WEBVTT - Conviviality Part 1 Ft. Andrew 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.520 Hello, and welcome to another episode of It Could Happen 0:00:08.560 --> 0:00:15.440 Here with your guest host Andrew of the YouTube channel Andrewism. Today, 0:00:15.440 --> 0:00:20.160 I'm joined by Mia, and I'm looking to discuss a 0:00:20.280 --> 0:00:23.240 topic that I brought up in passing in a previous episode, 0:00:23.680 --> 0:00:27.639 that being the idea of conviviality, and the episode in 0:00:27.720 --> 0:00:34.320 question being in my podcast on the Growth. So, when 0:00:34.360 --> 0:00:38.760 I first stumbled upon this concept of conviviality, I thought 0:00:38.800 --> 0:00:45.720 it was just, you know, one of those exciting, fluffy 0:00:45.760 --> 0:00:50.000 aged prop buzzwords, right, something you you throw into you know, 0:00:50.040 --> 0:00:55.680 your your propaganda, your conversations, your descriptions of a better world. 0:00:55.720 --> 0:00:57.920 You like, Oh, I would love to live in a 0:00:57.960 --> 0:01:01.120 world it's more convivial on these different things, convivial being 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:04.480 defined in the Dictionary as the quality of being friendly 0:01:04.560 --> 0:01:11.119 and lively. Right. Synonyms include amiability, affability, continuality, et cetera, 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:14.600 et cetera. I didn't come here to be a thesaurus. 0:01:14.640 --> 0:01:17.720 I came here to talk about the deeper meanings behind 0:01:17.720 --> 0:01:21.920 these things. Right. So, in such in this world, in 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:25.480 this term up in more depth, I ended up going 0:01:25.480 --> 0:01:28.119 down this rabbit hole and I discovered there's a whole 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:32.160 history to the term that spans I mean, I mean, 0:01:32.200 --> 0:01:35.640 I'm not going as far back as its Latin origins, right. 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:40.880 I mean, we could talk about the French and their 0:01:40.959 --> 0:01:44.120 loan words making their way into the English language. We 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:49.480 could talk about the Spanish concept of contivencia being interpreted 0:01:49.520 --> 0:01:54.040 literally as living in the company of others, or in 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:57.280 one particular context, such as in Spain between the eighteenth 0:01:57.280 --> 0:02:01.639 and fifteenth centuries, describing deep, peaceful co existence between different 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:05.360 religious groups. But I'm not going that far back. I'm 0:02:05.440 --> 0:02:12.000 sticking to the history of the term, from ivan Ilich 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:18.280 to the de growth movement to the conviviality manifestos that 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:23.400 have come out of online and offline discussions, academic and 0:02:23.400 --> 0:02:28.920 non academic discussions of this idea of conviviality. Now, I 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.160 gave a sort of a basic dictionary definition before, but 0:02:32.240 --> 0:02:35.640 I want to go a bit deeper, Right, So what 0:02:35.760 --> 0:02:41.440 is conviviality exactly? Conviviality is about creating a fun and 0:02:41.639 --> 0:02:45.240 friendly atmosphere where people can come together and have a 0:02:45.280 --> 0:02:48.000 great time. That's it in this essence, right, It's I 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:51.440 feel and you get when you're surrounded by lively conversations 0:02:51.520 --> 0:02:54.920 and laughter and a sense of celebration. You know, those 0:02:55.000 --> 0:02:57.840 moments where everyone's enjoying each other's company and it's a 0:02:57.840 --> 0:03:05.880 real sense of camaraderie. I think using conviviality as a 0:03:05.880 --> 0:03:12.440 barometer is really helpful in organizing situations. Right. If you're 0:03:12.760 --> 0:03:15.560 in an environment where you are organized and where you're 0:03:15.560 --> 0:03:20.320 doing practice and you're not picking up those convivial vibes, 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:26.400 it may be a sign that there's some toxicity in 0:03:26.440 --> 0:03:31.800 the mix there. I'm not saying that the work of 0:03:31.800 --> 0:03:36.480 activism has to be a trip to amusement park, right, 0:03:37.080 --> 0:03:40.520 It doesn't have to be a carnival, but I think 0:03:40.560 --> 0:03:43.520 there does need to be facilidarity to exist. I think 0:03:43.560 --> 0:03:47.840 there should have some level of camaraderie and conviviality in 0:03:47.880 --> 0:03:51.560 the atmosphere. So you can think of conviviality as the 0:03:51.600 --> 0:03:55.120 spirit of hospitality and warmth. Right, It's like when you 