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Secret History #15: Capital and the Bronze Age Collapse | Predictive History | YouTubeToText
YouTube Transcript: Secret History #15: Capital and the Bronze Age Collapse
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Summary
Core Theme
The Bronze Age collapse, a period of widespread societal breakdown around 1200 BCE, was driven by a "perfect storm" of crises including climate change, famine, and migration, but fundamentally rooted in the inherent instability of its proto-capitalist system, which fosters rapid growth followed by collapse.
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Okay, so let's start class. Today we are
doing the Bronet collapse. So let's
review where we are in history. Okay, so
remember the four earlier civilizations
uh Inis Valley
and of course China.
China.
And as we discussed, the reason why the
four they are the first four major
civilizations is that they have major
rivers that allow them to develop
agriculture as well as trade overseas.
And as we discussed, what will happen is
that they will have a major city and
this major city will have colonies along
the major river. Okay? So in Egypt it's
the Nile. In Mesopotamia it is the uh
Euphrates and the Tigris and the first
city is Eur
China it's the yellow river right
um so in this valley is in this valley
uh is the Indis river and and now these
different city states will go to war in
order to control trade routes and this
leads to a time of major innovation in
human history at the same time because
of these wars wars. They need better and
better equipment and so eventually they
will develop bronze.
Okay, bronze.
Bronze, as you know, is an alloy of tin
and copper. So, you need both in order
to create bronze, which is the strongest
metal. It's ideal for shields, for
armor, and for swords. And whoever has
more bronze weaponry will win any war.
The problem though is that tin
it's actually hard to mine and to
discover and to ask of it into to
manufacture. In fact, tin deposits are
scattered all around the world. Okay, so
this is tin over here, over here, over
here, and over here, over here. Okay,
they're everywhere basically, but it's
not concentrated. Therefore, you must
now build more trade routes in order to
access tin. Okay? So, what's going to
happen now is that
more trade routes will develop in order
to access tin and [snorts]
the major points
the major trade routes will will become
cities themselves. Okay.
All right. [snorts]
And now this world is globalized in
order to facilitate warfare. [snorts]
Now what's interesting is the Indis
Valley itself it's not like Egypt,
Mesopotamia and China. It is not engaged
in warfare. We've done archaeology in
the Indis Valley in modern day Pakistan.
We we have not discovered weaponry.
Okay, we've we've discovered bronze but
we have not discovered weaponry. In
fact, we believe that in this valley, it
is a peaceful, egalitarian, and artistic
civilization. But it's still brought
into this global system. Why? Because
bronze changes from weaponry into
status. Okay? Um meaning people use it
for pottery, for jewelry. And then
eventually what happens is that bronze
itself becomes capital.
All right? Now what we also know is that
this world is heavily globalized.
There's a lot of trading and this and
this world is complete meaning it um
touches every corner of the world. But
starting in about the year 1200 this
system collapses.
In fact the collapse is sudden and
devastating. So remember in if you know
Chinese history you will know that this
is the Shan dynasty right? Guess what
guys about the year 1200 it collapses.
All right and we know this because Egypt
is under attack during this time by by
the sea peoples. [snorts] And what we
believe is that the sea peoples are
actually refugees who are fleeing the
destruction of Europe. What we believe
is that there's a perfect storm
engulfing this world at this time. Okay.
So this perfect storm includes climate
change. Climate change leads to drought
which leads to famine which leads to a
migration crisis. What's going to happen
is that the sea peoples are going to
come in um from the north and they are
going to wipe out existing civilizations
including Masonian Greece and the Hitite
Empire. Okay, the Highite Empire which
is in um Anatolia which is in modern day
Turkey. Why Mason Greece and the high
tide empire are important is we believe
they are the two major antagonists in
the Trojan War. You may have heard of
the Trojan War. Well, guess where? Guess
what? Troy is here. Okay, so Troy is in
the center of global trade and that's
why people fight over the location of
the city. So the Messian Greece is being
destroyed. The high tide empire is being
destroyed and Egypt is being under
attack. Egypt will survive the invasions
of the sea peoples but after the um
invasions Egypt will be exhausted and
will it will lose its um global power
status. Okay. Um in this valley will be
itself overwhelmed from because of
refugees fleeing in from the steps. Okay.
Okay.
Mesopotamia and it's very interesting
about Mesopotamia but it's actually the
most resilient of all the four major
civilizations and the reason why is
Mesopotamia throughout its history is
constantly at war. Okay. So Egypt is
protected by natural geography by the
desert the Sarah desert and then by um
the Red Sea. Okay. So Egypt has natural
boundaries. Uh China also has natural
boundaries but Mopinia does not. It's a
flat land. So, it's very easy for the
mountain people to come invade. Um, and
it's very easy for outsiders to come and
build new empires. In fact, um,
throughout Mesopotamian history, there
have been three major empires. The
Aadian Empire, the Babylonian Empire,
and the Assyrian Empire, and it goes
back and forth. And these empires are
not um they don't really last that long.
