 Please excuse my lack of shirt. It's just hot today. I'm already sweating So Jamie, what's the deal with all this off-grid self-sufficiency stuff? Like what's the point? What are you doing with your life? All right, I'm gonna try to answer this one. I get this question a lot in various forums. It's kind of hard to answer This isn't what I originally thought I was gonna be doing originally. I wanted to work on colonizing other planets, so maybe invent some new propulsion techniques you know figure out how to live on a on a Another planet in some hostile environment and make it more habitable You know all that kind of stuff because we're gonna have to do that eventually Otherwise, we're just sitting on this planet waiting for the next comet to come destroy us or whatever or wait till someone accidentally pushes the nuclear bomb or whatever, you know And I thought that was a that was an interesting thing to do and a valuable thing to do for For the human species in general the more I thought about it the more I realized We need to tackle some cultural issues Before any of that is gonna happen One like Any to any new technology we get today is Just gets put into the profit machine like it's we're not using technology well We're not using technology to make people's lives better to make our lives better to make the planet better to make things better We're using technology today to maximize profits which generally means maximizing garbage because You convince people to come buy stuff The sooner it breaks and they throw it out the sooner they're back in the store buying more and then you use more You sell the more you sell the more profits you get So it's just this garbage making machine is using resources as quickly as possible converting them into garbage to Make money Which is insane. We should not be doing that with our technologies. This is a crazy idea But that's that's how it's working right now or not working another problem is You know when I was thinking about living on another planet I realized oh wait a minute I don't even know how to live on this planet without destroying things like Basically it comes back to the garbage thing like just using resources ruining the the environment around us like we're we're just You know if we can't live on the planet that is most suited to us the planet where we developed that already has everything we need If we can't live here without destroying the place without ruining the place How are we gonna go to some other planet and make it better so that we can Or make it more conducive to our kind of life There's no point in doing that until we figure out how to live here So I was like all right Maybe I can work on that kind of stuff and that's basically where you know the whole self-sufficiency living off gray, you know the whole lifestyle idea started and I Started thinking about What needs to happen like how does our culture need to change so that we can live You know really live on this planet in without destroying nature and you know could potentially take that kind of Lifestyle to to other planets and stuff so let me give you any example of Some of the problems and some of the solutions so around here and This is this is way after I decided all this stuff so around here There are things that people call gringo fishing boats, and this is the 200 horsepower motor Fiberglass boat has all these moving parts and needs tons of maintenance eats gasoline like crazy Spits out oil and smoke and pollution And it just takes tons of maintenance and people are like Spilling money all over the place to try to keep these things going is eating up gasoline and and they're driving around 40 miles an hour They're not really going anywhere doing anything, but they're doing it with style or whatever you know, so that's it that's an example of how modern technology allows people to Use a lot and do very little so doing very little with a lot this is this is the I Guess the crux of the problem with modern society Now I've got the other end of the spectrum right out here Where there will be a dude? Who has a dugout canoe and that's his his main possession is like a wood canoe? He's got a wood paddle, and I'll be paddling along with like a bunch of plantains some yuca Maybe some mangoes like food in his boat that came from his farm that he's been farming And he's taking this to his home to his family so they can eat now that guy He has a purpose Right like he's doing something. He's growing food. He's taking his family and he's Supporting human life, and he's doing this with very little So that guy is doing a lot with very little as opposed to you know the kind of more modern high-tech style which is Doing very little with a lot. So how do we take those two things together? Take the positive of those two things together take the modern The modern technology which gives us access to incredible amounts of resources and energy like just gives us access to so much and Combine that with still doing a lot Because if you take that guy who's who's driving the Kayuko you give him a million dollars He's gonna go buy a couch and a TV and he's gonna sit there For the rest of his life probably doesn't happen in all cases, but that's generally what happens So How do you make it so that a person can get access to all of this all this wealth of resources and Use it in a way that is conducive to life and makes life better and it like