0:03:55.120 --> 0:03:57.480 gather with your friends or when you have those family 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:01.680 occasions and bring it around together. Even in work, police 0:04:02.080 --> 0:04:05.200 you know, when you and your workers get along really 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:08.240 well and you're organizing to create this union and you're 0:04:08.240 --> 0:04:11.400 going to take down your boss. It's a fun time, right, 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.440 And so how do we get from this? You know, 0:04:16.640 --> 0:04:22.440 sort of seemingly simple, sociable idea of living and enjoying 0:04:22.480 --> 0:04:25.240 life in the company of others, making people feel welcome 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:29.719 and included. How do we move from that idea this 0:04:30.080 --> 0:04:34.240 conviviality is a vital part of human interaction, to conviviality 0:04:34.360 --> 0:04:37.560 in a more political context. How do we go from 0:04:37.640 --> 0:04:41.120 just talking about social connections and adding meaning to our 0:04:41.120 --> 0:04:49.599 lives and enjoying festivities and shift to conversations about the 0:04:49.640 --> 0:04:53.279 social and political state of the world. Right now, Right 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:59.720 There's this one particular guy who's kind of responsible for this, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.919 A guy I personally like to call the illest, that 0:05:05.120 --> 0:05:09.960 being the one and only Australian philosopher, social critic and 0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:15.039 Catholic priest Ivan elch Over. The course, it was nearly 0:05:15.160 --> 0:05:23.440 eighty years of life since nineteen twenty six. This multi hyphenate, 0:05:24.080 --> 0:05:25.600 I think that's the term where you use people who 0:05:25.600 --> 0:05:31.560 have a lot of different titles. Right, This multi hyphenate 0:05:31.680 --> 0:05:38.400 from Vienna, Italy had a significant impact on a bunch 0:05:38.400 --> 0:05:41.640 of fields, you know, from education to medicines, technology to 0:05:41.680 --> 0:05:45.120 social justice. I know his name because he came up 0:05:45.120 --> 0:05:47.640 a lot when I was doing research on unschooling, te 0:05:47.800 --> 0:05:51.479 school and and just the education system as a whole. 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:54.359 But apparently he's done a lot more than just that. 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:59.599 He's challenged. He's challenged conventional thinking in all sorts of fields, 0:06:00.000 --> 0:06:06.799 and he's questioned the inherent assumptions and structures of modern society. Evans, 0:06:07.000 --> 0:06:08.640 And I hope he doesn't mind that I call me 0:06:08.680 --> 0:06:12.280 I Van, because I don't know if I'm pronouncing his 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:17.560 German name correctly, right, his German lasting correctly, So just 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.760 call him Ivan. He probably wouldn't mind, because he's dead. 0:06:21.200 --> 0:06:25.400 But Evan's intellectual journey took him through a bunch of 0:06:25.440 --> 0:06:29.440 different paths, right. He studied theology and philosophy and eventually 0:06:29.520 --> 0:06:32.000 became a priest, and he lived and worked in different 0:06:32.000 --> 0:06:35.120 parts of the world, including Latin America, where he witnessed 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:38.480 first hand the effects of development projects and the powerdynamics 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:43.360 between developed and developing nations, and those experiences deeply influenced 0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:48.880 his critical perspective on the modern industrialized world. He also 0:06:48.880 --> 0:06:51.920 became a very prolific author, known for his thought provoking 0:06:52.000 --> 0:06:55.919 and often controversial writings, such as The School and Society, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:59.400 which he published in nineteen seventy one. Tools for Contoviality, 0:06:59.560 --> 0:07:03.840 published nineteen seventy three and Medical Nemesis, published in nineteen 0:07:03.880 --> 0:07:08.160 seventy six, and in these books he challenged established institutions 0:07:08.160 --> 0:07:14.160 and systems offered alternative visions that emphasized individual autonomy, community engagement, 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:23.640 and wait for it, convivial relationships, ilicious or evans critique 0:07:23.680 --> 0:07:27.200 of education systems contributed to the development of altunative educational 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:31.160 approaches such as homeschooling, on schooling, and learner centered education. 