https://freedomain.com/freedomain_books/the-future/
Centuries in the future, an old man awakes from cryogenic sleep to face the judgement of a utopian society that barely survived his past abuses of power. In the vein of 'Atlas Shrugged, philosophy, philosopher Stefan Molyneux has created a compelling and powerful work of imagination. He vividly describes the wonderful future that mankind can achieve - and the barriers to getting there - and all that we need to leave behind to finally live in peace...
Centuries in the future, an old man awakes from cryogenic sleep to face the judgement of a utopian society that barely survived his past abuses of power. In the vein of 'Atlas Shrugged, philosophy, philosopher Stefan Molyneux has created a compelling and powerful work of imagination. He vividly describes the wonderful future that mankind can achieve - and the barriers to getting there - and all that we need to leave behind to finally live in peace...
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00:00:00 The Future by Stéphane Molyneux
00:00:03 Chapter 44
00:00:06 Cornelius rose. In his unusual bulk, it seemed to amplify his presence.
00:00:16 It seemed as if a wave of admiration and mild resentment washed over the watching crowd.
00:00:22 Perhaps they felt it was unfair to pit such an imposing man against such a slender youth.
00:00:30 Cornelius said, "Well, of course we are here for justice.
00:00:36 I don't find it necessary to announce to my dentist that I have come for dentistry.
00:00:41 People repeat that they wish to be just when they secretly fear, or know perhaps, that they're being unjust."
00:00:52 Alice raised her hand to object, but then shook her head.
00:00:58 Cornelius said, "I had—I have—prepared a big speech, but I'm throwing it all aside for the moment,
00:01:10 because I cannot help but notice one essential fact in my colleague's presentation.
00:01:19 She took great pains at the beginning to remind us, to inform us, that Mr. Staten, the ex-President of the United States of America,
00:01:31 has lost his title, and we would no longer to refer to him as a president, or afford him any respect or deference due to his office."
00:01:42 Fair enough. I doubt anyone here, with the exception of Mr. Staten himself,
00:01:48 believes that his office deserves much respect or deference, given what we know happened over the last few centuries.
00:01:56 However, this raises perhaps the most important point of these entire proceedings.
00:02:07 Thousands are gathered here, hundreds of millions around the world. No pressure, just noticing.
00:02:15 And why? Well, obviously, there is the strange novelty of a mind being shot forward half a millennia through time.
00:02:24 But observing and examining his thoughts could have as easily been achieved through interviews and talk shows.
00:02:31 He could have asked and answered questions live, or in VR, for the next few decades, and I doubt we would have run out of things to talk about.
00:02:39 So we are not gathered here out of mere curiosity about this window into history.
00:02:47 Cornelius stared at the crowd, past the tiny cameras.
00:02:53 Why are we here?
00:02:59 I distill that ancient philosophical question into something more pointed.
00:03:06 Why am I standing here? Why are you sitting there? Why are you watching this?
00:03:16 I believe it is because we are trying to live a contradiction.
00:03:27 Let us take my colleague's lead and strip Mr. Staten of all of his power and historical grandeur and his presidency.
00:03:38 Very well. Let us imagine that he was a plumber or a computer programmer or a house painter.
00:03:50 Mr. Staten, who paints houses. Mr. Staten, who was never president, never a public figure, never held high office, was unknown even in his day.
00:04:03 Through some accident of science or circumstances, Mr. Staten, the obscure house painter, arrives on our shores in our time.
00:04:18 How would we treat him?
00:04:21 I cannot say with certainty, of course, but I imagine we would interview him, we would ask him questions and get his insights.
00:04:30 We would criticize him, of course, for his primitive thoughts.
00:04:34 But would we do – he gestured like the enormous white amphitheatre – would we do this?
00:04:43 Would we haul him in front of an audience of hundreds of millions and charge him with the most serious crimes in our legal vocabulary?
00:04:50 Would we make a spectacle out of him, an example?
00:04:55 Cornelius pointed at Mr. Staten.
00:04:59 Look at me honestly and tell me that we would be treating this man in exactly the same manner if he were an unknown house painter from the distant past.
00:05:13 No, it is impossible. It would not happen. Alice jumped up.
00:05:20 Speculation? Judge Peters paused.
00:05:24 Cornelius.
00:05:26 I think it is fair to say that we would not treat an unknown person exactly the same way that we would treat one of the most famous men in all of history.
00:05:36 Alice.
00:05:39 It is all speculation. We cannot tell how things would be different even if we accept that there would be a difference.
00:05:44 Cornelius said.
00:05:46 But I have not stated how things would be different, merely that they would be.
00:05:52 It is not proven.
00:05:54 Cornelius said.
00:05:56 The interest from the residents of the geographical region invaded by President Staten in the distant past has been extraordinarily high.
00:06:07 More people per capita are watching from there than anywhere else.
00:06:10 Now, come on, let us be reasonable.
00:06:15 You cannot possibly argue that this vast number of people would be watching an unknown house painter as opposed to a political leader who harmed their ancestors.
00:06:24 Alice paused.
00:06:26 You are correct.
00:06:29 Furthermore, Judge Peters waved his hand, you only need one instance, Cornelius.
00:06:36 Cornelius nodded.
00:06:37 All right.
00:06:39 We have established that things are different because he was the president.
00:06:45 Now, we are all troubled by the continued existence of states across the globe.
00:06:53 We also know that their power is derived from the abuse of children in their countries.
00:07:02 I post this as a theoretical, since it cannot be proved, but I ask everyone watching and listening to think of this.
00:07:12 The level of worldwide interest in this case is unprecedented in history.
00:07:21 We have the capacity to instruct and remind the entire world of the relationship between the abuse of children and the power of the state.
00:07:34 Using the interest generated by the fact that Mr. Staten used to be President Staten, the most powerful man in the world, we have the capacity to cast, to project this most essential information into the hearts and minds of virtually the entire planet.
00:07:55 Alice said, none of this is proven.
00:07:58 Cornelius shrugged.
00:08:00 The level of interest is higher, that is proven.
00:08:03 The relationship between child abuse and state power is proven and has been for centuries.
