You’re off the mark here with regards to MMT which is merely a lens by which to observe how a modern economy actually functions. “Printing money”, in actuality crediting the bank accounts of parties receiving payments from sovereign governments, is how a government spends. EVERY Dollar the US government spends is a BRAND NEW DOLLAR. The sovereign currency issuer first spends its currency into existence before taxing a portion of that spending OUT OF EXISTENCE. The mere creation of currency alone isn’t sufficient to threaten inflation absent the spending decisions of those on the receiving end and the relative capacity of the economy to absorb that spending.
The word (phrase) you're looking for is "head trip."
It is simply how our brains work, we're always in one head trip or another. Perhaps it is necessary to have some kind of head trip in order to contextualize information, to provide motivation, to give us purpose, etc.. Whatever it is, psychologists have been beating around this for a long time, although they wouldn't use "head trip" themselves because it is too informal and has a lot of variations in usage.
PS: Research on LSD (and many other drugs) was once motivated by the search for drugs that would more readily transform soldiers into sociopathic killing machines. However, researchers soon discovered its ability to separate the user from their head trip(s), to enable them to see their head trip(s) from an outside perspective. It had the opposite effect that the military desired, so they quickly turned against it. (This kind of LSD experience doesn't happen in all cases, and requires special circumstances/conditions to ensure that it doesn't go off into a tangential direction or "bad trip.") Some researchers saw the promise in the use of LSD for people to liberate themselves from self-destructive pathologies. Timothy Leary is perhaps the most famous advocate of the use of LSD for psychiatric treatments.
PPS: Leary was arrested and imprisoned for possession of marijuana, and his students were hunted down one-by-one until they were all found and placed into the deepest and darkest incarcerations so that they could not share the original recipe for LSD. For this reason, anything floating around today that people call "LSD" is not the original LSD.
I am very happy to be a part of your intellectual efforts on this site, you are very versatile, sometimes I think that you are so versatile that several people could write these pamphlets! As for the definition of the politician as an object, we could even smile at your definition, although we would rather cry !
I am not a citizen of the USA myself (I don't mind it either), so I would only describe as a distant observer that to me as an outsider, the average US politician (and other Westerners as well, of course) seems like a fake villain with an empty smile who is carefully prepared like a Hollywood movie star before every speech. but in fact he is a violent laggard who is capable of anything, even smiling and murdering masses with the false slogans of freedom and democracy on his lips !
PS: regarding the consumption of antidepressants, looking at your statistics, I am happy to see that my country is among those who consume the least, although I have never experienced it myself !
While I agree with the general thrust of your piece here, I’ve got to disagree with one of your specifics
MMT is not illogical in the slightest. It is not a set of policies (money-printing, whatever) it is an accurate description of how modern fiat currencies work. It is a description that, being based on reality, suggests mechanisms and policies that are available to a currency issuing government to promote whatever outcome these governments may wish to promote. It categorically does not say that “printing endless money into a perpetual inflation-bubble cannot possibly end well, or be in any way remediated in the future.” – just the second paragraph of the Wiki page you linked to makes this clear.
MMT proposes that the restrictions on any currency issuing governments are not monetary – they are driven by the actual, tangible, resources available to that government – natural resources, industrial capacity, agriculture, existing infrastructure, its available workforce, their health, their education standards and much more – the kind of things you mentioned in your recent piece on the ‘real’ size of Russia’s economy. If a government chooses to spunk massive amounts of cash into an economy to buy things that cannot adequately be supplied by the real-resources of that economy then yes, inflation is likely to occur – as it might do from all sorts of other mechanisms favoured by that government. MMT allows us to understand this much more effectively than much of the obvious bollocks of ‘mainstream (i.e. mostly neo-classical) economics’ (money multipliers, fractional-reserve banking and all sorts of other demonstrable guff). In short, I fear you’re labouring under a degree of normalcy-bias in your economic analysis here.
