May 14, 2025 • 22 mins
The forces that shape our modern world often operate invisibly, pulling strings behind the scenes of our daily lives. This profound exploration unravels how capitalism evolved from a system once rooted in local exchange and productivity into globalism - a borderless machine built for extraction with little regard for what's sacred, connected, or alive.
We journey through capitalism's historical transformation, from its emergence as an alternative to feudalism through the industrial revolution that mechanized not just production but human experience itself. The Gilded Age revealed capitalism's darker tendencies, where surface prosperity masked exploitation and disconnection. As we trace this evolution into modern globalism, we confront uncomfortable truths about a system that allows corporations to transcend borders while people remain bound by them.
The spiritual costs of this transformation run deeper than economics. When forests are cleared for profit, oceans emptied for trade, and human attention harvested as data, we experience not just material loss but a kind of collective amnesia. We forget our essential interconnection. Technologies built without wisdom - from financial derivatives to artificial intelligence to surveillance capitalism - threaten not just our privacy or jobs but our very humanity.
Yet this isn't a story without hope. Alternative systems are emerging that challenge the assumption that extraction and disconnection are inevitable. Economic democracy, universal basic income, sovereign digital infrastructure, and relocalization offer pathways toward economies that serve life rather than markets. The revolution begins not with overthrowing external structures but with reclaiming our internal sovereignty - our attention, relationships, and reverence for life.
You are not a consumer or a product. You are a sovereign soul connected to every living thing, anchored to something no market can price. As we remember this truth together, we begin to imagine and create systems worthy of our shared humanity. Join us in this awakening - follow, share, and support this evolution of consciousness as we level up and master our universe together.
Episodes are updated weekly. If you want to support this evolution of consciousness please show me by following, sharing this channel with those you love, and leaving a review.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Evolved
Podcast.
I'm here to ensure that allknowledge I give you finds
meaning and a practical place inyour everyday lives.
It's only through properlydigesting knowledge, in this
case of ourselves and the worldaround us, that we see things
clearly enough to break oldpatterns of behavior and begin a
new path forward to aheightened state of
consciousness.
In this episode, we unpack theevolution of capitalism into
(00:26):
globalism, tracing how a systemonce rooted in trade and
productivity has morphed into aborderless force for extraction,
disconnection and spiritualerosion.
We explore how moderncapitalism now possesses
systemic and existential risksto humanity, not just
economically but psychologicallyand ecologically, from AI and
(00:48):
climate collapse to surveillanceand cultural commodification.
I challenge you to rethink thesystems we've normalized and I
invite you to reconnect with oneanother, with the earth we all
occupy and with the sourcebehind it all.
Today we're diving into a topicthat sits at the root of every
modern crisis.
Somewhere along the way, wetraded reverence for convenience
(01:09):
and connection for consumption.
We forgot that behind themarkets, the technologies and
the ideologies, there are people, souls, a shared universal
connection, a collectiveconsciousness.
This episode is an invitationto remember, because if we don't
understand how these systemspull us apart, not just
structurally but spiritually.
We can't heal what's beenbroken.
(01:32):
Let's begin with a brief butcritical history.
Capitalism didn't arise fromevil.
It emerged as a response tofeudalism, a new vision of
individual ownership, merit andtrade.
It offered the promise offreedom through productivity,
ownership, merit and trade.
It offered the promise offreedom through productivity.
Europe was bound by land andbloodlines, but merchant
economies began forming inIslamic trade routes and
(01:53):
Renaissance city-states.
There was movement, exchangeand possibility.
Then we see the emergence ofmercantilism, which emerged and
reshaped global commerce betweenthe 1500s and the 1700s.
In this system, nations usedempire, slavery and colonization
to extract wealth from others.
This was capitalism beforemarkets were free, driven by
conquest, not consent.
And with it came a newworldview the earth as a
(02:14):
resource, the human as labor,god as silent.
We see, with Adam Smith and hisclassical ideal expressed in
his the Wealth of Nations, areinforcement in the liberal
ideology.
See, smith imagined that ifpeople pursued self-interest in
a free market, it would be aninvisible hand leading to
collective good.
But what's often forgotten isthat Smith also warned of
(02:37):
merchants colluding against thepublic and manipulating markets.
Nowhere did capitalism take on amore radical mechanized form
than in industrial America.
The market revolution reshapedearly America from a land of
farmers to one of wage laborersand commodity producers.
Steam power, canals, railroadsand the telegraph forged a new
kind of infrastructure, one thatmoved goods faster than nature
(02:59):
and people faster than culturecould absorb.
Textile mills sprang up in NewEngland, while southern cotton
plantations, fueled by slavery,fed raw materials into the
industrial machine.
This was the beginning of whathistorian Charles Sellers called
, and I quote, the birth of thecapitalist nation.
But it came with spiritual cost.
Land was commodified, labor wasalienated, time was monetized.
(03:23):
After the Civil War, americancapitalism exploded.
The Second IndustrialRevolution brought steel, oil,
electricity and mass production.
Titans like Andrew Carnegie,john D Rockefeller, jp Morgan
emerged, consolidating vastempires through vertical
integration and monopolies.
These men were hailed ascaptains of industry or
condemned as robber barons,depending on who you ask.
