The content argues that the current global economic and social system, characterized by a focus on wealth accumulation, offshore finance, and Western cultural dominance, originated from the British Empire's strategic use of finance, education, and military power to establish a global economic order that ultimately leads to the corruption and decline of participating societies.
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Today I want to examine
why you Chinese students behave the way
you do. Okay. So believe it or not, but
the way that you behave, the game that
you are playing,
it's strange. It's weird. So I'll point
out three things that you do that don't
really make any sense.
The first thing that you do is you spend
In fact, you probably spend more time
learning English than you do learning Chinese.
Chinese.
That's weird. And I've asked Chinese
students before why
they are so focused on learning English.
And their answers usually are, I want to
learn knowledge. I want to go abroad. I
want to communicate. I want to use the
internet. That's not really a good
explanation. Okay. So, that's one thing
that's weird. Second thing that's weird is
is
you're obsessed with making money,
especially US dollars.
Okay. And the third thing that's weird
is that your goal in life is to
immigrate to a western country, uh,
specifically United States, right? You
all want to go United States for
college, get a degree, and hopefully
stay there, get a good job. But as we
discussed before, that's strange because
you are much higher status in China.
You're much more likely to get a good
job. You're much more likely to marry a
bit of a woman than you are United
States where the game is rigged against
you. Okay? So, this sort of behavior is
weird. If you think about it, what you
should be really trying to do is master
Chinese. Because once you master Chinese
and given your family background, given
the fact that your family is often
wealthy and well connected in China, you
can climb up pretty high in China. Okay?
So if you want if you learn Chinese,
you're far better able to communicate
yourself. You're far more uh likely to
gain respect and status in China. Okay?
But instead you learn English. Um US
dollars doesn't make any sense. What you
really want is status,
right? What you really want is to be
well respected. You want a prestigious
job. You want to marry a beautiful
woman. You want to have lots and lots of
children. That's what you really want.
But instead, you're really focused on
obtaining US dollars. That's kind of
strange. Now, the last thing we said was
immigration. You if you go to um United
States, it's really a rigged game
against you, right?
The most that you can hope to obtain is
maybe become an engineer or professor if
you're really really smart, but you're
not going to achieve political power.
You're not going to become a CEO of a
major company. All right? So, the
situation as it is, it's really weird
where the best in Brighton China, they
just want to be common people in the
United States or Britain or Canada. So,
it's a really weird game. And so the
question we want I want to look at today
is how was this game constructed? Why do
we play this game? And the answer I will
show you is because of the British.
Okay. The British Empire
Empire
create this game that ultimately the
Americans inherit and which the entire
world world's played today because
America is the global superpower. Um,
okay. Does that make sense? All right.
So, first I want to go into some history
and explain to you how we got to where
we are. So, this is the map of the
Spanish Empire at the height of its
power. As you can see, the Spanish
Empire cover the entire globe. Okay, so
this is a spa small nation in Spain and
it was able to really cover the entire
world. So how was this accomplished?
Okay, so the first thing you need to
understand is that for most of its
history, Europe was a very poor place
and in order for it to obtain wealth, it
had to trade with the world.
Specifically, it wanted spices from what
what they call the East Indies, okay,
Southeast Asia. Um, at this time in
history, the main power were the Muslims
who are here, okay? And if you if you
want to trade with um East Asia, you
have to go through the Muslims.
And at this point in history, uh Spain
is Muslim. It's it's a it's a place
called uh Andu Lassa. But then the
Christians were able to reconquer Spain.
And so the Muslims decided that we'll
just blockade you or if you want to
trade with us, we will charge you a lot
of levies. Okay? And so now the Spanish
and the Portuguese are forced to look
for new routes to these indies where the
spices are. Remember at this time in
history spices are the most valuable
commodity. They're actually worth more
than gold. Okay, I'm talking like
cinnamon, nutmeg, pepperc corn. Okay,
these spices are extremely valuable
commodities. In fact, one ship um if you
if you're able to bring bring one ship
of these spices back to Europe, well,
you had intergenerational wealth. Okay,
you become one of the wealthiest people
in Europe. That's how valuable these
spices were. And [snorts] so now the the
Spanish and the Portuguese have no
choice but to discover new routes to
these indies. So they went this way. And
this is hard because
um Africa is not really hospitable.