it's supportive to Happiness and health and in human life and and even progress progress has become this kind of bad word But like positive creative progress well Basically you need people to get off the idea of doing what they're told Which means stop listening to TV commercial stop living listening to authorities Stop listening to anyone who has authority over you because of a job position or a badge or you know Anything like that and start instead doing what's right? Because when you listen to the authorities or And I'm using the term authority in a very broad term like when you're being told what to do you're doing what you're told Usually you're being told Things that are not in your best interest the person telling you what to do is trying to get stuff from you That's just the way our society works today So you'll have TV commercials telling you to buy buy this garbage over and over and over you'll have you know, there's a there's a Coronavirus situation and they start a quarantine and say get in your house and stay there for four months or you're going to jail Instead of actually explaining what the situation is and coming up with reasonable, you know ways to deal with it and you know Having people voluntarily because they trust the leadership. Listen, you know Yeah, this whole authoritarian thing needs it needs to go away People need to start doing what is right and that means a moral code So You know, this was this is kind of where I was at I know 15 20 years ago and that's around the time I came up with the adventure builder Philosophy and I've got other videos about that. I don't need to go into it all here But basically it's a set of virtues or eight virtues in the adventure builder philosophy and they revolve around your mind body and spirit and It basically says like, you know, tell the truth. Don't be lazy, you know be productive creative as opposed to just just Obvious basic simple principles that people should all be doing but we're not This this philosophy I Started living by it, but you know, it's anyone can use it. It's nothing new It's all principles that have been around for thousands of years. So anyway, I started living my life based on these principles So I started telling the truth all the time just putting lots of effort into everything and trying to Find a way of life where I'm doing more with less Creating less waste and getting more creation be more creative less destructive And that's that's the basic principle of what I've been doing for like the last 15 20 years and I'm showing this all on on videos and I think sometimes a lot of times the message doesn't always come through clearly because You know, I'm in a phase where there's so much Experimentation and I'm going in all these different directions and trying things and a lot of things are working a lot of things aren't working And I'm finding something works better and I'm just changing directions so much because I Started so far from the goal Like I grew up in such a destructive wasteful culture That to get to where I'm trying to be You know, I just got to try all kinds of crazy things because I have no example I don't know. I don't really know anyone I haven't seen anything where people are trying to take, you know modern technology and use it in a way to really benefit Life and I'm sure there are other people doing this too, but a lot of people are also Doing it under the radar just keeping to themselves. And I'm you know, I'm documenting documenting it all Knowing that it's going to come out messy like a pile of scrambled eggs because I don't know what's What's going to work and what's not going to work and I'll take theories that I hear from people and then I'll try them in real life and The funny thing is like there's so many pieces of information that We basically take for granted that when I've tested them in real life end up being garbage I can give you hundreds of examples of this But okay, let me give you just a quick example You know, I learned that Propellers like a boat propeller Made paddle wheels obsolete so boat propeller is Superior so paddle wheels are inferior. So when I started making boats here. I started doing propellers What I found that what I found is that Propellers lose efficiency Very quickly if they're damaged, you know chipped bent they get bit of dirt on them You know a piece of grass gets caught on a propeller the efficiency goes way way down And you can see this if you have a fan in your house And don't clean it for a while and wait till you can see the dust on the propeller blades and then blow the fan at your face and Then turn the fan off Clean the blades so they're nice and smooth and then turn it back on you'll feel like a huge difference When it when the when the blades are in optimal conditions and that's the thing a propeller is better in optimal conditions, but in real life You don't have optimal conditions. So at some point I made a Petal boat that had a paddle wheel on it and pretty soon like within Within a year. I just realized I keep choosing to use this paddle wheel Why do I keep choosing to use this paddle wheel and I realized oh, it's got like no maintenance. Get out of here bug That's good You know, it's got basically no maintenance. This is the only it's the only boat I had that that went a year with with no maintenance at all like I didn't have to even clean the paddle wheel or anything All the