receipt right?

And this would allow for better

and easier trade because now I can take

this contract and I can go to England.

Okay, maybe I'm based in Italy, but now

I can go to England and said, "Listen, I

need to buy cotton or bananas

from you." And the person is like,

"Well, what are you going to give me?"

I'm going to give you gold, right? So, I

take the receipt, I give it to you,

right? And why do we and why do we do

this? Because it's a lot easier than

giving gold to other people.

And so, this system would facilitate

trade throughout the world.

doesn't make sense.

Now I'm the bank. I have all this gold

and I want to make money with it. So I

want to give it to other people. So

other merchants would come to me and

say, "Listen, I need gold. Can you lend

me out gold?"

Right?

But

I say to him, "Yeah, but if I give you

out the gold, you have a security issue.

It's inconvenient for you. So why don't

I give you a receipt, a contract

instead?

Does that make sense? Because all I need

is a contract. All I need is a receipt

in order to go and do trade elsewhere.

Right? So, so by doing this, what I've

done is I've doubled the gold

in my bank,

right? I've created money out of

nothing.

So the gold is still 5 million. That

hasn't changed. But the receipt is now 5

million plus 5 million. So theoretically

I now have 10 million in the bank.

All right. So that's how money and

finance works.

Now there's a problem with the system.

What's the problem with the system?

What do you mean?

Um, why would I

why would the other people say we see as

gold as

Okay, that's a great question. Okay, why

is it that people believe in me? Okay,

the answer is very simple. The answer is

because for most of of human history,

people didn't need money. If you if you

were just a normal person, what were you

doing? Were you in a village growing

crops? If you wanted to to like get new

stuff, what would you do? You would

trade with someone else, right? May

maybe you have a goal that I want. Well,

then I I would trade you cow for it. So,

we didn't actually need money. So, for

most of human history, no one had any

need for money. It was only in certain

circumstances that you would want money.

So, for example, marriage, right? Okay.

So throughout most of human history,

money represented debt that could be

unpaid.

Oh sorry, debt that could never be

repaid.

So for example, a very common thing is

um maybe you and I fight and I kill you.

Well, in theory, your family should not

come and kill me. But obviously, that

would create a lot of problems, right?

So, the way to settle the dispute is I

would give your family money because

money was symbolically meant to say,

"I'm sorry I killed you. This is a debt

that can never be repaid."

Right? That's what money was used for in

most circumstances throughout human

history. There was no actually real use

for money. It was symbolic.

But with the rise of trade with

merchants, they needed money in order to

facilitate the trade. But these

merchants all knew each other. So they

trusted each other anyway. So money was

a mechanism for them to

um trade easier. Okay, does that make

sense?

All right. Okay. So let's go back to the

question.

This system looks great. I can print

money out nothing. But there's a problem

with the system. What is the problem?

There's a problem here.

H

like you can forge the receipts.

Okay, that's actually a great question.

Okay, so yeah, is it possible to forge

the contract? Okay, so um that's a

really good point. The problem is so the

the the answer is that they all knew

each other anyway.

Okay, because it's a very small circle.

Again, we have not reached the modern

period where um it's a lot of people

using money. If that's the case, then

fortune becomes a problem. We'll discuss

this in future classes, okay?

Counterfeiting. But at this point in

history, forgery is actually not a big

issue. There's actually a bigger issue

and it's a huge issue. What's the issue?

I have $5 million of gold, right?

There's about $10 million

of gold out there in receipts. What's

the problem with that?

The problem is that if everyone wants to

go at the same time,

I go bankrupt, right? Because I lose my

reputation. The contract says that at

any time you want the gold, I must give

it to you.

But if I have like if there's $100

million

in gold contracts, but I only have $10

million in gold. Only if 15 million

wants the gold back, then I'm screwed.

And this is what we call a bank run.

Okay, a bank run.

And this is a huge problem for

merchants. Okay,

there's also another problem with the

system. The problem is this.

Who do I usually lend my money to? Do

you guys know? If I'm a bank, if I'm a

merchant, who do I usually lend my money

to?

Okay, guys. Um, today we lend the money

to entrepreneurs. But back then, there

really weren't entrepreneurs. There were

kings

and noble people. And what do they do

all the time? Why do they need money?

