The colossal problem with universal income | #7 of Top 10 2019

New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Think's #7 most popular video of 2019 features Douglas Rushkoff, who says universal basic income is a band-aid solution that will not solve wealth inequality. Funneling money to the 99% perpetuates their roles as consumers, pumping money straight back up to the 1% at the top of the pyramid. Rushkoff suggests universal basic assets instead, so that the people at the bottom of the pyramid can own some means of production and participate in the profits of mega-rich companies. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF Douglas Rushkoff is the host of the Team Human podcast and a professor of digital economics at CUNY/Queens. He is also the author of a dozen bestselling books on media, technology, and culture, including, Present Shock, Program or Be Programmed, Media Virus, and Team Human, the last of which is his latest work. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT DOUGLAS RUSHKOFF: For a long time I was a fan of universal basic income. And the logic I had was that I always hear politicians talking about, 'Let's create jobs for people. That's what we need is jobs, more jobs,' as if that's what's going to solve the economic problem. So the government is supposed to lend money to a bank, who can then lend money to a corporation, who will then build a factory in order for people to have jobs. Do we really need more jobs? In California, they're tearing down houses as we speak, because the houses are in foreclosure, and they want to keep market values high. The US Department of Agriculture burns food every week in order to keep the prices of that food high, even though there's people who are starving and people who need homes. We can't just let people have those homes. Why? Because they don't have jobs. So now we're supposed to create jobs for people to make useless stuff for other people to buy plastic crap that we're going to throw away or stick in storage units or end up in landfill just so those people can have jobs so that we can justify letting them participate in the abundance. And that's kind of ass backwards. So I thought, well, shoot, rather than creating useless jobs, what if we just let people have the stuff that's in abundance? Just let people have the houses. What's the problem with this? And UBI kind of goes along that lines of, well, if we have more than enough stuff, if we don't need everybody working all the time, then why don't we just let people have income? Or at least go to a four-day workweek or a three-day workweek or a two-day workweek. If work is the thing that's scarce, then why don't we mete that out and say, 'OK, we've got these 10 days that you're allowed to work this year. So come on, come onto the farm and do that work, and then you'll have to find something else for you to do the rest of the time.' But in reality, it's not like that. If we were really that efficient, then we wouldn't be destroying the planet with pollution. What we've done is found ways of making stuff and doing things that require very little labor, but externalize a host of other problems to a whole lot of other places. So we could 3D print or something, but where do you get the plastic goop for your 3D printer? What mine in Africa is it coming out of, and which topsoil is it destroying? You know, when we're going to run out of topsoil in 60 years, it means that we're not actually using the appropriate labor intensive permaculture solutions in agriculture and all that. So first off, that whole idea that we're moving towards lower employment is a myth. We've faked lower employment through extremely extractive, exploitative, polluting, and unsustainable business practices. And second, I was giving a talk at Uber, and I was talking to them about the problems with their business model and how they're putting all these... Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/.

Technology doesn't win wars. Why the US pretends it does. | Sean McFate | #8 of Top 10 2019

