So as you can probably tell, I'm finding it difficult to be inspired by much these days. I'm going through a phase of being unphased. There is a lot to think about- Gaddafi's kicked the bucket, Obama's declared an end to the war in Iraq, Greece has just had yet another financial bail out, and there are global protests to tackle 'corporate greed'. But instead, I have chosen to throw myself into the big bad worlds of reggae and disco.
There are a couple of things I would like to bring to everyone's attention on this fine, chilly october night. The first is a tasty reggae treat I found on Mixcloud with some cracking song choices and music to aid the soul.
The second is a mix I was shown by a good friend of mine, and it never fails to put a smile on my face. Countless classics, from Isley Brothers to Fleetwood Mac to Craig David to Grandmaster Flash... The list is endless. You'd be a fool not to have a listen.
Late last night, a friend of mine posted a video on his Facebook profile of a BBC News interview with a trader. It was called 'BBC speechless as trader tells truth the collapse is coming' (see video below). I'm not normally one for watching posted videos, most of them are boring self-indulgent attempts at an ego boost from their friends, but it takes a good title or intriguing freeze frame of said video to draw me in.
Now, I am still undecided about how thankful I am that I watched the footage this evening. I was left feeling... well, speechless. And then quite a few things hit me at once.
The first thing that surprised me was how candid and honest this man was about traders and his own dishonest intentions. In such uncertain times, one would assume that nobody would admit to dreaming of making money from other people's misfortune, and I was not the only one (see BBC news article link below). But those people are out there, and I certainly needed to be reminded that actually, everything may not work out.
Then I thought about why it was so unbelievable for someone to be honest on the news. I've always thought audiences were used to the bad and negative news, so I was surprised why people were questioning how genuine this guy was. Then I realised that we are not used to being told bad news in a simple, straight-talking format.
If this collapse is unavoidable as suggested by Allessio Rastani, and people will lose their savings by the end of the year, then I'm sort of relieved that actually, I do not have any significant finance to my name.
I was shown this video the other day and I found it a very thought-provoking lecture.
I was only made aware of this 'TED: Ideas for sharing' website recently, a place full of fascinating and enlightening conferences about various ways of life that we take for granted.
This particular talk has stuck in my mind for days. There's so much in it that I feel is forgotten or unknown to many but important to all. I've often thought that history is essential to any successful progression as a race. History provides us with that double-edged sword: hindsight. I always think its important to know how we, as a race, have got this far. It's easy to forget how much we have achieved on this planet and even the most intricate of systems are taken for granted, like the national grid or our sewage system. Where would we be without electricity in the age of the internet, or sanitation in an era of health and safety mania? Our success is down to human nature, the thirst to know, and the ability to carry this learning into the future, thus, accumulating knowledge.
However, abuse of these integral systems jeopardise the 'goldilocks conditions' that David Christian speaks about in this video. Just as it is easy to forget the achievements of the human race, it is also easy to forget how fragile our planet is, and how minor changes in environment and chemical make-up have led to the planet we are able to inhabit.
This leads me to believe that it can't be just luck that has created this intricate eco-system out of nothing. It is difficult to comprehend that each of us are a result of a chemical reaction gone wrong, that there really is no meaning to life. But if this is true, why has a chemical reaction led to us searching for it?
After all, life is surely more than just exotic chemistry.