(03:44):
Laborers flooded cities, oftenworking 12 to 16-hour days in
dangerous, dehumanizingconditions.
Immigrants arrived by themillions, chasing the American
dream and instead findingsweatshops, tenements and
exploitation.
This was the age of capitalwithout conscience.
Mark Twain called it the GildedAge, a time glittering with
(04:05):
surface wealth but rottingunderneath Churches aligned with
business.
Labor unions were crushed withviolence.
The land was stripped fortimber, coal and railroads.
Indigenous peoples weredisplaced and massacred in the
name of progress.
Ask yourself was this reallyprogress or a kind of collective
forgetting Progress?
Towards what and away from whom?
(04:26):
By the 1900s, america had becomethe industrial powerhouse of
the world.
Henry Ford's assembly linebecame the model Fast, efficient
, soul-crushing.
The Great Depression exposedcapitalism's volatility 25%
unemployment, soup lines, massdespair.
Fdr's New Deal introducedsocial safety nets, banking
regulations and laborprotections, not to end
(04:48):
capitalism but to save it fromitself.
Post-world War II, america sawa golden age of industrial
capitalism strong unions, risingwages and widespread home
ownership.
But this prosperity wasn'tshared equally.
Women were pushed back intodomestic roles.
Black Americans remainedexcluded from generational
wealth through redlining andsegregation.
(05:09):
The prosperity came at theexpense of the global South,
where resources were extractedto feed US industry.
Through it all, something wasquietly eroding.
Community was replaced withconsumerism.
Spirituality was replaced withspectacle.
Human time was replaced withmachine time.
The factories didn't justchange how we work, it changed
(05:30):
how we see ourselves.
No longer part of a living web,we became units of labor,
replaceable, separated.
And as we lost connection tothe land and lineage, we lost
something else the memory of whowe are beneath the machine.
Capitalism didn't stop evolving.
In fact, it was just gettingstarted and in the 1980s it
crossed another threshold intosomething faster, borderless and
(05:53):
more invasive than ever before.
The next phase was globalism.
Let's zoom out for a moment.
If capitalism began as a localsystem of exchange rooted in
land, labor and material goods,then globalism is its ultimate
mutation.
It is capitalism scaled to itslogical extreme borderless,
stateless and frictionless,designed to serve capital itself
(06:13):
, not communities, not nature,definitely not people.
In the industrial age, capitalneeded factories, then it needed
raw materials, then it neededlabor and eventually it needed
freedom, not human freedom, butfreedom from laws, limits, taxes
and borders.
Globalism is what happened whencapital outgrew the
nation-state.
It's not a break fromcapitalism.
(06:34):
It's what capitalism becomeswhen it's unleashed.
Where industrial capitalism wasabout mechanization, global
capitalism is about mobility ofwealth, production, labor and
data.
It allowed corporations tomanufacture in one country, sell
in another and report profitsin a third, often a tax haven.
It allowed it to exploit laborin the global south while
selling luxury lifestyles in theglobal north.
(06:54):
It allowed it to evadeenvironmental regulations by
shifting extraction sites acrossborders and, lastly, it allowed
it to capture governmentsthrough trade agreements,
lobbying and investment leverage.
It also gave rise to a new kindof entity the multinational
corporation.
These institutions hold morepower than most governments and
yet answer to no one.
(07:15):
No electorate, no moral compass.
Their only mandate isshareholder value.
This is capitalism without ahome, without a soul.
So when we talk about globalism, we must understand it's not
just about open markets ortravel.
It's about the globalconsolidation of economic power
with no accountability to theplaces and people it touches.
Globalism, like capitalismitself, carries a dual nature.
(07:37):
It promises interconnection,shared prosperity and a more
unified world, but in practiceit has produced outcomes that
are far more complex and oftencontradictory.
For every benefit globalism hasdelivered, it has also
introduced new forms ofvulnerability and equality and
disconnection.
To understand its true impact,we need to look at both sides of
(07:58):
the equation, not just what itoffers, but what it extracts.
Here are some commonly citedpros of globalism.
Alongside respective risks orconsequences that come with them
, we have the argument thatglobalism allows for
specialization and comparativeadvantage.
Countries focus on what they dobest, leading to cheaper goods,
larger markets and overallglobal economic growth.
(08:20):
The problem is growth andpractice here is unevenly
distributed.
Wealth concentrates inmultinational corporations and
elites.
All workers in both rich andpoor countries face wage
suppression, job insecurity andloss of local industries.
Efficiency becomes a euphemismfor outsourcing, exploitation
(08:41):
and race to the bottom laborstandards.
There's also the argument thatglobalism enables consumers to
access a broader range ofaffordable goods, services and
technologies.
Knowledge spreads faster acrossborders, thereby accelerating
innovation.
The problem here is that thisaccess often comes at the cost
of domestic industries and localself-sufficiency.
(09:02):
Global supply chains arefragile, vulnerable to shocks,
and are built up on cheap labor,environmental degradation and
planned obsolescence.
Innovation then becomescentralized in the hands of
monopolistic tech giants.
We also have the argument thatglobal trade and investment have
lifted hundreds of millions outof poverty, particularly in
countries like China, bycreating jobs and infrastructure
(09:24):
.