00:08:09 I have not made any assertions about the intent of my colleague because I cannot read minds, of course.
00:08:16 Judge Peters raised his eyebrows.
00:08:19 I appreciate the audacity of winging it, Cornelius, and have some idea where you are going, but I would appreciate it if you would get there more rapidly.
00:08:31 Cornelius nodded.
00:08:33 Now, I know that my colleague was abused as a child.
00:08:40 It's this common knowledge I'm not speaking out of turn.
00:08:43 I also strongly suspect, though cannot prove directly, that she was chosen to prosecute this case because of her intimate and emotional knowledge, experience of being abused as a child.
00:09:00 For which, of course, she has my fullest and deepest sympathies.
00:09:04 She is one of the very few people in our society who has something in common with Jake Staten, the accused's son.
00:09:16 Alice stood. I do not appreciate being dragged into this case.
00:09:20 Judge Peters agreed.
00:09:23 My apologies to both of you.
00:09:28 All of you.
00:09:29 My point is this.
00:09:32 If my colleague is using Mr. Staten's past life as the president as leverage to gain interest, and so transfer the knowledge of how to become free to the remaining dark spots in the world,
00:09:47 in other words, if he is being treated as an ex-president rather than an unknown house painter, then he is political leverage, or moral leverage, perhaps, which means that his trial is innately unjust.
00:10:03 Alice jumped up.
00:10:05 I would like to say that this is outrageous, because it is, but of course I need to formulate a more specific argument.
00:10:12 The idea that my office would act unjustly towards Mr. Staten in order to achieve some abstract political goal, or anti-political goal, is appalling.
00:10:23 It is true that I suffered briefly as a child, but I have a wonderful family. My scans are all clear.
00:10:29 I was not abused to the point where I would end up as an amoral consequence calculator.
00:10:35 The idea that I would have been traumatized to the point where I would end up saying that the end justifies the means, there is no evidence for that,
00:10:42 and if we are going to go down that road, I am more than happy to have a team of psychologists and doctors testify as to my mental health.
00:10:48 Cornelia said, "I am talking about general motivations. I cannot speak to your specific motivations, of course.
00:10:59 The decision to prosecute Mr. Staten did not rest solely on your young shoulders, and we have already admitted that the current circumstances would be different if he had not been the president."
00:11:10 Alice's eyes flashed. "Different? That is what you are hanging your rebuttal on? Yes.
00:11:15 Things would have been different if he had not been a president, granted.
00:11:18 Also, things would have been different if it had been raining today. Some audience members might have pocketed umbrellas.
00:11:25 Things would have been different if there had been a power failure, or if Mr. Staten had awoken with a sore throat, or if my client had fainted five minutes ago.
00:11:32 We can all construct alternative realities with infinite differences, which would mean that every single prosecution is unjust. Is that your argument?"
00:11:39 Cornelius narrowed his eyes.
00:11:43 "The extra millions of eyes on these proceedings, originating from the land President Staten previously invaded, do these constitute the equivalent of a few extra umbrellas to you?"
00:11:55 "That is a difference of degree, not of kind. Your argument that any difference implies unjust treatment is invalid.
00:12:01 Stating it does not make it so, and even if we accept that more people are watching because Mr. Staten used to be the president, a president, that does not mean that any injustice is occurring here.
00:12:12 That's like saying that if a few more people are watching a tennis game, that means the players are cheating.
00:12:16 Athletes play differently when a scout is watching."
00:12:19 Judge Peters held up a hand. "Cornelius, you may finish your argument, but please leave your colleague out of it."
00:12:27 "I appreciate that, and I apologize. I will."
00:12:34 Cornelius took a deep breath.
00:12:38 "We accept that these proceedings are different because my client was the president, the most famous and powerful man in the world.
00:12:48 If I were considering prosecuting this case, I would be tempted by two things, and I do speak only of myself here.
00:12:58 First, I would be tempted to leverage Mr. Staten's fame and notoriety to send a message to the world.
00:13:08 Second, I would be tempted to strike a blow for the billions who died over the course of the cataclysms.
00:13:19 While I would never put my colleague in the same category as prior statist prosecutors, we know that the desire for vengeance after conflict runs strong through the human heart, throughout human history.
00:13:33 The hammer blow of revenge is not something we have outgrown, nor should we.
00:13:40 I merely put these forward as possibilities, and I turn to everyone in this amphitheater, since it is you who will decide my client's fate.
00:13:56 Why are you here? How many of the reasons why you are here are wrapped up in my client's prior occupation?
00:14:10 Would you be here if he was an unknown house painter?
00:14:17 Is my client to pay for the cataclysms?
00:14:24 Is my client a proxy for sending the message of peaceful parenting to the statist societies?
00:14:30 Are they watching because of who he was?
00:14:35 Are you?
00:14:38 It is a central principle of justice that a man be tried for his crimes alone and for no other reason.
00:14:50 Using a man to send a message, to be a scapegoat, these are great wrongs.
00:14:57 If my client would not be here if he were an unknown house painter, then he should not be here at all.
00:15:05 We all know that, and we should act accordingly.
00:15:15 After a long pause, Cornelius nodded at the audience and took his seat.
00:15:21 Alice scribbled furiously.
00:15:25 Chapter 45
00:15:33 Jake Statham was called in the afternoon, and he strode uncertainly to the stand.
00:15:42 He was a tall man with cropped white hair and a slender build, short of muscles, of course, despite the electrical stimulation.
00:15:50 He had a woeful air. His eyes were cavernous, full of sights that had to be kept silent.
00:16:01 Alice said, "Good afternoon, Jake."
00:16:08 She turned to the audience. "I don't mean to sound over-familiar, but we have an unusual father and son series of witnesses."
00:16:15 She turned back to him. "You are aware of how these proceedings will go?" Jake nodded.
00:16:21 "In your day, witnesses were not allowed to cross-examine each other, but things have changed since then.
00:16:27 You are allowed, even encouraged, to have a direct conversation with your father."
00:16:33 Jake said, "I have a question, but I'm not sure if it's for you or the judge."
00:16:40 "Ask, and we shall see."
00:16:43 "Well, we have these... you have these... scans and whatnot.