There are a lot of viruses, diseases in
Africa. So they they started to go so
they start to explore all around the
world and they went to North America and
South America. And when they went to
North and South America, they discovered
that there were already peoples, the
Aztecs, the Incas living there and they
had a lot of wealth because these were
empires and they could easily conquer.
And so they set up these colonies all around
around
um South America and a lot of silver was
now being transported back to Spain. And
so overnight, Spain became extremely
wealthy. But as we discussed last class,
if you become too wealthy and too
powerful, you changed as a people.
Before you were energetic, you were
open. You were cohesive. That's what
made you an empire. But now all this
wealth, you become insular. You become
arrogant and you become extremely
closeminded. Okay? You become lazy. And
so the Spanish, they had all this wealth
and they decided that they really don't
they want to work anymore. Okay? So, so
what happened? Well, what happened was
that [snorts] they start to subcontract
um their labor to other places. Okay.
So, um so now what's going to happen is
you will have the rise of England,
French and the Dutch Republic mainly.
Okay. to to provide
textiles, luxury goods to
um Spain, right? So how this was
accomplished was first industry.
So the Spanish because they were so
wealthy didn't want to work and their
people didn't have to work either. Okay?
So but they wanted to buy clothes, nice
clothes. So what happened was they got
other nations to be the factories
including Britain, the Dutch Republic
and France. Okay, that's the first
thing. Second thing that happened was
trade. Okay, so the Spanish um did
engage in trade, but now that they're so
wealthy, they could just hire the Dutch
to do it. Okay. Now, the Dutch were
responsible for going to the East Indies
and bringing back uh the spices because
it's a very dangerous job, right? You
could you could get sick, you could die
along the way. Um you could also lose a
lot of money. Okay? And the reason why
the Dutch agreed to this is that the
Dutch was basically a colony of the
Spanish. So, the Spanish had an empire
and the Dutch were part of this empire.
So they just made the Dutch gold do it
for them. Okay. But the third thing that happened
happened
um was piracy.
Okay. So all this silver was being
transported from the new world back to
Spain. And what the uh English [snorts]
realized is hey we engage in piracy and
steal this silver for ourselves. Okay.
All right. So now the English became
very wealthy because of piracy. Okay.
And the most famous pirate of this time
of course was surf as Drake and he
worked directly under the monarch
Elizabeth the first. Okay. [snorts] So
this was a state sponsored piracy that
made um Britain very wealthy. Okay. So
now you have this divergence where okay
you have the Spanish empire
and because of
their wealth they became u lazy, insular
insular
and arrogant or the word we use is hubris.
hubris.
Okay, [snorts] lazy is you just make
others do it for you. Okay, insular just
means that now, as we discussed last
class, the Spanish aren't concerned
about other nations. They think they're
invincible, so they engage in court
politics. Okay, they're all infighting
for the throne. The last thing is
arrogant, hubris, which basically means
that you believe you are invincible. You
can do whatever you want and therefore
you start all these wars against
everyone everywhere. you overextend
yourself and you don't really understand
your limitations as an empire. So very
quickly, even though Spain becomes very
wealthy very fast, they also go bankrupt
very fast because they're fighting too
many wars, they're spending too much
money that they don't have. Okay? And
they're too corrupt. Okay? Does that
make sense? now and what and because of
this what's happening is that the uh
British uh England
the Dutch
and the French
they are slowly becoming a much more um energetic
energetic
open and cohesive society
cohesion. Okay. [snorts]
And now that you have this
differentiation, what's going to happen
is that the religion is going to change.