Maybe maybe a couple hundred years at
most because this area is so
competitive. But because it's so
competitive, it's actually much more
resilient than the other areas. Okay.
All right. So again, the big question
for us is
why would this world collapse like this
all of a sudden? And it's really
relevant for us to understand because
many scholars have compared the bronze
age world to our world because our world
is also one that is heavily globalized
um and it seems like it's on the verge
of collapse. So why is it that this sort
of like globalized world in which many
countries are getting very wealthy, why
do they collapse all of a sudden? Okay.
And the argument I will make to you
today is it has to do with the nature of capital.
capital.
Okay. So what I will show you is that
this is a protoc capitalistic system.
And what we know about protocism is that
it allows for rapid growth but then it
also allows for rapid collapse.
Okay. So let's go over the idea of
capital. What is capital? [snorts]
[snorts]
Okay. So capital
has three major characteristics. Okay.
The first is that it is universal.
Universal just means that everyone wants
it. Everyone in the world believes it
has value. Okay, that's number one.
Number two is that it is a store of value.
And what this what this means is that
you're able to take wealth and store it
inside this commodity. Okay.
Okay.
And the third thing about capital that's
very important is it's mobility. Okay.
Mobility meaning I can take
this thing and then transport to
somewhere else at little or no cost. If
it has these three characteristics then
it is capital. Okay. And throughout
human history there have been different
types of capital. Um so let's let's look
over at some examples. So one example is
grain, right? Just food. Um
Um
grain is sort of universal because
everyone wants to eat but not everyone
thinks it's valuable. Okay. Okay. And
it's hard to store value in grain
because it could uh decompose easily,
right? And it's actually hard to
transport grain because it's cheap, but
it's expensive to transport. Okay? And
that's why grain never became capital.
Now, let's look at cattle.
Cattle, like cows and sheep, um it's a
better form of capital because you can
store more value.
um and it could be universal but it's
actually hard to transport and that's
why cattle never became capital. Okay.
Now if you keep on moving on you get
into [clears throat] slaves right human
beings and so you can have woman slaves,
sex slaves, you can also have man labor.
Okay. And this is a better form of
capital because it's sort of universal.
Okay. um you can store value in it but
the value is uncertain or unstable
um and it's and it's mobile. Okay. So
slaves became an economy but this is a
very base um basic economy.
Then you develop bronze.
Okay. And bronze now is extremely
valuable. Okay. Everyone wants it. So
it's universal. you can store a lot of
value in it because it's it's hard to
make and now you can move it around.
Okay, so in other words, branch became
the first real universal currency in the
world and this allowed for rapid
globalization in the world. So think of
the the equivalent of branch today is of
course the US dollar, right? The US
dollar is universal. Everyone wants it.
Um it's a store of value and it's mobile
as well. And so it's a US dollar which
allows for the rapid growth of
capitalism around the world. Okay. Now
All right. So what we know is that we
humans are actually uh composed of two
natures. We are composed of an
altruistic nature
and we are composed of a utilitarian
nature. Okay. [snorts] Ultruistic
just means that you care about human
relationships. You want to be nice to
people because you want to you want to
be their friends. They're part of your
family. Okay? Unitarian just means that
you don't care about others. You just
care about the goal, the profit, money,
power. Okay? And we're composed of both
sides. So think about when you go to a
restaurant, right? If the meal is good,
you pay a lot of money for it and you
give the waitress a tip. When you go
home to dinner and your mother is happy
to see you, your mother cooks you a
really nice meal and then you say thank
you, right? You don't want to do the
opposite, right? Where you go to a
restaurant and you're like, "Thank you."
And then you leave and you don't want to
go to your mother's houses and like say
to your mother, "Hey, this meal was
fantastic. Here's $1,000 for you." Okay?
It would go up. Okay? We have two
different natures and we keep them
separate. What capital does that's very
interesting is that it moves us from the
altruistic state into the utitarian
state. And at first that's good. Why?
Because when you're altruistic you don't
really want to do anything, okay?
Because you don't you don't want to
offend other people. So there are lots
of um villages in the world and they're
static. Why? Because for them what
matters is not change. What matters is
harmony. In this religious it kind of
sucks to be an outsider. It kind of
sucks to stand out. In fact, there are
some traditions in which if you are
outspoken, if you are thoughtful, if you
like to explore, if you're curious, they
will kill you and make you a sacrifice
to the gods because they see you as a
threat to their social system. Okay? So,
an altruistic system, it is um it
doesn't like change. So if you don't do
anything to it, it just stays the way it
is. So when you bring capital, people
now are more motivated to work hard.
People are more motivated to innovate
and to explore. So at first this is
good. Okay. Now you're expanding the
system. But and then you reach a point
of its um maximum growth. But then what
happens is the scale sorry the um the
scale tips over. Okay. And people become
too utarian. And when you become too
utitarian, you cheat,
you are um you don't care about others
and this causes a lot of problems. Okay?