New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Number eight on Big Think's list this year says the future will not even look like wars to the traditional mind. The worst threat is systemic. It's growing entropy in the global system. Today, when Russia wants to shake up Europe — the world — its operatives weaponize refugees. That is, by bombing civilian centers, they create an avalanche of refugees, which, in turn, creates Brexit and the rise of right-wing national parties that want to disembowel the European Union. High-tech is not the savior that many futurists pretend it is when it comes to warfare. As a matter of fact, McFate contends, much of our investment in it is ludicrous. "You know, we have not fought, we have not had a strategic dogfight since the Korean War. So why do we need more fighter jets? I do not know. . . . We've spent $1.5 trillion on the F-35. That's more than Russia's GDP." ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sean McFate Dr. Sean McFate is an adviser to Oxford University's Centre for Technology and Global Affairs, as well as a professor of strategy at the National Defense University and Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington, DC. Additionally, he is the author of several books, including Shadow War, The New Rules of War, and The Modern Mercenary. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT SEAN MCFATE: War is getting sneakier. War is going underground. And we have to go underground with it. We have to fight in the shadows. Otherwise, we will be left behind. So for example, you know, in this type of new environment, some of the best weapons do not fire bullets. In the old days, the old rules of war, when the Soviet Union wanted to arrest the West, wanted to sort of freak out NATO, what it would do was hold a huge military exercise on the border of Germany, East and West Germany. 150,000 troops. And NATO and the United States wasn't sure, like, well, is this an exercise or could it be a real invasion? And that would shake things up. But that's the old days, the innocent days. Today, when Russia wants to shake up Europe, what they do is they weaponize refugees. They deliberately bomb civilian centers in Syria, creating an avalanche of refugees into Europe, which creates Brexit, which creates the rise of right-wing national parties that want to disembowel the European Union. The Soviets wish they could do that, if they could only have done that. So I think this is an example of how wars of the future will be fought. They will not even look like wars to the traditional mind, and a few heads will explode in the Pentagon. Sure. When people think of the threats that face our country today, they think of Russia, China, terrorism, pandemics, et cetera. But those are not the worst problems. The worst threat is systemic. It's growing entropy in the global system. It's persistent conflict. It's something I call durable disorder. What durable disorder is and what durable disorder means is that we have an emerging global system that can contain problems but not solve them. Meanwhile, we have this post 1945 idea of a liberal world order that the US sort of champions and rules upon, but that world has gone away, and we're not prepared for what follows next. For the United States, the last successful war was World War II. We won decisively in 1945. The world ran on vacuum tubes, yet the idea of conventional war is still the strategic paradigm of which the Pentagon, the military, the modern national security establishment is built around, and this is dangerously wrong. Read the full transcript at bigthink.com/.

Depression is different for everyone. Here's what it's like for me. | #9 of Top 10 2019

New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Think's #9 most popular video of 2019 illustrates that everyone's experience with depression is different, but for comedian Pete Holmes the key to living with depression has been to observe his own thoughts in an impartial way. Holmes' method, taught to him by psychologist and spiritual leader Ram Dass, is to connect to his base consciousness and think about himself and his emotions in the third person. You can't push depression away, but you can shift your mindset to help better cope with depression, anxiety, and negative emotions. If you feel depressed, you can connect with a crisis counselor anytime in the US. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PETE HOLMES Pete Holmes is a comedian, writer, cartoonist, "Christ-leaning spiritual seeker", and podcast host. His wildly popular podcast, You Made It Weird, is a comedic exploration of the meaning of life with guests ranging from Deepak Chopra and Elizabeth Gilbert to Seth Rogen and Garry Shandling. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT PETE HOLMES: You woke up in a conundrum. You were born into a conundrum. And I don't care how we label it or lower our anxiety by going, well, it's this and it's not this, and it's that -- let's just talk about this shared mystery that we're soaking in. I want to be careful here, talking about depression, because I had a friend who was very depressed, and I remember talking to him, out of love, trying to explain some of these ideas, some of these ways that we can think and interpret our suffering. And sometimes when someone is suffering, the last thing they want is for you to go, 'Hey, there's another way to look at this.' That's later. None of this is to be imposed on anybody, and I don't want to belittle or just say, 'You know your brain is -- it's your attachment to your desire to not be depressed that's causing you--' no, none of that. That is not what I'm saying at all. We can give space to someone's depression. We can love them, we can honor -- we can just eat some noodles, we can watch some movies, whatever it is. We can just sit and not talk. That's real stuff. It's a real -- I don't know if you call it a disorder, a disease, but it's happening, and we don't need to coach people through with ideologies. That being said, if you're in a place to talk about this, usually when you're not depressed, I found it helpful to step inside what I call the witness. And other traditions call that your soul. I believe science might just call it the phenomenon of your base consciousness. If you think about when you were born -- I have a baby girl now; she's not thinking in ideas yet. She doesn't know she's American. She doesn't know she lives in California. Just like a ladybug doesn't know it's Italian. You know what I mean? It's just awareness. So she's just there. But slowly over time, we build up what Jung and others called the false self. So we have the story of who we are. I'm a man and I'm a comedian and I'm a tall man, I have big teeth, and all these things, and I like the first two Batman movies, and I don't drink coffee, or whatever it is. So you build up this identity. And oftentimes, in that identity is where things like suffering are occurring, sometimes. I can't speak for everybody. But I will say that for me, when I've been depressed -- and I get depressed. I have irrational bouts of anxiety. I have random FedEx deliveries of despondency. Just like, "I didn't order this. Oh, well, keep the PJs on, cancel everything you're doing today. It's time to take a sad shower." That happens to me. So I'm speaking for me with full respect to other people's processes and their experience. When I'm depressed, if I can get into that quiet space, it's the space that's noticing the thoughts. So if you think, 'I'm hungry' -- we always just think that 'I'm hungry' is the thought in the animal, and then we eat, and then it goes... Read the full transcript at: https://ift.tt/2EOWwv9.