Okay? So, um, Spain remains Catholic
and it's going to fight to control the
Vatican. And this, um, okay, so that's
what Spain does. Now Britain and the
Dutch need to differentiate themselves
from Spain and so they become Protestant
or we call Calvinist. [clears throat]
[clears throat]
Okay. So imag so Catholic is really
about obeying authority but the
Protestant the Calvinist religion
insists on hard work on energy on
obtaining wealth. Okay. The problem
though is that
um the Spanish are too powerful and the
French some of them are Calvinist but
most are Catholic. Okay. So what's going
to happen is that the English and the
Dutch are going to decide to join
forces. Okay. So I want to show very
quickly show you the difference between
the Catholic religion and the Protestant
religion. Okay. So these are the Spanish
and as you can see there's a lot of
trade going between the new world and
Spain. Why is this the case? Because
Spain is extracting resources
from the new world primarily silver.
Okay. Um the French are also engaged in
trade as well. So they're what what they
really want is fur from North America.
So fur is a cuz you're a luxury at that
time. But as you can see from this map
the people that are really engaged in
trade enga engaged in piracy in trade in
shipping are the British okay and the
Dutch. And the reason why is that
they're poor. Okay? And so through this
hard work, they become very wealthy very
quickly. In fact, the Dutch in fact
become the wealthiest nation in the
world per capita. You have this
burgeoning of the middle class. And so
what happens now is that the spa the
Spanish and the Dutch come into conflict
because remember the Dutch are a colony
of the Spanish and so the the Spaniards
want the Dutch pay more taxes and the
Dutch want to be more independent. So
this starts a series of wars. Okay, in
fact an entire series of wars starts
throughout Europe called the 30 years war.
Okay. So, ostensibly it's a it's a
religious conflict between the
Protestants and the Catholics. But there
are lots of underlying re there are
other underlying factors as well. Okay.
Another factor is the Spaniards want to
exert control over the Dutch. Okay. And
so there's lots of different reasons but
but the main thing you need to know is
that millions and millions of people
die. In fact, it is the deadliest war in
Europe right before
up until the World War I. Okay? And so
this creates anxiety in Europe because
if there's all this war and you're
joining all this wealth, how do you keep
this wealth secure, right? You you're a
merchant, you became very wealthy
through trade by going to East Indies
and getting spices and come back to
Europe and selling them. But if the
Spanish or the French are going to send
an army and steal everything,
how do you keep your gold safe? Okay.
So, what's going to happen is this.
What's going to happen is that the
British and the Dutch are going to
decide to get married.
Okay, this is what we call the Glorious
Revolution. [snorts]
1688 Glorious Revolution. So, let's talk
about the Glorious Revolution. >> [clears throat]
>> In the glorious revolution, what happens
is that the British nobility
invite Will Orange who is um a leader of
the Dutch Republic to come and become
the monarch of Britain. Okay. And so you
you're like, okay, why would they do
that? Why would they um betray their own
king I
install a um for monarch William orange?
Okay. And so the thing you need to
understand is that throughout British
history what makes Britain unique is
that the monarch has always been
conflict with the nobility. Okay. The
king has always been conflict with the oligarchs
oligarchs
and this is this is a continuous
pattern. So ostensibly the reason is
religious because chi was Catholic and
uh Britain is a protestant country but
the real reason is the nobility want to
exert authority over the country. Okay.
So in this agreement what would happen
becomes the sovereign state. Okay. it
becomes the de facto power in uh England
and the king with orange agrees to be
the puppet or the figurehead but the
real power is in parliament and so this
creates the idea of national sovereignty [snorts]
okay what people don't appreciate is
that the real reason why they want to do
that is they want to protect capital okay
okay capital,
capital,
So, the idea is that not only does one
of the orange come over, but most of
Dutch wealth come over because remember
at this time the Dutch have a huge
problem. They're constantly being
invaded by Spain. So, what you do is you
take all the gold in the Dutch Republic
and you transfer over it to England.
the idea is this. The idea is that if
you buy the Bank of England that gold is
yours. Okay?
But the Bank of England will always be
guaranteed by Parliament.
All right. So this is a very important
idea guys. I I need you to understand
this for the rest of the semester. Okay.
So before you're a king and you you need
to go fight a war, you bore money from
bankers and merchants, right? The
problem though is that one you could
lose the war in which case oops. Second
is that um you could die in which case
oops. And the third and the third
problem is that you could just say I'm
king. I'm not going to give you back
your money. Okay. And so these merchants
would have no choice but to try to
create a revolution. Okay. But but as a
merchant, as a capitalist, you don't
want to go through this process. And so
the Bank of England, it's really
important because
now you are lending money not to the
king but to the nation.