You start to exploit other people and so
when you become too utilitarian, the
system collapses, right? Does that make
sense? Capital comes in the system and
it makes it grow really fast. Once it
hits a certain point then um it has to
collapse. Okay. So let's use another
example. Let's just say that you are a
leader of a group of people and it could
be a village. You could be anywhere. Okay.
Okay.
And um if there's no money involved,
what do you care about? You care about
status. You care about your reputation.
You care about how other people see and
perceive you, right? So you care about
the feelings of others. Once capital
enters the equation, then then the way
that the leader sees you is different.
The leader sees you as a commodity to be exploited.
exploited.
Okay? The leader is not like how much
money can I make money off you. Not only
okay, the leader will do what? the
leader will
align with other leaders and they will
become a cartel, okay, or an elite and
they will together exploit people, okay?
But not only that, but they will expand
and look for new
areas to conquer. Okay? Because all they
care about now is money. How to expand
the capital. But once you the capital
expends too
far then what happens is only a few
people have all the capital and the
people down below they're enslaved
they're exploited and they want to
destroy the system they become
indifferent. If you force them they will
revolt against you. So the system must
collapse. Okay. So the argument I'm
trying to make to you is
this is just the way capital works and
there's nothing you can do about it.
Okay, that's why the bronze age grew,
but that's also why the bronze age
collapsed. And that's why our world
grew, but this is also why our world
will collapse as well. Okay, that's
argument I'm making you to you today.
Any questions before we go to the PPT?
Is this clear to you guys? All right,
All right, so um this is a map that
shows you the world of the Bronze Age.
And as we discussed um these are the
four major civilizations right China in
this valley
uh Mesopotamia and Egypt. Okay. And
they now because they're at war they
have an insatiable need for bronze and
where and bronze needs tin. Where's tin
located? Tin is located where the stars
are. Okay. And you can see they're
scattered over the place. So, what
they're going to do now is they're going
to build build trade routes into these
tin places
that that allow them to extract the tin
to build to create bronze armor. Okay?
But when they do so, they also create
new civilizations and new cities until
Um, so this is this is China and as you
can see, um, they're always at war and
so they need weapons. Okay.
Um, this is pottery, bronze pottery from
China during the Shang dynasty, during
the Bronze Age.
All right. So, how do we know that it's
a completely globalized world? Because
over the past 20 years, we've discovered
shipwrecks. Okay? So, we've discovered
ships that um were transporting goods
during the Bronze Age. And so when you
dig up these ships and you analyze where
the products are from, you're able to
rebuild the trade networks. Okay?
And that's why we know about the bronze
age. Okay? So what's going to happen is
this. The green is the copper sources.
Okay? And as you can see, there's a lot
of copper sources. The problem is the
tin sources are spread out. So in order
to create bronze, you need to constantly
expand your trade networks outside.
Okay? And as you can see, what's
happening is that the expansion keeps on
going until it encompass the entire
world. So the dark brown is the earliest
trade routes and then the pink um are
the later trade routes. But as you can
see, it's always expanding outwards in
order to facilitate more and more trade.
And what's really important for us to
understand is the entire world is
encompassed. Okay, so this is Britain,
this is Ireland, this is Scandinavia.
Okay, this is important because if you
study history um it's the the British
Isles, Scandinavia are aren't often
discussed during um in the Bronze Age,
but recent research has has shown us
that it's all interconnected. Okay.
Okay. So, as I mentioned, these are
trade networks. Okay. And what and these um
um um
um
gray spots are areas that are major
nodes in the trade network. They come
about because of trade. The red are the
major consumption areas. Okay. So the
gray are areas that are being created in
order to bit better facilitate trade.
Um, and eventually you reach a point
when it's completely globalized, when
every source of copper and tin has been
discovered and there's a massive trade
All right. But again, as we know, even
though this area is extremely
globalized, extremely wealthy, only in
about 50 years it completely collapses.
Okay. Right? And we know because of the
Egyptian records, okay? The Egyptians
write about the coming of the sea
peoples. And so if you just watch the
Eros, okay, this the movement of the sea
peoples. These are refugees fleeing
famine. And what do they do? Well, they
team up with pirates. Okay, and the
pirates and the refugees together
overwhelm existing civilizations
including including the Masonans, okay,
present day Greece, including the Hitat
Empire, present day uh Turkey. Um and
they keep on attacking. Okay, even from
the south, people are attacking the
major cities. This is a this is a world
in complete collapse. Okay.
Okay.
Um this is another map showing the
invasions. Okay. These again are the sea
people. These are just economic
migrants. These are refugees.
similar to what's happening today where
if you're following the news in Europe,
you've got all these Middle Eastern uh
refugees coming into Europe overwhelming
their economic systems.
So this is a trend that we can expect to
continue for a very long time. Okay. All
right. The sea peoples are just a mix of
different people. We've tried to
identify where they come come from, who
they are. We really don't know. Okay. So
the assumption is they come from
everywhere and they are being led by
pirates who are expert at raiding other
nations. Okay. And this this is a
painting from Egypt. And again we know
because the Egyptians Egyptians left
records of the invasions of sea people.