00:16:50 Why not just hook everyone up to the machines and make sure they are telling the truth?"
00:16:55 "Judge?" offered Alice.
00:16:58 Judge Peters nodded.
00:17:01 "A few reasons. Great question.
00:17:03 This was tried in the past, but crimes tend to be committed by people with very strange brains.
00:17:12 They don't tend to feel guilt or shame. Sociopaths, you used to call them.
00:17:17 We call them unicorns now. They're so rare.
00:17:20 But they can pass any truth scans easily.
00:17:23 Of course, we can scan them and find out that they are sociopaths,
00:17:29 which makes them far more likely to commit a crime, but not certain to.
00:17:32 Another reason is that the pursuit of justice is a particularly human endeavor.
00:17:40 We program all our machines with morality, with universally preferable behavior,
00:17:46 but that does not make them moral.
00:17:48 Programming a robot to flip a burger does not make it a chef, just metal following instructions.
00:17:55 So we wanted to reserve the most human pursuit for humanity, for us.
00:18:01 And finally, the examination of immorality is not exactly a skill that we, as a society,
00:18:11 wish to abandon, to let atrophy, to forget.
00:18:16 Philosophy, moral philosophy, is like the immune system of the body.
00:18:24 If it doesn't get any exercise, it tends to self-destruct.
00:18:28 The body politic can then be infected by any rogue virus.
00:18:32 We saw the effects on your society of the decay of moral philosophy,
00:18:37 which concerns itself with the promotion of virtue and the examination and conquest of evil,
00:18:42 just as a doctor concerns himself with the promotion of health and the examination and conquest of illness.
00:18:49 Does that answer your question?
00:18:52 Jake said, "That does not speak well for my upcoming defense."
00:18:58 The judge nodded.
00:19:00 I am aware that charges are being prepared for you with regards to your role in the cataclysms,
00:19:06 and they are, of course, serious charges, the second most serious in our society,
00:19:10 and it would be inhuman for me to ask you to forget those charges,
00:19:15 but I will ask you to do your best to focus on the current case, the current circumstances.
00:19:23 Jake nodded morosely.
00:19:25 Judge Peters gestured for Alice to proceed.
00:19:28 "Now, Jake, would you rather me question your father, or would you prefer to question your father directly?"
00:19:36 Something deep in Jake's eyes flashed.
00:19:44 Everyone knew that the question had been asked and answered ahead of time, during preparation,
00:19:48 but the moment still sparked something deep within him.
00:19:53 His back straightened, and he pulled at his long grey beard.
00:19:57 "I will ask him," he said with resolution.
00:20:03 Mr. Staten and Cornelius exchanged glances.
00:20:08 Cornelius shrugged and pointed at a piece of paper between them.
00:20:13 Mr. Staten stood up and walked to the second stand.
00:20:16 He raised his head and stared at Jake.
00:20:19 "Good to see you, son. It's been a while."
00:20:25 "It has."
00:20:27 They stared at each other, the weight of centuries hanging between them.
00:20:32 Mr. Staten said, "Judge?"
00:20:38 "Yes?"
00:20:41 "No questions. Go ahead."
00:20:43 "What is my son being charged with?"
00:20:46 "Censorship."
00:20:48 Mr. Staten blinked.
00:20:51 "What? That's the second most serious crime here? After child abuse, it is the greatest source of criminality."
00:20:59 Mr. Staten took a deep breath.
00:21:02 "Man, I really did fall down the rabbit hole, didn't I?"
00:21:07 He glanced around, but there was no laughter.
00:21:11 He turned to his son.
00:21:13 "What did you do?"
00:21:16 Jake cleared his throat.
00:21:18 "Well, Dad, I ran a social media company. The biggest one, in fact."
00:21:25 Mr. Staten whistled.
00:21:27 "Well," he turned to the audience.
00:21:31 "And you all think that I was the most powerful person?"
00:21:35 Again, no laughter.
00:21:37 "What happened?"
00:21:39 Jake turned to the judge.
00:21:42 "I don't know if I'm supposed to answer, because I don't know the end of the story."
00:21:49 Judge Peter said, "Why do you want to know, Lewis?"
00:21:53 He shrugged.
00:21:55 "Well, if I understand how this rabbit hole works, and my son here is charged with a serious crime,
00:22:04 one of his defenses will be that I was a terrible, mean father, and that's why he did whatever terrible things he did.
00:22:11 What that means is that he has a massive incentive to portray me as negatively as possible,
00:22:17 which does not speak to his objectivity at all. Or rather, it does, in that he has none."
00:22:23 There was a pause.
00:22:26 The judge gestured for Alice and Cornelius to approach him.
00:22:30 There was a rapid conference out of earshot.
00:22:34 Eventually, the judge said, "You raise a valid point, thank you.
00:22:39 We don't have any magical solutions, other than to say that any falsehood from either of you will automatically procure your guilt.
00:22:46 We do not, generally, accept childhood maltreatment as an excuse for moral wrongdoing as an adult.
00:22:54 It may have a mitigating factor in extremes, but moral hypocrisy,
00:23:01 which is really the root of all criminality, can be unraveled by every sovereign consciousness.
00:23:06 If a thief is stolen from, he is upset and angry.
00:23:10 He recognizes that he steals from other human beings who face the same upset and anger,
00:23:15 and this can all be unraveled with a moment's thought, which people are always responsible for avoiding."
00:23:21 Mr. Staten said, "I still need to know something about what happened to my son, what he did. Why?
00:23:30 He knows what he did after I died. I don't.
00:23:34 He has at least some idea as to why he is being charged, or might be, I have no idea.
00:23:40 He is working from a greater knowledge set than I can possibly have access to at the moment. It's unequal."
00:23:46 Jake snorted. His father's eyes flashed.
00:23:50 Another conference. Then the judge said,
00:23:56 "Very well. I can give you a brief summary.
00:24:00 Your son, Jake, ended up as the leader of a social media company called Mind Bank,
00:24:08 which had several billion users at its peak, I think.
00:24:12 He promoted the company as a haven for free speech, then began banning people.
00:24:19 Most disasters in the world, social disasters, political disasters, arise from restrictions on free speech.
