How does one make sense of this crazy world? Where can we find some firm ground? When considering our politics it seems right to take stock of what we have, what we want and what is achievable.
Questions have to be asked.
An ability to open one’s mind and move away from dogma is essential. The ability to be honest with oneself. The ability to understand one’s needs. Know thyself. Nothing to excess. We have too much excess. To have ideals is one thing but ideals involve assumptions and thus opinions. A pledge comes from folly.
We can stand back and look at the subject of our attention from a distance to get perspective. We can look at that same subject closely picking out the fine detail and sifting the multiple pieces of evidence. We can separate units or factors, contributors and influences. In doing so we cannot be selective or exclusive or we may not have a full understanding.
The extremes are not merely worthless but malignant. Do we want centralised governance reducing us all to common denominators? Do we want corrupt corporate control exploiting our every function and thought? Are we trapped in the pendulum paradigm? Either Left or Right where Centre is transient at best and a lie at worst.
Both these we know will enslave us, are enslaving us. This dichotomy of politics uses confusion. Democracy becomes a sham and our protestations are manipulated to obfuscate. Media, education, law, politics and eventually force are used against us. When we lose our independence, we lose our freedoms, we lose our ownership, and we become dependent. That is the last stage of a civilisation before bondage. We are reaching that stage now and we will see that in our lifetime if trends continue.
Independence is so important:
“Its people travelled, giving them an awareness of conflicting ideas, which encouraged thinking. And among the aristocrats of Miletus was an independence of thought that was a part of an effort toward individual excellence that had been encouraged as justification for their privileges.”
Whoa! Wind that back, ‘we lose our ownership’. Could that be the key to stopping this mad carousel, making sense of this crazy world? Ownership, something that belongs to you. Something that comes from you. Something that has your pattern, your mark, your use, your thoughts, and your approval. We are born selfish, we start by loving ourselves and learn to love others then if we are lucky, we are loved. The greatest reward of our lives.
When things get big we lose that independence, identity, and ownership.
If aliens wanted to subvert human achievement, dumb down intellect, subjugate human will, without showing themselves and causing panic, and a concerted resistance, then a better job could not have been done than that which the elites are doing now.
Big is efficient for control. Big is safe for power. Big is the antidote for ownership. Oh yes but it comes with a few minor problems.
Big stymies innovation. Big disenfranchises. Big destroys diversity.
Big Government or Big Business makes no difference, we lose.
‘Here we go again’, you may say. To be honest there are problems with small too. But I will hold on that one for a minute.
When gurus talk about the future they marvel and extol the benefits of technology. Whether that be communications, AI, Robotics or manufacturing it is the function that is considered without enough focus on the consequences. There is a major problem of privacy and control.
We are as impotent as Canute to change.
Wouldn’t it be so much better for all to use this technology to empower ourselves rather than allow the few power over us? Social Responsibility, small innovative businesses and local industries must be encouraged. We should not allow big business to rule the roost.
Cheap energy will be the enabler for successful communities. Why would anyone want to put all their eggs in one basket? The design and production of small modular reactors is booming, there are over one hundred SMRs in different stages of design with construction starting on some. Here is one called a Stable Salt Reactor
One of the main concerns people have today is care for the environment. When decisions for a particular project are made remotely but may impact on a local community and habitat, where is the sense of responsibility? There is not the responsibility with detachment, not only within a country but also between countries. Local and responsible control in planning would reduce pollution, and improve structural development and conservation.
Crime is also a key concern and there are many examples where local communities are solving their problems through responsible, inclusive behaviour. Helping people to be useful and lead rewarding lives.
It is working!
There are other subjects such as innovation, manufacturing, farming, trade, finance, taxation, communication, housing, and employment. Good arguments can be made on all these subjects in support of Localism. Far more detail and evidence can be presented on these subjects including those mentioned. But they are subjects for other essays.
Beware, ‘the powers that be’ know the threat to their being. They will obfuscate, ignore and block, such as offering a phony Localism Act 2011.
The purpose of small is not efficiency and not for control or power. It is for reasons far more important. Small provides diversity, independence, freedom, and ownership.
These are qualities you will not get with Big.
There appears to be three things that will facilitate Localism, thus changing everything, Subsidiarity, Technology and the need for Ownership.
We have had enough of self-righteous ideologies imposing their virtues. We have had enough of corrupt corporations owning our existence.
There is hope. There is another way and will probably be the only way in the 21st century. We live in the Garden of Eden we now need to open our eyes. Do we need to experience big to appreciate small?
Kim thank you for a lovely article, as bright as it was beautiful, especially at the end!
I just want to say a few words on energy. Firstly, the alleged energy storage problem is fallacious. Enough coal can easily be stored in the open at a power station to keep it running for six months! 40 years ago, when I started work in Johannesburg, SA, we had 2 modified aircraft jet engines running on jet fuel that could run up to speed in 30 seconds and keep running for long enough to get a coal-powered generator-set up to full load. Down here in Tilbury they’re planning on putting gas-powered turbines (jet engines) running on gas piped in from the continent. The one genuine storage advance that’s been made is a large battery bank which can keep things going while the gas turbines run up to speed. (A big improvement on load-shedding).
I am very interested in small molten-salt reactors (especially the small part) and believe applications will be found for them in the near future.
However, with Tilbury power station blown up and Drax running on woodchips we need affordable electricity and we need it now!
In my view we need to cancel Hinkley and build some modern, clean coal power stations. Right now, coal-based electricity is the cheapest energy that can be generated and delivered to the consumer.
If the Chinese communist party can install new coal plant every year equivalent to the total US capacity what difference do our windmills make? (Even if CO2 is the problem some people think it is).
