The Togetherness Project

Intro Episode 11

Revisiting the why and how of The Togetherness Project.

First up: What happened last week and how it fits with the Four Horsemen?:

• Rampant inflation. How and Why
• Geopolitical unrest. What do we know about the Patterns of History
• Violence is driven by a sense of ongoing injustice. What contributes to that and how does it present?

Today’s Topic – A history of inequality and its violent outcomes

It is time to have a look at some of the things we talked about before. We will try to update some of what we talked about and get a bit of context.

The Issues

Inflation and Bonds

Why bonds set the benchmark for almost every financial metric

What is driving the bond market. Why this is different to the media and economics pundits

Are consumers to blame?

What is really happening

Unrest, riots – collapse

Why is Europe rioting??

Do we know what might be happening by reviewing history/anthropology?

A few examples:

• French Revolution
• Cromwell’s army
• Hundreds of examples over 2000 years

The psychology and culture behind inequality and violence

A lot of what we believe about freedom and democracy is only partially true

Frustration, anger, lashing out, violence, blood lust

The Response

Democratic Green Shoots – Hungary, Serbia, Brazil even Israel

Major issues: Ukraine, Middle East, USA, Russia

So what can we all do together?

• Use your vote well

• Do the things we can individually

• Join local groups that try to do better things

• Help each other with random acts of senseless kindness

The Togetherness Project

Today’s Topic – Social Isolation

This week we will have a focus on community – especially social isolation

First up: What happened last week?:

• More issues with AI going rogue, arguments that AI is the saviour of the AUS economy
• Interest rates and the Reserve Bank – what is going on behind the scenes
• Why are conservatives wanting to reverse initiatives to address climate change?
• Alternative ways to grow food – especially for animal feed

The Issue – Increasing Social Isolation – what can we do?

The Response

What can we do?

• Avoid plastic packaging whenever possible.
• Move away from Fossil fuels. Doing so means there is less production of plastics and therefore more sustainable products will be used for packaging
• Smart Living Ballarat has monthly sessions on how to avoid waste and tap into the Circular Economy
• See what you can do to get an EV, solar panels and similar.
• Opt out of casual AI for searching and using applications. If you dont need it then avoiding its use will save energy and reduce demand for data centres
• Read the proposal from the Committee for Ballarat for some ideas.
• Talk to your local member/council about the Circular Economy, sustainability and water conservation. It works when they know someone cares about these things

The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change – TOGETHER

The Togetherness Project

Today’s Topic – Loose Ends

This week we will tie up a few loose ends. A bit has happened since we started this show just over two months ago.

First up: What happened last week?:

• Changes to discretionary trusts ¹
• The horrid spectacles of state sanctioned killing – as entertainment ²
• Crime and punishment in Victoria ^{3 4}
• Fix potholes – reduce taxes; More CFA Funding – lower taxes

The Issues

It is time to have a look at some of the things we talked about before. We will try to update some of what we talked about and get a bit of context.

The Issues

Cost of Living

Batteries. Rechargeable batteries can be bought for around the same cost as the premium alkaline batteries. They will last 3-4 times as long and can then be recharged hundreds of times at about 3 cents per battery charged.

Cosmetics. The demonstrated use of most cosmetics is far in excess of what is needed to be effective. Use less, save more! You do not need to use two lots of shampoo. One is great. Daily washing is actually bad for your hair. A daily wash then needs conditioner and something to add oils back to your hair. Hairdressers suggest 2 weeks between washes is fine. Save big here too.

Cleaning. Cleaning products abound and encourage you to spread them all over the place. Dish washing liquid is fin with a tiny squirt in most cases. Use too much and all you do is cost yourself money.

Gardening. You would think that plants would never survive without frequent application of “plant food” fertilisers. In reality any good soil has plenty of plant nutrients in it, especially if you mulch well. That mulch breaks down and gives your plants what they need. Use a pile of fertiliser and you end up feeding weeds (a definition of weed is a plant you dont want that is good at hogging resources) and then – you are encouraged to use herbicides to control them. Spend your money on mulch and save work while avoiding pollution of ground water.