Okay. What this means is that the nation
has to pay you back.
So even though the king dies, the people
are liable for the debt. Okay? Does that
make sense?
All right. So now if you're a merchant,
you feel safe. I can now put my money in
the Bank of England. It's my money.
If I lend it to the nation, I'm always
guaranteed that they'll pay me back. Okay?
Okay?
And England is safe because unlike the
Dutch Republic, England is an island and
therefore it's protected by the Royal
Navy. It's impossible for the French,
the Hapsburg Empire or the Spanish to
invade England. They they never able to
conquer England and so it makes England
safe. Okay. All right. So now the
question is why would the Dutch why
would they put their money in England?
Because remember at this time they just
screw you over. Okay. So the way the way
around this is you have some old
techniques, you have inner marriage, right?
right?
And you have religion or we call secret
societies because remember both [snorts] um
both um the Dutch Republic and England
are Calvinists. Okay. And the major
society that facilitated trade of course
But during this time these two were
really between aristocrats and the Bank
of England was trying to get as much
money as possible. Right? So what they
started to develop was a uh new concept.
It's not a new concept but they really
All right. So there's a famous British
philosopher named John Loach
and he said that what is government for?
Government is provides the alienable
right to life, liberty and the pursuit
of property. All right. What that means
is a government ensures you three
rights. We will protect your safety.
We'll make sure you won't die.
Okay. We will make sure you have the
right to do whatever you want, liberty.
And also we will protect your private property.
Okay. The entire purpose of parliament
and the courts, okay, the judicial
system is to ensure that your private
property is protected no matter where
your private property came from. Okay?
It doesn't matter. They don't care what
the origin of private property is. Okay?
So, like if you're French and you killed
a million people to steal a million
gold, they don't care. It's yours. It's private.
private.
Okay. If if if it's if it's and they
believe that this private property comes
All right. This is yours because God
willed it to be yours and we England
must protect it
and they will do so through Parliament
and through the court system.
Okay? Does that make sense? So now
if you're wealthy
in Europe, you're now encouraged to go
invest in England. Okay? And this
creates a concept that today we call offshore
offshore
financial center or
or
OFC. Okay? So think of like Dubai or
Hong Kong where they don't care where
the money comes from. Okay, their legal
system, the financial system system will
help protect this money. Okay, also
Switzerland. Okay, so Switzerland is a
classic example. But England create this
and they based their entire nation
around this idea. Okay. Now the first
major test
to the system was Napoleon
because Napoleon was about to conquer
Europe and England couldn't have that
because if um Napoleon conquers Europe
then Napoleon could control all the
wealth of Europe. He could make sure
that no wealth is transferred over to
England. He he basically blockade
England. So what Britain did was they
financed seven wars against Napoleon and
they lost six of these wars and they won
the last war which quit the British
Empire. Okay. So now Britain is a global
financial empire. Okay. So this is a
East India company. Okay. And the East
Indian company uh it's based in Britain
and like the Bank of England is private
and what it does is it primarily engages
in trade it with India as well as the
East Indies. Okay.
Um so what England will do is they will
colonize India and steal all the wealth
of India primarily by de-industrializing
India. So India had textile factories
but England uh through a lot of um um
policies just bankrupt the India textile
industry and transferred over to
England. Okay. So now what's going to
happen is this what's going to happen is
that uh resources from England sorry
resources from India okay agricultural
products resources are going to transfer
over to England. England is is going to
with its factories make goods for India.
So basically the entire deal is
we Britain give you India $10 and India
you give $1,000. Okay. So every so
basically we give you a dollar for the
goods you give us and and then you pay
us $1,000 for the goods we give you.
Okay. So very quickly this backup
England but not only uh sorry this sorry
this back to India. Okay but not only
that but you also have China as well and
the same idea was the opium went into
uh China and then silver and money went
back to England. Okay.
Okay.