00:24:28 The existing political classes" -- and this is the allegation, not proven as yet --
00:24:34 "put a lot of pressure on your son to silence particular perspectives, particular arguments,
00:24:40 particular data that opposed the expansion of their power.
00:24:45 These arguments, if more widely known, would almost certainly have prevented the cataclysms.
00:24:51 Suppressing these arguments arguably resulted in the deaths of billions of people."
00:24:57 People, as you know, always have to have a way to resolve their differences.
00:25:05 If they cannot debate and argue, they end up fighting and killing.
00:25:13 Reason or war. These are the only alternatives. There is nothing else.
00:25:19 Now, your son claims brain damage based upon your alleged abuse of him as an infant.
00:25:28 But the potential prosecution rests on the fact that those politically favored people on his platform
00:25:36 who directly advocated violence were still permitted to count,
00:25:41 but who rejected violence and promoted unpopular arguments and data were banned.
00:25:46 Promoting violence while banning reason set the world on its inevitable path to the cataclysms.
00:25:55 Also, it was fraud, clear and simple, as far as I can see,
00:26:01 because he provided a variety of reasons for banning people,
00:26:05 but never revealed the political pressure that he was under to remove them.
00:26:10 Furthermore, his organization was treated as a neutral platform by the existing laws,
00:26:15 but he clearly exercised editorial control over who was allowed to have an account.
00:26:21 Exercising editorial control opened up to lawsuits for the content of his platform,
00:26:28 so he always denied exercising such control.
00:26:31 But his deplatformings had a strong pattern consistent with ideological preferences.
00:26:39 Finally, he engaged a variety of other organizations to perform what he called "fact checking".
00:26:49 But when challenged in court, his lawyers responded with the argument that these "fact checkers"
00:26:55 were merely expressing subjective opinions, which were protected by the speech laws of the time.
00:27:03 These falsets and manipulations resulted in a society utterly blinded to oncoming disasters.
00:27:11 In the same way that corporate malfeasance was enabled by non-disclosure agreements,
00:27:16 incredible restrictions on free speech, state malfeasance was enabled by deplatforming.
00:27:23 Jake said, "Everything I did was legal at the time."
00:27:28 The judge shrugged, "That is debatable, but irrelevant.
00:27:33 Would you be content with us lobbing charges at you without the right of defense?"
00:27:39 Jake was silent.
00:27:42 "So, you appreciate having a platform here to respond to allegations,
00:27:48 and if we were to charge you with various crimes but deny you your right to respond,
00:27:54 and platform you from this court, would you not consider that grossly and monstrously unjust?"
00:27:59 Silence.
00:28:02 The judge said, "You will be tried according to your own standards, your own values.
00:28:11 If you had been prevented from responding to any of the many lawsuits launched against you,
00:28:16 if a summary judgment had been entered against you with no right of reply on your part,
00:28:21 you would have cried 'injustice' and railed against it until the end of time.
00:28:24 But you offered no such justice to your victims."
00:28:29 Alice started to speak, but the judge waved his hand.
00:28:33 "I know, I just recused myself from all of this. Next phase.
00:28:38 And I'm not going to adjudicate anything here,
00:28:41 but I'm just trying to answer the questions from both the elder and the younger Statons."
00:28:47 Mr. Staton said, "So, the more morally hypocritical I appear in my trial,
00:28:53 the greater defense my son has for his."
00:28:56 The judge turned to him slowly.
00:28:59 "Are you saying that you oppose any apparent conflict of interest?"
00:29:04 Cornelius jumped up and said, "I'm not sure he's saying that. I think he is. Please answer."
00:29:12 Mr. Staton said scornfully, "Oh, I get game.
00:29:17 If I complain about any conflict of interest, you'll bring up conflicts of interest I had in the past,
00:29:21 or in the present, I suppose, which I supposedly benefited from.
00:29:25 And if you find even one, then my requests for justice are denied?"
00:29:29 Judge Peters said, "Mr. Staton."
00:29:33 "Louis, our world is founded on the premise that morality is universal.
00:29:42 You cannot benefit from conflicts of interest,
00:29:45 the foundation of your entire political career to my understanding,
00:29:48 and then rail against them when they inconvenience you?"
00:29:51 He smiled. "Well, you can, of course. You can do anything you want.
00:29:56 But it won't work here. Not in this day. Not in my courtroom. Not in this age."
00:30:05 "Your son is guilty of deplatforming others
00:30:10 because he would rail against being deplatformed himself.
00:30:12 He denied the right of reply to others while demanding the right of reply for himself.
00:30:17 Will you look me in the eyes and say that you never benefited from conflicts of interest throughout your political career?"
00:30:25 Mr. Staton cocked his head. He said, "Nothing."
00:30:32 Judge Peters leaned back, apparently satisfied.
00:30:39 "Then let us leave the question of conflict of interest in the dust and proceed with the examination."
00:30:47 "Jake?" Jake took a deep breath and glanced around the court,
00:30:53 the judge, the representatives, and the audience, both seen and unseen.
00:31:01 He cleared his throat.
00:31:07 "Dad," Mr. Saton looked at him placidly.
00:31:13 "I feel like I'm airing family grievances in this incredibly public place.
00:31:22 But this is what history has pointed us towards. So here it is."
00:31:28 He coughed. "I get some of the obvious stuff.
00:31:35 We were never supposed to embarrass you. We had to stay silent, never oppose you.
00:31:43 And of course I appreciate now with the wisdom of this place,
00:31:50 but that had something to do with my, with the deplatforming stuff they talked about before.
00:31:57 Why it was so easy for me to believe that words could lead to danger.
00:32:03 And I was keeping the world safe by silencing people.
00:32:07 I'm not confessing to anything, just letting my thoughts flow as I was advised.
00:32:13 They told me to start with my first memory, which is always hard, impossible I guess.
00:32:26 But when I was waking up or being woken, my life did flow before me.
00:32:36 I don't know if you had the same experience, did you?
00:32:40 There was an almost imperceptible nod.
00:32:44 And I had a, like, vision.
00:32:53 They said to just say everything. It's not even possible, let alone provable.
00:32:58 But these women, their heads were rotating like on a wheel on the outside of my crib.