Yes, while some countriesbenefit, many become dependent
on volatile markets or low-valueroles like raw material
exporters and sweatshops.
Development is often extractive.
Resource-rich nations areplundered while wealth flows
offshore.
Gains are often tied to debttraps and structural adjustment
policies dictated by globalfinancial institutions.
(09:45):
That's the reality.
We have the argument also thatglobalism promotes
cross-cultural understanding,tolerance and cooperation.
People here are more connectedthan ever before through travel,
media and digital platforms.
The thing is, what's framed ascultural exchange often amounts
to cultural homogenization,where local identities are
commodified, diluted or erased.
(10:05):
There are a few dominantcultures, especially Western
consumer culture.
These override others, turningrich diversity into marketable
stereotypes.
Then there's problems likepandemics and terrorism, which
require coordinated globalresponses.
Globalism fosters internationalinstitutions, treaties and
collaborations.
Again, here the problem iscooperation is often undermined
(10:28):
by power imbalances.
Wealthy nations andcorporations dominate
decision-making, like vaccinenationalism or climate
negotiation failures.
Here poor countries aresidelined.
Global institutions oftenenforce rules that benefit
capital over people or theenvironment.
We have another argument herethat economic independence makes
(10:49):
war less likely, where nationswith strong trade ties have
incentives to maintain peacefulrelations.
However, while major wars maydecline, asymmetrical conflict,
proxy wars and economic coercionhave replaced them.
Corporations and geopoliticalpowers often fuel unrest where
resources or influence are atstake.
(11:09):
Globalism has unended war.
It has outsourced, privatizedand obscured it.
Then there's the open bordersargument, with its free movement
of people, which allows greateropportunity, education, labor
matching and cultural growth.
The problem here is migrationoften benefits wealthier
countries and corporations,while brain drain depletes human
capital of developing nations.
(11:30):
In many cases, migrants faceexploitation, xenophobia and
loss of rights, while localworkers may perceive wage
pressure or culturaldisplacement, fueling a populist
backlash.
What we see in present day iscapital operating without a
country, where multinationalcorporations operate across
borders but are headquartered intax havens or deregulated zones
(11:53):
.
In the real world, present dayglobalist economy, we have
capital claiming sovereigntywithout loyalty to any country.
It creates a sort ofsovereignty arbitrage where
companies choose the weakestlaws, lowest wages and most
pliable governments, undermininganything resembling democratic
regulation.
Globalism has allowed capitalto transcend the nation state,
(12:16):
while people remain bound byborders, laws and duties their
rulers can no longer enforce oncapital.
The promise of globalism andshared prosperity creates, in
truth, a mirage.
What has emerged is a race tothe bottom for all workers and a
race to the top for capital.
Trade agreements andinvestor-state disputes give
(12:38):
corporations the power to suegovernments for environmental,
labor or health regulations that, quote-unquote, threaten
profits.
Again, we see national policiesshaped by the interests of
lobbyists, hedge funds andmultinationals, rather than the
citizens or public interest.
The power to govern has beenoutsourced not to other nations,
(13:00):
but to entities with no moral.
Not to other nations, but toentities with no moral, legal or
civic obligation to any nationat all.
To be fair, globalism did offerpromises Greater access to
technology, medicine andinformation, the spread of
democratic ideals and humanrights frameworks, more
affordable goods in a broaderconsumer base, a kind of
interconnectedness once thoughtimpossible digitally, culturally
(13:23):
and economically.
And yes, millions were liftedout of extreme poverty,
particularly in China and partsof Southeast Asia.
These benefits are real, butthey came with a huge cost.
We saw mass deindustrializationin the West.
Jobs were shipped overseas.
Working class towns in the US,uk and Europe were gutted.
(13:43):
Entire communities lost theireconomic foundation, leaving
behind opioids, unemployment anddespair.
We saw drastic exploitation inthe global south Countries in
Africa, latin America and Asiabecame extraction zones of
cobalt, lithium, oil, labor andland.
When resources dried up orworkers demanded rights, capital
moved on, leaving pollution,poverty and political
(14:05):
instability in its wake.
Something that we can allremember is the supply chain
fragility.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposedhow brittle global systems
really are.
When just one link in the chainbreaks, whether it's medical
supplies, semiconductors or food, entire countries are left
vulnerable.
Another drastic result we seeis the corporate capture of
governance.
(14:25):
Trade deals like NAFTA andinstitutions like the IMF often
override national laws, forcingprivatization, deregulation and
austerity.
Sovereignty becomes secondaryto capital flows.
This is no longer capitalism inservice of society.
This is society in service ofcapitalism.
So what are the alternatives.
If globalism is capitalismwithout borders, then the
(14:47):
antidote isn't isolationism,it's rebalancing, re-rooting.
Here are some emergingalternatives.
Let's look at localism, wherewe're bringing production, food,
energy and governance back tolocal communities.
We can redefine success aswell-being and sustainability,
not perpetual expansion, a sortof de-growth.
We should look at the potentialbenefits of bioregionalism
(15:10):
organizing society aroundnatural systems, rivers,
climates, ecosystems, ratherthan arbitrary borders.