Interesting essay which I need to chew over. Two points which caught my attention: firstly the ChatbOt attempt at making up that word you were looking for. Any ten-year-old could have produced this by simply rearranging the expressions you provided it with. 'A' it is, but 'I'? Heh ...
The other point is in regarding to antidepressant prescriptions. Denmark (no, I'm not a Dane) is in fifth place from the bottom. However - Denmark has been praised in western media as the courtly where the most people are 'happy' ... begging the question: are they happy because of taking antidepressants? Or are those on antidepressants simply not participating in polls about happiness? Hm. Perhaps Big Pharma is using yon poll about happiness to push even more antidepressants on people? Hm.
"We know the utter illogicality of MMT, for instance, know that printing endless money into a perpetual inflation-bubble cannot possibly end well"
The almost constant repitition of this nonsense about MMT just shows that one either wilfully misinforms oneself about this theory - a theory for which evidence is availazble, just check the cretaion of the DM after WW2 - or is unwilling to go further than the critique of this theory by those who push the necessity of austerity politics.
Maybe you should check this primer, together with a host of articles on the same website about MMT:
Excellent. But far too wordy. Surely this would carry more punch if you said it on fewer words. I'm reminded of the sage person who wrote,"I'm sorry this letter is so long. I didn't have time to write you a shorter one."
Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures. The family as godhead. To the Ancients, monotheism equated with monoculture. One people, one rule, one god. The Romans adopted a monotheistic sect as state religion as the Empire was rising from the ashes of the Republic. Basically to validate The Big Guy Rules.
Logically a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. More the light shining through the film, than the images and narratives played out on it.
Ideals are not absolute. The philosophers should have been all over that centuries ago. Ideals are like truth, beauty, platonic forms, etc. If we have an entire culture formulated on the principle of everyone's ideals as absolute, from Wokism to Wahabiism, it empowers the crazies and doesn't work as well as it could. We are reaching the end of the line for Western culture.
Reality is more the spectrum and feedback between the poles, than whatever totem is at the center of your particular tribe or cult. More yin and yang, than God Almighty.
Also money is a contract, not a commodity. To store the asset side of the ledger, you need a debt to back it. So our entire economy and society is designed to generate debt to back the illusion of wealth.
Apr 12, 2023·edited Apr 12, 2023Liked by Simplicius
Well, that was a quick scan. Mostly because I'm not subject to any of that shit Simplicius describes.
Did catch the mention of "The Necronomicon", however, that fictional book created by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and subsequently hijacked by various occult groups as if it was a real thing, "weaponizing fiction", which has its point.
I believe the Situationists referred to this overall concept Simplicius talks about as "The Society of the Spectacle." They came at it as an outgrowth of the Surrealists and Dadaists insurgent art movements, mixed with what is called "libertarian Marxism" or small-c communism. People like Debord and Vaneigem discussed how to see through the "Spectacle" and disrupt its influence.
To quote Wikipedia's summary of the concept:
"Essential to situationist theory was the concept of the spectacle, a unified critique of advanced capitalism of which a primary concern was the progressively increasing tendency towards the expression and mediation of social relations through objects.[1] The situationists believed that the shift from individual expression through directly lived experiences, or the first-hand fulfillment of authentic desires, to individual expression by proxy through the exchange or consumption of commodities, or passive second-hand alienation, inflicted significant and far-reaching damage to the quality of human life for both individuals and society.[1] Another important concept of situationist theory was the primary means of counteracting the spectacle; the construction of situations, moments of life deliberately constructed for the purpose of reawakening and pursuing authentic desires, experiencing the feeling of life and adventure, and the liberation of everyday life....The Situationist International strongly resisted use of the term "situationism", which Debord called a "meaningless term", adding "[t]here is no such thing as situationism, which would mean a doctrine for interpreting existing conditions".[2] The situationists maintained a philosophical opposition to all ideologies, conceiving of them as abstract superstructures ultimately serving only to justify the economic base of a given society; accordingly, they rejected "situationism" as an absurd and self-contradictory concept.[5] In The Society of the Spectacle, Debord asserted that ideology was "the abstract will to universality and the illusion thereof" which was 'legitimated in modern society by universal abstraction and by the effective dictatorship of illusion'"
I can get behind the rejection of most of the pointless abstractions people talk about - which includes most of those in Simplicius' article. :-)
I'm so far past any of that crap that it's amazing I'm not a serial killer - yet. LOL There's an entirely different approach to existing society that goes way beyond even the Situationists. This is why I'm writing "The Five Essentials" - as an experiment in constructing a coherent approach that can be applied in real life.