To fight wars. Okay, that's why that's

why there's a demand for gold. Because

if I'm a king, I need to fight a war,

usually against my brother or someone

else to control this territory. Right

now, the problem with this is I could

get killed, in which case, oops. But

also, what's much more common is

the king would be like, screw you bank,

I don't need to pay you back. Okay? So,

there's actually a lot of risks with

this system. So over time develop a

system to mitigate or reduce this risk.

Okay. What would they do? What what they

would do is they would create cartels.

Cartels are just partnerships. So maybe

this bank works with another bank works

with another bank throughout Europe.

They and the way they establish these

cartels is usually through inner

marriage, right? They would marry each

other. um they would combine together

and that way

let's say this say 15 million uh of

receipts wants back the gold but there's

only 10 million well guess what you just

go another bank

okay and let's just say a king

decides I'm not going to pay you back

bank well your bank works with other

banks to establish a new enemy to kill

the king to get the money back you

understand And this system is what we

call today central banking.

And what you will learn in this class is

central banking controls the world

today.

Okay.

Now what's really important about this

system is that it's based on power.

Right? And what power is, it can turn

nothing money

the contract, into everything.

Okay? That's what money is.

Okay? So, we live in a world in which

banks can print out money, right? So,

now let's ask ourselves a question. Wait

a minute here.

If the banks can print as much money as

possible,

why do we have poverty,

right? Because we can just give money to

poor people and they wouldn't be poor

anymore.

Why do we have poverty?

If there's all the food in the world

that we want, why are people starving

still?

Why?

Because we don't have limited

resources.

Okay? So we don't have limited

resources. We have scarcity. Okay?

Right? So that is the common answer.

Scarcity. We have poverty because of

scarcity. But I already told you this.

They can print money out of nothing. So

money is infinite. Money is infinite

resource. So why are we why do we have

poor people then?

That's kind of strange.

Money aren't money just, you know, use

for trade. They still have limited

resources and you know the actual the

like the the actual

Okay, you you you see what's happening

is this. You all believe money is

scarce. Okay, but I just spent the past

10 20 minutes explaining to you it's not

scarce. It's infinite. It's just a

number. We can at any time print out as

much money as we need. Okay? So that's

how power works. Power has brainwashed

you into thinking something that is not

true. You've been taught from the first

day.

That money is scarce.

But it's not scarce. It's infinite. And

no matter what I say to you, you still

believe this. Okay? So you have to get

that out of your head. Money is not

scarce. It is infinite. So let's go back

to the question. Why is there poverty in

this world? Why do people starve?

Why is there inequality in this world?

Why are there poor people? Why are there

rich people? What's the answer?

Because they don't print infinite money.

Okay? Because it's scarce. I So guys,

this is amazing. Okay? You guys can't

get out of your head. You think money is

scarce. You think it is not possible to

print infinite money when I already told

you it is possible to print infinite

money because they do this all the time.

Yeah.

Uh the one who has the power don't want

everyone to share the same uh

because we don't want people to all have

money. The powerful people don't want

that. That's exactly the answer. And

why? Because otherwise no one would

work. Do you understand? The point of

putting money is not to give you money.

The point of putting money is to create

the illusion that money is valuable and

therefore you work hard in order to

obtain it. But in order for me to make

you want to get money, I need to create

artificial

misery.

Do you understand?

Right? If there weren't poor people, you

wouldn't want to be rich. It's only by

because you see people suffer that you

would want to go make money for

yourself. Your what do your parents tell

you? Your parents tell you work hard in

school, make a lot of money. Otherwise,

you're going to end up like a poor

person, right? Well, guess what? If

there no poor people, your parents

couldn't say that to you, and you

wouldn't want to work hard in school,

right?

That's why we have poverty because

poverty creates the illusion that money

is valuable.

In other words, poverty isn't what you

do to yourself. It is what the powerful

do to you.

Now, let me ask you another question.

You guys have studied some economics.

Why do you have like crisis?

Crisis.

For example, there's a stock market

crash or for example, the economy goes

down and people lose their jobs. Why do

you have crisis?

Exactly. You're not taught this in

economics class. That's kind of weird,

right? The point of crisis is destroy

money. Why do we need to destroy money?

Because if there's too much money in the

system, people don't have to work. So

you have to destroy this money in order

to make people feel money is scarce.

Okay? Does that make sense?

So why do you have wars,

right? Why are there wars in the world

then?

because they're fighting over scarce

resources, right? I already told you

scarcity is a lie. The real reason is

war is meant to destroy wealth

in order to make you think money is

valuable. Do you understand?

You you guys play World of Warcraft or

these games, right? Guess what, guys?