We could look at democraticcosmopolitanism as an option,
where we reimagine internationalcooperation around human rights
, environmental justice andshared stewardship, not
corporate dominance.
And then there's the obviousdigital decentralization, where
(15:30):
we replace surveillancecapitalism with open source,
privacy-first technologies thatserve people, not platforms and
corporations.
Each of these models asks adeeper question what if our
systems served life instead ofmarkets?
We don't have to rejectconnection.
We just need to stop mistakingextraction for exchange and
homogenization for harmony.
(15:52):
Ask yourself this Can we beglobally connected but locally
accountable?
Can we cooperate across borderswithout corporations deciding
all the terms?
Capitalism now is no longerabout local exchange or healthy
competition.
It's a global machine built forextraction, with little regard
for what's sacred, connected oralive.
(16:13):
In its current form, capitalismrewards the destruction of the
earth.
Forests are cleared for profit,oceans emptied for trade, air
poisoned for short-term gain.
But the deeper tragedy?
We've forgotten how to feel it.
Since 2020, the world's richest1% has captured nearly
two-thirds of all new wealth.
(16:34):
But wealth doesn't just divideus economically.
It erodes empathy, fuelsdisconnection and creates
spiritual amnesia.
When we don't see each other askin, we become eternal
competitors or, worse, obstacles.
The 2008 financial crisisshowed us how fragile the system
truly is.
Derivatives, high-frequencytrading and complex financial
(16:57):
instruments aren't just risky,they're soulless.
Money, once a medium of value,is now a simulation detached
from reality.
Pause and consider.
When did we start measuringlife by growth instead of grace?
What if our deepest povertyisn't material but spiritual?
We have shifted to more of adire existential risk, where the
economic system itself becomesto threaten life as we know it.
(17:18):
And that's where we are now.
We have AI and automation thatis built to maximize efficiency
and reduce costs.
Ai is being deployed withoutwisdom, not to serve humanity,
but to outpace it.
What happens when the profitmotive builds something it
cannot control?
What happens when we createmachines without remembering
what it means to be human?
We have surveillance capitalism.
Coined by Shoshana Zuboff, thisterm describes how our thoughts,
(17:41):
behavior and even our emotionsare harvested as data turned
into predictions to be boughtand sold.
But let's call it what it isit's a spiritual violation.
Your consciousness is sacred,your attention is sacred and
it's being taken without yourpermission for someone else's
gain.
We are now facing thedestruction of biodiversity.
This isn't just biological,it's cosmic.
These are living systems thatevolved with us, that speak the
(18:03):
language of our universalconnection in ways we've
forgotten and we are silencingthem, species by species, like
burning a library we can't readanymore.
Here's the real question If wekeep growing, producing and
consuming, but forget what itmeans to love, to serve, to
belong, what exactly are wepreserving?
We feel the system is broken,but history warns us.
(18:25):
Broken systems are oftenreplaced by brutal ones.
So how do we transform withoutcollapsing into a far worse
economic system such ascommunism or outright tyranny?
How do we protect our rightsand our souls?
Here's where we begin.
We strive for economicdemocracy.
Imagine a workplace where everyworker has somewhat of a vote,
(18:48):
a company not built onextraction but shared purpose.
Mondragon in Spain, with theevergreen co-ops in Cleveland,
show this isn't fantasy, it'salready real.
We should look for universalbasic income.
This isn't a handout, it's ahealing, a way to honor the
labor of caregivers, artists,thinkers and healers, a way to
give people room to breathe, toremember who they are beyond the
(19:11):
paycheck.
We should have sovereigndigital infrastructure.
We need tech that respectsprivacy, protects autonomy and
supports meaningful connection.
Imagine a digital space whereyour data is yours and
algorithms serve your growth,not your manipulation.
There needs to berelocalization, where food,
energy and medicine are broughtback to community, because
(19:32):
reconnection isn't just afeeling, it's logistical.
When your needs are met locally, you're no longer dependent on
systems that don't see you.
There should definitely belegal guardrails.
True reform demands safeguards,sunset clauses, digital rights
and constitutional protections,so no crisis becomes an excuse
for surveillance or stateoverreach.
(19:52):
And, above all, we need toremember each other.
The most radical act in asystem built on disconnection is
to say I see you, I honor you.
We belong to the same source.
We're living in a world builtby minds that forgot the heart,
that forgot spirit, that forgoteach other.
But the cracks are showing andthrough those cracks, something
ancient is rising a knowing, alight.
(20:14):
You are not a consumer, you arenot a product, you are not a
cog in someone else's machine.
You are a sovereign soulconnected to every living thing,
anchored to something no marketcan price.
And the revolution we seek itdoesn't start in the economy.
It starts in remembering thatwe were never meant to be
separate.
As we close, remember this thesystems we live under are not
(20:36):
permanent.
They are built, sustained andbroken by human hands Capitalism
and globalism.
They have shaped the modernworld, but they do not define
our future unless we let them.
The real revolution begins notin overthrowing the external,
but in reclaiming the internalour attention, our relationships
, our reverence for life.
We are not isolated consumersin a fractured world.
(20:57):
We are connected souls in ashared unfolding.