And then this money was allowed to go
over to the United States. The United
States industrialized very quickly
because of this policy. Now the question
is how was England able to do this? How
is England able to create a system in
which India and China basically
voluntarily gave up its wealth? And the
answer is England simply game that
incentivize the local elites to cooperate
cooperate with
with
um England. Okay. So this is the way um
this is what happened. So this is a map of
uh the British Empire. Okay. So let's
The local elites had to help the British
do this. Okay, the local elites had to
help the British steal. The question
then is why would the local elites do
that? Okay, and the reason why is
remember from last class, the local
local elites are in conflict with each
other anyway. Okay? And what they're
looking for is more power. And so what
England said to local leads is if you
help us, we will help you steal the gold
from this country.
Okay? Do you understand? Before
Before
if you were an elite and you lost a war
or other people didn't like you, they
could kill you. But now if you help the
British, you can transfer your wealth
and your children abroad.
Okay? Does that make sense?
So now what's going to happen is that
the elite are going to be able to send
their children and their wealth to the
Okay. And there are certain mechanisms
that allow them to accomplish this. The
first mechanism
is of course um finance. Okay.
Okay. So,
So,
not only are you allowed to transfer
your capital to
uh the United Kingdom and its colonies,
but they will disguise it for you. This
is what we call money laundering. Okay?
So when you steal from your people, not
only will Britain allow you to do this,
but they will discuss it for you, okay?
Through their offshore financial
centers, including Hong Kong, Singapore,
their lawyers will pretend that this
money came from not from drugs, not from
gambling, not from prostitution, but
from restaurants, from
real estate. Who cares? Okay? But
they'll clean up for you. Okay? We call
this money laundering. And then they
will help you send it overseas where it
becomes legitimate. Okay. So now you
have real estate investments in
All right. So this is a global money
laundering system that encourages the
local elites to be corrupt. Okay. It
protects them in the corruption and
incentivizes them in the corruption.
Okay? Does it make sense? >> [snorts]
>> [snorts]
>> The second thing that allows this to
happen is schooling.
Okay. So what do I mean by that? The
British when they conquered India and um
China what they were trying to do is try
to brainwash indoctrinite. So they set
up these schools right
and when you went to these schools what
what what did you learn? You learn
English. But when you learn English what
do you learn? You learn that British
culture is superior to your local
culture. Right? When you're learning
English, you're learning about
Shakespeare. You're learning about
British philosophy. You're learning
British history. And as a result, you
slowly come to believe that the British
are superior to us. And therefore, I
should try my best to be British.
Okay? And also, what's really important
is that the schooling system allows for mobility.
mobility.
Okay. [snorts] So, if you are a really
smart person in China,
well, there's really little mobility for
you in China. But if you go for the
British system, you might win a
scholarship to go study at Oxford or
Cambridge. Okay? You even might become a
So, a world scholar, it's a basically a
secret society. Okay guys, but the idea
is that all over the British Empire, the
very best students will be selected to
go to Oxford where they become best
friends. Okay, and their mission will be
to spread the power of the British
Empire all around the world
and it works really well. Okay, this is
an indoctrination system for local
elites and it it works really well
because remember if you're a really
smart person,
the British offer you more opportunities
for mobility than your own country
because in your own country the system
is very hierarchal. It's static. There's
really no mobility, right? [snorts] But
if you're really smart and you obey the
British and you believe that the British
culture is the very best in the world,
you might become a world scholar and
then you become part of the British
Empire. Okay?
And that's how the British were able to
conquer the world. And the third thing,
of course, is the navy.
Basically, the navy ensured that Britain
was the greatest military power in the
world. If they didn't like you, they
would come and destroy you. Okay? That's
what happened to China during the open
wars. There's nothing that could destroy
the navy. And so these three things okay
finance the bank of England basically
schooling or the idea of soft power
British culture English okay and the
third thing is the navy created really
the world's first great world empire so
as you can see Britain spread all around
the world okay and this and so even though
though
the British Empire is no longer around
it's now the American empire higher even
though the opium trade has stopped.
What's important for us to understand is
the game is still being played today. Okay.
Okay.
So let let me give you an example of
this. This is a drug trade in the world.