00:33:07 Round and round, smiling and trying to play with me.
00:33:12 But it was like some sped up version of the sun's path. They never had any time.
00:33:19 And my crib stayed the same, but the room changed a lot.
00:33:25 The pictures, no, but the windows and the colors.
00:33:30 I guess I had some nannies and we moved around.
00:33:35 I remember finding my fingers like little worms I could play with.
00:33:43 And not exactly counting, but noticing the blades on the fan, how they drifted a little when the window was open.
00:33:52 And sounds from the street. Play sounds. Kids yelling and laughing.
00:34:00 And feeling like I was kind of in prison.
00:34:07 I didn't have the word, of course, but feeling trapped, isolated, abandoned.
00:34:17 There was an authenticity to the memories that seemed to dissolve his self-consciousness.
00:34:23 I do remember there being a lot of impatience.
00:34:32 You came in and I remember shrinking from you, a strange smell like a bear.
00:34:37 And I was always dressed up to be with mom, as if it were a date.
00:34:42 She was always dolled up, holding me for photographs.
00:34:46 And I wanted stuff, as babies do, but it seemed like it was a different person every time.
00:34:54 A different woman.
00:34:58 He laughed and some of the self-consciousness returned.
00:35:02 I remember being afraid of going to the washroom at night.
00:35:07 One time I just peed in the corner rather than leave my room.
00:35:12 I was older, I guess, of course.
00:35:15 At another time I told myself I would be a giant if I could hold my poop in until I got to the toilet.
00:35:23 But I didn't make it, which, well, there was more impatience and annoyance.
00:35:29 I remember wanting to grow up as quickly as possible.
00:35:35 That's why I ate so much.
00:35:38 Kids were boring, adults were interesting and self-contained.
00:35:43 I didn't need anyone.
00:35:48 I wanted to climb out of my childhood like it was a sinking submarine.
00:35:54 Huh. Wow. Never thought I was poetic.
00:35:59 And I remember thinking that you were a commander in the army, stationed far away.
00:36:06 And I respected you, or feared you, or something.
00:36:14 I wanted to be like you, but that seemed impossible.
00:36:18 It was way too much of a journey between me and you.
00:36:22 And you scowled.
00:36:24 The elder Mr. Staten raised his hand.
00:36:27 The judge gestured for him to speak.
00:36:29 "Is this how it works? Can you be more specific?"
00:36:34 This unverifiable stream of consciousness?
00:36:40 I was in the army, he was a submarine or something, I don't see any facts, nothing I can respond to.
00:36:45 The stream of consciousness is essential to understanding his mind, his experience.
00:36:50 "I thought you were a judge, not a therapist."
00:36:54 Judge Peters was unoffended.
00:36:57 "Does it trouble you to listen to your son?"
00:37:01 Mr. Staten smiled, waving his hand carelessly.
00:37:04 "Not at all. It's a cosmic miracle we're able to speak at all."
00:37:09 "He shall continue."
00:37:10 Mr. Staten shrugged.
00:37:12 Jake took a sip of water.
00:37:15 "I don't know if we need a pattern, or just one thing, but I do remember running away."
00:37:27 "Something terrible happened that day that I cannot remember."
00:37:37 "Yelling or something frightening, and I really did feel that I was going to die in that house."
00:37:46 "I had a thought, a feeling, maybe a dream, where someone asked me if I would want to live."
00:37:57 "If my life were to just continue as it was, unchanged."
00:38:06 His voice caught.
00:38:07 "I didn't. I didn't want to."
00:38:11 "And I suppose I thought I would die if I stayed, and any chance was better that the tear escaped."
00:38:23 "I suppose that the wilderness or whatever was outside would be more friendly than..."
00:38:34 "I don't know if you've ever felt like you were unwanted, or a burden, or an annoyance, or an interruption to a better time."
00:38:48 "I felt that my use to you, Dad, was just years and years in the future."
00:39:02 "That I sat between you and something better, and you were angry at me for being in the way somehow."
00:39:14 "Maybe I thought it was a kindness to you as well, and I wasn't doing it for attention."
00:39:22 "I wasn't trying to make some point. I didn't want to be caught."
00:39:27 "I genuinely wanted to get away, get out of the way." He ground the heels of his hands into his eyes.
00:39:34 "And I really couldn't sleep in that house. I was scared a lot."
00:39:42 "Not during the day, it wasn't so bad, but at night, it was like a haunted place."
00:39:54 "Shadows on the ceiling and tree branches scraping the window."
00:39:58 "One time I woke up, maybe it was that night, and I thought you were sitting by my bed with no head."
00:40:11 "Just shoulders and a neck, but no blood, and my heart turned into an icicle."
00:40:21 "I was so scared. I lay there for a while, trying to talk myself out of going insane."
00:40:30 "Eventually my brain fixed my eyes, and I realized it was just my jacket on the back of a chair by my bed."
00:40:37 "The shoulders, the arms, but no head."
00:40:43 "And I thought, I don't know what I thought then, or what I think now, thinking back."
00:40:54 "But the thought is, I can't stay in a place where I genuinely believe for quite a while that a headless body is leading over my bed at night."
00:41:09 "It wasn't better that I had solved it, it was terrible that it had to be solved."
00:41:14 "But I thought something like that could be, or happen."
00:41:23 "Dad, don't look like that."
00:41:26 "Like what?"
00:41:27 "Like this is irrelevant, or stupid, or crazy."
00:41:30 "You want to control how I look?"
00:41:33 Jake leaned forward.
00:41:38 "This isn't the easiest situation."
00:41:42 "Looking at you, knowing that you are younger than me."
00:41:48 "That it looks like a father complaining to his son."
00:41:52 "It's all quite mad."
00:41:54 "I lived for 50 years past your death, ruled the world in my own way."
00:42:03 "Saw everything terrible."
00:42:07 "That was coming."
00:42:10 "Tried to get away, tried to hide, we all did in New Zealand."
00:42:16 "But I never could get away."
00:42:21 "You know how it is, no matter where you go, there you are."
00:42:27 "You never got to real old age."
00:42:34 "But it is a second childhood, you're not kidding."