Apr 12, 2023·edited Apr 12, 2023Liked by Simplicius
As I read your piece, the word "paradigm" immediately sprang to mind - a human psychological construct defining a view of how things work and maintains the rules by which we live and perceive the world through that view, both as members of society, organisations, communities and as individuals.
Of course, I'm almost certain that had I read your article to my mother, she would most likely have suggested that I take two aspirin and get a good nights sleep... ;-)
Apr 12, 2023·edited Apr 12, 2023Liked by Simplicius
Re: "Naming and exploring the Noumonicon"
"Noumonicon" may, as a term, try to combine too many referents and it doesn't have an easily recognizable root?
I am thinking that "Panoptinous" may be a possibility as a term describing the management and surveillance of the noumenal. (Adjectival "panoptinoumenal). An advangtage of the word is that it is easy to say and a reader would recognize the "panopti" root and the "nous" root.
A more clunky term might be "Panoptinoumenous," which would describe the sphere of management and surveillance of ‘things within themselves’ (Kant) nominally outside of phenomenal cognition but actually under active management and surveillance.
I found the following book by David Graeber, David Wengrow, "The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity" a very hopeful thing that pierces through the foundations of the social construct in which we live nowadays.
re: "Fracturing Identity at the Altar of Transhumanism"
In order for the Noumonicon to function at maximum efficiency, it must eliminate competing models.
The new altar must replace the old altar.
Each world religion has developed comprehensive theologies that engage with, and sometimes absorb, metaphysical problems and speculation.
For Christians, each church council addressed a question that while highly speculative might fracture the foundations of the faith if left unresolved. Some thinkers become foundational. Augustine goes mano a mano with gnosticism; Aquinas incorporate Aristotle; etc., etc., etc.'
There is no question regarding transhumanism and the Noumonicon that cannot be readily addressed by and resolved by Christian theology and philosphy. Which is why the Noumonicon will go to any length to marginalize, persecute, and destroy religion.
The Noumonicon puppets in Ukraine are illustrating how this persecution of religion will eventually proceed.
One point that comes into play when dealing with psychological reaction to the world's questionable answers to its myriad problems, aside from complacency is fear. While going along with the status quo has its strong positive "carrots", there is also the stick in the hand behind the back. It is subtle, but most people are on to the subtle distinction between cajoling us to go along and the threat implied if we don't. In part, this is one of the reasons for illogical reactions when they occur. Even scientists are bought, as they see reward if they accede and isolation if they don't. No one wants to upset their applecart unless 1) the applecart is empty, or 2) our family, friends, and community also see a limit and work in concert to overcome it.
I'll leave it to others to defend or deny MMT- as current governments interpret it, it is dangerous, but if properly constituted wiithin a classless governing system, it might be the key to development without fear of inflation. It's not the policy, but the policymakers.
You’re off the mark here with regards to MMT which is merely a lens by which to observe how a modern economy actually functions. “Printing money”, in actuality crediting the bank accounts of parties receiving payments from sovereign governments, is how a government spends. EVERY Dollar the US government spends is a BRAND NEW DOLLAR. The sovereign currency issuer first spends its currency into existence before taxing a portion of that spending OUT OF EXISTENCE. The mere creation of currency alone isn’t sufficient to threaten inflation absent the spending decisions of those on the receiving end and the relative capacity of the economy to absorb that spending.