0:07:31.760 --> 0:07:35.840 His examination of the medical establishment sparked discussions on patient 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.640 empowerment and the need for a more participatory model of healthcare, 0:07:40.040 --> 0:07:42.760 something I would like to discuss in a future episode, 0:07:43.200 --> 0:07:49.840 though I would like to find someone in the disability 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.800 justice space to have that discussion with, because that is 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:58.480 an area of experiential ignorance for me. Yeah, So if 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:03.360 anybody has any suggestions, I'd appreciate it. But Evan's legacy, right, 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:07.040 it extends far beyond his lifetime, as it's clear he 0:08:07.080 --> 0:08:12.480 has elasting impact on critical theory, on social philosophy, and 0:08:13.040 --> 0:08:16.800 the quest for a more just and humane world. And 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:18.560 I'm gassed up the guy a lot, and I'm sure 0:08:18.600 --> 0:08:22.120 he has some flaws that someone will no doubt inform 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:27.200 me about and I have not read all of it. Yeah, 0:08:27.280 --> 0:08:29.320 he does go. He did go sign the Catholic jage 0:08:29.360 --> 0:08:32.240 barbing a priest. I s right, So I'm sure he 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:34.360 has his flaws. And I have not read all of 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:38.000 his literature. I haven't even read Medical Nemesis yet. But 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.800 in Tools of Conviviality in particular, I want to discuss 0:08:41.840 --> 0:08:47.120 his perspective on conviviality and its role in society. Right 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.240 in the book, he expresses these deep concerns about the 0:08:50.240 --> 0:08:54.760 negative effects of modern institutions and systems, and he argued 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:58.040 that they often hindered personal freedom, autonomy, and human flourishing. 0:08:58.559 --> 0:09:01.760 He believed that many of our socialstructures had become oppressive, 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.840 as they dictated not only how we should live, learn, 0:09:04.880 --> 0:09:11.440 and interact, but also how we saw ourselves as people. 0:09:12.559 --> 0:09:16.720 He argued that our systems had become highly centralized, reliant 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:22.760 on professional expertise, and complex technologies that limited individual agency 0:09:22.920 --> 0:09:28.280 and self determination. Now, one could be bad faith, I 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.000 suppose and say that, oh, is he saying that, you know, 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:37.120 Ivan was anti complex technology? Is some sort of popular 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:43.520 culture vastardization of Luodites or something. But his concern was 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:47.280 not necessarily on the technology itself and the complexity of technology, 0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.480 but more so how that technology slotted into the structure 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:55.720 of society as a whole. Right, His concern was about 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:59.520 how these elite professional groups had established what he called 0:09:59.559 --> 0:10:05.240 a rat monopoly over fundamental human activities, including health, agriculture, 0:10:05.360 --> 0:10:09.920 home building, and learning. And this monopoly, it's monopoly is 0:10:09.920 --> 0:10:13.439 criticized and all the technology, but the monopoly, according to Ivan, 0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:18.600 had led to a detrimental war and subsistence that deprived 0:10:19.040 --> 0:10:23.079 formerly pasant societies of the essential skills and know how. 0:10:24.240 --> 0:10:25.640 Yeah, And I mean, like, I feel like that's a 0:10:25.640 --> 0:10:29.160 pretty I think I think it's pretty hard to. 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:34.000 Like tour that line. Well, I don't know if I think. 