There were at least three major
invasions of sea people. We're talking
like hundred thousands of people
attacking Egypt at the same time. And
Egypt had to expand tremendous resources
to repel these invasions. But it
Um this is Eric Klein. He's
anthropologist at the University of
Washington. He wrote a book called 17
1177. Okay. And he lists um the reasons
why the Bronze Age collapse happened.
And he he says it was a perfect storm of
crisis including climate change which
led to drought which led to famine.
There were also earthquakes. We're able
to um do analysis and discover that
there were major earthquakes during this
time. uh um there were revolutions,
there were civil wars, there was a
migration crisis. Okay, so it's a
perfect storm of crisis.
But what I want to show show you today
is it all has to do with the nature of
capital. Okay, this is a protocolistic system.
system.
All right. So my argument to you to
today is yes, the branches collapsed
because of a perfect storm of crisis.
That's what we know. But I want to
extend this and say it has to do with
the fact that it was a protocolistic
system. And so capital drives you to
prosperity but then it can all but it
will also drive you to crisis. Okay,
that's the argument I will make you to
you today. All right. [snorts]
And we've seen this before. So this is
the world right before World War I. As
you can see, it was heavily heavily
globalized. Okay? And people thought
that because of trade, because of
prosperity, we can't go to war because
why would we? And then you know a couple
years later World War I where tens of
millions of people died for no reason.
Okay, tens of millions of people died
for no reason. It was it was just a
slaughter. And what I'm what I want to
argue to you is that this is a very
common thing. And if you look at the
broad collapse in World War I, we are in
a very similar situation where the world
is heavily globalized. It's heavily
interconnected and but because of the
nature of capital we'll probably fall
off the edge at some point. Okay. And
and people would argue that we're
Okay. So again um during the Bronze Age
okay the the high bronze age the late
bronze age 1400 to 1200 B.CE you can see
this entire world is interconnected. And
what you will also see is at the center
of this world is really the
Mediterranean and the J and A GNC. Okay.
And which city is the most important
strategically in this world? It's called
this city Troy, right? Troy, which is
why we have the Trojan War. We will
discuss actually the Trojan War um next
class. Okay, but I I point this out to
you. Okay, so why is this why is this
happening? Well, think about how in a
protocolistic system that depends on tin
and copper, how do you make money? Okay,
well, there are different ways. The
first way you can make money is mining.
Guess what? It sucks because it's hard
work and you don't make that much money
out of it. Okay, it's just labor.
Another way is process it into ingots.
Ingots are just ways to transport the
tin and the copper. Okay, you can also
manufacture jewelry, pottery, and
weapons. Okay, that makes more money.
Transporting, it's hard work, but you
make more money. Okay, another way is
just piracy. Just steal the stuff. But
the best way you can make money actually
is by controlling trade routes. Okay,
that's what Troy is. Troy Troy is a
control of a trade route. And so that's
how you make real money during
globalization. Okay, that's why even
today the Middle East is so important
because the Middle East is a center of
all global trade. So whoever controls
the Middle East controls global trade.
Okay. So remember this idea we have
empires because empires really are trade
routes. Empires are just controlled of
trade routes. Empires back then is very
different from empires today. Empires
today would be like nation states which
controls borders uh and have their own
language. Back then empires were just a
collection of different trading points.
Okay. That were aligned with each other.
Um, and the children war was just a
trade war. That's all it was. We we'll
Okay. So, um, you you can see why
Troy is so important because if you're
in Anatolia, it's it's mainly mountains.
It's good because you can mine for
precious metals and it's easy to defend,
but it's hard to access the sea. That's
>> [snorts]
>> All right. So again, we know about
globalization during the branches
because of shipwrecks. Okay. So this is
a very famous shipwreck that we
discovered off the coast of Turkey
called uh Elo Bun. Okay. And inside it
you can see all this precious pottery
and we can actually date the location of
Okay, so these are major sources of tin
and what and what's really important
this map tells you is that they're
actually in mountains. Okay, so they're
hard to reach. That means you have to
spend a lot of effort to create trade
[snorts] Okay, these are ingots. Okay,
this is how you transport tin and
copper. You you you transform it into ingots.
Um, and what's going to happen is that
because the tin is located in isolated
areas and it's high mountains, they have
to use every form of transportation. And
so in Europe, they mainly use the river
system. And that's why all of Europe is
This is Scandinavia. And as you can see,
there's a lot of trade focused on
Scandinavia as well. Okay? Okay. And
this is something that we've we've not
known before. We just assume that Scand
didn't actually actually exist back
then. It did exist. Okay. Um and it was
it's a very important part of the trade network.
network. [snorts]
[snorts]
Okay. So, let's talk about the Indis
Valley civilization. Um the Indis Valley
civilization for the longest time we
know was peaceful, egotarian, and
religious. And we know because we're
able to dig up their cities. And what we
discovered is that it's very much
similar to Kak Hoyak where the housings
are is very similar where irrigation
where hygiene it's all very advanced and
we have no evidence of warfare because
we can't find any weaponry. Okay. So um
why is in this valley so peaceful as
compared to Egypt, Mesopotamia and
China? I think it was because they were
able to trade with Mesopotamia, China,
and Egypt and discovered we don't want
this system. We don't want a system
where everyone's killing each other.