World of Warcraft in our world, there's

actually no difference. you just went

around pointlessly working hard to

obtain credits in order to buy stuff. If

credits just flew out of the sky because

they could do that, right? They could

actually program the engine to just put

money out of nothing. You wouldn't do

nothing every day. You wouldn't play the

game.

Okay? It's only because you believe that

there's scarcity in the world and that

you must work hard to obtain wealth

that you do any work.

Do you understand this?

Okay, so this world that we live in,

it's a complete illusion created by

central banking in order to make us work

as hard as possible because the real

value is not money. The real value is

the work we do.

Okay, does that make sense, guys? All

right. Yeah.

You said scarcity is an illusion, right?

But uh I understand that money can be

printed infinitely but resources such as

food and land you know they aren't

technically unlimited. So

uh scarcity does scarcity still exist in

other resources?

Okay that that's a great question. Okay

so question is isn't food scarce because

food is a finite resource right? Do

yourself a favor. Okay, go to the

garbage dump somewhere anywhere in

Beijing and see the amount of food that

is wasted every single day. If food was

scarce, why do we have food waste?

Okay, so if you just do the mathematics,

what you will discover is there's enough

food to feed everyone.

Okay, there doesn't have to be hunger

and starvation. It's an artificial

crisis.

Okay. Does that make sense? So, you're

right in that, yeah, food's not

infinite, but it's abundant. There's a

lot of it, enough to feed people.

Okay.

On the land, uh, oil resources, you

know, the reason they go to war.

Okay. All right. Um, so again, you guys

are stuck in the scarcity mindset. Um,

and it's very convincing. So

let's move on. Okay. So this is this is

something that we'll go back to later

on. Okay. Because I cannot convince you

today this morning that everything you

believed about the world and about

yourself is wrong. Okay. You're still

stuck there like okay there's scarcity.

Uh and you're right there's scarcity.

But we also live in a world of

abundance. And a lot of things that you

believe are just misconceptions about

the world. Okay. So, so we'll go back

there, okay? Later on. All right. So,

let's move on. Okay. So, we've done

money now, right? Now, let's do another

question. Let's do a question of

happiness.

The question for us today is what makes

us happy?

Come on. What makes you happy? How can

you live a happy life?

Well obviously

money right?

If you have a lot of money, that's going

to make you happy. What else?

Power.

Exactly. Power, right? Sure. Power.

Excuse me.

Freedom.

Okay, good. Freedom.

Yeah.

What else?

Relationships.

Relationships. Yep. Sure.

You have good friends, right? Like lots

and lots of friends.

What else?

Romantic relations.

Okay. Love, right? Love. Sure. What

else? Like video games, I guess.

Vacations. Okay. Lots and lots of

things. Okay. What you will discover

about this list is this.

You are think about individual

happiness.

And this is actually unique in human

history. If you look if you go back in

time to five five years ago and you ask

people

how can you be happy?

They would focus more on collective

happiness.

In other words, if your community were

not happy, you cannot be happy.

So the very idea of the individual is

new in human history.

Before we understood that if you want to

live a happy life, you need to take care

of your family. You need to take care of

your community.

For them, for us, throughout most of of

human history, happiness meant helping

others, being generous to others.

So, for example, let's just say that I

go off

and I wonder and then I find a lot of

gold, right? I come back and what what's

the first thing I do with all this gold?

Do you guys know? And this is like the

ancient past.

Dig a hole and put them inside.

Okay. Yeah. Good. Right. We're going to

dig a hole and put that money inside

because we want to give it to our

children. That's a modern mindset. But

what did they do before you? And this

happened throughout every society. If I

became rich one day, what's the first

thing I would do?

Show up.

Hm.

Show off.

No. Okay. So, so we'll learn this. Okay.

But the first thing that people did was

they had a big feast for everyone.

They spent all the money on a big feast

because what mattered was your

reputation within the community. What

mattered was your generosity.

If you got rich one day, you made sure

that everyone in community benefited

from your wealth, usually by holding a

big feast.

And guess what guys, this was true in

China for most of Chinese history,

right? If you are, if you come from a

Chinese village, come you come to

Beijing, you open a restaurant, you make

a lot of money, you go, you go out to

your village, what's the first thing you

do?

Come on, guys.

You have a big feast for everyone. Okay.

So this is in ingrained in us. Okay. But

as you say today what we believe is if

you have a lot of money put it

underground or put in the bank. Okay.