So stay awake, stay rooted andtrust that in remembering who we
truly are, we begin to rememberwhat the world can become, how
we can cultivate systems thatpreserve self-determination and
the pursuit of happiness withoutextinguishing the individual
and collective soul we seem tohave forgotten.
(21:21):
As you continue listening to theEvolved Podcast, I'm going to
unveil the true nature of theworld that exists right under
your nose.
I'm going to analyze with you,out in the open, the systems at
play here and the ways we cangrow together and evolve.
My aim To provide you with realways to touch higher levels of
awareness through truth andknowledge.
Episodes are updated weekly.
If you want to change yourworld for the better and support
(21:42):
this evolution of consciousness, please show me by following,
sharing this podcast with thoseyou love and leaving a review.
If you enjoyed our time today,please donate on BuyMeACoffee,
linked in the show notes below.
Until next week, let's level upand master your universe.
You.
Hello everyone and welcome back to the Evolved
Podcast.
I'm here to ensure that allknowledge I give you finds
meaning and a practical place inyour everyday lives.
It's only through properlydigesting knowledge, in this
case of ourselves and the worldaround us, that we see things
clearly enough to break oldpatterns of behavior and begin a
new path forward to aheightened state of
consciousness.
In this episode, we unpack theevolution of capitalism into
(00:26):
globalism, tracing how a systemonce rooted in trade and
productivity has morphed into aborderless force for extraction,
disconnection and spiritualerosion.
We explore how moderncapitalism now possesses
systemic and existential risksto humanity, not just
economically but psychologicallyand ecologically, from AI and
(00:48):
climate collapse to surveillanceand cultural commodification.
I challenge you to rethink thesystems we've normalized and I
invite you to reconnect with oneanother, with the earth we all
occupy and with the sourcebehind it all.
Today we're diving into a topicthat sits at the root of every
modern crisis.
Somewhere along the way, wetraded reverence for convenience
(01:09):
and connection for consumption.
We forgot that behind themarkets, the technologies and
the ideologies, there are people, souls, a shared universal
connection, a collectiveconsciousness.
This episode is an invitationto remember, because if we don't
understand how these systemspull us apart, not just
structurally but spiritually.
We can't heal what's beenbroken.
(01:32):
Let's begin with a brief butcritical history.
Capitalism didn't arise fromevil.
It emerged as a response tofeudalism, a new vision of
individual ownership, merit andtrade.
It offered the promise offreedom through productivity,
ownership, merit and trade.
It offered the promise offreedom through productivity.
Europe was bound by land andbloodlines, but merchant
economies began forming inIslamic trade routes and
(01:53):
Renaissance city-states.
There was movement, exchangeand possibility.
Then we see the emergence ofmercantilism, which emerged and
reshaped global commerce betweenthe 1500s and the 1700s.
In this system, nations usedempire, slavery and colonization
to extract wealth from others.
This was capitalism beforemarkets were free, driven by
conquest, not consent.
And with it came a newworldview the earth as a
(02:14):
resource, the human as labor,god as silent.
We see, with Adam Smith and hisclassical ideal expressed in
his the Wealth of Nations, areinforcement in the liberal
ideology.
See, smith imagined that ifpeople pursued self-interest in
a free market, it would be aninvisible hand leading to
collective good.
But what's often forgotten isthat Smith also warned of
(02:37):
merchants colluding against thepublic and manipulating markets.
Nowhere did capitalism take on amore radical mechanized form
than in industrial America.
The market revolution reshapedearly America from a land of
farmers to one of wage laborersand commodity producers.
Steam power, canals, railroadsand the telegraph forged a new
kind of infrastructure, one thatmoved goods faster than nature
(02:59):
and people faster than culturecould absorb.
Textile mills sprang up in NewEngland, while southern cotton
plantations, fueled by slavery,fed raw materials into the
industrial machine.
This was the beginning of whathistorian Charles Sellers called
, and I quote, the birth of thecapitalist nation.
But it came with spiritual cost.
Land was commodified, labor wasalienated, time was monetized.
(03:23):
After the Civil War, americancapitalism exploded.
The Second IndustrialRevolution brought steel, oil,
electricity and mass production.
Titans like Andrew Carnegie,john D Rockefeller, jp Morgan
emerged, consolidating vastempires through vertical
integration and monopolies.
These men were hailed ascaptains of industry or
condemned as robber barons,depending on who you ask.
(03:44):
Laborers flooded cities, oftenworking 12 to 16-hour days in
dangerous, dehumanizingconditions.
Immigrants arrived by themillions, chasing the American
dream and instead findingsweatshops, tenements and
exploitation.
This was the age of capitalwithout conscience.
Mark Twain called it the GildedAge, a time glittering with
(04:05):
surface wealth but rottingunderneath Churches aligned with
business.
Labor unions were crushed withviolence.
The land was stripped fortimber, coal and railroads.
Indigenous peoples weredisplaced and massacred in the
name of progress.
Ask yourself was this reallyprogress or a kind of collective
forgetting Progress?
Towards what and away from whom?
(04:26):
By the 1900s, america had becomethe industrial powerhouse of
the world.
Henry Ford's assembly linebecame the model Fast, efficient
, soul-crushing.
