This is episode #1 of a new sub-series Over the Mountains: Finding a Path to the Second Renaissance

“The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was persuading you he didn’t exist.” In this conversation, we discuss how the greatest trick of the last 50 years was persuading us that the state doesn’t work, that government is dysfunctional, and that only individuals and markets can solve our problems—all while concealing that this narrative was systematically pushed forward. From the post-war era when government was trusted and tax rates on top earners reached 80-90%, to today’s world where young minds go into startups rather than public service, we’ve lived through a reactionary upswing driven by evangelical organizing and big business lobbying. But as the concentration of power in figures like Musk reveals the cracks in this dream, we stand at a moment when the pendulum is ready to swing—not back to the past, but toward something new that acknowledges our collective power.

Chapters:

00:00 – The Problem: Despair and Technology as Savior

00:03 – The Greatest Trick: Fish Don’t See Water

00:14 – When Government Worked: The Other Water

00:26 – The Shift: How We Changed Waters

00:38 – The Campaign: Evangelicals, Business, and Persistence

00:48 – The Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

00:51 – Living the Dystopia

00:54 – The Pendulum Swings Back

Speakers

Sylvie Shiwei Barbier is a co-founder of Life Itself, and French-Taiwanese performance artist, entrepreneur and educator.

Rufus Pollock is a co-founder of Life Itself, and an entrepreneur, activist and author as well as a long-term zen practitioner.

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