Okay. And as you can see the drug trade,
okay, primary cocaine. We're talking
about cocaine. There are other types of
drugs as well, but let's focus on
cocaine. You can see it's a global network.
network. Um
Um
just like a lot of cocaine is produced in
in
Colombia and South America
and then it just travels all around the
world. It's a very sophisticated
system of trade. Okay. But what you need
you you need to understand is none of
this would be possible without the
British financial and legal system.
Okay? Because like why are they why are
people taking such a risk and selling
drugs? Because it's so lucrative. It's
so profitable. But you can only have
this market if it's being protected by a
legal and financial system. Okay? People
only participate in this trade. It's
dangerous. But they only participate
participate in this trade if they can be
guaranteed that they can make a lot of
money then and they can use this money
and protect this money. Okay. So what
protects this money of course is the offshore
offshore financial
financial
centers. Okay. So the green areas in the
world in which you can place your money.
They won't ask where the money came
from. They don't care where the money
came from and they will clean it up for
you. Okay? Money laundering. They will
use their sophisticated legal and
financial systems to clean up your money
and then they will help you invest it
elsewhere. Okay? Does it make sense? So
this is So guess what? Look at this guys.
guys.
Where are the major um global financial
offshore centers? Well, they're in the
Caribbean. Okay? They're in Panama.
They are in uh northern Europe. They are
in the Middle East. They are in
Southeast Asia. Hong Kong, Singapore,
Japan. Guess what guys? This used to be
the former British Empire.
Okay. So the British Empire is still
around today, but they they transform
from one that is overt and that is that
uses military power in order to control
the world to one that is covert, that is
secret, and that uses financial and
legal means in order to control the
world. Okay? And it's still the game
that we play today.
All right? Now [clears throat]
um there's a question that someone asked
me. Okay, it's a very good question. The
question is this. If offshore financial
centers like Hong Kong and Dubai are so
profitable and it's such easy money, why
doesn't everyone do it right and and the
it's it's the it's a it's a good
question, okay? And the logic is very
simple. We know that gambling,
prostitution, human trafficking,
slavery, all profitable. Why does
everyone do it? Because it's immoral. Okay?
As a society, you need morality in
create energy,
openness, and cohesion,
right? People want to feel as though
they're part of something good that
they're that we're serving for a higher
cause. And if you're all about slavery
or prostitution or gambling or money
laundering, people won't feel good about
themselves. In fact, the souls become
corrupted. Okay, so the classic example
is like Hong Kong, right? Have you guys
been to Hong Kong? One of the wealthiest
cities in the world, right? Lots and
lots of skyscrapers. But guess what? The
people there are disgusting. They're
depraved. They're unethical. They're
disgusting. There's actually no culture
to the place. There's no morality to the
place. It's actually disgusting. Okay? I
don't want to live there.
And if you live there, guess what? Your
soul is going to become corrupted. So
this is almost you would say this is a
demonic system.
This system is not only evil but it
facilitates evil. It is the work of
Satan. Okay. But unfortunately this is a
system that we live in today.
Um, so even though everyone will say
this isn't demonic, it really it's
really underpins the world today because
if you think about it, okay, okay, all
this corrupt money from China,
uh, India,
uh, Malaysia, they go to these places.
But then this money then goes goes
where? It goes over to Australia to
invest in real estate. Okay,
do you guys know what
the biggest industry in Australia is?
It's banking.
Okay, banking. Which means that
Australia also engages in money
laundering, but they clean it up. So
people aren't aware of this. Do you
understand? But same happens in Canada
as well. Canada, United States as well.
So this entire world it's based on
stealing from the third world and
transferring this money to the first
world. That's all it is. Okay? It's that complicated.
complicated.
But this has led to a huge problem. The
problem is what we call over financialization.
But over financialization,
it's a very similar concept where
there's too much money. So people become
corrupt, lazy, arrogant, and insular.
And that's what's happening in Canada,
in United States, in Britain, in Australia.
Australia.