00:42:38 "I ended up where I began, in a crib with rotating nurses."
00:42:48 "A burden, an inconvenience, unable to clean myself."
00:42:55 "And I didn't think about you much after your exit, your freezing."
00:43:04 "But you came back to me, my old age."
00:43:10 "And everything I said I would never become, happened."
00:43:19 "Because I controlled so much, everyone wanted to control me."
00:43:26 "I was a prisoner of managing everyone, just like I managed people in the family."
00:43:33 "You, you are terrifying dad, that's the truth."
00:43:40 "And that fear led me to control the world."
00:43:48 "So that nothing bad would ever happen, people would never be in danger."
00:43:52 "But now they're telling me, telling me that everything I did to save the world, damned it."
00:43:58 "Set it on fire, and somehow the bodies of billions of people are laid before me."
00:44:04 "It's a hell of a burden, I'm not going to lie."
00:44:10 Jake trailed off, his thoughts obviously racing in a million different directions.
00:44:17 Judge Peters asked if he wanted a break, but he shook his head and gulped more water.
00:44:22 He stared around the amphitheater with teary eyes.
00:44:29 "I've been talking for like, what, 15 minutes?"
00:44:35 "Maybe that's all it takes to make connections that mean something."
00:44:44 "I lived for 83 years, my father for 68."
00:44:50 "We had decades together, but we couldn't find 15 minutes to tell the truth."
00:45:02 "They say that the world went to hell, and I..."
00:45:09 "Billions of lives, versus 15 minutes of honesty?"
00:45:23 Jake openly wept at this point.
00:45:26 "What the hell was stopping us, Dad?"
00:45:32 "Why did we need 500 years on ice, and resolute strangers forcing us together to be even remotely honest?"
00:45:41 "Why did we need this science fiction scenario to open our mouths?"
00:45:48 Louis turned to the judge and said,
00:45:51 "I don't know if I'm supposed to respond or just keep listening."
00:45:56 Judge Peters said, "What do you want to do?"
00:45:59 "I honestly don't know."
00:46:02 "Jake, it would be helpful if you talked about the night you tried to escape."
00:46:08 Jake exhaled mightily.
00:46:11 "Okay, okay."
00:46:15 "That night, if it was the night I had the headless vision thinking it was my dad,
00:46:27 then that would explain why I wanted to just take my chances with the night air."
00:46:34 "Trying to preserve..."
00:46:37 "I'm really trying to remember how it was for me back then, that night."
00:46:43 "But it's hard, because I didn't have the words for what I'm saying now."
00:46:50 "But there was that truth."
00:46:55 "In my experience."
00:46:58 "I'll do my best."
00:47:02 The thought that comes to mind, the image, is of those games in arcades.
00:47:12 I don't know if you still have them.
00:47:15 There's this claw that you position, which comes down and picks up a toy,
00:47:19 and drops it in a slot that you can retrieve it from.
00:47:24 And it was like my free will wasn't there.
00:47:28 It was like a claw that was picking me up to take me outside.
00:47:32 Not exactly.
00:47:35 I'm just trying to explain how it was irresistible,
00:47:40 this next step in my life, outside.
00:47:44 And I was a good creeper.
00:47:52 I crept silently down to the kitchen.
00:47:55 It was a big deal, I think, that I took some cookies.
00:48:01 But that was the only food I could reach,
00:48:04 which wasn't in some box or bag that would make noise.
00:48:08 It was a big white cookie jar with a kind of half-suction lid on the top,
00:48:13 which I could open silently if I was patient.
00:48:17 I had my pillowcase and I filled it up with some cookies.
00:48:21 I wanted bread, but that was in a plastic wrapper.
00:48:24 And I knew that people would be upset,
00:48:28 but I seemed to cause more upset than happiness,
00:48:32 so I thought that would pass, alright.
00:48:36 Like when you scrape your knee and cry, but forget about it the next day,
00:48:40 until you stand up.
00:48:43 And I was trying to listen as I crept to the door to the way out.
00:48:50 But I so much remember my heart pounding in my ears
00:48:54 and trying to calm myself down so that I could hear something beyond my own circulation.
00:49:01 Jake turned his agonized eyes to the judge,
00:49:06 and I never heard him come.
00:49:09 I was so focused on what was ahead,
00:49:13 but I felt this hand like a claw,
00:49:18 like a giant spider grab me from behind and just yank me up into the air.
00:49:22 "Stop!" cried Mr. Staten.
00:49:26 The judge gestured for Jake to continue.
00:49:30 "It's okay. I can wait if he..."
00:49:33 "Continue. There is no need for secrets here."
00:49:37 Jake nodded slowly and wiped his eyes.
00:49:46 But it didn't hurt.
00:49:48 I felt pressure, but not pain.
00:49:51 And he turned me around and I could see into his eyes.
00:49:56 It was dark, so not really his eyes, but his eye sockets.
00:50:00 And he screamed at me. He was totally panicking.
00:50:06 Mr. Staten cried out.
00:50:09 Jake stared at him.
00:50:15 "I'm sorry, Dad."
00:50:17 "You..."
00:50:20 "Beat my head against the door."
00:50:24 "Or the doorframe. I tried to figure it out, which it was, later by feeling the injuries."
00:50:30 "I think it was the doorframe."
00:50:33 "And you were..."
00:50:36 "Otherworldly."
00:50:39 "Like an alien."
00:50:44 "That's what is at the bottom of you."
00:50:49 "It was..."
00:50:54 "Top of the lung stuff."
00:50:57 "I just was not allowed to get away."
00:51:01 "And you kept hammering my head against the doorframe, screaming, 'Don't do it!'"
00:51:09 "Over and over, and I went limp."
00:51:12 "Totally limp, trying to appease, I suppose."
00:51:16 "But I clearly remember thinking..."
00:51:21 "What am I supposed to stop doing?"
00:51:26 "You're beating my head against the door, totally in control of my body, my brain."
00:51:33 "What am I supposed to stop doing?"
00:51:36 "I can't do anything other than submit."
00:51:42 Jake's voice broke completely and he lowered his head.
00:51:46 His father's jaw muscles flexed and zacked.