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.400 I think like I think specifically that line of agriculture 0:10:36.440 --> 0:10:40.040 is pretty hard to like not fought, like, not agree 0:10:40.040 --> 0:10:42.080 with if you look at the effects that the Green 0:10:42.160 --> 0:10:46.960 Revolution had on other people who do agriculture. Oh yeah, yeah, 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.640 I mean, and I think this goes to it, like 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.679 this falls in with the sort of like you know, 0:10:52.960 --> 0:10:55.120 like the sort of social technological aspect of it. Of 0:10:55.200 --> 0:10:57.080 like the fact that this was combined with this massive 0:10:57.080 --> 0:11:00.439 sort of social technological push to you know, drive farmers 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:03.720 into debt you know, so they could afford the inputs 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:05.760 for this stuff, and what it did to sort of 0:11:06.160 --> 0:11:07.880 what it did to the actual farming communities, and what 0:11:07.880 --> 0:11:11.120 it did to people's livelihoods, and you know the way 0:11:11.120 --> 0:11:12.480 that like a lot of this was just the sort 0:11:12.480 --> 0:11:16.360 of smoke screen for like consolidation of major landowners, et cetera, 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:19.880 et cetera. Like I think I think he's pretty on 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:20.720 the right point. 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:23.440 Yeah, yeah, For those who don't know, by the way, 0:11:23.880 --> 0:11:27.319 the Green Revolution refers to a period of technological advance 0:11:27.320 --> 0:11:30.320 moments and agricultural strategies that took place during the mid 0:11:30.320 --> 0:11:34.280 twentieth century, primarily in developing countries. It aimed to increase 0:11:34.320 --> 0:11:38.640 agricultural productivity and food production to the adoption of high 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:42.839 yielding crop varieties, increased use of fertilizers, pesticides, and modern 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.280 farming techniques. And the Green Revolution is basically responsible for 0:11:46.280 --> 0:11:50.280 a lot of the most damaging practices that we see 0:11:50.320 --> 0:11:54.920 in agriculture today, right from the heavy reliance on chemical 0:11:54.920 --> 0:11:58.320 inputs like futilizers and pesticides, which leads to you know, 0:11:58.920 --> 0:12:03.200 soil degradation, pollution, lost by diversity, you know, the emphasis 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.200 on monocultures and replacements of traditional crop varieties of high 0:12:07.240 --> 0:12:11.040 yielding ones. The reduced agrobi diversity and led to diseases 0:12:11.120 --> 0:12:16.920 proliferate in between certain species, intensive farming practices that could 0:12:16.920 --> 0:12:21.520 not be kept up with by small scale farmers, like 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:26.880 Mio was saying, the consolidation of land and the ability 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:32.040 to manage that land into these acribusiness corporations and major landowners. 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:35.680 Yeah. And I think it's worth emphasizing that this was 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:37.959 very explicitly seen as NATI communist thing. I mean, the 0:12:38.360 --> 0:12:42.040 state departments, like actual explicit line was a great revolution 0:12:42.120 --> 0:12:44.959 to stop a bred revolution. So like a big part 0:12:45.000 --> 0:12:49.000 of what this was about was like stopping land reform 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:52.400 from happening, which right, yeah, is incredibly bleak. 0:12:53.720 --> 0:12:57.160 Yeah, and now it's the dominant practice globally and it's 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:01.160 having detrimental impacts globally. And yeah, and and I mean 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.360 some of those blood some of them are going to 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.960 be dead very soon. Yeah, the rest of us have 0:13:06.000 --> 0:13:12.640 to suffer the consequences story of my life, yeap, which 0:13:13.240 --> 0:13:14.760 existence on this is right? 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:18.960 Yeah, you think that's sort of wild about it too, 0:13:19.080 --> 0:13:21.640 is that like the countries that did land reform like 0:13:22.160 --> 0:13:24.679 developed better capitalist economies and the ones who didn't. 0:13:25.440 --> 0:13:31.000 But yeah, you know, like, yeah, yay, the better doing copless. 0:13:31.240 --> 0:13:33.480 Yeah, well, I mean and like yeah, it's like they're 0:13:33.480 --> 0:13:36.480 they're better. It turns out doing land reform actually does 0:13:36.520 --> 0:13:41.200 help both like non capitalist and capitalist economies. But unfortunately 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.280 the green revolutionary people, the revolution people like already even 0:13:44.640 --> 0:13:47.520 like people who care about the efficiency of capitalism, they 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:49.880 care about like the power of the land owning class. 