Okay, that's my guess. But but I I don't
know. No one knows. Okay, this is um one
of the In Valley's major cities that
we've dug up. This is another. As you
can see, it's pretty advanced. The
houses are pretty equal. It's very
similar to Katy Hoyek. Okay, a much
bigger version of Kat Hoyek, which which
we discussed previously. This is an
artist re rendition of what Inis Valley
City would look like during that time.
Okay. What's amazing is that it's very
advanced. It's very hygienic. It's very
peaceful. It's very egalitarian and
religion was a major part of their lives
during this time.
Okay. Um
so the indic civilization will also give
rise to something called the Bmac
culture. Okay. And this is in actually
North Afghanistan.
Um and uh how this developed was because
of trade, right? Because as I discussed
previously, tin is found in the
mountains. And so you need you need to
create a community around the the
mountain. Um so it's a mining town, but
it's also for manufacturing. It's also
for transportation. It's also for trade.
So this is a pretty um sophisticated,
pretty complex area.
But o but over time what will happen is
that um the mima culture will bring
people from the steps. Okay, these are
the protoindouropeans we discussed
previously and then because of climate
change because of the collapse of
branches they will come and they will
occupy both modern day Iran as well as
India giving rise to two religions the
zorastan religion as well as the Hindu
religion we'll discuss this um at a
later date okay this is pottery from that
that
uh in this valley civilization
okay uh let's move on to the Mian
civilization. Okay, the Mian
civilization is really important because
it gives us Greek civilization. Okay,
which is considered the birthplace of
all western civilization. We'll discuss
the Greeks next class and specifically
but I will I will introduce the Manians
now. Okay, Masonia is in the center. Um
we believe that the Msian culture it is
a warrior aristocracy. So the people in
charge are warriors as opposed to a
priest aristocracy. Okay. So remember in
Sumer it was the priests that were in
control. Now it's a warriors who are in
control. And we also know that the Msian
people are descendants of the
protoindo-uropeans. Okay. So the
protoinduropeans indoor Europeans swept
in into Europe. Uh and then they went
Um, and as you can see, Masania is
really important because it's a center
of all trade. At this time in history,
the easiest way to get around the
Mediterranean is by sea. Okay. Land,
it's very costly. Um, it's very slow and
there's lots of bandits. So, sea is the
best way. So, in this system,
um, the best way to make money is
actually piracy. So, as you can see,
there are lots of islands scattered
around Greece. And so the Greeks in the
beginning were mainly pirates. Okay, so
the people who invaded uh Troy during
the during the Trojan war were pirates.
Okay, the Mians were being famous for
being pirates. Okay, so as you can this
this is a much um clearer map. Uh
Masonian civilization, they had pottery,
they had olive oil, they had certain
grade goods for trade. uh but mainly it
was really about uh transportation,
logistics, piracy and controlling trade
routes. Okay, that's why Msania was so
important at this time. Uh [snorts] this
is Troy by the way. Okay, as you can see
uh during the Trojan War, what will
happen is you have different people of
Mia go attack Troy because it's such a
strategic location, right? They able to
control Troy, they control the entire ANC.
ANC. Okay.
Okay.
Okay. So this is an artist tradition of
what um the um Minian civilization
looked like. It is what we call a palace
economy meaning all the center of the
economy was a palace. What would happen
is that all the farmers had to give the
palace their food and the palace would
then take this food and redistribute it
to the um um artisans. Okay. people who
made pottery, people who made um
clothing for for and textiles for trade
purposes. Okay, so it was a control and
control and command economy center of
the palace. Okay, this is what the
palace looks like. This is how what the
economy looks like. Okay, so all the food
food
would go to the palace and the palace
would redistribute the food and the food
palace would then take the food to give
to the artisans to make textiles for
trade. Okay. And this is what the
economy it was a very simple economy but
was very effective. It was extremely
wealthy place. This is a gold mass.
Okay. Gold is very rare as you know and
they turn it into a king. Some have
speculate this is the mass of Agamanon
who is a major character in the Iliad.
We'll discuss Iliad next class. We
actually don't know who this is. Okay.
Um this is a sword with gold with a gold
hilt. So it just shows you how extremely
wealthy they are. Right. Even the
warriors had gold. [snorts]
Um, this is something called the lion's
gate. So, the entrance into Masonia.
This is a very rough time. Lots of wars,
lots of piracy. So, there's lots of
Um, the other thing about the Min
civilization is their tombs are very,
very elaborate. Okay. This is the
entrance into one of their tombs. Over
time, we see the tombs get become more
and more elaborate. So, we know that
over time they they were became a much
more wealthy civilization. Okay.
This is what the tombs look like.
Okay. This is what what the outside
looks like. Where where do the mian
learn this? Well, they learn this from
Egypt, right? So, at this time in
history, the Minanians and the Egyptians
were in close contact with each other.
