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The Story:
In this episode Kurt and Aaron are talking about their recent personal events since leaving Anarchapulco, the largest Anarchist-Capitalist conference in Acapulco, Mexico. On the return trip home from the conference, Kurt was involved in a serious bus accident, where his bus collided with a semitrailer. On impact Kurt’s forehead was split on the seat in front and he awoke to gashing blood from his head. Thinking that this could be the end, Kurt was able to remain calm by controlling his breathing and acted smart by attending to his head wound – these factors saved his life. Kurt has since returned to Guadalajara and is safe and sound.
Meanwhile Aaron has found himself in New Jersey where he is visiting family, all due to a visa mishap. As Australians, both Aaron and Kurt have the luxury of easy travel, worry free boarder crossing and confident visa applications – that is if a visa is required at all. With an Australian passport one has access to 138 countries with no visa required and has a power rank of 9 on the passport index. However, Aaron’s wife has a Mexican passport, which ranks 22 in comparison – Joanna will need a visa to travel via the USA and a visa to enter Australia. Considering visas are compulsory, expensive and time consuming, it appears that perhaps not all people are born equal, whereas Australians live young and free.
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The Story:
It’s the 29th of September, 1913. We’re in Antwerp, Belgium. Rudolf Diesel calmly boards the steamboat Dresden, and is escorted by a porter to his cabin. That night, Diesel dines with the passengers and retires at 10 p.m. He takes out his diary, turns to today’s date, and draws a single cross. That was the last time Rudolf Diesel was ever seen alive – a mysterious and remarkable death of a remarkable man.
1894, Berlin, Germany. Diesel filled the tank of his combustion engine with oil, and pulled the string to fire it up. The resulting explosion could have killed him, but by a stroke of luck he emerged unscathed. Despite the great risk he was undertaking with his life, and despite the odds, inspired by his wish to level the playing field between craftsmen and monolithic factories, Diesel persevered. Two years later he demonstrated a combustion engine with a theoretical efficiency of 75%, blowing the steam engine’s 10% out of the water. By 1898, Diesel was a millionaire.
This was the engine that could ignite fuel without using a spark, and that was what made his name – or at least his last name – a household name. What people don’t know is that Diesel wasn’t using petroleum, but biofuel. The oil that almost killed him, and the oil that lead to his success, was made from the humble peanut.
For many years, people used diesel fuel made from petroleum, but now in the 21st century, there have been predictions for many decades that the world is fast approaching peak oil – the condition in which every litre of oil extracted is accompanied by a litre or more of water used to flush it out. People around the world are seeking alternatives, and using a product that’s renewable such as vegetable oil is a very attractive option. With a homemade product, people are getting a discount of up to 80% at the pump. It’s 10% less toxic than table salt, much safer to transport than petroleum diesel due to its high flash point (300°F/149°C), can extend the life of a diesel engine, and, with exhaust that smells like popcorn or french fries, it’s hard to say no.
But it’s not just oil that people are turning to. More and more people are looking to the reduced prices of solar panels to provide electricity to their homes, buying electric cars, or converting their cars into electric cars. Beyond that, people are looking at ways to reduce their use of resources and energy in general, turning to solutions such as tiny houses – houses around 25 m² or 270 square feet, or “Earthships” – self-sustaining houses.
How might we see the energy industry change in the next few years? What new sources of power will people find? What ways will they find to reduce their use of electricity, or avoid it entirely? We ask these questions, and might even supply some of the answers, in this exciting chapter of… The Paradise Paradox!
I (Kurt) have been interested in wacky conspiracy theories for years, more so after I read Robert Anton Wilson and Robert O’Shea’s book “The Illuminatus! Trilogy”, in which they compiled all the wacky conspiracy theories they received in the letter department while working at Playboy, and turned them into a brilliant work of fiction.
In more recent years, “Illuminati” has become part of the common vernacular, with many people claiming that many famous celebrities such as Rihanna, Jay-Z and Kanye West are initiated members. But what does it even mean to be an illuminatus?
“Illuminati” is broadly defined as any group claiming to have access to special knowledge, or claiming a special enlightenment. By that definition, there are scores of groups who could go by that title: the Alumbrados in Spain, the Knights Templar, Freemasons, the Astrum Argentum, the Ordo Templi Orientis, and of course the Bavarian Illuminati. Even the inner circle of Scientology would qualify as an illuminati. So what do people really mean when they say “Illuminati”? My guess is, they probably don’t know.
There are some people who talk about occult symbols in video clips, such as YouTuber Mark Dice. In 2014, Dice found that his channel had been suspended, and all his videos deleted. Could it be because he said something that was a little too close to the truth? Or perhaps he just pissed off the wrong YouTube staff member.
There are claims, which have been especially prominent in Britain in recent years, of Satanic cults involved in disturbing behaviour such as ritual sacrifice, cannibalism, and mass child abuse. These cults allegedly involve many members of the community: doctors, lawyers, teachers, politicians… What is the basis for these claims? If these groups really do exist, could they be indicative of something even darker, even more disturbing and controlling?
It seems that nobody really knows who the Illuminati are or what their agenda is. But the least we can do is keep asking questions, keep questioning, and diving deeper down the rabbit hole, as we go into the next exciting installment of… The Paradise Paradox.
Part one of a two part epic. Kurt explains his philosophical and political development, in the steps he took and the questions he had to ask to become a voluntaryist/libertarian anarchist. Why does government get to decide what you do with your body? What lawful right do police have to detain you when you’ve injured no-one? Can an involuntary government be a moral institution?
