Transcript of the above video: 

As the title of this video suggests, we are, well the title of this video might not be overly suggestive of where the details of this go but as you can probably tell, we're talking about these Digital IDs, all of this digitization, everything associated with creating a sort of digital copy of people and then using it to just track and trace sort of everything. Again, I find it truly ironic on certain levels that the so-called excessively undemocratic so-called military government we didn't see any of this. There was no communication with the World Economic Forum, nothing, for like almost a decade. Then 2023 hits and the main Party in the then coalition Government comes out with something, the so-called Digital Wallet which they didn't have an electoral mandate for but then it turned out it's going to track and trace you; you can only spend the money in certain places; you can only spend it on certain things; it has a radius blah blah, all of these sort of weird restrictions, and that went away and I'm happy to say that I said something, spoke out against it. I thought it was a bad idea then; I thought going into a bunch of extra debt for it was a bad idea, and for what? We were just going to get a bunch of magic bean money that they can just track and trace all day long. 

But meanwhile, it looks like some of these attempts continue to go - I got this actually from a viewer who emailed it to us. This is from uta.co.th, so this is from Airport in Airport City, U-Tapao International Aviation Co. Ltd. So this is pertaining to the U-Tapao Airport. Now I have talked about this before. They're talking about doing a pretty large outlay there infrastructurally because U-Tapao is sort of part of a broader initiative associated with tying together the rail and air links in Thailand and then sort of attaching that more broadly throughout the world. That said, again under the heading of The New Soul of Thailand.  Built for Business, Designed for Unforgettable Travel Experience. Quote: "U-Tapao Airport and Eastern Airport City Project" is one of the strategic projects of the Eastern Economic Corridor" - and I've talked about the EEC quite a bit as well. Quoting further: "As Bangkok's 3rd international airport, linked by high-speed train to another 2 airports and the city center, U-Tapao International Airport serves as the EEC's and Thailand's gateway to the world; while the Eastern Airport City offers unparallel lifestyle, opportunities, and round-the-clock entertainment megacity." Yet again, I think this EEC stuff is a pretty good idea overall, but then they come down, there's always a catch as it were.

Then you come down here under: Built-In Digital - Digital Construction and Technology. U-Tapao Airport and Eastern Airport City Project will fully utilize digital technologies, most recent advancements and upcoming cutting-edge technologies to bring a better experience and smoother operation." What better experience? That's my first thing. Like what isn't working? I'm really tired of this narrative where it is just put out there as a foregone, self-evident conclusion that everything in the world is so chaotic and therefore we need this digital control grid to bring back normalcy for all of us. It's pretty galling at this point. That said, quoting further on these bullet points: 

• Smart mobility, autonomous vehicles, and automated people move.” All right. Quoting further: 

• Smart airport technology using "One ID" for identification and payments." 

Well first of all, any Thai has a national ID. It's existed since Plaek Pibulsongkram created it back in 1943. It exists. We all have a national ID here. So what is this doing? And again, it goes back to this sort of foregone conclusion; it is pushed out in the narrative that it is just self-evident that we need this stuff, or that we have got a problem. I don't know about anybody else, but I'm okay walking around, breathing my own air, living my own life without having a "One ID" to track and trace everything I'm doing. Quoting further:

• State-of-the-art green and sustainable infrastructure." - what even that means at this point, especially in line of recent events going on in the Middle East, I don't even know. 

But long story short is this, again going back to this "One ID" for identification and payments - and payments. It is this move toward cashless; it's this move for tracking and tracing everything people do and meanwhile, Thailand doesn't even need this for its own citizens. Again, we already have an ID system, so what's this "One ID". I thought we already had "One ID". Again if you can't tell I get pretty passionate about this; it is frustrating. This stuff just keeps getting pushed by these folks as if it is completely necessary. Meanwhile, I love the idea of the Eastern Economic Corridor; I love the idea of U-Tapao being hooked into this 3 airports-high-speed rail link and then the high-speed rail link sort of spreading out from there and connecting us to the rest of Southern Asia down here. And in the long term, we will probably be linked up to major rail infrastructure throughout the rest of Asia. I'm not against any of that per se, but why does it all have to be couched in this notion that we need “Smart Airport technology using "One ID" for identification and payments”. Why? Cash isn't working? It's working fine. 

Another thing. I saw a thing on Twitter the other day just generally speaking, about why there's a push, a constant push for all this cashless. And at first glance it's just like well Orwellian, but there is also a profit motive here, because if people are all on cards - debit, credit whatever - or they are using scans and they will say well scans don't have this - they don't have this now, but if you are using cards and everything is cashless, there is a percentage going to the bank every time you are using that card. It's the fee for using it and you can't tell me they are not going to start doing that long term with scans; they can't do this with cash. 

Cash is issued; there's velocity of money. You get a hundred baht, you pass it along to the motorbike taxi, he passes it along to whoever is making food for him that day. That guy passes it along to whoever they need to buy their food stuffs from, and it moves along the supply chain. But guess what doesn't happen every time that cash gets passed? There's no VIG; there's no percentage that gets cut off and sent off to some faceless, multinational supranational banking organization; that's the difference at the end of the day. So I'm very hopeful that this whole notion of "One ID" - especially in light of what does that even mean and we already have a Thai IDs - but I'm hoping that this does not catch on just as much as the so-called Digital Wallet did not catch on politically here in the Kingdom of Thailand.