But back then for for most of human

history we would just spend it all on a

big feast.

We want everyone to share in happiness

and that's what made us happy.

Okay.

Are are any questions?

Yeah. I I was wondering

you mentioned that uh it was all

reputation on some levels that would

that count into as you know your

individual happiness because after you

get rich you care about your reputation.

Yeah. So, so you're you're asking, isn't

this about individual reputation? And

again, I mean, this is hard. Okay. But

the individual, the concept of

individual did not exist before. We just

we just created it. The idea that I'm a

person independent of my family,

independent of my community, independent

of the world around me, makes no sense.

What was the worst punishment that could

be inflicted on you in the past?

Let's just say that we're going to

fight, I kill you, right? Like you're

they said you're no longer belong to

this.

Exactly. Banishment, exile, not death.

Right. And today if I killed you, the

police would come catch me and then kill

me. But before we didn't do that because

the worst thing that we could do was

exile you. Says you're no longer part of

us. Do you understand? So the concept of

the individual did not exist.

Right?

Okay. So let's move on. All right. So

now I'm going to present two

understandings of the world and you're

going to tell me which understanding you

think is correct. And the first

understanding

we humans

don't have agency. We don't have really

control. Why? Because there are powerful

gods out there. Okay? There are these

powerful gods like Apollo,

Dianesis.

Oh, the problem though is that

they are also controlled by other gods

that are more powerful like for example

fate,

fortune,

and then there are these

really ancient gods that control the

structure of the universe. For example,

maybe anger

and pride. So you absolutely have no

individual agency because there's always

a god screwing with you. Okay? You might

get rich, but then the god of pride

looks at you and says, "No, no, no. I

need I need to teach this more a

lesson." So the god comes into me, makes

me too arrogant, and I screw up.

Okay? So we're always being controlled

by these forces beyond our

understanding.

Okay? So that's a first world view.

Second rule of view is this. We are

synapses

that generate memories.

Okay, we are memories. Our understand

the world comes from our experience that

is controlled by synapses. Synapses come

from a combination of DNA

and environment.

our genes and our interaction with the

environment, our experiences.

And what this means is that we can now

have control over our own individual

fate. If you're angry, it's because

some experience or some genes made you

angry.

And this anger becomes reinforced in

your memories. And therefore if you do

proper therapy, if you do proper

reflection, if you do some exercises,

you can better control your anger and

therefore control your fate. Okay. So in

the first world view, there are lots and

lots of gods. They're evil and they're

random

and we have absolutely no control over

our fate. We can only hope to get lucky

in life and not piss off the gods. In

the second world view, we are only a

collection of our memories and of and we

are only synapses. So, we're able to

manipulate the memories and the synapses

in a proper way. We can be free of all

problems. We can be free of anger. We

can be free of h of of depression. We

can be free of misery.

All right. Let me let me ask you this

question. Which world view is a more

accurate reflection of reality?

Second one.

Obviously second one, right? Because

this is um neuroscience,

science

or psychology or psychiatry. This is

what you've been taught in school. This

is what you all believe. Our entire

society is structured around this very

idea. And what you will learn in this

class is it is completely wrong.

It is a sec. It is the first one that is

more accurate reflection of reality. The

first one gives you more information,

gives you gives you a more accurate

assessment of how the world really

works.

Okay.

So now let me ask you this question.

If the first worldview and this this

call what we call polytheism and

polytheism for most of human history was

the dominant religion. Okay.

Now we live in a world where the

religion is science. Science is

basically religion.

So why did we make the transition?

What's the benefit? If you're a powerful

person, why would you prefer the second

one as opposed to the first one? Second

one.

Why? What's the benefits to powerful

people? What why does power want to

believe the second one but not the first

one?

Yeah. Okay. Um so the idea of individual

responsibility.

Okay.

So then there's more control.

Okay. It's easier to control people in

the system,

right? That's the first benefit. What

what's the second benefit?

The second benefit is you will work

harder right?

Because in the first system, you're

like, you know what? I don't need to go

make a lot of money because

if I make a lot of money, the gods will

punish me and make me pr proud. So I'm

just going to like enjoy life and take

it easy,

right? So in the first in the second

system, no, no, I have control over my

own life. So I need to work hard.

Okay? So and again the entire point of

of the system is to make you work as

hard as possible because when you work

hard that generates wealth, real wealth

for the powerful people. Money doesn't

does nothing. Okay? Money just

incentivizes you to work hard. So this

exists in order to make you work harder.