The Great Depression exposedcapitalism's volatility 25%
unemployment, soup lines, massdespair.
Fdr's New Deal introducedsocial safety nets, banking
regulations and laborprotections, not to end
(04:48):
capitalism but to save it fromitself.
Post-world War II, america sawa golden age of industrial
capitalism strong unions, risingwages and widespread home
ownership.
But this prosperity wasn'tshared equally.
Women were pushed back intodomestic roles.
Black Americans remainedexcluded from generational
wealth through redlining andsegregation.
(05:09):
The prosperity came at theexpense of the global South,
where resources were extractedto feed US industry.
Through it all, something wasquietly eroding.
Community was replaced withconsumerism.
Spirituality was replaced withspectacle.
Human time was replaced withmachine time.
The factories didn't justchange how we work, it changed
(05:30):
how we see ourselves.
No longer part of a living web,we became units of labor,
replaceable, separated.
And as we lost connection tothe land and lineage, we lost
something else the memory of whowe are beneath the machine.
Capitalism didn't stop evolving.
In fact, it was just gettingstarted and in the 1980s it
crossed another threshold intosomething faster, borderless and
(05:53):
more invasive than ever before.
The next phase was globalism.
Let's zoom out for a moment.
If capitalism began as a localsystem of exchange rooted in
land, labor and material goods,then globalism is its ultimate
mutation.
It is capitalism scaled to itslogical extreme borderless,
stateless and frictionless,designed to serve capital itself
(06:13):
, not communities, not nature,definitely not people.
In the industrial age, capitalneeded factories, then it needed
raw materials, then it neededlabor and eventually it needed
freedom, not human freedom, butfreedom from laws, limits, taxes
and borders.
Globalism is what happened whencapital outgrew the
nation-state.
It's not a break fromcapitalism.
(06:34):
It's what capitalism becomeswhen it's unleashed.
Where industrial capitalism wasabout mechanization, global
capitalism is about mobility ofwealth, production, labor and
data.
It allowed corporations tomanufacture in one country, sell
in another and report profitsin a third, often a tax haven.
It allowed it to exploit laborin the global south while
selling luxury lifestyles in theglobal north.
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It allowed it to evadeenvironmental regulations by
shifting extraction sites acrossborders and, lastly, it allowed
it to capture governmentsthrough trade agreements,
lobbying and investment leverage.
It also gave rise to a new kindof entity the multinational
corporation.
These institutions hold morepower than most governments and
yet answer to no one.
(07:15):
No electorate, no moral compass.
Their only mandate isshareholder value.
This is capitalism without ahome, without a soul.
So when we talk about globalism, we must understand it's not
just about open markets ortravel.
It's about the globalconsolidation of economic power
with no accountability to theplaces and people it touches.
Globalism, like capitalismitself, carries a dual nature.
(07:37):
It promises interconnection,shared prosperity and a more
unified world, but in practiceit has produced outcomes that
are far more complex and oftencontradictory.
For every benefit globalism hasdelivered, it has also
introduced new forms ofvulnerability and equality and
disconnection.
To understand its true impact,we need to look at both sides of
(07:58):
the equation, not just what itoffers, but what it extracts.
Here are some commonly citedpros of globalism.
Alongside respective risks orconsequences that come with them
, we have the argument thatglobalism allows for
specialization and comparativeadvantage.
Countries focus on what they dobest, leading to cheaper goods,
larger markets and overallglobal economic growth.
(08:20):
The problem is growth andpractice here is unevenly
distributed.
Wealth concentrates inmultinational corporations and
elites.
All workers in both rich andpoor countries face wage
suppression, job insecurity andloss of local industries.
Efficiency becomes a euphemismfor outsourcing, exploitation
(08:41):
and race to the bottom laborstandards.
There's also the argument thatglobalism enables consumers to
access a broader range ofaffordable goods, services and
technologies.
Knowledge spreads faster acrossborders, thereby accelerating
innovation.
The problem here is that thisaccess often comes at the cost
of domestic industries and localself-sufficiency.
(09:02):
Global supply chains arefragile, vulnerable to shocks,
and are built up on cheap labor,environmental degradation and
planned obsolescence.
Innovation then becomescentralized in the hands of
monopolistic tech giants.
We also have the argument thatglobal trade and investment have
lifted hundreds of millions outof poverty, particularly in
countries like China, bycreating jobs and infrastructure
(09:24):
.
Yes, while some countriesbenefit, many become dependent
on volatile markets or low-valueroles like raw material
exporters and sweatshops.
Development is often extractive.
Resource-rich nations areplundered while wealth flows
offshore.
Gains are often tied to debttraps and structural adjustment
policies dictated by globalfinancial institutions.
(09:45):
That's the reality.
We have the argument also thatglobalism promotes
cross-cultural understanding,tolerance and cooperation.
People here are more connectedthan ever before through travel,
media and digital platforms.
The thing is, what's framed ascultural exchange often amounts
to cultural homogenization,where local identities are
commodified, diluted or erased.
(10:05):
There are a few dominantcultures, especially Western
consumer culture.
These override others, turningrich diversity into marketable
stereotypes.
Then there's problems likepandemics and terrorism, which
require coordinated globalresponses.
