Matrix – Narratively Speaking

Western civilisation exhibits many characteristics of your average, garden variety evil empire.

But how did we get here? And what stories keep us complicit in a system that we would probably find abhorrent if we truly faced its underlying reality? Is it all a big inter-generational conspiracy or something more systemic? Perhaps plain old human nature?

Let’s muddle our way through some unqualified and ill-conceived thoughts on the topic, shall we?

God Bless America – Frank’s Rant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJaLrINeZPc
Parallels between Rome and the US: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvyg679bsg
Russel Brand and Yuval Noah Harari on Power: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta4U8G03q98
Johan Galtung on the end of the US Empire: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfcoNlhxRow
Richard Wolff on the coming collapse of the US Economic System: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=60FrsWm9OAc
7 Stages of an Empire in Decline: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z7Gc1bv-Mj4

We’ve talked about the stories we consume, the stories we tell others, and how that contributes to the collective consciousness. But what about the stories you tell yourself?

Let’s discuss…

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: https://www.huffingtonpost.com/scott-gornto/the-stories-we-tell-ourse_b_6120740.html

Gentleman Thinker’s take on Determinism: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bwOIE9GXKM

Libet Experiment: http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/libet_experiments.html

Libet Experiment explained by Harry Shearer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjCt-L0Ph5o

Quitting smoking as the cause of cancer: http://cancergrace.org/lung/2009/11/30/can-smoking-cessation-be-a-presenting-symptom-of-lung-cancer/

Cognitive dissonance on quitting: https://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/1181011-To-think-that-giving-up-smoking-can-actually-CAUSE-cancer

What is determinism? https://www.psychologytoday.com/au/blog/cultural-animal/200902/just-exactly-what-is-determinism-0

Do Libet’s expriments prove Free Will is an Illusion? https://evolutionnews.org/2014/01/do_benjamin_lib/

The Rational Channel on Cognitive Dissonance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLjHFopR8n8

Tony Robbins – Change your Story: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJxC9k9uT3Y

09 – We are the stories we tell ourselves: https://www.ted.com/talks/shekhar_kapur_we_are_the_stories_we_tell_ourselves/transcript?language=en#t-183738

Tag: Matrix

NSP015 – Stories That Sustain The Empire

NSP004 – We Are The Stories We Tell Ourselves