There's one more benefit or there's more

benefits but but but what's what's

another benefit?

Okay. The other benefit is this

powerlessness.

It makes you powerless. Why?

This system is designed to make you

absolutely powerless. Why? You can't

control anything.

Why?

Uh everything is controlled by gods and

faith.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no. See, see

again again this is how you're

brainwashed.

You believe one makes you powerless but

not that's a correct two makes you

powerless. Why? What's the difference

between one and two? Why is it in number

two you are powerless?

You're playing the in the game that the

uh who had the power wanted.

Okay. So the problem with number two is

you are incapable of collective action

because you think all the source of your

problems is the individual in you and

not society but number one you are

capable of collective action and the

only way to change the world is through

collective action. Does it make sense?

This is a really important point.

Two is designed to make you think the

source of all your problems is within

you.

So you should ignore what other people

do and think. Doesn't matter to you.

[Music]

And therefore, you're incapable of

identifying with other people. You're

not capable of collective action. If

you're not capable of collective action

and you feel really miserable,

what you will do is play video games or

watch porn all day. Okay? And that's

what's happening in society today. Yeah.

But number two, like from experience, we

would know that you should listen to the

others advice or you know, you should

take others perspect perspectives

and not just

so number two, who has authority? Who do

you listen to? You listen to scientists,

right?

scientists because this system was

created by scientists to trick you.

Okay, this system you think, oh, it's

science, therefore it must be real.

Guys, let me give you a piece of advice.

Okay, if you're ever feeling sad

and you are depressed, what should you

do?

What should you do? What have you been

taught to do? You feel sad, you're

depressed. What should you do?

Go to the answer.

H walk around.

Okay. Yeah, the correct answer is walk

around. But that's not what you've been

taught, right? What have you been taught

to do?

Tell your friend.

Okay. Telling your friend, tell your

parent, that's that's actually really

good, right? So, walking around,

exercising,

resting, talking to a friend about your

problems. That's all really good. But

what have you been taught to do in

school? Really, if you if you are

feeling really really sad, what should

you do?

You should go talk to a psychiatrist,

right?

You should talk to a psychologist. And

what will he do? What will he or she do?

Okay. Well, let me give you a piece of

advice, okay? And you can test it out

for yourself. But if you're feeling sad

and you are feeling depressed and you

feel you have to talk to a psychiatrist

and you do so, I will make you bet that

the psych psychiatrist will make it a

lot worse. You will feel worse after

talking to psychiatrist.

Okay.

And the reason why is the system is not

designed to cure you of any problems.

The system is to make you dependent on

authority.

You know that if you feel sad, well, you

know what? Just go for a walk, talk to a

friend. You'll feel better over time.

But this system teaches you, no, you

feel sad, go talk to a psychiatrist

who'll give you drugs.

It's designed to make you dependent on

authority. Yeah.

Um I won't tell us like in scenario one

uh in scenario number one wouldn't go

also be an authority like God would also

be authority.

That's actually a great question. Okay.

God is authority.

Okay. That's actually a great question.

Thank you so much. Um so I have to spend

time to explain to you both systems and

I will do so. But what's really

important about number one is

the gods

are really

bad people. Okay, the gods in number one

the polyphasic system they fight all the

time. They're vengeful. They're angry.

They're proud. But because they're gods,

they think they can they can get away

with it. And that's the difference

between humans and gods. We're all the

same. We're all angry. We're all uh

jealous. We all fight. Okay. But the

gods can get away with it. The humans

cannot. Gods can do hubris. We cannot do

hubris.

Okay? Do you understand? So the idea

that oh the people in power are

benevolent, the people in power are

authority figures who are after our best

interest. That is a new modern concept.

Before it was assumed that the king is a

king. Why? Because he's favored by the

gods. It's not because he's a good

person. It's not because he's a just

ruler. It's just because the gods like

him for whatever reason. But guess what?

The gods give and the gods take. Maybe

today the king will uh rule us, but

maybe five years from now he gets

unlucky and the gods kill him. Too bad.

If you read Greek mythology, and we will

do so in this class, okay? We'll go over

into Greek civilization. We'll look at

Edypus. We'll look at Homer, the Iliad.

Okay, they talk about this all the time.

Fate is something that you cannot

control. It's something that happens to

you. And therefore,

you must live life to your best.

All right. So, the difference is this.

The difference is

in number one, they have a concept

called udeimmonia.