The Egyptians have a habit of uh burying
themselves with all their treasure.
Okay, so this is their coffin.
This is a mustaba which is their tomb.
Okay, as you can see it's huge. It's
it's almost as big as a house. So the
question is why would they do that?
Okay, we we've discussed it previously
where throughout most of human history
we've understood that this is material
realm and then once we die we go off to
spiritual realm. Guess what guys? You
can't take your money with you. So why
are you burying your money with you?
Right? Okay. This is a mustaba. Okay. As
you can see, it's a very elaborate
ornate place. And the Egyptians were
known for this. But also China, right?
The first emperor of China, the
terracotta warriors. Why is he buried
with an army and such wealth? That makes
no sense. If you die, you die. So why is
this happening?
Um, so the argument I I want to make to
you is that this is happening because
money, capital, too much of it changes
the fundamental chemistry of the brain.
It makes you crazy. Okay, so um let's
let's let's do a thought experiment.
Okay, the thought experiment is this.
Let's just say Satan were to come into
this room and said, "Hey, I'll give you
guys a billion dollars, but and you but
you have to live forever and you have to
be my slave forever." We' be like, "No,
why? Why would we want that?" You know,
like to have a billion dollars, but then
be a slave for all eternity to like say
it. No,
but okay, let's assume
we are the richest people on earth. We
all have a $10 billion right now. then
says to us, "You know what? $10 billion
is a lot of money. I'm sure you enjoy
your life, but you're going to die. And
when you die, you can't take that money
with you, but hey, I can make you live
forever. I will let you keep this money,
but you have to be my slave for all
eternity." Do you agree? We would agree.
That's the difference. You see what? You
see what's happened, right? Money makes
people crazy.
All right. So, bronze. Okay. So
remember, brine started off as just a
weapon in order to obtain power. But
then over time, as powerful people
became more stable in their lives, they
use um bronze to make jewelry and and
pottery to show their status. Okay? And
then over time, because rich people
wanted it, everyone wanted it. And so
bronze became a currency, wealth, and it
was just easy to store, universally
recognized, and mobile. And this
happened over
centuries, over 100 years. Okay, that's
All right. So, um this is a map, a table
that shows you how capital is formed.
Okay. So, capital needs to have
universality. The more people want it,
the more valuable it is. It's it has to
be able to be it has to store value.
Okay? It has to be permanent. Okay? Does
that make sense? Um it has to be mobile.
It has to be available. Okay?
um it has to be rare enough. So once
that it has these different elements
then it becomes a currency. So if you
just look at history um we've we've used
different sources of currency. So we
have sea shells, cattle, grain, woman,
slaves, drugs, oil, bronze, gold and US
dollar. We've always had money as a
concept. Okay. But um money for most of
human history signified
a debt that could not be paid off. Okay.
So David Grabber who's an anthropologist
he wrote he wrote about this in his book
debt. Why do we create money as a
concept? Because there are certain
transactions in which there was so much
debt you couldn't pay it off. Okay. So
mo so like most of um human actions it's
just reciprocal right. So you help me I
help you. Okay. But there are three
things in which the debt can't can't be
really paid off. Okay? The first the
first example is let's let's just say I
kill your brother. Well, now you come
kill me, right? And you kill me then my
family's going to go go kill you. Okay?
And it creates a vicious cycle of
vengeance, right? So the way to get rid
of this problem is if I kill your
brother, I acknowledge that it's a debt
I cannot be paid off. So I give you
something valuable. It could be gold, it
could be um jewelry, it could be
anything. Okay? All right. Right? So
that's what money is. That that's the
first example. Second example is
if if a woman marries into your family,
right? Then that's also a debt that that
can be paid off because you've just
taken away my a daughter. So you give me
a gift, maybe some gold, maybe a cow, a
horse, it doesn't matter. Okay. The
second example of a debt that can be
paid off. The third example, and this
this is a really important example, is
let's just say that you have a great
person in community. he's a great leader
or he's a great priest or he's just a
great person in general and he's done a
lot for you and but he dies. What do you
do then? What you do is you bury him
with gifts, with gold, with money. Okay?
And so it's a monument to his legacy.
You know that he can't take the stuff
with him to the afterorld, but it
doesn't matter. All you're doing is
you're acknowledging his contribution to
your community. And that's why when we
dig up graves in ancient times, you'll
see people bearded with gold because the
human is acknowledging this person was
great. We will forever remember him. And
so the money is a way to acknowledge
this fact. Okay, does that make sense?
Right. So for most of human history,
that's what we use money for as to
symbolize money that can be not be that
cannot be paid off. But then over time,
as society became more sophisticated, u
we use we use other forms of currency.
Okay? And as you can see, all these
different forms of currency, okay?
Whether it's seashells, cattle, grain,
women's, drugs, oil, it doesn't really
work in terms of universality, store
value, immobility, but bronze does.
Okay? And after bronze, gold does. And
then after gold, today we have the US
dollar. Okay? Does that make sense?