moving parts are above the water. So there's nothing getting dunked up, you know And that doesn't mean that paddle wheels are superior to propellers. It just means that There are definitely situations and a lot of situations where a paddle wheel is better than having a Propeller like if I want to pull up on a beach paddle wheel can just drive up run on the beach Because it barely sticks in the water doesn't stick down far. It's not going to get damaged by the sand Propeller I have to get that out of the water If I'm going to pull up on a beach, you know Just so many different circumstances where something that I was told was obsolete old ancient technology as garbage Turned out to be really useful and I found tons of things like that so You know, basically, I'm just I'm just trying to figure out how to make How to make a better lifestyle that's not so destructive And I'm sharing that with people on in videos Hoping that some other people will be inspired to do that, too And you know share their information back with me so I can learn things, too and then you know It's kind of it's the kind of thing that slowly snowballs into Something really really useful and valuable in the world and As I get further down this path of experimenting and trying things I'm getting I'm getting you know more into being actually productive and less into just going in any direction So for example When I moved here, I was trying to grow banana trees now. I would just plant them everywhere plant them all kinds of different places and all kinds of different ways and then Six months later, I'd see what was growing and what wasn't and then you know I'd figure out what I should do more of and less of and it's been a few years and You might think oh if you're farming for years, you should have this huge crop. Well, I'm experimenting with a lot of things, but at this point I've got four banana circles, which is basically a mound of dirt, I mean big mound of dirt with a hole in the middle and the banana trees are planted around the mound and In the middle it's filled with compost and those have been working really well And now at any point in time. I've got roughly five things of bananas growing Which isn't enough to keep up with my family, but it's way more than I had before and now I have a reasonable way a Reliable way to grow bananas And I'm doing this with all kinds of different plants and all kinds of different technologies Just trying different things and at some point in the future I'm gonna kind of get to a point where I've got things More or less worked out I mean there's there's never gonna be a finished point to any of this It's gonna be a continual thing, but at some point I'm gonna get things mostly figured out and then I'm gonna have to make videos, you know sharing what I've learned in a more kind of cohesive clear way, maybe I'll write a book and Then also, you know one of the things that I'm one of the ways technology is useful is in conveying information in different ways and I've been playing with making video games learning how to make video games, so I'm gonna build all this information into video games so that kids can play kids of all ages of course can play video games and have this fun adventure with Infer like real life information built into it So you learn real things like real principles and ideas and ways of doing things that work in real life So then you end up learning valuable things because some of my favorite video games of the past were ones where I learned Things that were valuable in real life All right, I think that basically Covers what I'm trying to do here more or less and Yeah, I got sun right now the weather's looking good I'm gonna go go to it before I go a couple quick examples of how this is all manifesting itself so When I was growing up, I did a lot of sports a lot of running a lot of exercise I was eating like over 10,000 calories a day Running like sub five minute miles not one mile. I mean like for like 10 miles at a time but I was in great shape and I was just eating mountains of food and not really doing anything productive with it Other than just making it so I could eat another mountain of food. So now I Still get lots of exercise However, my exercise is is put into useful tasks, you know building houses growing food Landscaping things to make the world around me a better place You know if I have to go somewhere. I don't just rely on a motor. I use my own human power Which is you know instead of going for like a 10 mile run and then driving somewhere I'd be like no no I'm gonna use my own human power to actually get there Another example is I Keep I keep trying to build things that are long-lasting. So like I have a stainless steel bulldozer That theoretically will last indefinitely if I don't break it And I'm building a lot of things out of concrete like buildings out of concrete because it lasts so much longer than other materials It takes a lot more work to build it in the first place But once it's built termites don't eat it. It's not getting destroyed by the weather as long as I do a good job It should last outlast me And just a lot of things like that that You know, I just I'm just trying to make all my decisions Steer myself into a more sustainable more Productive less destructive more creative lifestyle and just as I go through the day I try to make everything be like that and Slowly I'm making progress