We are cursed to live in interesting times. Two decades into the 21st century, and everything is shifting under our feet: Technology is rapidly evolving, governments are vying for more power, corporations are overtaking said governments, and both a new money and the surveillance state are peeking over the horizon.
In order to truly grasp where we are as humanity- and where this could all lead- we need to take a look behind the curtain of politics, our most trusted institutions, science, and technology, and really see how the sausage is being made.
This collection of must-read books contain essential knowledge to carry with us into the 21st century.
- Confessions of an Economic Hit Man
The game we’re watching isn’t the game being played.
Throughout the 80’s, Perkins had one job as an Economic Hit Man [EHM]: Make offers world leaders can’t refuse.
At the behest of his employer, Perkins targeted weak, third-world countries. His primary objective was to convince presidents and dictators to accept large loans from the International Monetary Fund [IMF] or others, and sign commercial contracts with a select group of corporations. In exchange, leaders’ pockets would be lined with millions of dollars, and the country built infrastructure- obstensibly to help its citizens- while also ensnaring the country in debt that could never be repaid. From then on, the country would be a puppet to its corporate master.
If an offer was refused, however, EHMs would make way for the next line of offense: The jackals. Bombs, coups, propaganda, and other unsavory tools were utilized by this second group if an EHM, like Perkins, failed at bribing his target.
In Confessions of an Economic Hit Man, Perkins reveals a dark world of corruption, one which most people are blissfully unaware exists, but has only matastasized. Giving readers a look under the hood, he details the deals made behind the curtain of politics, economics, and the corporatocracy which has all but usurped power from world governments.
From business to ‘news’ articles, history to the machinations of politics, readers will never look at the world the same way again.
2. The Real Anthony Fauci
Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, christened “America’s Doctor”, and the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), is the lynchpin of the rot and regulatory capture which has curdled America’s healthcare system.
During the AIDS epidemic of the 1980’s, Fauci’s reign began: He denied patients life-saving therapeutics, and instead, knowingly doled out poisonous alternatives to line the pockets of Big Pharma as well as his own. Not only did Fauci prey on vulnerable AIDS patients, he also focused his attention on orphaned children of color: Experimenting on them with caustic chemotherapies and AIDS medicines, leading to their suffering and death.
After decades of garnering more money and unparalled power, Fauci’s reach has extended to government, hospitals, doctors, media, medical journals, silicon valley, and Big Pharma- the result of this seen in America’s response to Covid. In The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. tells the sordid tale of Fauci’s ascent, his multi-billion dollar handshake with Bill Gates, his role in silicon valley’s unbridled, weaponized censorship of medical workers, and the planned, concerted effort to medicate the world.
Buckle up, readers, you’re in for quite a ride.
3. The Bitcoin Standard
Paper money always returns to its intrinsic value–zero.
Money, as we know it, is in trouble. The dollar was rendered fiat in 1913, when it no longer was backed by gold or anything else of value. Since then, unbridled money printing and runaway inflation has devalued the US dollar by 97% over the course of a century.
Throughout history, once a money loses its value and hyperinflation takes hold, the unlucky country goes through the throes of economic turmoil and instablity. But, as Saifedean Ammous posits in his book The Bitcoin Standard, we no longer need to suffer such a fate.
Bitcoin is the answer.
Ammous lays out a compelling case that Bitcoin is the future of money, and how it will push fiat currency into the dustbin of monetary history. Outlining the history of money, what makes a “hard” currency, and what a shift to a Bitcoin Standard means for world, this book is a must read for anyone interested in what our monetary landscape may look like in the not-too-distant future.
4. No Place to Hide
Big Brother is watching you.
Working within the National Security Agency [NSA], 29 year old contract worker, Edward Snowden, uncovered his agency’s true mission: The surviellance and data collection of every American citizen. Every text message, phone call, email, and web search is being collected and catalogued by one of the world’s most powerful governments; Without a warrant or probable cause, Snowden discovered that the NSA is circumnavigating the Constitution, and doing so under the shadow of secrecy.
But privacy is essential to the freedom of every individual, and recognizing this, Snowden made the difficult and dangerous decision to become a whistleblower against the surviellance state. Contacting Glenn Greenwald and another trusted journalist, Snowden compiled thousands of documents providing amble evidence that the US government has stepped far beyond its role as protector of citizens’ rights, and stepped into the role of Big Brother.
In No Place to Hide, Greenwald details his online, encrypted talks with Snowden, their eventual clandestine, 11-day meeting in Hong Kong, and the revelations Snowden uncovered about the inner workings and goals of the NSA.
5. The Age of Spiritual Machines
Do androids dream of electric sheep?
Imagine a world in which the line between carbon-based life and that of silicon is blurred, human intelligence and Artificial Intelligence is merged, and sentient robots share our lives with us. This is the world Ray Kurzweil paints in The Age of Spiritual Machines, one that- he believes- is waiting for us right around the corner.
Technology, Kurzweil argues, is pushing us to an unprecedented place in human evolution: The Singularity. As technology continues to advance exponentially, leaps in AI will give birth to consciousness in robots, humans will become cyborgs, and we’ll live side-by-side with other conscious beings once thought of as amalgamations of wire and metal.
But it’s not just technology that will change; Medicine, computation, economics, and society will all massively shift in tandem with the development of AI. The world as we know it will be unrecognizable in the face of such change.
With decades of futuristic prophesies that have come true under his belt, Kurzweil’s vision of the world is as thought-provoking as it is concerning; Is humanity ready to squeeze through the evolutionary bottleneck and enter the world of the Singularity? Will AI usurp humanity’s place as apex creature on our planet? And if we, too, become part machine, will we leave our humanity behind?
There is no better time to start thinking about these questions because, if Kurzweil is right, life as we know it will fundementally change in just a few short decades.
Citizen Xero does NOT use Google Analytics to track readers or earn money from Google advertisers. If you find these articles helpful, please consider donating to our Cointree to help keep this site running. We gratefully accept Bitcoin and PirateChain.
Suggested Posts: Your Brain is Scrambled Eggs: 6 Times Science Went Wrong
American Healthcare is Trash: Know the System
Why Bitcoin [and Crypto] Will Succeed
Recent Posts
Humanity is entering a strange new paradigm; one in which all the rules of the game have been upended. Bubbling to the surface of our zeitgeist are earnest discussions of society’s current...
Millions of people are buying Bitcoin and leaving the dollar behind in the dust bin of monetary history. From unending money printing, to the inflation to which it inevitably leads, to governments...