Transcript of the above video: 

So anybody that has been following my channel for any period of time now at all are probably aware I don't like totalitarianism especially as it pertains to telecom issues, especially as it pertains to banking and digitized banking and the telecom issues arising therefrom. I am going to get further into that here in a moment. That said, before I do, quick shout out for the title to Truth Stream Media, Melissa and Aaron over there at Truth Stream Media. I appreciated this. This was sort of an inspiration for the title was the "Nirvana Glasnost"; they pointed this out; I'll get to that here in a moment. 

Really quickly before we dive in here as well, I am going to be doing paid news through our paid news service. I'm going to be doing a long-form video this upcoming Sunday to be released thereafter. Anybody who is interested in our paid news service - I think we are now at 15 episodes - you can email us. We are currently in the process of building a new platform, but right now we are sending out these long-form videos through email, and if you are interested in viewing the long form content, please feel free to email us: [email protected], [email protected], and you can get on the mailing list for that. I talk about in long form how stuff impacts Expat land, geopolitics, international affairs, banking, taxes, just all the stuff we are seeing; local politics and the interaction between those developments and how that may impact these other things. So if you are interested, [email protected]. Again while I am talking my book, my better half and I have also opened a diner here in downtown Bangkok, breakfast anytime. It is called Pancake Palace: we have also got cheeseburgers, buffalo wings, chilli bowls, pork chops, chicken burgers, all of that good stuff. If you are interested, you can check us out; link in the description below to our location.

Going back here to the "Data Lake of Fire" and Nirvana Glasnost. First of all, what is the “Data Lake of Fire”? In the movie Hidalgo, they run this race of these thoroughbreds and Hidalgo is kind of this mustang from the American Northwest who was basically kind of a mutt and he basically runs in this race called the Lake of Fire where he ultimately ends up winning it - spoiler alert, sorry - and he ends up becoming considered sort of a thoroughbred. There is a great ending to it. I love it where this Arabian Prince I think who has been sort of castigating his rider and Hidalgo throughout the race; after Hidalgo wins, he says "it truly is a magnificent animal". It's a great movie. I urge those who are interested in movies check out Hidalgo. Viggo Mortensen is in that one. It is just a great film across the board. But I thought when I was reading about this “Data Lake”, I first of all was thinking like well that sounds like hell, so the Data Lake of Fire, and so I thought of Hidalgo, so that's where that comes from. I'll get to Nirvana Glasnost here in a moment. 

