Bread and Circuses

Two things happened.

Capitalism was invented 400 years ago by England and the Netherlands.

Then, about 100 years ago, the incredible energy bounty — and tremendous profit — of burning fossil fuels was realized.

If those two things had been kept separate, if they had never interacted, our world might look a lot different today.

But, as we know, they were not kept separate. No chance of that. Instead, capitalism was allowed to fully exploit the burning of fossil fuels in order to make massive profits, trillions and trillions of dollars.

And it still continues — even though scientists have been warning for more than 50 years that we are on the road to ruin.

Look at the charts below. An exponential curve. Yet we're constantly being told to calm down, that everything is fine, there's no need to panic. 🤬

#History #Economics #Science #Environment #Climate #ClimateChange #ClimateCrisis

Dec 30, 2024 at 3:00pmWeb
Show threadKen LarsonDec 30, 2024

@breadandcircuses

Capitalism has also been at war with the U.S. Constitution, driven by the greed and industrial advancements you have noted.

When a Constitutional Convention is convened in the near future to resolve the issues, which of the two will prevail when the "SMOKE CLEARS?"

https://www.commoncause.org/work/stopping-a-dangerous-article-v-convention/

Stopping a Dangerous Article V Convention

Find out about the current threat of an Article V Convention in the US. Understand the potential consequences of a convention to rewrite the Constitution.

Common Cause
Show threadderptronDec 30, 2024

@breadandcircuses God, I remember an argument I had with my sister back in early 2k about this. She was an environmentalist studying biology who would later spend her life working on the restoration of wetland habitat.

She was saying that we liberals were making too much of a panic about stuff, driving people away. I had her in a reductio ad absurdum and she just kept spinning around over it. Lying to people won't help; this IS a deadly situation...but still?

It is what it is: fucked.

Show threadirgendwas mit KIDec 30, 2024
@breadandcircuses
Let world leaders fix this; great record so far.
0%
it is largely up to us to get organised
100%
Poll ended at .
Show threadRoy Brander🍁Dec 30, 2024

@breadandcircuses

The disappearance of North American megafauna almost immediately after human fossils can be found, strongly suggests that resource exhaustion is a human trait found in the earliest hunter-gatherer societies, with no relation to "capitalism".

Which couldn't have been invented only 400 years ago, or David Graeber's book on debt wouldn't go back 5000 years.

Show threadTrassliga havsnöret Tomas ✅Dec 30, 2024
@breadandcircuses
I just want to point out that this curve is not straight. Its on a exponential path.
Show threadSpaceLifeFormDec 30, 2024

@breadandcircuses

When one gets addicted to money, logic and rational thought disappear.

#Insanity

Show threadmike morrisDec 31, 2024

@breadandcircuses @baldur Interesting congruence here: The Nation-State as we understand/experience it was /also/ invented around 400 years ago. I'm sure there's some mutual reflexivity in the evolution of both Nation-States and Capitalism, but not sure how to express it or what it might mean yet... need to think on this!

eta: A little bit offtopic from your original observation re fossil fuels, I know, but not totally unrelated, I feel.

Show threadPreston WalbergDec 31, 2024

@mikro2nd @breadandcircuses @baldur

@jksteinberger has written a great piece connecting the two:

link.medium.com/T6eZSPLevKb

Show threadUrwumpeDec 31, 2024
@breadandcircuses 50 years? Make that 150 years! It just hasn't been that many scientists as today. Even Humboldt already warned about possible lasting damages to the ecosystem.
Show threadferricoxideDec 31, 2024
@breadandcircuses

Particularly as capitalism has "evolved" to a quarterly-only outlook, things like climate change became a "tomorrow me" problem. Saddest in the US that it was founded with a concern for posterity. Sadder still that so many of the founding concerns were jettisoned in the race for obscene levels of individual wealth.