If you have no control

over your fate, if things can happen to

you tomorrow that kill you, then live

your life to the best of your ability

today. Seize the day. Be the best that

you can be today. And that's how you win

favor from the gods. Youmonia. what we

call flourishing.

The point of life is to live it to the

best of your ability. And that's why

guess what guys, the ancients, the

Greeks, they were superior to us. If you

read Greek literature, if you read Greek

philosophy Plato Homer

Uides, they were the best. Today we

suck. Why? Because instead of ulmonia,

we have pleasure.

rather than flourish

as creative people, we're like, "How do

I enjoy my life today?

How do I not feel sad?"

Okay, so in the first system, even

though it sounds like we have no

control, we have no agency, but it it

inspires us to live to the best of our

ability. In the second system, we're

like, "Oh, you have control complete

control over your life. It enslaves us.

Okay. All right.

Now, let's move on to the third and

final example.

Okay. And I know this is shocking. I

know this is surprising, but over the

course of the semester, I will give you

enough evidence to convince you that

this is all true. Okay? I'm just set up

the structure and the framework today.

All right? Let's let's let's do now do

school guys.

Why do we have school? Why are we in

school? Why?

Why are you here?

What?

Some place. Learn and teach.

Exactly. Right. Learn.

What else?

Certificate.

H. Yeah. To get to get the degree. Okay.

To get the degree.

Okay. To graduate. What else?

Knowledge. Yes.

Yeah.

The power to brainwash the students.

Excuse me.

I feel like give the power uh a chance

to brainwash.

Brainwashing. Okay. Guess what, guys?

The correct answer is brainwashing.

Everything else is a lie. Okay. All

right. What did you do in school? You

come to class, you listen to a lecture,

you read books, right? And then you and

then you have to do a test and you have

to write a paper and then and then the

teacher gives you a grade.

That's how you learn, right? Let me ask

you this question then. Throughout most

of human of human history, how did we

learn? If you want to become a doctor,

what did you do?

uh to be a good uh best I want.

The answer is experience. Do it right.

Let me ask you this question.

Let's say you're 12 years old. You're

going to be a doctor. Okay, there are

two paths ahead of you. The first path

is you know what? I'm going to put you

in a hospital and you're going to learn

there for like 10 years. Someone's going

to mentor you. Someone's you're you're

be that person's apprentice. Maybe in

the first year all you do is like wash

the floor, okay? But you're going to

observe the doctor and then eventually

the doctor is going to tell you how to

um treat patients. Okay? That's the

first system. Second system is you go to

the best school in the world. Then you

go to Harvard for undergraduate. Then

you go to Harvard Medical School, the

best medical school in the world. Okay.

At age 30, who's the better doctor?

Number one or number two?

first one

obviously the first one right because

the second person the person who went to

Harvard and Harvard medical school did

not ever work in a hospital

you understand

now let me ask you another question in

the first system

do you have to be really really smart to

be a good doctor

no

you don't actually anyone can be a

doctor in the first system.

Anyone,

we human beings are all born with the

capacity to learn anything if you wanted

to learn it. Right? You'll be an

engineer, you be a lawyer, if you want

to be a doctor, if you want to be a

scientist, you'll be anything. Okay?

Just go find a mentor

who can teach you how to do so. And I I

guarantee you that you will learn how to

do it well. And anyone can do this. But

instead we have a system in which

we tell students, you're smart, you're

stupid. Smart students go to good

schools and good universities and they

get good jobs. Stupid students go wash

dishes.

Okay? And that was not true for most of

human history. It's true today, but

throughout most of of human history, you

had to go learn something. All you had

to do was go find a teacher

and that teacher would teach you and

then you would learn it. Right?

So school is not is not a place to

teach you how to learn. A school doesn't

teach you knowledge. It doesn't do that.

A school is a place that brainwashes

you. Okay. Now the question then is what

does it brainwash you in? Why would it

brainwash you? Okay. All right. To

answer that, I'm going to give you some

history. Okay. We we will do a lot of

history in this class. But I'm going to

tell you the three societies that first

introduced

mandatory

free

public schooling

in the world. Okay. The first is called

Sparta.

Okay. Sparta was a small city state in

Greece like 3 4 thousand years ago.

3,000 years ago. And they had a new

system in which children as early as 5

or 6 years old they were put into a

school.

And in the school they were beaten up by

older kids who were like nine or 10.

Okay, that's Sparta.

The second society was called the

Azteex.