That said, I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: Data Lake to assist with fiscal policies. Yeah, I'll bet! Quoting directly: "The Finance Ministry's large database, also known as a data lake, is expected to help it design fiscal policies tailored to the specific needs of different regions of the country, says Finance Permanent Secretary Lavaron Sangsnit." Now here is where the Nirvana Glasnost came up, and it was I believe Truth Stream. You all sent me a message, and you said, "hey did you notice that his name Lavaron Sangsnit is an anagram for Nirvana Glasnost. I was kind of like "oh interesting", how that worked out there. For those who are unaware, the Russian term Glasnost which was sort of the junior partner if you will, to Perestroika at the end of the Soviet Union, a lot of people say it's translated as transparency; that there would be transparency in the USSR, in the Soviet system, but I have heard it more accurately or in a more nuanced way translated as "publicity" and I have often said that Glasnost is a really good term to categorize the world we are coming into, where there is all this social media; there is all of this publicity. Nobody has privacy or anonymity, but it doesn't really get you anywhere. It's not transparency in the true sense of the term because transparency kind of implies accountability, and I don't see a lot of accountability. We know what is going on, but it doesn't seem to have any impact sometimes. Now here in Thailand, it's one of the things I like about the way Thailand works, the Thai system, is the people's voice does have an impact, it very much has an impact so that is worth pointing out. That said, quoting further: "People in various regions of Thailand have different needs, and the Data Lake being developed by the Ministry, will allow the Government to craft policies that better match each area, he said. Quote: "The date lake is important because without a sufficiently large database, artificial intelligence systems cannot function," said Mr. Lavaron." So AI is going to be dictating policy to us in the future. Is that what I am hearing? That said, quoting further: "He said the Data Lake, which will be second in size to the Provincial Administration Department's database", which who asked for this? Provincial Administration has their database through due process of law; there is a reason it is there. And I don't think Thais have an inherent problem with that. I have had people ask me if I have a problem with the national ID and things. I said no, it is part and parcel of becoming Thai. I understood it when I got into it. Now I can understand people who have a problem with it and if you are not Thai, there is a simple solution. Don't become Thai. But again, where has been the due process for this Data Lake on all of us, by the way? Quoting further: "Will consolidate information about up to 60.8 million people and 600,000 businesses countrywide." You mean those folks that they are trying to bag and tag and make them all file tax returns, which we have talked about at length in a few videos here recently? Who don't have to file to this point by the way, and this is the lower and lowest socioeconomic strata in the country. They really don't need to file tax returns because a lot of them live hand to mouth. Quoting further: "This data covers deposits, taxes, credit bureau records, insurance, student loans (from Student Loan Fund), postal services, and information from the seven state-owned financial institutions." Well, who gave anybody their permission to use this stuff? Where is the privacy and there is nothing wrong with demanding privacy. I don't want everybody knowing all this stuff about me. It's ridiculous; and it gets even worse too. Quoting further: "The Ministry recently signed an agreement to integrate Thai Citizens' Health Data from the Public Health Ministry into the Data Lake." So now they get your health data. I mean where is the basic notion of privacy here? Quoting further, and it's not unreasonable to ask that question. I am really also tired of, "well if you have got nothing to hide". Well we all had nothing to hide and then you magically said we all had to wear masks, because we breathe. If we learned anything from COVID, it doesn't matter if you have nothing to hide. This stuff is always used for totalitarian ends. Quoting further: "The next step is to incorporate additional data such as electricity and water usage." Well neato gang. Again, where is any level of privacy here? Quoting further: "Social Security records, farmer information" - farmer information - really? for the subsistence farmers of Thailand, we have got to gather up a bunch of data on those folks. Quoting further: "and data on vulnerable groups" - and this is how this is always sort of the cherry on top, "vulnerable groups" - "and data on vulnerable groups into the system to give the Ministry a comprehensive database, said Mr. Lavaron". Which I keep thinking, “Nirvana Glasnost”. In any event, quoting further: "In addition to supporting Government Policymaking, the database should enhance the efficiency of tax collection." There it is. There is the onion, to quote Marc Anthony from HBO's Rome. "There is the onion". There it is; that's the crux of this. Quoting further: "For example by linking information between the Revenue Department and the Customs Department, authorities can more effectively detect tax evasion, said Mr. Lavaron. If a business evades import duties, its revenues will increase, and the Revenue Department would likely be required to investigate its tax filings."

There is a scene in the movie, sorry in the series The Americans, where Oleg, the character who was posted to the resident tour in the United States, gets transferred back and he was in the KGB in the '80s, and he has to go work investigating the food dispensaries, basically the grocery stores in the old USSR, because they are basically engaging in free market practices. People that pay more get better products and things, and he has to go in there and do all this investigation, nosing around their operation to keep people from doing that basically. This stuff makes me think of that, where they are going to sit there and go, "oh you got away with this one so your revenues went up, so now, just because your revenues, “just because your revenues went up”, - you can infer from this statement alone, your revenues going up could in and of themselves be a red flag for further investigation for tax evasion. Boy, that's going to be real conducive to free enterprise, going to be real conducive to people going out and increasing their profit margin, isn't it? Quoting further: "Before the database is completed, one of the Ministry's "Quick Win" initiatives is the Ari Score System," - I have already talked about this. I have likened this to the Social Credit Scoring System of totalitarian Communist China. Quoting further: "A personal credit assessment tool for borrowing from financial institutions. Unlike with the traditional credit bureau, this system draws on a broader range of data such as household utility usage (electricity and water) to help small borrowers gain easier access to formal credit." How does them knowing how much water and electricity you use, allow them to broaden credit for folks in the lower socioeconomic strata? Where is the correlation between that data? Quoting further: "Meanwhile, Dr. Opas Karnkawinpong, Public Health Permanent Secretary, said the Ministry plans to extend its goal for the average Thai lifespan to 100 years by next year, up from 70 to 80 years at present." Yeah, this is so Soviet. That just sounds like something the Soviets would do. "Next year our goal for agriculture production is X number da, da". Another guy out there in the ether of the internet I love to listen to, Simon Mikhailovich, because he actually came up in the USSR, left in the Brezhnev era, and then sort of watched it all come apart from abroad, provides a lot of useful insights into this kind of stuff. I mean this is the kind of thing that the Communists used to literally do. Just say oh, - now they can project life spans! Come on.

Again many thanks, I'll put links in the description below to Truth Stream, both on YouTube as well as over on Twitter, Simon Mikhailovich too while I am thinking of it, but thanks a lot; tip of the hat to you guys. That was a great anagram, Nirvana Glasnost, I loved it.