Okay? So once you have an universally
accepted currency, you can now have globalization,
globalization,
right? And so bronze was a major
discovery which allowed for
globalization. Um yeah go ahead.
>> Uh I think bronze and the gold is
commodities and US dollar is like money
stuff but why does browns because it is
it because drugs and oil does not count
as capital? So it is not.
>> Okay look let's you're right. Okay drugs
can be a currency. The problem is that
it's not universally accepted. Okay. And
also the problem with drugs of course is
it it causes a lot of problems your
society. So think of opium in China and
it's it's hard um yeah it creates a lot
of problems. So it can't be universally
accepted. In fact most countries would
ban drugs but at the same time you're
right in that it is valuable. It's a
store of value. So you guys don't know
this, but there are lot lots of
governments that have secret supplies of
drugs because if the world falls apart
and you need to rebuild society, you
need wealth, right? So gold, you need
gold, but guess what? Drugs is also a
form of wealth because people want it.
Okay? People crave it. All right? Um so
so is this clear? Right? So once you
have a universally accepted currency,
you have the basis for globalization and
global globalization happens naturally
All right. So, capital is just the
monetization of power. That's all it is.
And you can have any form of capital.
Okay. The problem with capital is that
it exploits, it alienates, and it consolidates.
consolidates.
Okay? So, go back go back example where
I'm the leader of a village. If there's
no money involved, all I care about is
winning the respect of my people. Okay?
And so I work hard for them. But once
capital is involved, I see each person
as a commodity. Okay? And therefore I
become alienated from my humanity and
from others. And now I want to exploit
people in order to generate more capital.
capital.
And over time what will happen is that
um the strongest will have all the
capital which leads to massive
inequality. So the only result of
capitalism is one massive inequality,
corruption, immorality,
okay, and alienation, anger,
indifference. And this is the world we
live in today. Does that make sense?
It's just the nature of capital. There's
Okay. So, as we discussed previously, we
have two different mindsets, okay? We're
composed of two different individuals.
We have the altruistic nature. So we
care about relationships. We care about
empathy. We care about creativity. And
there's our utitarian side which is all
about material objectives, logic and
hard work. Okay? So in school you have
the utarian mindset. Okay? Like how do I
get good grades? That's all you care
about. All right. At home you care about
relationships. You care about
maintaining good relationships with your
mother and your father and your siblings
and your relatives. What we also know,
and this is really important, is that
people who are altruistic, people who
work for others tend to be more creative
than other people.
But people who are obsessed with money
tend to work harder than other people.
Okay? That's why polarization happens so
fast because everyone's in a rush to
make as much money as possible.
>> Okay? But eventually, you reach a point
where a few people have all the money
and so everyone's like, "Screw this. I
give up because I'm I'm never going to
be rich. You lie flat, right? Tping or
quite quitting. You just give up. Okay?
And this is the world we live in today.
Okay? Now, [clears throat]
capitalism is a problem because it
changes the fundamental nature of your
brain. Okay. So, this is a article from
the Atletic Monthly, which is a very
popular magazine in the United States.
Um there are these neuroscientists who
have done brain scandals, brain scans
and they discovered that power causes
brain damage. Okay. In fact, if you look
at the brain of a psychopath and the
brain of a wealthy person, it's pretty
Yeah. They did brand brain scans and it
looks as though people with who have too
much money has brain damage. Why?
Because a normal person is able to have
empathy, is able to understand the
feelings of others. Guess what? If
you're too powerful, if you're too
wealthy, you don't have the capacity to
have empathy. You don't you can't
appreciate the feelings of others. So,
think of like Ellen Musk or Marcus
Zuckerberg. They I don't care. They have
actually no concept of empathy. Okay?
They are completely unable to relate to
This is Brian Johnson. Okay. Um, Brian
Johnson's a millionaire. He spends about
$2 million a year on health. Okay. Um,
he's done some crazy things. So, for
example, he has a father and he has a
son and he believes in blood
transfusion. So, you know, if you, you
know, transfuse the blood, your blood,
you become younger. So, he's trying to
figure out how to live forever. Okay.
So, he'll do things like blood
transfusion. But you know, he has he
works so hard, man. Cuz he'll get up at
like 5:00 in the morning, exercise. The
food he eats is the most nutritious food
in the world. [snorts] And he'll
regulate his sleep. He's always
monitoring his heartbeat. He's always
exercising. Okay, his life sucks.
And the question you have have to ask
yourself is, if you have so much money,
why don't you just enjoy it? You know,
why not why not just enjoy your life? [laughter]
[laughter] [gasps]
[gasps]
Why are you focused on living forever?
Okay. And that's a problem with wealthy
people. They're kind of scooping their
head. Okay. Um he looks like a vampire,
guys. Okay. This is him when he first,
you know, started this project. And you
can see
he looks like a vampire now. All right.
I'm not exaggerating here. Look, look at
this guy.