Okay? And so really, an empire
must collapse at some point. So the
British, the western world, they are a
victim of their own success. Okay? So
they stole all this money from the rest
of the world. But this money has made
the past made their people lazy,
corrupt, and arrogant. And that's why
we're seeing so much conflict right now
in the western world because this um
um money has created a lot of inequality
in the world in the western world right
where maybe 1% of all the money 9% have
very little to get by on but you also
have a lot of corruption where the
political system no longer serves the
interest of the people. They only serve
the interests of the rich. Okay? And
then you will also have immorality
where nowadays people only concerned
about making money. They don't want to
contribute to the community. Okay. So
yes, we can say that the western world
it's evil because they've stolen all
this money. But really what what's
happened is that they've corrupt
corrupted and destroyed themselves
because this model has been too
successful for them. Okay. And that's
why we're seeing so much chaos in the
world today. So, we are really at a game
reset or a game's end and a new game is
about to emerge because this game right
now is not sustainable. Okay. All right.
Yeah. [clears throat]
So if the success of western world leads
to the corruption and you know the fall
of western world can we generalize that
you know after success people will fall
okay that's um a great question okay so
if you know that
you become successful you will not be
happy. Why do people um go and succeed?
And okay, this is a really um hard
question to answer. Okay, so let me
explain different layers. Okay, the
first layer is this. Why
Why
people know that wealth doesn't lead to
happiness, right? What leads to
happiness is family, love, community,
meaning, purpose, generosity. Okay,
that's what leads to happiness. The
happiest people in the world tend to be
religious. They tend to have families
and they tend to be very kindhearted people.
people.
So why do why do we have rich people?
Because a game is structured
so that everyone is forced to play.
Okay? Meaning that
um we only care about people like Ellen
Musk or Jeff Bezos or Mark Zuckerberg.
We we worship the rich. Okay. Um, and we
hate the poor. So, if you're homeless,
we think it's because you deserve it.
Because you're lazy, it's because you
refuse to work. Okay. So, the game is
set up so that we're focused on making
money. Then the question then is why do
you have this stupid game? And the
answer, unfortunately, is that what we
figured out is that this game in the
short term, in the short term, not the
long term, okay? We're talking like
decades, not centuries. In the short
term, it's what makes your people the
most energetic, open, cohesive, and the
most likely to win against other nation
states. Okay? Does that make sense? So,
in the long term, you get destroyed.
Your people are destroyed. You're
corrupt. You're corrupted by this game.
But in the short term, it allows you to
defeat other players. Okay? That's how
the British were able to create the
empire because they defeated the French,
they defeat the Germans, they defeat the
Russians. Okay? And that forces the
other players to play this game as well
because in the short term this game
it um this game gives you huge
advantages. Okay. So think of it's a
zero sum game. Think of a Olympic game
where okay, Evan's going and competing
in the 100 meter sprint and we know you
shouldn't do drugs because drugs will
destroy your body, right? And you could
have a heart attack when you're 40. But
they're like, "No, no, no. I really want
to win this game." So they So one guy
uses a drug and he wins. And the other
players know about this and now they're
forced to also use the same tactic.
Okay? Do do you understand? So it's it's
a really unfortunate system in that this
system can only lead to the unhappiness, corruption,
corruption,
uh and immorality of people. But
people are too concerned about
short-term rewards. Okay? If you don't
play this game, then you get eliminated.
Okay? what I'll discuss in next class,
okay, is uh the American Empire and how
the American Empire changed this game,
right? So, what the American Empire will
do is it will add US dollars to this
game. And it's important because it
makes the game universal now as well as
easier to play. Okay? And then we'll
look at how the system capitalism
conquered the world. Okay? So, so it's a
great question, but the reality is that
um if you cheat, if you do bad things,
in the short term, you will win out even
though in the long term it will lead to
severe consequences for you and your
people. Okay, does it make sense? Okay.
I mean, and it's also the same thing as
like you [snorts] know rich people,
right? Rich people to get rich, they
will sacrifice their children's
happiness. They will sacrifice their own happiness.
happiness.
But but they think that this will lead
to happiness in the future. It won't,
but but they believe it. Okay. So that's
the great tragedy of this game. Does
that make sense?
Okay. Good. So we'll continue this next
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