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:52.480 Well yeah, and I mean that I don't know if 0:13:52.480 --> 0:13:54.000 this is a saying, but I might make it a 0:13:54.080 --> 0:13:57.080 say in I think socialists are bets are doing copitless 0:13:57.120 --> 0:13:57.920 and then copless. 0:13:57.920 --> 0:14:02.960 So yeah, I mean that's the entire is this is 0:14:02.960 --> 0:14:05.160 the entire story of China, right, It's like, yeah, like 0:14:06.000 --> 0:14:09.040 Brush's Leninism is a really really efficient way to turn 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:11.160 a feudal economy into a capitalist economy. 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:16.000 Yeah, Like, if I was in charge of capitalism, I 0:14:16.160 --> 0:14:18.080 was going to make sure that the people at the 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:22.720 bottom class brought into the system. Who will see and yeah, 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.200 propaganding education is a part of it, but also you 0:14:26.280 --> 0:14:29.240 want to make sure they're not vulnerable to being radicalized. 0:14:29.520 --> 0:14:30.960 The best way to do that is to ensure that 0:14:30.960 --> 0:14:37.640 the basic needs are met. Yeah, but you know, even 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:43.440 arguing that will have some people, uh, misinformed, I would say, 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:48.960 but well intentioned labeling you a socialist, like I think 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:54.000 people should have good things. Oh you're dirty red comedy you. 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.080 But you know it's it's just well, it's just literally 0:14:57.120 --> 0:15:01.160 wealthier capitalism. But apparently that too much for a lot 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.680 of capitalists. Apparently, I mean literally the reason we have 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:10.040 welfare capitalism is because socialists forward for it in early 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.760 twentieth century and early to mid twentieth century. So you know, 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:17.400 we have socialist to thank for everything basically. But I'm 0:15:17.400 --> 0:15:21.880 getting off track, right, So, like I was saying, this monopoly, 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:26.440 this radical monopoly over fundamental human activities, that's a detrimental 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:30.040 war and subsistence that are deprived peasant societies of the 0:15:30.160 --> 0:15:34.840 essential skills and know how, instead of promoting human flourishing, 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:39.720 all this economic development ended up feeding into what Yvan 0:15:39.880 --> 0:15:45.840 has termed modernized poverty. And it's something I think about often, Right, 0:15:45.920 --> 0:15:50.640 this idea of the poor back then versus the poor now. Right, 0:15:51.000 --> 0:15:54.120 And of course it depends on which society you're talking about, 0:15:54.160 --> 0:15:57.400 which time period you're talking about, But let's just pick 0:15:57.600 --> 0:16:04.680 some random like historic poor person. Right, let's just say, 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:12.240 I don't know generic civilization. A. This person is poor, right, 0:16:12.840 --> 0:16:16.840 they after work, they have to work the land backbreaking toil. 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:19.840 Sometimes raiders would roll it and be like, oh, we're 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:21.920 going to take your stuff now, and then they would 0:16:22.080 --> 0:16:25.080 like ride their horses away and probably I don't know, 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:29.440 dab on you or whatever, or the raiders will roll in, 0:16:29.680 --> 0:16:31.520 they'll take your stuff and then they'll be like, oh, 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:33.840 I want to stay. And then now you have to 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.800 pay taxes to me every year. And you know, that's 0:16:35.800 --> 0:16:40.840 how a lot of states were created. But whether it's 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:45.600 you know, nomadic warlords or settled warlords, at least you 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:49.800 had a house, at least you had a community. At 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:51.960 least you had the ability to grow your own food, 0:16:52.360 --> 0:16:55.000 even though a lot of that food was being taxed. 