Globalism fosters internationalinstitutions, treaties and
collaborations.
Again, here the problem iscooperation is often undermined
(10:28):
by power imbalances.
Wealthy nations andcorporations dominate
decision-making, like vaccinenationalism or climate
negotiation failures.
Here poor countries aresidelined.
Global institutions oftenenforce rules that benefit
capital over people or theenvironment.
We have another argument herethat economic independence makes
(10:49):
war less likely, where nationswith strong trade ties have
incentives to maintain peacefulrelations.
However, while major wars maydecline, asymmetrical conflict,
proxy wars and economic coercionhave replaced them.
Corporations and geopoliticalpowers often fuel unrest where
resources or influence are atstake.
(11:09):
Globalism has unended war.
It has outsourced, privatizedand obscured it.
Then there's the open bordersargument, with its free movement
of people, which allows greateropportunity, education, labor
matching and cultural growth.
The problem here is migrationoften benefits wealthier
countries and corporations,while brain drain depletes human
capital of developing nations.
(11:30):
In many cases, migrants faceexploitation, xenophobia and
loss of rights, while localworkers may perceive wage
pressure or culturaldisplacement, fueling a populist
backlash.
What we see in present day iscapital operating without a
country, where multinationalcorporations operate across
borders but are headquartered intax havens or deregulated zones
(11:53):
.
In the real world, present dayglobalist economy, we have
capital claiming sovereigntywithout loyalty to any country.
It creates a sort ofsovereignty arbitrage where
companies choose the weakestlaws, lowest wages and most
pliable governments, undermininganything resembling democratic
regulation.
Globalism has allowed capitalto transcend the nation state,
(12:16):
while people remain bound byborders, laws and duties their
rulers can no longer enforce oncapital.
The promise of globalism andshared prosperity creates, in
truth, a mirage.
What has emerged is a race tothe bottom for all workers and a
race to the top for capital.
Trade agreements andinvestor-state disputes give
(12:38):
corporations the power to suegovernments for environmental,
labor or health regulations that, quote-unquote, threaten
profits.
Again, we see national policiesshaped by the interests of
lobbyists, hedge funds andmultinationals, rather than the
citizens or public interest.
The power to govern has beenoutsourced not to other nations,
(13:00):
but to entities with no moral.
Not to other nations, but toentities with no moral, legal or
civic obligation to any nationat all.
To be fair, globalism did offerpromises Greater access to
technology, medicine andinformation, the spread of
democratic ideals and humanrights frameworks, more
affordable goods in a broaderconsumer base, a kind of
interconnectedness once thoughtimpossible digitally, culturally
(13:23):
and economically.
And yes, millions were liftedout of extreme poverty,
particularly in China and partsof Southeast Asia.
These benefits are real, butthey came with a huge cost.
We saw mass deindustrializationin the West.
Jobs were shipped overseas.
Working class towns in the US,uk and Europe were gutted.
(13:43):
Entire communities lost theireconomic foundation, leaving
behind opioids, unemployment anddespair.
We saw drastic exploitation inthe global south Countries in
Africa, latin America and Asiabecame extraction zones of
cobalt, lithium, oil, labor andland.
When resources dried up orworkers demanded rights, capital
moved on, leaving pollution,poverty and political
(14:05):
instability in its wake.
Something that we can allremember is the supply chain
fragility.
The COVID-19 pandemic exposedhow brittle global systems
really are.
When just one link in the chainbreaks, whether it's medical
supplies, semiconductors or food, entire countries are left
vulnerable.
Another drastic result we seeis the corporate capture of
governance.
(14:25):
Trade deals like NAFTA andinstitutions like the IMF often
override national laws, forcingprivatization, deregulation and
austerity.
Sovereignty becomes secondaryto capital flows.
This is no longer capitalism inservice of society.
This is society in service ofcapitalism.
So what are the alternatives.
If globalism is capitalismwithout borders, then the
(14:47):
antidote isn't isolationism,it's rebalancing, re-rooting.
Here are some emergingalternatives.
Let's look at localism, wherewe're bringing production, food,
energy and governance back tolocal communities.
We can redefine success aswell-being and sustainability,
not perpetual expansion, a sortof de-growth.
We should look at the potentialbenefits of bioregionalism
(15:10):
organizing society aroundnatural systems, rivers,
climates, ecosystems, ratherthan arbitrary borders.
We could look at democraticcosmopolitanism as an option,
where we reimagine internationalcooperation around human rights
, environmental justice andshared stewardship, not
corporate dominance.
And then there's the obviousdigital decentralization, where
(15:30):
we replace surveillancecapitalism with open source,
privacy-first technologies thatserve people, not platforms and
corporations.
Each of these models asks adeeper question what if our
systems served life instead ofmarkets?
We don't have to rejectconnection.
We just need to stop mistakingextraction for exchange and
homogenization for harmony.
(15:52):
Ask yourself this Can we beglobally connected but locally
accountable?
Can we cooperate across borderswithout corporations deciding
all the terms?
Capitalism now is no longerabout local exchange or healthy
competition.
It's a global machine built forextraction, with little regard
for what's sacred, connected oralive.
(16:13):
In its current form, capitalismrewards the destruction of the
earth.