This short video offers a handy CliffsNotes review of MMT that many find helpful: https://youtu.be/TDL4c8fMODk
The word (phrase) you're looking for is "head trip."
It is simply how our brains work, we're always in one head trip or another. Perhaps it is necessary to have some kind of head trip in order to contextualize information, to provide motivation, to give us purpose, etc.. Whatever it is, psychologists have been beating around this for a long time, although they wouldn't use "head trip" themselves because it is too informal and has a lot of variations in usage.
PS: Research on LSD (and many other drugs) was once motivated by the search for drugs that would more readily transform soldiers into sociopathic killing machines. However, researchers soon discovered its ability to separate the user from their head trip(s), to enable them to see their head trip(s) from an outside perspective. It had the opposite effect that the military desired, so they quickly turned against it. (This kind of LSD experience doesn't happen in all cases, and requires special circumstances/conditions to ensure that it doesn't go off into a tangential direction or "bad trip.") Some researchers saw the promise in the use of LSD for people to liberate themselves from self-destructive pathologies. Timothy Leary is perhaps the most famous advocate of the use of LSD for psychiatric treatments.
PPS: Leary was arrested and imprisoned for possession of marijuana, and his students were hunted down one-by-one until they were all found and placed into the deepest and darkest incarcerations so that they could not share the original recipe for LSD. For this reason, anything floating around today that people call "LSD" is not the original LSD.
I am very happy to be a part of your intellectual efforts on this site, you are very versatile, sometimes I think that you are so versatile that several people could write these pamphlets! As for the definition of the politician as an object, we could even smile at your definition, although we would rather cry !
I am not a citizen of the USA myself (I don't mind it either), so I would only describe as a distant observer that to me as an outsider, the average US politician (and other Westerners as well, of course) seems like a fake villain with an empty smile who is carefully prepared like a Hollywood movie star before every speech. but in fact he is a violent laggard who is capable of anything, even smiling and murdering masses with the false slogans of freedom and democracy on his lips !
PS: regarding the consumption of antidepressants, looking at your statistics, I am happy to see that my country is among those who consume the least, although I have never experienced it myself !
While I agree with the general thrust of your piece here, I’ve got to disagree with one of your specifics
MMT is not illogical in the slightest. It is not a set of policies (money-printing, whatever) it is an accurate description of how modern fiat currencies work. It is a description that, being based on reality, suggests mechanisms and policies that are available to a currency issuing government to promote whatever outcome these governments may wish to promote. It categorically does not say that “printing endless money into a perpetual inflation-bubble cannot possibly end well, or be in any way remediated in the future.” – just the second paragraph of the Wiki page you linked to makes this clear.
MMT proposes that the restrictions on any currency issuing governments are not monetary – they are driven by the actual, tangible, resources available to that government – natural resources, industrial capacity, agriculture, existing infrastructure, its available workforce, their health, their education standards and much more – the kind of things you mentioned in your recent piece on the ‘real’ size of Russia’s economy. If a government chooses to spunk massive amounts of cash into an economy to buy things that cannot adequately be supplied by the real-resources of that economy then yes, inflation is likely to occur – as it might do from all sorts of other mechanisms favoured by that government. MMT allows us to understand this much more effectively than much of the obvious bollocks of ‘mainstream (i.e. mostly neo-classical) economics’ (money multipliers, fractional-reserve banking and all sorts of other demonstrable guff). In short, I fear you’re labouring under a degree of normalcy-bias in your economic analysis here.
Interesting essay which I need to chew over. Two points which caught my attention: firstly the ChatbOt attempt at making up that word you were looking for. Any ten-year-old could have produced this by simply rearranging the expressions you provided it with. 'A' it is, but 'I'? Heh ...