0:16:58.960 --> 0:17:02.000 And you know, at least you had certain skills that 0:17:02.040 --> 0:17:05.840 you could use to sustain yourself. Right. Compare that to 0:17:05.920 --> 0:17:09.879 modern poverty, where you have this large swath of people 0:17:10.240 --> 0:17:15.199 who are dependent, who are mechanical parts in a system 0:17:15.240 --> 0:17:19.760 that they cannot fully understand, comprehend and control for themselves. 0:17:20.240 --> 0:17:23.960 With this, you know, whole industrial revolution where you take 0:17:25.119 --> 0:17:28.240 this process of making a chair, for example, and you 0:17:28.320 --> 0:17:30.320 break it up into a bunch of different steps, and 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.640 each person that step you knows how to do one thing, 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:37.480 but they don't have to do the entire thing. Right 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:39.879 Like the poor today versus the poor of yesteryear, the 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:43.000 latter still had these skills for subsistence, and many of 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.000 today is poor, particularly the urban poor. Because I know 0:17:46.040 --> 0:17:49.440 the rural poor, a lot of them still sustain themselves, 0:17:49.480 --> 0:17:54.520 still practice you know, sustem, subsistence farm and that kind 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:57.160 of thing, but particularly the urban poor, they don't even 0:17:57.280 --> 0:17:59.480 have like a lot of those skills to rely on 0:17:59.720 --> 0:18:05.119 even sustain themselves in that level. For the urbanists in 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.080 the audience, you might appreciate the Devan also talks about 0:18:08.119 --> 0:18:11.320 the dominance of cars and how they've created this radical 0:18:11.359 --> 0:18:15.280 monopoly over land sitting out urban environments into the domain 0:18:15.359 --> 0:18:18.480 of cars, which not only compromises the environment for pedestrians 0:18:18.760 --> 0:18:30.400 and cyclists, but also disrupts our innate mobility as human beings. 0:18:36.119 --> 0:18:40.720 Steven takes it a step further right. And this particular 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:43.080 opinion opinion of his is a bit shaky for me, 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:46.120 so something I've been lettin stewing my brain a little 0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:50.520 bit more. But let me just read the quote the 0:18:50.640 --> 0:18:55.040 radical monopoly cars established is destructive in a special way. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:19:01.200 Cars create distance, speedy vehicles of all kinds, frendous scarce. 0:19:01.920 --> 0:19:06.240 They drive wedges of highways into populated areas and the 0:19:06.359 --> 0:19:09.280 next door tolls on the bridge over the remoteness between 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:14.280 people that was manufactured for their sake. This monopoly overland 0:19:14.320 --> 0:19:18.439 turn space into car fodder. It destroys the environment for 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:22.080 feet and bicycles. Even if polices and buses could run 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.480 as non pollutant, Even if planes and buses could run 0:19:25.520 --> 0:19:30.760 as non pollutant, non deplete and public services they're inhuman velocities, 0:19:31.040 --> 0:19:34.399 would degrademans in need mobility and force him to spend 0:19:34.400 --> 0:19:38.080 more time for the sake of travel. I'm sure he 0:19:38.119 --> 0:19:40.480 could pick up on why that particular opinion is a 0:19:40.520 --> 0:19:43.440 bit shaky, right, Yeah, it's not just anti car. He's 0:19:43.480 --> 0:19:45.480 also a bit anti plane and bus. 0:19:46.840 --> 0:19:50.320 To be fair, I'm also anti bus. But like planes, 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:52.920 I don't know, like, are they great for the environment? No? 0:19:53.240 --> 0:19:55.360 Do you sometimes need to go to another continent? 0:19:56.320 --> 0:20:02.359 Yes? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, So he is a He probably 0:20:02.400 --> 0:20:07.400 reads like r slash f cars and he's like, uh, y'all, 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:14.280 don't take it far. You know you guys are liberals. 0:20:15.800 --> 0:20:19.560 But yeah, so I highly recommend reading the actual book 0:20:19.600 --> 0:20:22.159 and full for further insight and context. And I do 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:23.960 want to dig into his thoughts on a food in 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:27.920 the future, but you know, food for thought. Let me 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:35.359 know what you think of those inhuman velocities. But anyway, 0:20:36.680 --> 0:20:40.240 memes aside, I think the benefit of Evan's critique of 0:20:40.280 --> 0:20:44.560 the radical monopoly is that it provides a different perspective, right. 