Allah Kay Qareeb Kaun Kitna Hai ? | #Qasim Ali Shah

In this video, Qasim Ali Shah talking about on the topic "Allah Kay Qareeb Kaun Kitna Hai ?". He is also sharing his experience, wisdom and knowledge that will be helpful for all of those who want to know about it. ===== ABOUT Qasim Ali Shah ===== Qasim Ali Shah is a well-renowned teacher, an inspirational speaker and leader, a success coach and a practical educationist of Pakistan. He is amongst the top entrepreneurs of the country, a best -selling author of 12 influential books, a famous radio host, chairman of Bestival book fair Lahore, a director of native schools system, Tour ambassador of Uzbekistan government, and intellectual on T. v, He is the founder of Qasim Ali Shah Foundation which is working on the moto that Pakistan will transform if thought transforms. In a very short span of time, his motivational videos got viral on WhatsApp and Facebook with 1 million subscribers on YouTube and 2.1 million followers on the Facebook page and many other mediums, Shah’s endeavor is around the globe. His lectures are relatable among masses due to his regional language, style, examples, above all his journey of strength and resilience. He has delivered 1000s of inspirational seminars and sessions on various topics of self-help. He has trained thousands (1000s) of the judiciary including civil and session judges, thousands (1000s ) of highest placed private sectors, governmental institutes and departments, armed forces, Social Groups and NGOs, Educational Institutes, International and national tours. His live audience whom he has trained is approximately nine million (900,000) He has written hundreds (100s) of articles for several newspapers. Hundreds of articles, blogs, and podcasts have been written on his works and achievements at national and international level. ===== FOLLOW ME ON THE SOCIALS ===== - Qasim Ali Shah: https://goo.gl/6BKcxu - Google+: https://goo.gl/uPyGvT - Twitter: https://goo.gl/78MVoA - Website : https://goo.gl/Tgjy6u ===== Team Member: Waqas Nasir =====

Having A Bad Day? Watch This.

Are you having a bad day? If so, that's okay. It's proof that you're human. Today I want to tell you what you can do if you're having a bad day to pull yourself out of it. I'm also going to share how you can have fewer bad days altogether! If you are ready to become the master of your emotions and be at your best every day, check out my FREE 21-morning ritual habits cheatsheet: https://ift.tt/2PTFrXn 🔎 RESOURCES MENTIONED 👇 67 Morning Rituals Book ► https://ift.tt/2YDRzxX Morning Ritual Mastery ► https://ift.tt/2zJLxAD 🤔 ABOUT THIS VIDEO 👇 Are you having a bad day? We all have bad days from time to time, myself included. If you woke up today, and for whatever reason, you're not feeling 100%, that's okay. It's proof that you're human. You can't expect to be happy all of the time. It's not realistic. Stressors and challenges are a normal part of life. However, I believe that it is possible to shift your state and turn your bad day around. Ready to discover two approaches that you can take the next time that you're having a bad day? If so, watch this video! 🤓 VIEW THE BLOG POST 👇 https://ift.tt/2PReZO3 🔔 SUBSCRIBE TO PROJECT LIFE MASTERY ON YOUTUBE 👇 https://ift.tt/2TYg0Dx ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🗣️ TALK TO ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA 👇 Instagram ► https://ift.tt/2PPDJXK Facebook ► https://ift.tt/21u1H7j Twitter ► https://www.twitter.com/stefanjames23 ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 💥FOLLOW PROJECT LIFE MASTERY ON SOCIAL MEDIA 👇 Instagram ► https://ift.tt/2DfYbKy Facebook ► https://ift.tt/2BGhawg Twitter ► https://ift.tt/2TYg0U3 Podcast ► https://ift.tt/2XYj5WH ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 💻 MY PRODUCTS & COURSES 👇 https://ift.tt/35QEiFf ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 🤔 ABOUT PROJECT LIFE MASTERY 😃 Stefan James from Project Life Mastery reveals his very best strategies to mastering and living life fully; everything from how to be motivated, his secrets to success, how to make money online, making passive income online, how to change your beliefs and mindset, being healthy and physically fit, being happy and productive, life management, cultivating relationships, spirituality, and much more! The Project Life Mastery YouTube channel contains Stefan's best strategies and principles that has now helped millions of people around the world. This YouTube channel is designed to help you make continual progress in each area of your life, so that you can have lasting growth and fulfillment. Website ► https://ift.tt/2QevXVj ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬ 📚 RECOMMENDED RESOURCES 👇 https://ift.tt/2tG9xVq If you found this video valuable, give it a like. If you know someone who needs to see it, share it. Leave a comment below with your thoughts. Add it to a playlist if you want to watch it later. DISCLAIMER: The information contained on this YouTube Channel and the resources available for download/viewing through this YouTube Channel are for educational and informational purposes only.​ This description may contain affiliate links. If you purchase a product through one of them, I will receive a commission (at no additional cost to you). I only ever endorse products that I have personally used and benefitted from personally. Thank you for your support! #MOTIVATION #POSITIVITY #MINDSET #HAPPINESS #MOTIVATIONAL

