Dear readers, at the beginning of the year, let’s get some steam out, for a fresh start…
Is it really that difficult to understand how the world works in essence, or do we still refuse to grasp it in 2025, or deliberately avoiding the subject?
Look, it is still the case that vegetables come from farmer’s fields, not from a festival ground or golf course.
It is still true that water via rain comes from land and rivers, not from a Pub or city theater.
It is still the case that materials come from the soil and mountains, not from a bank-safe or DIY shop.
And it is still the case that energy must come from the sun, wind, and hydro power, as well as from labor, and not from plugging in a cable in the wall. Its Sun land an physics, which is decisive.
We are fleeing en masse to the city, screaming for housing, only to hide behind non-productive activities and hope that the roasted chickens will come flying to us (which they for the moment do).
We have convinced ourselves that the city is the place to be, and when there’s a problem, we collectively shout that innovation is needed, because we want to keep our hands clean—literally.
Meanwhile, we’ve arranged society in a way that convince ourselves of this approach. We’ve invented countless nonsense studies so that everyone with a diploma can sit behind a desk and waste energy. We’ve distorted the monetary system so that we can survive by investing and speculating, regardless of what happens “outside the city”. We’ve created a vibrant cultural life environment, to avoid having to think about the real issues. Even newspapers increasingly focus on emotional and cultural subjects and fiction, instead of news about essential matters. (and mind that in fact financial economy is fiction as well… )
All to stay in that bubble, to party, and ‘make money’, which creates even more need for innovation to produce goods that wealthy city dwellers want to buy without working, with free money. We are proud of 11 million support for a charity action around Christmas (Serious Request), but last week we burned 100 million on fireworks (thanks to a cartoon by De Speld: “we support the fireworks industry…”).
Today, even our politicians believe in fairy tales, in a world where physical laws don’t exist [1]. Global warming? The soup will not be eaten as hot as it is served, and small pieces of nature can be neglected as non-nature, we need growth to pay for green innovation, and so on. Or perhaps they want to maintain this illusion for their own benefit, presenting a fake reality to the people. Possible, since there are only a few real physical scientists in the Dutch parliament. And only one party that understands things more or less, but it is kept marginalized (cordon sanitaire?), unlike the far-right, who are free to do as they please.
Even those with good intentions are often busy with rear-guard battles, making marginal changes, focusing on figures with three decimals, working on plans that will only lead to something in thirty years, by which time they will have been outdated, adjusted, and postponed numerous times, or “innovated.” They focus on details or even on a consequence, like in the case of CO2. Yes, that’s just one of the effects, not the cause. So it’s like mopping the floor with the tap running—while reducing CO2, energy and material use increase in the background, well beyond what grows annually.
Meanwhile, we have more and more money and stuff, and parties, but whatever we say, nobody listens anymore. Even our politicians have no say; everything has been sold out to big business, to inhuman (non-human) legal entities, for which no one is really responsible. And we have almost no say in the matter. We’ve fallen into our own trap: On the one hand, more and more very wealthy people are gaining influence, operating across borders, even beyond earthly borders with their own satellite networks and communication systems. On the other hand, larger countries are playing “risk,” because their own territories don’t provide enough for domestic and export needs. So, they are claiming more and more control over areas outside their borders.
We thought we had neatly divided the world into countries, but a new redistribution is coming—new, larger power blocks, claiming more land, just because resources are becoming scarce. There is no more abundance, and a global battle is building up. ( or: Survival of the fittest at global level…)
And while there is free money, there is no free energy or materials. The ‘ordinary man’ is being sacrificed. In developing countries even more than here and then we’re surprised when all others want to come here too. [2] Meanwhile, power blocks are playing their game. It’s the prelude to waiting for the blows. And here, here we continue to hide in the city, with most of us busy with fiction, with investing, with ‘innovating’ and studying, with festivals, with TV games, with theater, and dining out.
Do you know the story of the frogs in the pan? Well, they don’t stay in it—they jump out when it gets too hot. The frogs do that. But us? We are those frogs…
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PS:It’s good to let off a little steam at the beginning of the year, and then start afresh.… For those interested, previous eruptions 😉
2022: https://ronaldrovers.nl/babbelwereld/
2023: https://ronaldrovers.nl/leven-in-dromenland/
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[1] Laws: https://ronaldrovers.nl/over-verzonnen-wetten-en-fysische-wetten/
[2] LinkedIn post Pirates: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/roversronald_piraten-voorafgaand-aan-een-lezing-die-activity-7270375688170258432-LJ28