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:48.800 It sheds light on the negative consequences of excessive specialization, 0:20:49.320 --> 0:20:53.240 technocratic control, and the prioritization of speed and efficiency over 0:20:53.320 --> 0:20:57.880 human well being. Zoeb on YouTube actually has a really 0:20:57.920 --> 0:21:01.760 great video and the idea of efficiency as this ultimate 0:21:01.800 --> 0:21:05.320 moral good, So I recommend checking that out, especially since 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.840 the standard narrative that we are utterly bombarded by is 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:12.840 that all these things are uncontroversially good. Right. What I 0:21:12.880 --> 0:21:16.760 appreciate about Yvan and his ideas is that they challenge 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:22.400 us to reconsider our relationship with systems, tools, and institutions, 0:21:22.960 --> 0:21:27.199 and he encourages us to strive for more balanced and 0:21:27.240 --> 0:21:31.840 confivial society. And what does that convivial society look like 0:21:31.880 --> 0:21:37.200 to him? Well, let's continue Ivan's solution argues for the 0:21:37.200 --> 0:21:41.000 developments of new, accessible and user friendly instruments that would 0:21:41.040 --> 0:21:44.960 allow average citizens to regain practical knowledge and reclaim control 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.600 over their lives, as well as resist the domination of 0:21:47.640 --> 0:21:52.359 specialized elites. That's why Ivan Ilich's book Tools for Conviviality 0:21:52.680 --> 0:21:58.800 is sponsored by Skills. All right, I know that was 0:21:58.840 --> 0:22:04.080 a bad joke. Yvan believed that society should be organized 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:08.240 to serve the needs and aspirations of individuals, rather than 0:22:08.320 --> 0:22:13.239 creating systems that limit their potential and autronomy. And so 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:18.840 for Yvan conviviality. Here we are back to the original topic. 0:22:19.320 --> 0:22:23.600 Conviviality represented a society in which individuals had the power 0:22:23.680 --> 0:22:27.679 to shape their own lives, free from excessor dependence on 0:22:27.800 --> 0:22:32.399 institutionalized systems. He envisioned a world people had access to 0:22:32.560 --> 0:22:38.560 convivial tools, simple, user friendly technologies that empowered them to 0:22:38.600 --> 0:22:42.959 take control of their own destinies. For example, the dominant 0:22:43.040 --> 0:22:47.159 education system separates learners from the real world and disempowers them. 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:51.160 Ivan advocates for more self directed and community based education, 0:22:51.640 --> 0:22:54.959 where people could pursue knowledge and skills according to their 0:22:55.000 --> 0:23:00.199 own interests and needs. Yvan also critiques the overreliance on 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:03.000 medical professionals and call for a shift towards a more 0:23:03.000 --> 0:23:07.200 participatory model of healthcare that gives individuals access to information 0:23:07.240 --> 0:23:10.399 and resources that allow them to actively participate in their 0:23:10.440 --> 0:23:14.240 own health decisions rather than be in these passive recipients 0:23:14.480 --> 0:23:19.560 of medical interventions. In transportation systems, he also advocates for 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:24.200 more human skill and community oriented transportation alternatives. He envisions 0:23:24.200 --> 0:23:27.760 neighborhoods designed for walking and biking, which would foster social 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:32.720 interactions and reduce the environmental impact of excessive motorized transport. 0:23:33.480 --> 0:23:38.240 In essence, Evan viewed Forviality as a transformative concept that 0:23:38.359 --> 0:23:42.080 aimed to restore individual agency and personal connections and a 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:47.560 sense of empowerment in society. He challenged the prevalance structures 0:23:47.600 --> 0:23:51.880 and systems that limited human potential and proposed more participatory, 0:23:52.200 --> 0:23:56.159 community driven alternatives, and to this day, his ideas continue 0:23:56.160 --> 0:23:59.680 to inspire discussions on how we can create a convivial 0:23:59.680 --> 0:24:04.560 society that values human relationships, self determination, and a shared 0:24:04.600 --> 0:24:09.320 responsibility for shaping our own lives. What I found particularly 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.840 interesting in researching