The other point is in regarding to antidepressant prescriptions. Denmark (no, I'm not a Dane) is in fifth place from the bottom. However - Denmark has been praised in western media as the courtly where the most people are 'happy' ... begging the question: are they happy because of taking antidepressants? Or are those on antidepressants simply not participating in polls about happiness? Hm. Perhaps Big Pharma is using yon poll about happiness to push even more antidepressants on people? Hm.
"We know the utter illogicality of MMT, for instance, know that printing endless money into a perpetual inflation-bubble cannot possibly end well"
The almost constant repitition of this nonsense about MMT just shows that one either wilfully misinforms oneself about this theory - a theory for which evidence is availazble, just check the cretaion of the DM after WW2 - or is unwilling to go further than the critique of this theory by those who push the necessity of austerity politics.
Maybe you should check this primer, together with a host of articles on the same website about MMT:
https://braveneweurope.com/richard-murphy-it-is-time-to-get-real-about-what-mmt-does
Excellent. But far too wordy. Surely this would carry more punch if you said it on fewer words. I'm reminded of the sage person who wrote,"I'm sorry this letter is so long. I didn't have time to write you a shorter one."
I like the lenght.....you are a great writer !
I wrote an essay, trying to dig through some of the more fundamental biases our minds are wrapped in;
https://johnbrodixmerrymanjr.medium.com/peeling-away-the-layers-of-performative-social-mania-62402fc18336?sk=ac1212cc3b15e72b36a4c380f6ca83d8
A few brief points;
Democracy and republicanism originated in pantheistic cultures. The family as godhead. To the Ancients, monotheism equated with monoculture. One people, one rule, one god. The Romans adopted a monotheistic sect as state religion as the Empire was rising from the ashes of the Republic. Basically to validate The Big Guy Rules.
Logically a spiritual absolute would be the essence of sentience, from which we rise, not an ideal of wisdom and judgement, from which we fell. More the light shining through the film, than the images and narratives played out on it.
Ideals are not absolute. The philosophers should have been all over that centuries ago. Ideals are like truth, beauty, platonic forms, etc. If we have an entire culture formulated on the principle of everyone's ideals as absolute, from Wokism to Wahabiism, it empowers the crazies and doesn't work as well as it could. We are reaching the end of the line for Western culture.
Reality is more the spectrum and feedback between the poles, than whatever totem is at the center of your particular tribe or cult. More yin and yang, than God Almighty.
Also money is a contract, not a commodity. To store the asset side of the ledger, you need a debt to back it. So our entire economy and society is designed to generate debt to back the illusion of wealth.
Go figure.
The mother of all reality checks is in the mail.
Well, that was a quick scan. Mostly because I'm not subject to any of that shit Simplicius describes.
Did catch the mention of "The Necronomicon", however, that fictional book created by Howard Phillips Lovecraft and subsequently hijacked by various occult groups as if it was a real thing, "weaponizing fiction", which has its point.
I believe the Situationists referred to this overall concept Simplicius talks about as "The Society of the Spectacle." They came at it as an outgrowth of the Surrealists and Dadaists insurgent art movements, mixed with what is called "libertarian Marxism" or small-c communism. People like Debord and Vaneigem discussed how to see through the "Spectacle" and disrupt its influence.