Aztecs

and they also provided free compulsory

education to all its children. Really

good, right? And the third society is

called Prussia.

And actually Prussia is a system that

everyone uses today. Do you guys know

any history? Okay. What is common about

all three society? Sparta, Aztecs, and

Prussia.

H

what is common to all three?

War.

All three societies are fundamentally

war societies

dedicated to defeating their neighbors.

Sparta was one of thousands of

citystates in Greece.

The only society of these thousands that

had compulsory education. Why? Because

Sparta was first and foremost engaged in

war making. Sparta, you've heard of

Spartans, right? It's the Spartan

warrior.

Okay. The Aztecs

were the greatest war society in Central

America before they rivaled the

Europeans. They defeated everyone. They

were engaged in war. They also did a lot

of human sacrifices. Well, okay, we

learn about the aspects later on.

Prussia, the Prussians, the greatest

military in Europe for centuries,

they were engaged in war making as well.

Okay, do you understand this?

Why we have schools is because schools

are really good at preparing people for

war. Why?

Because they have

Excuse me.

They have people and they have they

teach some kids how to do with the

world.

Um what is what is why why let me ask

you this question. Why did not they not

they did not have schools before? Why is

it that people like we don't want

schools? Why?

Again, the Sparta, Aztecs, and Prussia

were the few societies that had free

public schooling.

Why didn't other societies just copy

them? Why?

Knowledge should be trade with

Okay, let me ask you this question.

Let's just say you're a mother or

father. What's the And you have a ch

child, right? What's the worst thing

that could happen in your life?

H

no parents.

No. No. Your mother or your father.

You you have a child, right? What's the

worst thing that can happen to you in

your life?

Your child is taken away from you,

right?

Oh.

What does school do?

School is designed to take your child

away from you. Okay?

Let me ask you this question.

If school was about learning, why don't

parents and children go to school

together?

Yeah. Why not? Why?

Because they have to work to make money

survive.

Because parents have to work to survive,

right? There's actually a better reason

why. school is promise is the social

they must have two people to do

something.

Yeah. It's about brainwashing, right?

Because how do you brainwash someone?

Yeah.

Right. If you're with your parent, are

you going to be brainwashed?

No.

No. Cuz you feel loved. You feel secure.

Your parents going to protect you.

You're going to ask your parent, "Hey,

is this teacher is is he or she lying to

me?" And the parents like, "Yeah, he's

he's lying to you." Okay? It's only

because you've been taken away from your

from your parent

that you are now willing to be

brainwashed. Why? Because what happens

if you if you leave your parents? How do

you feel?

How do you feel?

No.

Hure.

Insecure.

Yeah. Exactly right. Insecure. You're

anxious. You're afraid.

Do you understand? You've lost your

parent. You're four. You're five. You're

six years old. You've lost your parent.

You feel really insecure. So who do you

trust?

Teacher.

Your teacher. What your teacher says is

now correct.

One of our parents is also brainwashed,

right? Because they they went to school

before when they're

Yeah. Okay. That's a great point. Okay.

Aren't our brain parents brainwashed as

well? Um that's correct. Your parents

are brainwashed. But what I'm saying is

when a parent is with a child, the child

feels secure. And and if you're secure,

you're much more willing to disobey

authority. You're much willing to ask

questions. You're much willing to think

for yourself because you feel secure

because your parent is there to protect

you. But if you take a parent away, you

can't do that. You must now rely on the

teacher who can now brainwash you.

Okay.

So are you brainwashing us? Am I

brainwashing you?

It's a dark tool.

Okay. All right. Okay. So, the question

is, am I brainwashing you? Okay. That's

a good question and it's a fair

question. And again,

that's why I tell you this. Okay. You

have the capacity to ask me questions.

You have the capacity to challenge me.

You have the capacity to think for

yourself.

Okay? So, so all I'm saying is hear me

out. ask me questions and then think for

yourself whether or not I make sense

because the difference between my class

and other classes is like I don't test

you, right? I don't give you grades.

It's a past fail class. You can actually

choose to say, you know what, this is

nonsense. I don't want to listen

anymore. I can't I can't stop you. Okay?

But in school, guess what happens if you

don't go come to school? Your parents

get arrested.

All right?

Do you understand? That's the

difference. It's your choice whether or

not to pay attention or not.

All right. So now the question is, okay,

if schools are designed to brainwash

you, what are they brainwashing you in?