00:51:54 Judge Peters asked him, very gently,
00:52:01 "Louis, do you have a similar memory from your childhood?"
00:52:09 Everyone, close and far, within the Amphitheater and across the world,
00:52:15 could see the chasm of choice open up in the ex-president's mind.
00:52:22 Billions of eyes, living and dead,
00:52:27 seemed to hang over the choice before him, to submit or to fight.
00:52:37 The world is made and remade,
00:52:42 in every instance of decision, in every choice we make,
00:52:47 to tell the truth or avoid ourselves.
00:52:51 And parents across the world, the good and the bad,
00:53:00 were reminded of the patterns of the generations,
00:53:05 and how close we always are to freedom,
00:53:09 if we are willing to stand up and break those patterns,
00:53:14 to bless the present by honestly damning the past,
00:53:19 to become better parents by judging those who came before,
00:53:29 to judge without hatred, but with relentless consistency,
00:53:36 to expose and accept the raw animal fear of having been hurt, bullied, abused,
00:53:45 to expose the most terrifying predator to those who hurt us,
00:53:51 the honest truth of our pain,
00:53:56 the predator that claws our way to paradise
00:53:59 through the bloody guilt of those who prey on children.
00:54:03 Everyone saw that long, long moment,
00:54:14 and those good parents the world over felt a tidal wave of joy,
00:54:22 gratitude and relief for the love they showed to their children,
00:54:27 while the bad parents felt a splintering guilt and bottomless fear
00:54:36 at the inevitable backlash of moral honesty and exposure.
00:54:41 Some vowed to reform, and some kept their word,
00:54:51 while others made the terrible choice they saw coming in the old and broken king.
00:54:58 Louis Staten said, "I will no longer participate in this abuse."
00:55:15 "Louis," said Judge Peter softly, "this is a lot to absorb in one moment.
00:55:23 We can take a break until tomorrow, and you can confer with your representative."
00:55:27 "Shut the hell up!" roared Louis, suddenly rising to his full height.
00:55:31 "You! This entire sadistic congregation of excavating this place is just for torturing people!
00:55:42 You think you have outgrown me?
00:55:46 You think you have outgrown humanity's capacity for cruelty?
00:55:51 What the hell do you think you are up to here?
00:55:55 I went to sleep in the world and woke up in hell!
00:56:00 Maybe we are all in the afterlife, and you are the devils.
00:56:05 Maybe I am still asleep and being punished for some crimes,
00:56:11 but don't for a moment think that you are better than me in any way!
00:56:15 Your children will be plowed under by people like me!
00:56:19 Some government, some military will just walk through your lands like you were a fog!
00:56:26 Maybe they will come from beyond the moon, beyond—but they will come!
00:56:31 I am a window to a more martial world, and without me or people like me,
00:56:38 you would just pick at these old wounds, pretend to be better, and lose the capacity to name—to name—"
00:56:44 "Evil," said Alice.
00:56:47 Cornelius raised his hand, then slowly lowered it again.
00:56:52 Judge Peter said, "If you—"
00:56:56 "Let me speak. If you refuse to participate in these proceedings, a judgment will be entered against you.
00:57:02 Did you beat your son?"
00:57:05 "Oh, now you ask pointed questions.
00:57:08 Of me, for discipline, but not of him, who you say caused the deaths of billions of people.
00:57:14 One kid's head against a doorframe didn't even need to go to the hospital.
00:57:19 He played baseball the next day. Did you tell them that, huh, kid?
00:57:24 Such terrible injuries that you hit a home run the next day, first time in your life.
00:57:28 Bet you weren't going to tell them that!"
00:57:30 He whirled to the audience, to the world.
00:57:34 "Oh, and you can all hear this self-pitying crap about how he was so sad that he had so many nannies.
00:57:40 Like we—my wife and I had nothing better to do than interview a new nanny every month.
00:57:46 It was because he bit them, hit them.
00:57:49 And you say, 'Okay, he was just a kid. It's just a quirk.'"
00:57:52 He turned to his son savagely.
00:57:55 "But why didn't you tell them, Jake the Rake?"
00:57:58 "Yes, that was his nickname. Do you know how much abuse I had to cover up for him when he was a teenager?"
00:58:03 And this went right on into his corporate career, his predatory harem of underlings, the women and men that he harassed and pillaged.
00:58:12 Jake screamed, spittle flying from his mouth.
00:58:14 "You're the reason the world died, Dad!"
00:58:17 Lewis sneered at him. "Oh, I'd tell you to grow up, but you live fifty years beyond me and you're still a goddamn child!"
00:58:23 "I was abused by the nannies, abused by you, forgotten about by Mom,
00:58:28 who had as much a maternal instinct as a shark.
00:58:32 And I couldn't tell anyone anything about anything.
00:58:35 When I was a kid, I called someone a jammy bastard and you just about took my knee off, kicking me under the table."
00:58:40 "Well, don't call people bastards when you're ten years old. It's not that complicated, if it even happens."
00:58:46 "Children, I'd be seen and not heard. I know you're a pain, but you're not a windowpane.
00:58:51 Do you remember telling me that all the time?
00:58:53 And when I came to visit you in Albuquerque on that campaign trail and you had no time at all,
00:58:58 you propped me up on a bed with soda cans, pointing me at some ridiculous movie preview channel,
00:59:02 which looped everything over and over.
00:59:04 Men are busy, son, what can I say?
00:59:07 You took my childhood, but I took your soul!"
00:59:10 This ferocious statement hung in the air
00:59:19 and seemed like such a non-sequitur that it even stopped Lewis in his tracks.
00:59:26 "Do you know why I insisted you get frozen, Dad?"
00:59:30 "I'll tell you. I'll tell you why you are here at all."
00:59:35 Lewis's lower lip jutted out.
00:59:38 "You are here because I wanted to damn your soul."
00:59:44 "You are here because you were heading towards some kind of mealy-mouthed reconciliation,
00:59:52 some kind of half-apology that I was supposed to nod and smile at.
00:59:58 You were facing the great beyond and it made you feel small,
01:00:03 and it humbled you, and I would be goddamned if I would let you try to make amends to me because of death,
01:00:09 because of your own fear and smallness, rather than because I meant anything to you at all.
