Greece's Ex Marxist Finance Minister on Game Theory & Capitalism

[Nilsi]

The first half hour (aside from Zizek’s usual introductory antics) offers by far the most compelling exposition of game theory in politics I’ve ever had the pleasure to witness. 

And then Varoufakis proceeds to deliver a dazzling exposition of the contemporary economic system that leaves even Zizek speechless - seriously, I’ve never seen him this quiet.

I’ll hold back on adding my own two cents - this is simply a breathtaking glimpse into the true dynamics of politics and economics.

Edited November 1 by Nilsi

[sholomar]

Would this fit here?  I found this post enlightening....

"Let me get your attention by telling you that about a year ago, I had a sibling die. Unbeknownst to the rest of us, he had invested ridiculously in Bitcoin at the beginning.

When he died, all of that ended up going to us. He had no kids, no spouse, so his NoK was me and 2 others.

I became a multi-millionaire overnight. Let me explain to you, through this experience, why you are being fooled into thinking there is any difference with any party and that you're being fooled by the elite (which, strangely, now includes me).

I grew up poor. Homeless poor, actually. I took on student loan debt and became a Nurse, then later became a Nurse Practitioner. I made good money. My salary is currently over $150k.

Now, the difference between poverty and $150k is night and day, obviously. Nice cars, nice home and I don't worry about anything like tires, transmission, etc. Even at $150k I'm fairly frugal so that I never have to worry about that stuff because I hated the first 10 years of my adult life - tire blows and you're screwed for 2 weeks. Transmission goes and you're just screwed.

I tell you this because now I understand what it's like to be extremely impoverished, upper middle-class, and now, having access to f**k you money.

When I ended up with this money, I was still in mourning and didn't think much about it, tbh. My brother was only 45 and died of a heart attack. No one saw it coming.

But as the months wore on, I realized that I never had to work again. I still work, but I have to force myself to work. In fact, I'm very bored with life. Like, EXTREMELY bored. So bored that it's somewhat depressing.

When the conflict of life is gone, to the degree mine is gone, the drive dwindles quite a bit.

So then I start looking at what I can do with the money. You know, like how you would fantasize about what you'd do with the 300m jackpot when you buy a once-a-year lotto ticket. But this time, it's for real. I won't say how much but suffice it to say the rest of my family won't ever want for anything ever again.

Anyway, I started doing these things. Going on 2 week long vacations, bought a stupid car, paid off my house, bought a business. I even got so bored that I bought a vending machine route and I pay someone to manage it for me.

I keep doing things to try and get that spark back but it doesn't. Others have noticed my philanthropic ventures and I get invited to parties.

I recently realized exactly why these billionaires do what they do - they have so much money that there's nothing they can't do. Literally. I'm telling you from experience that when there's nothing you can't do, life gets pretty cruddy. The conflict of 'living' is gone.

That's why you see people out there buying other humans, holding weird, demented parties, blowing $50k on a watch that probably cost $4k to make.

They have everything and nothing at the same time. So, many of them - not me - but many of them turn to the control aspect. Their "conflict" comes from being able to control other people. It becomes a "thing" that generates conflict in their life. Something that doesn't necessarily come easy.

This is why both political parties aren't going to save you. Not Trump, not Kamala, not Hillary - none of those people will save you because they generally lack conflict in their lives unless they purposely create it. The parties are run by insanely wealthy people who, no doubt, feel the same that I do right now, which is "what's the point."

They probably spend years wondering this, only to realize that they're just on another level and can literally do anything they want to you and to others.

Another thing I hate to admit is that this creates sociopaths. I can see where a lack of compassion can be created, easily, with wealth like these people experience.

This may seem like a weird post to you but until you've experienced it firsthand, you can't know the feeling. Try to think about that ... you have NOTHING to live for, nothing to 'strive' for and you have to create a goal to reach in order to have that conflict.

When you're able to just outright buy entire businesses, that are currently profitable, spruce them up with capital, and generate overnight income that pays for itself in a couple of years, doing it becomes easy.

Because that becomes easy, they have to find other things to do that will create conflict, either within themselves, or on the outside.

This is why the human traffickers are basically all wealthy. I'd argue that most billionaires dabble in peds. But some focus their conflict on control, or both.

The point and purpose of me telling you this is that the problem is not left vs. right or dem v rep - it's the extreme wealthy vs. everyone else. They create these "problems" and watch people react and go nuts.

Both sides do this and the same people that do this are controlling both sides. They don't care about parties - they care about owning and controlling everything because every other goal they set becomes too easy to reach.

I know because I'm now experiencing this."

Also this video....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mScpHTIi-kM

[Bobby_2021]

@Nilsi  Great post. We are entering an age of techno feudalism. God knows how would it pan out in the next 5 years. I would say things are still about to get a lot worse before they get better, that is if any at all. 

27 minutes ago, sholomar said:

The point and purpose of me telling you this is that the problem is not left vs. right or dem v rep - it's the extreme wealthy vs. everyone else

It was a class conflict. Always was. 

They keep race and other bullshit so as to keep the slave masses fighting esch other. The slaves are always higher in number and this will always remain a huge threat to the ruling class. Once the slaves are united, it's over for them. That's what they prevent from happening. It's been successfull so far.

[Bobby_2021]

 

This guy is on another level.