Online. Buy what you really need and do not get sucked into the “gamification” tricks to get you to buy more and cheap. Get things that last and you save in the long run.

Changing Policy is hard

Why? Vested Interests. Who has the money? Who has the means of communication?

Housing: HIA, Banks, Investors, Estate Agents
Energy: Miners, Super Funds, Share Holders, States, Retailers
Health: AMA, Health Funds, Medical Staff, States, Pharma

We see Miners buying stakes in newspapers to make sure their message is front and centre.Those with the money buy influence in the media and Government.

The role of disinformation and cult recruitment. There have been notable scientific scandals where “contrarian” articles have been written by academics funded by fossil fuel companies and in the past, the tobacco industry. The MAGA Cult actively spreads disinformation. Same with the Sovereign Citizens.

External influencers. Think Russian bot farms

Economics and psychology

Pikertty – Capital. Capital and its Iconography

Galbraith. The End of Normal

Steiglitz. The Great Divide

Kahneman. Thinking Fast – Thinking Slow

What Globalisation brought about. Now we face the consequences of “The End of Normal”

The Economic Assumptions ⁵. Our starting point is the concept of Neoclassical Economics and adding the assumption of unlimited resources, including the capacity for unlimited pollution.

The price of believing the economic assumptions to be realistic include: Growth Addiction and ignoring the obvious Limits to Growth

Data Centres and AI

Is it a Bubble? Compare with 2000s Tech Wreck ⁶

Why do we need it? Who needs it? Who is responsible for bad (bot) actors? How can it be enforced? ^{7 8 9}

Trustworthy Information

Trust exists because there is independent review and fact checking. Here are some of the sources we use on The Togetherness Project. The ones listed can be read from links (so you can check them yourself) but there are other places that are reliable as well.

ABC. Not perfect but it is journalism driven which has its protections against bias and misrepresentation.

The Guardian. It is left leaning and still maintains journalistic integrity.

New Scientist. Peer reviewed is its standard. The gold standard. We often see reporting in mainstream media derived from the weekly New Scientist magazine.

The Health Report (ABC Podcast). Frequently quotes peer reviewed sources and identifies when opinion is offered. Both summary and deep dives.

The Conversation. Publication of academic research in a similar way to New Scientist. Opinion pieces and topical discussions from experts in their field.

NOT Social Media. It is just not reliable. Clickbait and minimal fact checking is deliberately aiming to provide echo chambers that keep people on the platform – to make money.

The Response

What can we do – Together?

• Do the things we can individually
• Join local groups that try to do better things
• Help each other with random acts of senseless kindness
• Exercise the critical thinking muscles

The final takeaway is that we know what we can do to make it better and we need a concerted effort to bring about change – TOGETHER

1. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/oct/15/australia-discretionary-trusts-tax-changes-labor-coalition[↩]
2. https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/abc-news-top-stories/pm-livestream-execution-abhorrent/107262194[↩]
3. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/victoria-youth-crime-violence-reduction-unit-right-balance/106028862[↩]
4. https://www.abc.net.au/religion/victoria-youth-justice-reforms-more-punitive-than-preventative/106011328[↩]
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoclassical_economics[↩]
6. https://www.abc.net.au/news/programs/the-business/2026-09-07/the-bond-meltdown-and-ai-bubble-brewing-the-next-global-financia/107125748)

   Who is paying for it all? Circular funding ((https://theconversation.com/whos-paying-whom-the-circular-money-machine-behind-the-ai-boom-or-bubble-293938[↩]

7. https://theconversation.com/companies-that-get-hacked-face-stricter-laws-than-firms-unleashing-rogue-ai-we-can-fix-that-294059[↩]
8. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2482317-who-holds-the-keys-to-your-ai-and-why-it-matters/[↩]
9. https://theconversation.com/what-are-small-language-models-and-how-do-they-differ-from-large-ones-269103[↩]