Become an intellectual explorer: Master the art of conversation | #10 of Top 10 2019

New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Think's #10 most popular video of 2019 will teach you how to expand your intellect through the art of insightful conversation. First up: What is a great conversation? They are the ones that leave us feeling smarter or more curious, with a sense that we have discovered something, understood something about another person, or have been challenged. Emily Chamlee-Wright, president and CEO of the Institute for Humane Studies, details the 3 design principles that lead to great conversations: humility, critical thinking, and sympathetic listening. Critical thinking is the celebrated cornerstone of liberalism, but next time you're in a challenging and rewarding conversation, try to engage sympathetic listening too. Understanding why another intelligent person holds ideas that are at odds with your own is often more enlightening than merely hunting for logic errors. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- EMILY CHAMLEE-WRIGHT Dr. Emily Chamlee-Wright is the president and CEO of the Institute for Humane Studies, which supports and partners with scholars working within the classical liberal tradition. She was previously Provost and Dean at Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. Prior to joining Washington College, she was Elbert Neese Professor of Economics and Associate Dean at Beloit College in Beloit, Wisconsin. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT EMILY CHAMLEE-WRIGHT: So think about the last conversation you had where you thought, golly, that was such a great conversation. What did it feel like? Why did it seem like a really great conversation? And the chances are good that it was a kind of conversation that left you feeling smarter. It was the kind of conversation where you felt like you discovered something new, that it left you deeply curious about something else. It might have been a conversation that challenged you in all the right ways. That's a truly great conversation. It's one where we genuinely learn something or we come to a deeper understanding about why someone else holds a particular point of view. Right? That deeper understanding and that learning is what we're after with great conversations. And so one of the things I'm interested in is what are the design principles of a great conversation. What are the essential elements that make a conversation truly a great conversation? And humility would be one basic design principle that we should all start from. Now with humility, I don't just mean deference to expertise, right, that you are so much smarter at that thing so I'm going to have humility with respect to you on that thing because you know more about it than I do. Now maybe that's true, right? But that's not the kind of humility I'm talking about, because that's a sort of humility that could come to an end, right? I could learn as much about that particular topic, and therefore with that kind of thinking I would say I can set aside my humility. t's true whether one person is the expert or not. Right? We have the opportunity to gain in our knowledge, to learn from anyone. With this way of thinking about humility, anyone can be your teacher, whether it's your professor, or whether it's an elementary school student who's lived on the planet in different circumstances than you lived on the planet. That elementary school student can teach you something that you can only get by talking with them. That's that deeper level of humility. Some of the other key design elements of a great conversation would be, for example, critical thinking and sympathetic listening. There's a lot that gets said about critical thinking; it's that ability and eagerness to identify gaps in logic or shortfalls in evidence-based argumentation. It is the cornerstone of what it means to have a liberal education, is to engage in that kind of critical thinking. Now less often discussed and surely less often celebrated is what I call sympathetic listening. And I use the word sympathetic in the way that Adam Smith used the word sympathetic, which is: Am I really understanding from that other person's point of view? That commitment to understanding the argument from the other person's perspective. Now, what sympathy in this case means is not that I feel what they feel. It's that I'm willing to set aside, even if it's just temporarily, that hunt for the slightest misstep in logic or reasoning. Setting that aside for a moment so that I can listen really carefully... Read the full transcript at: https://ift.tt/2PMHFaK