this was learning that the book's vision 0:24:12.920 --> 0:24:15.920 of tools that would be developed maintained by a community 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:19.919 of users that actually had significant influence on the first 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:25.880 developers the personal computer mind blowing. I know, most notably 0:24:25.960 --> 0:24:29.640 one of the create first developers of the PC, Lee 0:24:29.720 --> 0:24:36.000 Felt Felsenstein. Lee Felsenstein, He and several others were just 0:24:36.760 --> 0:24:40.920 were inspired by this idea within the book, because we 0:24:40.920 --> 0:24:45.959 remember Ivana's righting this before the internet, and they go 0:24:46.000 --> 0:24:47.800 and they take this idea, and then they make the 0:24:47.800 --> 0:24:51.359 internet or they make the personal computer, because computers existed 0:24:51.359 --> 0:24:54.200 prior to the personal computer, but they weren't as accessible, 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:58.439 they weren't a tool of conviviality, whereas the personal computer 0:24:58.480 --> 0:25:03.640 of today is. And I just think that's beautiful and amazing. 0:25:04.600 --> 0:25:07.920 But Ivan's ideas did more than just you know, shape 0:25:07.920 --> 0:25:11.520 the course of human history. He also would shaped the 0:25:11.560 --> 0:25:16.760 creation of confiviulist movement. In twenty ten, eight years after 0:25:16.960 --> 0:25:20.280 Ivan died, and thirty seven years after Ivan published Tools 0:25:20.280 --> 0:25:27.120 for Conviviality, Raymond de Boiver published Convivialism, a philosophical Manifesto, 0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:31.200 and in it, Barvert begins by discussing the key theme 0:25:31.400 --> 0:25:34.320 in Michael Polland's books The Botany of Desire, which is 0:25:34.320 --> 0:25:37.640 a great read, by the way, and the Omnivars Dilemma, 0:25:37.760 --> 0:25:40.639 which I haven't read yet, but the key theme is 0:25:41.119 --> 0:25:46.080 co evolution, right. The first book humorously suggests that plants 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:49.720 manipulate humans to coevolve, with them taking care of their 0:25:49.720 --> 0:25:53.520 needs and exchange for nutrition or beauty, and the second book, 0:25:53.760 --> 0:25:58.880 the Omnivoice Dilemma, the importance of interconnected components for vibrant 0:25:58.880 --> 0:26:02.280 pharm is emphasized, corn serving as an example of a 0:26:02.320 --> 0:26:07.800 plant that relies on humans for survival. WaveRT proposes that 0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:11.240 focusing on the prefix co in co evolution could have 0:26:11.359 --> 0:26:16.080 philosophical implications similar to William James's emphasis on the preposition 0:26:16.640 --> 0:26:23.600 with by you know. Examining the significance of these prepositions co, 0:26:23.920 --> 0:26:27.200 com con or coal as well as sin, the author 0:26:27.320 --> 0:26:32.680 argues for a philosophy that recognizes omnipresent interconnection. Michael Polland's 0:26:32.680 --> 0:26:36.280 books do this well in the context of food, but 0:26:36.960 --> 0:26:43.479 Waver wants to take this The implications of this uh 0:26:43.640 --> 0:26:48.480 taken preposition seriously into a rearrange ing the philosophy itself, 0:26:50.119 --> 0:26:52.320 and now we're getting, you know, kind of heavy, right. 0:26:53.080 --> 0:26:58.159 As Quavert argues, philosophers have often neglected the significance of 0:26:58.240 --> 0:27:03.679 interconnected relationships, while farmers recognize the importance of interconnectedness, you know, 0:27:03.760 --> 0:27:06.719 how things like land and water and stuff all work together. 0:27:08.720 --> 0:27:11.560 Modern philosophy, on the other hand, according to Bovair, since 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:14.879 the Renaissance, has been focused on these self standing and 0:27:14.960 --> 0:27:19.800 independent entities, not interconnected entities. And I don't know how 0:27:19.840 --> 0:27:25.200 true this is because I'm not I didn't study philosophy. 0:27:25.480 --> 0:27:32.879 I'm just communicating Barveao's arguments here, right. And so the 0:27:32.920 --> 0:27:39.840 idea of autonomy in modern philosophy, according to barve seem 0:27:39.920 --> 0:27:45.239 to exclude the with factor and existence, relegating relations and 0:27:45.320 --> 0:27:51.240 interconnections to a secondary rule. So Whatver is saying is 0:27:51.280 --> 0:27:55.159 that philosophy is sort on this foundation that we are 0:27:55.280 --> 0:27:59.400 autonomous and self sufficient first, right, and then everything else 0:27:59.440 --> 0:28:05.520 comes after. You know. Rousseau, for example, portrayed an idyllic 0:28:05.760 --> 0:28:11.320 existence where connections, independencies of views as these impositions. You know, 0:28:13.000 --> 0:28:15.560