The lies and propaganda about CO2, global warming, climate change etc. is a political and psychological problem, not a technical problem.
As I see it in modern warfare they don’t use aircraft to bomb power stations, instead they use lies, propaganda, bribery and corruption to get their enemy’s government to do it for them!
Thank you so much for your comment. Also thanks for the other comments. We may not all agree but can discuss in a civilised way.
First let me say that, concerning electricity generation, I know only what information I can glean from various sources in the public domain. I am not academically qualified or have experience in the energy industry. From a political perspective the problem with building clean coal powered generators is that they would pull in every collective, victim powered, virtue signalling, closed minded, indoctrinated activist in the country. The poison has been spread and accepted. So from a purely socially practical perspective it would empower these people, in the same way that Momentum or Antifa members are empowered, to stop the building of such generators.
I know, there are many who do not want Nuclear either. These have the same short sighted naïve approach as those who want ‘open borders’, for example the Green Party. People have to be told that if we do not progress with Nuclear energy to replace fossil fuels then the limitation on the industrial and domestic supply of electricity will create disaster. Is that what they want? Maybe it is! We have to get off the fence.
I do not make apologies for lack of qualifications but would apologise for a lack of common sense. There is no acceptable argument for not pursuing a concerted effort to ramp up the Nuclear energy program.
Why small? I say this not for you but for others who may read this. Small is beautiful. It is so because it provides diversity, independence and ownership. It is far more appropriate to the demands of consumers and manageable in risk limitation. Big is ugly. Because it is finite and inflexible, it creates a dominant supplier, it focuses risk and provides a make or break scenario. If the technology is there for small it is quite frankly a ‘no-brainer’. Unless of course one wants to dominate and control the market.
We need a decentralisation of power in many ways to ensure the emancipation of society. People and communities need to be free to prosper and progress economically and socially.
First it is necessary to realise where we stand in the world, and in particular today, within the continent of Europe.
Although this United Kingdom of Great Britain has made some terrible mistakes through the centuries, our history is so far better and greater than our immediate neighbours. ….. Although our hands were dirty with slavery, eventually we ended it and empowered our Navy to enforce this correction. ….. By discovery and Trade this Nation made the largest Empire the world has ever seen, and yet at its zenith, we were blind to part of Great Britain, – Ireland, suffering a potato blight with consequent starvation and emigration. ….. Ownership of many parts of North America, added to our Empire, yet greed in taxation, and little representation, brought the war of independence, which we thankfully lost, and many years later had reason to be happy for that loss.
The notion that we are Europeans is a nonsense. Geography shows us that we part of Europe, but our history proves otherwise. The French at different times have called us a Nation of Shopkeepers, and then later a huge NON was said about our membership of ‘The Common Market’, even though geographically and politically we were heavily involved in disagreements between Germany and France. ….. Fighting two world wars, accelerated the loss of Empire, but in no small way our Monarch, brought and enhanced the British Commonwealth from Empire, for mutual benefit.
Today we have the folk who believe that our life can only continue if we are part of a European commune ! I would make the suggestion that our British life can only continue when the shackles that bind us to the EU are broken, and I am pleased to note that was the majority decision by the British people. Regrettable as it is, all the EU can do is to make life and Trade difficult for us, and even that will be minimal in time. ….. We have a good mix of Small, Medium and Large Businesses, and so long as this Nation squares up to the challenge, then with a decent Government, our future is assured !
I wonder if our geography makes us what we are. We will survive this difficult time as our ancestors have. Mistakes have been made but there is also good reason to be positive.
What makes you think small nuclear reactors are a good idea? The only small nuclear reactors built have been for submarines. Not one has been decommissioned, the UK ones are laid up in Rosyth, still with their reactors. WHY/
There is the expense problem and the fact that they don’t know how.
https://inews.co.uk/news/mod-nuclear-submarine-disposal-irradiated-fuel/
And then you have the problem of security.
Oh and they don’t know how to dispose of nuclear waste from any of our reactors either. If they did, they’d be doing it and they aren’t. They just stash it away, even this costs billions annually.
a Gentle leg pull
Isn’t that what space is for… If they don’t want it they can return it. What effect do you think it would have on the sun.or even mercury or aim it at a black hole to see what happens. There must be a use for them. Give Virgin the contract instead of the westcoast line Use a quantum computer driven Ai thing… Ask a politician ?. If wehave already got something going to Pluto. Isn’t the Sun downhill ?
Thank you for your comment Harold. To answer your question.
It is clear to me that this subject requires a holistic approach. Even security includes a number of diverse factors. Safety, financial, output and protection, I suppose are all security issues with sub levels.
Due to corruption, the demonization of CO2 is now ‘settled science’ and receives most of the attention that should be given to the real pollutants. It can be argued that countries like China and India are replenishing CO2 levels and thus greening the planet. Putting back into the atmosphere tons of CO2 removed by the explosion of plant life many millions of years ago when the earth was blossoming with life. Could that possibly be about ‘big businesses’ and vested interests?
The water has been so muddied and daily propaganda appears so effective that whatever I write here an opposing argument will be put forward.
But it is widely agreed that renewables are not cost effective, not reliable and not enough.
So unless one would want to see the extinction of the ‘western World’ we better start getting off the fence and investing in the only alternative we have left.
This short piece appears to be objective. Please read the last paragraph.
https://mercurystone.com/smrs-size-matters-or-does-it/
I do not want this issue to overshadow the purpose of this article, but I am surprised by the scepticism given all the information and evidence available. To be honest of all the subjects that are improved by Localism this was and still is the one I am most confident of. As well as an eye on the past we need one on the future.
They’re a good idea because they will keep the lights on.
Had any Grid failures lately?
JF
Kim,
Elegant and accurate and clear