Well, they've designed to brainwash you

to believe a concept called the nation

state.

the nation state.

The schools are designed to brainwash

you to think the nation state exists. It

is a person, mother China. You must love

this person. You must be willing to

sacrifice yourself for this person. You

must will be willing to dedicate

yourself to this person because it is

mother China. And how do we brainwash

you? We teach you language, right? We

teach you history. We teach you

geography.

We teach you all this to make you

believe that the nation state, mother

China, the United States, France, they

all exist. But guess what? Throughout

most of human history, it was absurd to

think the nation state existed.

Okay? Before you didn't say, "I'm

Chinese." Before you say, "I'm a

Beijinger

or I'm from Haiden or I'm from Chaang."

Right? because that makes more sense.

You're from a place where you know the

people but now because of the nation

state you are forced to believe that you

are the same person as someone from

Yunan Tibet Guangi even though guess

what guys you have absolutely nothing in

common but you're all Chinese and that's

what school is designed to do school is

designed to implant in you a false

memory

of a nation state okay that's what

history is history is the false memory

of a nation state

and it hap and that's why you're all

forced to go to school.

Okay,

maybe like they also want you to just

think about degrees and work as a normal

person not to create a new business or

Yeah. So, so yeah. So the point of

school is to serve the nation state. Do

you understand? Oh

right. Does that make sense? If you

believe in the nation state, if you

believe in mother China, then you must

serve her. You must obey her. You must

fight for her. You must die for her.

Okay. So that the idea of the nation

state was created in order to make you

obedient to authority and it works very

effectively.

Yeah.

I'm just wondering if this context only

works out in Chinese context like

all countries

all countries all countries are nation

states okay so I I mean like I'm not

saying China is different from other

places China's exactly the same as other

places okay what you will learn in this

class is how do we get to this place

because again the three things that we

learn okay money

the individual

the nation

These are all ideas and concepts beyond

the human experience.

If you try to work this out from first

principles, you try to figure this out

by yourself, you couldn't do it. You

have to be brainwashed into believing

these three things. If someone from the

past, maybe a thousand years ago were to

come today and you you would explain the

concept of money, individual nation

state, the person would be like, "Wait a

minute here.

This means that

you're all slaves.

Okay.

So now the question then is where do we

get these three concepts from? What you

will learn in this class is

these three concepts come from a

revolution

in human thought called monotheism.

the one true God.

This idea montheism

forever changed the course of human

history. It gave us these concepts of

money, individual and nation state.

Montheism is such a powerful idea

that it turned nothing into everything.

Okay, that's what you will learn in this

class. We will learn about monetism and

we will discover how it created money,

individual and the nation state and it

basically create the world that we live

in today.

Okay.

All right.

Any questions?

like

excuse me

Christianity is like

okay yeah so there are three great

monophasic religions right Judaism

Christianity

and Islam

what I will show you later on is it's

basically the same religion

yeah all right okay so I I I don't want

to give you too much information okay

because it was a lot to process but I

want you guys to remember concepts,

money, individual initial state are all

powerful concepts that are embedded into

everyday life. You cannot escape it.

Okay? You've been brainwashed into

thinking that they all exist when in

fact they actually they actually don't

exist. And that's how power works. What

power is, okay?

What power truly is

is what call

alchemy.

Alchemy

throughout human history was the pursuit

of turning lead into gold.

Okay? Lead into gold.

Okay? Nothing

into everything. That's what alchemy

was. And maybe in science class, you're

taught that alchemy is this fake

science. It's a pseudo science. And it

did not work. What what what you will

learn in this class is we achieve

alchemy.

Okay? We turn nothing into everything.

We turn lead into gold or that's what

power is. Power is the capacity to turn

nothing into everything. Power is the

capacity to make you believe that money

is valuable

that the individual can lead to

happiness that the nation state exists.

That's what power is.

Okay? And as a result,

today we live extremely miserable

lives.

Okay.

So, so you've been taught to think that,

oh,

life just gets better and better. What

you will learn in this class is actually

um nope. Okay.

And what's what's really important is

you will also learn in this class that

this was an accident.

Okay? This is an accident. It's an

accident of the human imagination.

It's because we didn't know what we were

doing that we created this system. So

you what you also learn is that you're

able to control the human imagination.

You can use it to create a new system

that allows for udeimmonia or the

flourishing

of the human intellect.

Okay. All right. Any questions?

Okay. So, um that's it for

uh today. Okay. Okay, I'll see you guys

next class.