To quote Wikipedia's summary of the concept:
"Essential to situationist theory was the concept of the spectacle, a unified critique of advanced capitalism of which a primary concern was the progressively increasing tendency towards the expression and mediation of social relations through objects.[1] The situationists believed that the shift from individual expression through directly lived experiences, or the first-hand fulfillment of authentic desires, to individual expression by proxy through the exchange or consumption of commodities, or passive second-hand alienation, inflicted significant and far-reaching damage to the quality of human life for both individuals and society.[1] Another important concept of situationist theory was the primary means of counteracting the spectacle; the construction of situations, moments of life deliberately constructed for the purpose of reawakening and pursuing authentic desires, experiencing the feeling of life and adventure, and the liberation of everyday life....The Situationist International strongly resisted use of the term "situationism", which Debord called a "meaningless term", adding "[t]here is no such thing as situationism, which would mean a doctrine for interpreting existing conditions".[2] The situationists maintained a philosophical opposition to all ideologies, conceiving of them as abstract superstructures ultimately serving only to justify the economic base of a given society; accordingly, they rejected "situationism" as an absurd and self-contradictory concept.[5] In The Society of the Spectacle, Debord asserted that ideology was "the abstract will to universality and the illusion thereof" which was 'legitimated in modern society by universal abstraction and by the effective dictatorship of illusion'"
I can get behind the rejection of most of the pointless abstractions people talk about - which includes most of those in Simplicius' article. :-)
I'm so far past any of that crap that it's amazing I'm not a serial killer - yet. LOL There's an entirely different approach to existing society that goes way beyond even the Situationists. This is why I'm writing "The Five Essentials" - as an experiment in constructing a coherent approach that can be applied in real life.
One could start by looking up Max Stirner: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Stirner
As I read your piece, the word "paradigm" immediately sprang to mind - a human psychological construct defining a view of how things work and maintains the rules by which we live and perceive the world through that view, both as members of society, organisations, communities and as individuals.
Of course, I'm almost certain that had I read your article to my mother, she would most likely have suggested that I take two aspirin and get a good nights sleep... ;-)
Destination NOOTOPIA - the coming 'enlightened society' ... or dark Illuminati overstate and prison of the mind.
Re: "Naming and exploring the Noumonicon"
"Noumonicon" may, as a term, try to combine too many referents and it doesn't have an easily recognizable root?
I am thinking that "Panoptinous" may be a possibility as a term describing the management and surveillance of the noumenal. (Adjectival "panoptinoumenal). An advangtage of the word is that it is easy to say and a reader would recognize the "panopti" root and the "nous" root.
A more clunky term might be "Panoptinoumenous," which would describe the sphere of management and surveillance of ‘things within themselves’ (Kant) nominally outside of phenomenal cognition but actually under active management and surveillance.
I found the following book by David Graeber, David Wengrow, "The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity" a very hopeful thing that pierces through the foundations of the social construct in which we live nowadays.
Nevertheless, some people really are beholden to the narrative, like Adam Tooze and Vladimir Kara-Murza: https://adamtooze.substack.com/p/chartbook-208-as-a-historian-the
But then you see that something is amiss, when there is no comment section available...
re: "Fracturing Identity at the Altar of Transhumanism"
In order for the Noumonicon to function at maximum efficiency, it must eliminate competing models.
The new altar must replace the old altar.
Each world religion has developed comprehensive theologies that engage with, and sometimes absorb, metaphysical problems and speculation.
For Christians, each church council addressed a question that while highly speculative might fracture the foundations of the faith if left unresolved. Some thinkers become foundational. Augustine goes mano a mano with gnosticism; Aquinas incorporate Aristotle; etc., etc., etc.'
There is no question regarding transhumanism and the Noumonicon that cannot be readily addressed by and resolved by Christian theology and philosphy. Which is why the Noumonicon will go to any length to marginalize, persecute, and destroy religion.
The Noumonicon puppets in Ukraine are illustrating how this persecution of religion will eventually proceed.
One point that comes into play when dealing with psychological reaction to the world's questionable answers to its myriad problems, aside from complacency is fear. While going along with the status quo has its strong positive "carrots", there is also the stick in the hand behind the back. It is subtle, but most people are on to the subtle distinction between cajoling us to go along and the threat implied if we don't. In part, this is one of the reasons for illogical reactions when they occur. Even scientists are bought, as they see reward if they accede and isolation if they don't. No one wants to upset their applecart unless 1) the applecart is empty, or 2) our family, friends, and community also see a limit and work in concert to overcome it.
I'll leave it to others to defend or deny MMT- as current governments interpret it, it is dangerous, but if properly constituted wiithin a classless governing system, it might be the key to development without fear of inflation. It's not the policy, but the policymakers.