Forests are cleared for profit,oceans emptied for trade, air
poisoned for short-term gain.
But the deeper tragedy?
We've forgotten how to feel it.
Since 2020, the world's richest1% has captured nearly
two-thirds of all new wealth.
(16:34):
But wealth doesn't just divideus economically.
It erodes empathy, fuelsdisconnection and creates
spiritual amnesia.
When we don't see each other askin, we become eternal
competitors or, worse, obstacles.
The 2008 financial crisisshowed us how fragile the system
truly is.
Derivatives, high-frequencytrading and complex financial
(16:57):
instruments aren't just risky,they're soulless.
Money, once a medium of value,is now a simulation detached
from reality.
Pause and consider.
When did we start measuringlife by growth instead of grace?
What if our deepest povertyisn't material but spiritual?
We have shifted to more of adire existential risk, where the
economic system itself becomesto threaten life as we know it.
(17:18):
And that's where we are now.
We have AI and automation thatis built to maximize efficiency
and reduce costs.
Ai is being deployed withoutwisdom, not to serve humanity,
but to outpace it.
What happens when the profitmotive builds something it
cannot control?
What happens when we createmachines without remembering
what it means to be human?
We have surveillance capitalism.
Coined by Shoshana Zuboff, thisterm describes how our thoughts,
(17:41):
behavior and even our emotionsare harvested as data turned
into predictions to be boughtand sold.
But let's call it what it isit's a spiritual violation.
Your consciousness is sacred,your attention is sacred and
it's being taken without yourpermission for someone else's
gain.
We are now facing thedestruction of biodiversity.
This isn't just biological,it's cosmic.
These are living systems thatevolved with us, that speak the
(18:03):
language of our universalconnection in ways we've
forgotten and we are silencingthem, species by species, like
burning a library we can't readanymore.
Here's the real question If wekeep growing, producing and
consuming, but forget what itmeans to love, to serve, to
belong, what exactly are wepreserving?
We feel the system is broken,but history warns us.
(18:25):
Broken systems are oftenreplaced by brutal ones.
So how do we transform withoutcollapsing into a far worse
economic system such ascommunism or outright tyranny?
How do we protect our rightsand our souls?
Here's where we begin.
We strive for economicdemocracy.
Imagine a workplace where everyworker has somewhat of a vote,
(18:48):
a company not built onextraction but shared purpose.
Mondragon in Spain, with theevergreen co-ops in Cleveland,
show this isn't fantasy, it'salready real.
We should look for universalbasic income.
This isn't a handout, it's ahealing, a way to honor the
labor of caregivers, artists,thinkers and healers, a way to
give people room to breathe, toremember who they are beyond the
(19:11):
paycheck.
We should have sovereigndigital infrastructure.
We need tech that respectsprivacy, protects autonomy and
supports meaningful connection.
Imagine a digital space whereyour data is yours and
algorithms serve your growth,not your manipulation.
There needs to berelocalization, where food,
energy and medicine are broughtback to community, because
(19:32):
reconnection isn't just afeeling, it's logistical.
When your needs are met locally, you're no longer dependent on
systems that don't see you.
There should definitely belegal guardrails.
True reform demands safeguards,sunset clauses, digital rights
and constitutional protections,so no crisis becomes an excuse
for surveillance or stateoverreach.
(19:52):
And, above all, we need toremember each other.
The most radical act in asystem built on disconnection is
to say I see you, I honor you.
We belong to the same source.
We're living in a world builtby minds that forgot the heart,
that forgot spirit, that forgoteach other.
But the cracks are showing andthrough those cracks, something
ancient is rising a knowing, alight.
(20:14):
You are not a consumer, you arenot a product, you are not a
cog in someone else's machine.
You are a sovereign soulconnected to every living thing,
anchored to something no marketcan price.
And the revolution we seek itdoesn't start in the economy.
It starts in remembering thatwe were never meant to be
separate.
As we close, remember this thesystems we live under are not
(20:36):
permanent.
They are built, sustained andbroken by human hands Capitalism
and globalism.
They have shaped the modernworld, but they do not define
our future unless we let them.
The real revolution begins notin overthrowing the external,
but in reclaiming the internalour attention, our relationships
, our reverence for life.
We are not isolated consumersin a fractured world.
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We are connected souls in ashared unfolding.
So stay awake, stay rooted andtrust that in remembering who we
truly are, we begin to rememberwhat the world can become, how
we can cultivate systems thatpreserve self-determination and
the pursuit of happiness withoutextinguishing the individual
and collective soul we seem tohave forgotten.
(21:21):
As you continue listening to theEvolved Podcast, I'm going to
unveil the true nature of theworld that exists right under
your nose.
I'm going to analyze with you,out in the open, the systems at
play here and the ways we cangrow together and evolve.
My aim To provide you with realways to touch higher levels of
awareness through truth andknowledge.
Episodes are updated weekly.
If you want to change yourworld for the better and support
(21:42):
this evolution of consciousness, please show me by following,
sharing this podcast with thoseyou love and leaving a review.
If you enjoyed our time today,please donate on BuyMeACoffee,
linked in the show notes below.
Until next week, let's level upand master your universe.
You.
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