2019 most controversial: Don’t believe the keto hype | Jillian Michaels

New videos DAILY: https://bigth.ink/youtube Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos: https://bigth.ink/Edge ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Big Think's most controversial video of 2019 stirs the pot of the keto diet debate with fitness and nutrition expert Jillian Michaels, who asks: Are keto diet advocates selling people a false—or at least a selective—message? The keto diet increases fat and protein intake while dramatically reducing carbohydrate intake to about 20 grams a day or about 80 calories worth of carbs out of what could be anywhere from a 1600 to 2500 calorie diet per day. That throws your body into a state of emergency called ketosis, which burns fat fast. Michaels' main critique of the keto diet is that there is zero calorie restriction, it cuts out nutrients and digestive enzymes from fruits, and that it's high in animal fats and animal proteins, which negatively impacts telomeres, oxidative stress, and may increase inflammation. Michaels stands by the effects of regular exercise and what she calls a "commonsense diet": don't eat too much, eat real food and get a range of macronutrients. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JILLIAN MICHAELS Jillian Michaels is a fitness expert and wellness coach with over 20 years experience and is a New York Times bestselling author of numerous books including Master Your Metabolism, Unlimited: How to Build an Exceptional Life, and her most recent The 6 Keys: Unlock Your Genetic Potential for Ageless Strength, Health, and Beauty. Jillian's passion for fitness training originates from 17 years of martial arts practice in Muay Thai and Akarui-Do, in which she holds a black belt. Her first comprehensive 90-day weight loss system, Jillian Michaels Body Revolution, is available in retail stores across North America, and JILLIAN MICHAELS BODYSHRED, an intense group fitness class based on Jillian's highly-effective 3-2-1 interval system, is taught worldwide. Her latest book is The 6 Keys: Unlock Your Genetic Potential for Ageless Strength, Health, and Beauty. Buy it here: https://amzn.to/35LBHN7 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- TRANSCRIPT JILLIAN MICHAELS: How do we really decipher the thousands of studies that are out there on all of these diets? And the problem is what people will do to try to sell you a false bill of goods is take one study and blow that study out as though it's the entire picture, when of course it isn't. Imagine you have a massive painting but I only showed you this tiny piece of the painting but you had no idea what the hell else was going on over here there, there's no way you could get an accurate read on if this is a sad picture, a happy picture, like there's no way you could know, correct? So when we look at keto here's why we're saying, or not me, but here's where some of the advocates are espousing benefits. Well, what are we doing with keto? We're removing carbohydrates, anything that elevates you got about 20 grams of carbohydrates a day that you're ingesting, which is essentially nothing, it's about 80 calories worth of carbohydrates out of what could be anywhere from a 1600 to 2500 calories a day diet so that's nothing. And it throws your body into a state of emergency that's what ketosis is. And because we don't have any glucose or glycogen, any blood sugar or stored blood sugar, we turn to fat quickly. We produce ketones and the idea is we burn through fat and we lose fat fast. And that is true and you would think that would be a good thing. And in addition, people will say well I reversed my type two diabetes. Of course, your insulin level was through the floor, you're consuming zero carbohydrates so you have no blood sugar so your pancreas is not releasing insulin. And this can also affect conditions like polycystic ovarian syndrome and by virtue of that connection, it can also affect fertility. Fair. Let's give it that. But here's what we're not talking about, there's zero calorie restriction on a ketogenic diet so you have a massive amount of oxidative stress, there's no consideration of timing with regard to food so your autophagy process is totally out of whack In addition to that, it's very high in animal fats and animal proteins. So we're seeing that diets rich in saturated fats are poor for our telomeres oxidative stress, increased inflammation, your nutrient-sensing pathways that are related to the health of your metabolism are overrun with constant food, heavy fats, lots of animal protein and we know it hurts your telomeres and on and on and on. Now, what about the benefits? Is it worth it? Let me tell you, the number one way to sensitize somebody's body, again to insulin, is exercise. I've been doing this a heck of a long time... Read the full transcript at https://ift.tt/34SPvUR