Accidental Gods

Living through the Death of Democracy: Manda's thoughts on love, liberty and the continued existence of complex life on earth

Jan 25, 2025

Explore the trajectory from democracy to techno-feudalism and the urgent need for transformative change. Reflect on the power of love and community in fostering sustainability and healing the planet. Delve into insights from the Oxford Real Farming Conference, advocating for regenerative agriculture. Confront the challenges of inequality and extinction, urging collective responsibility and inner growth. Navigate the complexities of modern governance while emphasizing the importance of adaptive frameworks for a thriving future.

40:23

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Quick takeaways

Transforming our cultural values and healing our relationships with ourselves and the environment are essential for a sustainable future.

Collective commitment to life and environmental sustainability can inspire profound societal shifts and empower future generations.

Deep dives

The Call for Inner and Outer Work

Prioritizing a transformation of values is essential for addressing cultural trauma and creating a sustainable future. Inner work involves healing relationships with ourselves and the environment, emphasizing the need for clean resources and meaningful connections. A commitment to such changes could drastically alter our world if adopted collectively. This process is not only urgent but requires participation and reflection from everyone to realize a better future.

Intro

3min

Rethinking Farming: From Industrial to Regenerative

12min

The Urgency of Change: Facing Extinction and Inequality

7min

Embracing Collective Responsibility

7min

Reflections on Democracy and Global Power Dynamics

2min

Navigating Complexity in Modern Governance

9min

We are living through the death of democracy and the onset of Techno-Feudalism. But this is not a time when linear systems can hold and feudalism was nothing if not linear. So how can we be part of a transformative process that will let us lay the foundations for a future we'd be proud to leave behind?

Usually, on Accidental Gods, we talk to guests who seem to exemplify some aspect of the generative edge of interbecoming change that will take us towards the emergent future we need if we're not only to survive, but thrive.

But once in a while it's just Manda, reflecting on the moment and offering pointers to things that might be useful to read or watch or listen to or think about. This is one of those, and it feels timely, in part because the Oxford Real Farming Conference too place recently and was immensely heartening - and partly because of the times we're in.

This was recorded on Sunday 19th of January 2025 and if you're in the English speaking world listening to this podcast, then you'll be aware that basically democracy dies tomorrow. Though, as you'll also be aware, we never had true democracy of the people by and for the people, and certainly nothing that might have created a generative enhancement of the web of life. We had a kleptocracy at best, a kakiocracy at worst and all of it was working against the kind of future we want to leave as our legacy.

So this is a podcast of ideas, most of which boil down to: It's time each of us committed ourselves in service to life. What does that feel like? How does it work and where will it take us? Let's find out.

Oxford Real Farming Trust https://realfarming.org/programmes/land-based-wisdom/

CFOSA https://consciousfoodsystems.org/

Animate Earth Collective https://animate-earth.org

The Wild with Indy Johar - the why

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/wild-with-sarah-wilson/id1548626341?i=1000677521024

Changing our Civilisational Model - Michel Bauens on Substack https://substack.com/inbox/post/155005488

And then at the macro level, Dark Matter Labs on Governance https://media.licdn.com/dms/document/media/v2/D4E1FAQFRu6lmVVqBvw/feedshare-document-pdf-analyzed/B4EZQsP1m3HAAc-/0/1735909140676?e=1738195200&v=beta&t=8kAX6cLW_kf4Lsvw8dYn2_9FG644-bWKa6SZy1QTXKk