01:00:15 I wasn't going to be some emotional tampon for you.
01:00:20 So I...
01:00:22 diverted you, gave you an out, an opening,
01:00:28 so your greed for life and dominance would flow uninterrupted
01:00:32 and you wouldn't puke your guilt and fear all over me.
01:00:36 And...
01:00:38 death would set you free.
01:00:42 You would never be judged, except for goddamned politics.
01:00:48 You would never have to look in the mirror and see who you really are.
01:00:53 Welcome to judgment day, dad!"
01:00:57 Lewis's eyes narrowed.
01:01:00 "And then you followed me. You followed me here through that doorway."
01:01:06 Jake laughed harshly.
01:01:08 "I did. I did."
01:01:11 He smiled painfully.
01:01:14 "Death is terrifying, right dad?
01:01:18 Maybe I wanted to wake up older than you,
01:01:21 like I was your father and boss you the hell around!"
01:01:25 Lewis gestured at the massive white amphitheater.
01:01:29 "I'm... actually glad you finally found some... friends."
01:01:37 Jake shivered.
01:01:39 "Yeah. Who will judge me, in turn?"
01:01:43 A bitter humor seemed to be passing between the two men.
01:01:47 A strange... alliance.
01:01:51 The audience struggled to follow the emotional complexities
01:01:55 like a child tries to follow Shakespeare.
01:01:57 A certain... reconciliation seemed to have occurred.
01:02:04 "I'm still not continuing," said Lewis loudly to the judge.
01:02:10 "I will not take your statement before advice with counsel."
01:02:13 Lewis shook his head.
01:02:15 "I waive my right to advice. I will say no more."
01:02:19 Judge Peter said, "That is your right."
01:02:22 "Sentencing will occur tomorrow.
01:02:26 Within a few days after that, assuming the prosecution is ready,
01:02:30 the trial of your son will commence.
01:02:32 You will be called as a witness, and you will return."
01:02:37 "I will not."
01:02:39 "You do not have to defend yourself, but you do have to be here as a witness."
01:02:44 "You see, this is where your society fails.
01:02:49 I don't have to do a goddamn thing!"
01:02:52 Judge Peter nodded slowly.
01:02:54 "That is true."
01:02:56 "Do you have anything else to say?"
01:02:59 Silence.
01:03:01 "Cornelius, do you have anything to say?"
01:03:04 Lewis said, "He's fired."
01:03:07 Cornelius shrugged, "Well, then, I guess not."
01:03:11 "Well, then," said Judge Peters,
01:03:15 "Mr. Staten, your punishment will be to appear as a witness at your son's trial.
01:03:20 Please note that this is not the totality of your punishment, but it is the first requirement."
01:03:25 "I will not come. Drag me here, I will not speak.
01:03:29 Lock me up, I hold my tongue. I'm not lifting a damn finger to help him."
01:03:34 Jake's body sank.
01:03:36 "Dad, we're the only people left from the Old World.
01:03:42 We're a family. What are you doing?"
01:03:46 Lewis turned to him scornfully, "Oh, now we're a family.
01:03:51 Come on, why on earth would you want to hang around with someone who you say beat your tender little head against the doorframe?
01:03:58 Who abandoned you, who neglected you, who abused you, left you with your little ducks?"
01:04:05 "No, sonny, you don't get to have it both ways.
01:04:09 Don't pretend you didn't know this was coming.
01:04:12 That's probably why you held your tongue all these years."
01:04:15 He laughed bitterly, "All these centuries."
01:04:19 "The universe could have wound to its demise without any of this crap coming out, but you had to break silence.
01:04:26 Okay, you had your say, now get the hell out of my life!"
01:04:30 "Dad!" Jake's voice was agonized.
01:04:34 "This is why there was silence between them all those decades," said Alice.
01:04:40 The judge did not admonish her, it was clear that the formal proceedings had long concluded.
01:04:45 He said, "So, Lewis, you are determined to avoid your punishment?"
01:04:51 "I am. You do not recognize my presidency, I don't recognize this court."
01:04:57 The judge paused.
01:05:02 "Very well. Cornelius, please instruct the DROs that Lewis Staten is now ostracized.
01:05:09 Just so you know what this means, I'm sure it has been explained to you.
01:05:14 You will no longer be able to enter into any contracts in our society.
01:05:19 You will not be able to rent accommodations, buy food, use roads, get energy, access transportation,
01:05:27 until you fulfill the requirements of your sentence.
01:05:31 You understand what I'm saying?"
01:05:32 Lewis ignored him and turned to the floating cameras. He spread his arms wide.
01:05:37 "My fellow politicians, my brothers in statism, you see the ridiculous injustice I'm being subjected to,
01:05:46 condemned for the ravings of an old man about an imaginary childhood six hundred years in the past?
01:05:53 I'm a scapegoat. I am the whipping boy, the Socrates and Jesus of this kangaroo court.
01:06:01 In my day, in my country, as may be the case in yours, we accepted those being unjustly persecuted as political refugees.
01:06:10 And I cast myself to the wind in this way. Rescue me from this abomination and we shall see what we can do."
01:06:20 He did not finish his rather sinister sentence.
01:06:27 "We have extradition treaties," said the judge.
01:06:30 "Also, not sure how you get to another country without any access to transportation."
01:06:36 "So, where the hell do I go?" demanded Lewis.
01:06:41 "Out into the night," said his elderly son in a sudden, powerful whisper.
01:06:49 "You bastard."
01:06:54 Lewis turned to him. "Oh, this is the poetic justice, the tidy little ending to our sordid tale.
01:07:03 Oh, look at my dad going out into the night like I tried to when I was a little boy.
01:07:10 Well, fine, I came into this world naked. I don't care if I go out the same way.
01:07:15 I can go into the woods, into the mountains. I was a Boy Scout.
01:07:22 Hell, I can go for a walk into the ocean as far as..."
01:07:25 His voice wobbled slightly. "I will be fine.
01:07:30 I would rather live in a hole than in this sanctimonious cathedral of pompous self-worship."
01:07:36 worship.
01:07:36 [BLANK_AUDIO]