The problem is that there are lots of
wealthy people in the world and they
happen to like this idea of living
forever. Okay, so let's just say let's
do a thought experiment. You're a
billionaire. Okay, you have the you have
you have like $100 million, $10 million,
sorry, like $10 billion in the bank,
$100 billion in the bank, who knows? You
have a problem which is how do I keep
this, right? Because you're going to die.
die.
Okay. And you have all that money so you
can do whatever you want. So what you do
is you invest in Brian Johnson. You
invest in psychic research to live
longer. But you also do what? You also
build bunkers. Okay? Because you're
afraid that the world will end and you
want to live forever. So you build bunkers.
bunkers.
This is Mark Zuckerberg's bunker in
Hawaii. It's kind of stupid because if
the world's if the world's going to end,
is your bunker going to save you?
Probably not. Okay. But he spent like
$26 million. No. or $260 million on this
stupid thing
hoping to live forever.
And this is what it looks like in on the
on the inside.
It's crazy to like go through life
thinking about how to live forever and
how to survive an apocalypse. Why not
just enjoy your life? Okay.
They also join secret societies. Why?
Because secret societies may have the
secret to in reincarnation or the secret
to immortality or the secret to
longevity. They don't care. They have so
much money that they're willing to
invest in everything. Okay? So they're
willing to um try blood transfusion.
They're willing to build bunkers.
They're also willing to join secret
societies. And that's why you see secret
societies growing in power and
popularity today. They also worship
Satan. Okay? Because again, if you have
$10 billion, you're stuck,
right? Because you don't want to die.
Like you don't want like it's what we
call sunk cost fallacy, right? You you
you you you're like, I worked so hard
for this and I have the best life, but
I'm going to die and when I die, all
this is gone. I have to start all over
again. I don't want to do that. Okay?
So, they're willing to do anything,
including worship Satan.
In fact, what we will learn is that
the the religion of Satan became so
popular in order to solve this problem
where wealthy people, they want to live
forever and they want the world to stay
the same as it is now. But as you learn
in this class, it is impossible for the
world to stay the way it is. Change is a
constant. Things move in cycles.
Capitalism gives rise to wealth, but it
also destroys wealth. That's just the
nature of life. Okay. All right. So
that's a branch age collapse. Any questions?
questions?
Sorry. Yeah. Go ahead, V. Go ahead.
>> Why do they worship Satan? Because you
said that those millionaires, they want
to keep their money forever. And what
does it do with Satan?
>> Okay, that's a really good question.
Okay. So, um [clears throat] it's really
desperation, right? Because what
religion tell teaches teaches you is
that wealth is bad. And when you go to
heaven, you'll be judged by God. And God
and God is going to ask you, "Hey, why
do you have so much money, man?" And
you'll be like, "Well, I stole this
money and I hurt a lot of people and I
cheated. I lied. I stealed." Yeah. You
know, and like, do you really want to
say that to God?
Yeah. You're kind of stuck, right?
Right. So, so first of all, you don't
want to die. You don't want to give up
all this money that you worked hard to
get. But you also don't want to face God
and face his judgment. Okay. So, what's
your alternative here? Your alternative
is you believe in something more
powerful than God or at least someone
who you can find refuge in from God.
Okay? If it means going to hell, you you
prefer going to hell than facing
judgment from God. Okay? cuz you in your
heart know exactly what you did to get
that $10 billion. Okay? You know what
you did. Maybe other people don't know,
but you know what you did and God knows
what you did and you really really want
to face judgment. All right.
Okay. So, yeah. Does that make sense?
All right. So, um
that's it for the branches. So we will
discuss the iliad next class. Okay. And
so what I'm going to do is I'm going to
introduce the um Iliad today and then
and then we'll continue the Iliad on
Thursday. Okay. All right.
All right. So
So
the branches collapse is important
because it will give rise to Greek
civilization which we we which we
believe to be the basis for western
civilization. Okay. So the question then
is how does this happen? Okay. So if you
and then we transition into
um the dark ages. Okay. The dark ages
does not all it means is that the Greeks
lost the capacity to write. Okay. And so
what will happen is M say in Greece will
transform from a past economy into
something called the polus.
Okay polis city state. Okay that this is
where where we get the word politics
from. Okay. So this is a major political
transition where you went from a
centralized economy to now city states
competing against each other. That's the
first thing. Second thing that's
important is the writing system changes.
It went from linear B. Linear B become
now becomes do you guys know what what's
a new writing system called? I'm sure
>> Okay.
All right. And
the big the third big change is you go
from censorship. Okay. Because remember
in a palace economy, in a centralized
system, bureaucrats are in control. And
bureaucrats control what is talked
about, okay, or what is expressed and
they censor and centralize content,
okay? They they basically create propaganda.
propaganda.
So now with censorship, you have a new
person emerged named Homer.
Okay? And we will discuss Homer next
class. And these things these three
things together become the basis for
Greek civilization.
And this is why the Greeks became the
greatest civilization ever in human
history. So the main lesson I want to
leave you today is yes collapse is bad
but collapse also gives opportunity for
a new civilization to arise for a new
humanity to emerge.
And we will discuss this next class.
Okay. The birth of Greekization.
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