Quoting further: "Extending people's lifespans involves multiple factors such as healthcare, social conditions and financial well-being,” he said. Good health must go hand in hand with financial security." Huh, I mean now the government is going to make us all live to 100 by taking away all of our privacy. Wow, what a great idea.

So that brought me over to, again I went over to zerohedge.com and I saw a recent article: We Need to Rethink AI Before it Destroys What It Means To Be Human. Quoting directly: "We were not made to be managed. We were not made to be obsolete. But that is exactly the future Big Tech is building under the banner of Artificial Intelligence. And if we do not slam the brakes right now, we are going to find ourselves in the world for the human experience is not enhanced by technology but erased by it." That is so well put, and that is what I think of when I think of this Nirvana Glasnost where we are all living in this digital petri dish where they are all going to poke and prod us and track and trace us, on the premise that we are all going to live to be a hundred. What is the Bible verse that goes, "And they will seek death, but death will not come to them." It reminds me of that; I can't remember the exact verse, but it reminds me of that, where you know would you really want to live to be a hundred, in a system like that? I don't know that I would. Of course as Bob Hope once said, "Who wants to live to be 105? 104-year-olds." 

In any event, one more, again going back to the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, just for this Nirvana Glasnost thread further, quoting directly, under the title: Thai Government Issues new rules for SIM cards. Quoting directly: "Deputy Government Spokesman Anukool Pruksanusak, said the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission will implement Liveness Detection technology nationwide, effective from August 18." So now we need digital interfaces to verify that we are alive? Is that what the purpose is for that? Quoting further: "The system will apply to all new mobile subscribers, both prepaid and postpaid, as well as existing users replacing SIM cards while keeping the same number." So nobody is going to be able to escape this ultimately, is what they're saying. Hopefully, maybe they will turn around. Who knows. Quoting further: "The technology verifies identity in real time through facial recognition, similar to banking applications." Neato, because everybody's real happy about all that, which by the way I have been thinking about this. I might, in fact, on the paid news service I am probably going to dig into this a little bit. But just something to think about just while we are thinking about the banking stuff that we all love so much, maybe our paradigm should shift, and maybe instead of all of us lining up to go comply with all of this stuff, we might just think about lining up to withdraw our money from the banks that are imposing this stuff on us because it's pretty darn ridiculous, and they seem to be forgetting who the customers are. Quoting further: "This prevents scammers from using photos, videos, or 3D masks to impersonate others." Really? So scammers are out there using 3D masks to impersonate somebody to get a SIM card? I mean I can see maybe it happened a few times, but again as I have discussed another videos, this kind of communal punishment thinking is inherent to totalitarianism, both Fascist and Communist. We have a few scammers, therefore now everybody needs to do a facial recognition scan to get a freaking SIM card. Quoting further: "A loophole that previously enabled fraudulent SIM registration," - it's not a loophole, it's just privacy. That’s what it's called, it's privacy. One thing I love about Thailand, and I loved about it when I got here, is Thais value their freedom, and they value their privacy. And I'm hoping maybe Thais will take a look at this more and more and say, "Hmm, is this really what we want?" Quoting further: "Mobile users must register in person or through applications provided by service operators, service centres, authorized dealers and retail outlets. All documents must be original and valid. Thai nationals must present their national ID card, foreigners a passport, and corporate users a company certificate, along with authorized signatory identification." What does that all mean? And I mean look; I thought all this digitization was to make things easier. All I am seeing is it is making things more and more complex for things that 6 months ago we could all do just routinely, as a matter of course. Quoting further: "Operators are required to protect personal data in line with NBTC regulations and the Personal Data Protection Act." Wow, I am really glad they passed that one. I feel like my data is so protected now that I have to have a facial recognition scan associated with getting a SIM card, which I could do a year ago without having to present anything; well I could do 5 years ago without having to present anything, and I could do a year ago with basically just a passport as a foreigner, or a Thai ID card. Now I have got to have my face freaking scanned. Meanwhile, on top of that, they are going to be using electricity and water bills to decide if you can get a loan, so that'll be really neat. And they are creating a digital Lake of Fire for their Nirvana Glasnost in which we will all be looked at, tracked, traced; everything about us will be monitored, so that they can determine whether or not we are all in line with whatever their expectations are.

I have got to be honest with you; this stuff is pernicious; I don't think it is leading anywhere good; it's not conducive to free enterprise and that is what has made Thailand's economy great. I am very hopeful that these policies will be studied again, cooler heads will prevail, and we will see a turnaround on this stuff sooner rather than later.