A formula for happiness

[Applause]

imagine a world

with fresh air clean water and an

abundance

of species and ecosystems imagine a

world where

no one has to fear for their basic needs

imagine a world where everyone has equal

opportunities

a nice place isn’t it and you know what

i’ve seen a glimpse of it in 2004

i took a plane from norway to india

i was going to travel for three months

but i got spellbound by asia

i lost track of time and i ended up

traveling for years

my desire to experience

this incredible diversity on this planet

took me to some of the most

remote places i wanted to get as far

away from my own culture

as possible after months of

hiking in the himalayas i needed lower

altitude

and warmer climate

i hitchhiked through sumatra in

indonesia

and there i met some people who told me

about wild

monkey eating barbarians living deep in

the jungle

whatever you do don’t go there they told

me but i thought to myself

that’s exactly what i’m gonna do

it wasn’t easy getting there but after a

week

i stood in the middle of mantawai island

of the west coast of sumatra

there i met the family living a

traditional lifestyle

like they had done for centuries

it felt like a fairy tale from my

childhood that come to life

these people hadn’t even heard of

coca-cola

i was in paradise and the shama naman

paksa

invited me to stay with him they worked

about

three hours a day and they had lots of

time for socializing

they had fantastic nature no money no

electricity

no machines and amazing food

you know real delicacies exotic fruits

river shrimps frogs turtles

monkey brain finger-sized larvaes and

batshit

a feast for oils i was intrigued by

their complex system of trade and how

they measured

value they are the fully functional

economic system based on natural

resources

trees and animals can only grow a

certain speed

and humans can only consume a certain

amount

as a result everyone had equal

opportunities

among pakistan paid for his how to for

help to build his house

with trees animals and land

and the time it took for him to regain

his wealth

was much shorter than it takes for us in

the western world

to pay off our

loan house loan

their good economy is also reflected in

food production

the main food source in mantawai is the

sago palm tree it takes about 10 days

to process one tree and then you have

about a year

of storable food for the whole family

intuitively they had developed

a societal system that solved the

biggest challenge we’re faced with today

sustainable living not only in terms of

environment but also

technological economic and

social sustainability

if you illustrate this system it will

look something like this

the environment governs the

possibilities and limitations

of what people can achieve but everyone

can expect to have their basic needs

fulfilled

among pakistani clients have figured out

the most effective way

most adequate way of how to use the land

through generations of trial and error

they make tools to facilitate production

and consumption

and they partner things with each other

and also services with each other

so in other words the environment

governs the society the society governs

the technology

and technology governs the economy

i will refer to this as our indigenous

model

and it has worked successfully for

thousands of years

it also seems like the result of this

model is a bunch of happy people

and ultimately that is what we all want

right

to be happy i asked myself

why are mampaxa and the clan seem to be

so content

after all life in the jungle wasn’t that

easy all the time

there is an equation saying that

happiness

equals reality minus expectations

all children in traditional cultures

are together with their parents all the

time

they observe they learn and they imitate

it gives them a continuous vision of

what to expect later in life

it makes their expectations aligned with

their actual reality

everyone in mantawai can expect to have

a house

a canoe a family and enough food

and if they made a real effort they

could even have more than expected

wouldn’t that make you happy

i never met people with such a deep

feeling of presence

and connection with each other and their

surroundings

being in the jungle felt like a long

meditation

as if time was moving in circles

even their language doesn’t have a past

or future tense

i got lost in this bubble of time and

ended up following amanpaxa for extended

periods with my film camera over 15

years

i was obsessed by making a documentary

about this amazing culture

to show it to the rest of the world

but then suddenly reality started to

change

drastically and fast and it made me

wonder

do we really have something to learn

from traditional cultures

the world is developing in a blazing

speed

during the time i’ve been filming for my

documentary in utopia

i got facebook instagram google maps

bitcoins better cameras

better computers the list goes on

but for aman paxa the change has been

even bigger

today he owns a smartphone and a bank

account

i have been able to film the clans

going from barter to money

paddling ores to motors axes to

chainsaws

bow and arrows to guns and muddy parts

to highways

in less than a decade

like governments in most countries

indonesia doesn’t give proper room for

traditional cultures they are considered

primitive and backward thinking what the

so-called modern world has to offer

for traditional cultures is a different

model and the idea is alluring

now you can be the master of your

environment

you can use better tools you can earn an

infinite amount of money

and buy as many things as you want

and the best way to do it is by

replacing the jungle with palm oil

plantations

add some gifts and religion and you have

a perfect mix for

persuasion the indonesian government

was offering small hats

with water toilets and sink roofs

for the population in the jungle who

were willing to relocate

into social villages the water toilets

pollute their drinking water and the

sink roofs

last for about eight years in the jungle

in comparison a sago leaf roof can last

for

up to eight in the 20 years and it

doesn’t turn a house into a sauna

but the clans in the jungle were seduced

by the possibilities to make things

easier and faster for themselves when

they realized

they were far behind the rest of

indonesia they wanted to catch up

and it didn’t take long before

a new lower class of desperate people

emerged

from rights to riches not exactly

population is on the rise and people

need to feed their families

and now they can hunt much more

effectively with their guns

there are four endemic species of monkey

on mantawai

i use their their beautiful song around

amanpaxa’s house

but today they are long gone

i told them that the monkeys are

threatened by extinction

but they explained to me that the

monkeys have simply moved to a different

place

and it was impossible to hunt them all

down

they had always been there and they

would always be there

i was witnessing human history on repeat

only this time it wasn’t fast forward

and the clients had no way of knowing

what the effects of what was happening

they just wanted to be in control

it’s mind-boggling though that we who

are aware

that we eradicate entire species and

ecosystems continue to do so

we also need to agree that abundant

ecosystems

clean water and air is best for

ourselves

but we continue to over exploit our

resources

and create excessive pollution

we are social creatures but

we continue to create a money system

that

leads to loneliness individualism and

huge material differences i remember

when aman paxa

and his family started to buy biscuits

in the village they ate them all the

time and i told them that

they shouldn’t abandon their original

diet

for biscuits it’s not healthy aman paksa

then sarcastically said to me

batista face from you guys why are you

making something that is bad for

yourselves

so why are we doing the exact opposite

of what we know is best for us

today amman pakistan’s children are

looking at

apparently successful people with huge

mansions

on instagram now i can communicate

regularly with people from mantawai and

i’m on pakistan’s cousins

want to become youtube stars

short-sighted ender fin triggering

mechanisms

lure us into addiction when we see an

advertisement

money is generated social media

has been transformed by self-learning

computer

algorithms working in the background and

they have only one goal and that is to

earn an

infinite amount of money most people

don’t even understand our economy which

is also driven

largely by computer algorithms

we have lost control

in the modern globalized world the

environment

is given the least amount of

consideration

technology governs the economy economy

governs the society and society governs

the environment

and i think we can all agree that we are

doing a bad job yet

we all know that it’s highly unlikely

that we will outlive our environment

we used to be users of tools

but now we have become the commodity

of the tools that we have created

this has never happened before in human

history

and unless we start to create boundaries

for technology

we can end up becoming its puppy

but who knows maybe we are destined for

such

an outcome i claim that the only way we

can ensure human well-being

and a sustainable system in the long run

is to revert to our indigenous

model however

a modern version of our indigenous model

as long as we keep ourselves within the

limits of our

our environment we can adhere to

whatever ideology

religion mindset or lifestyle we want

this opens up for wealth and diversity

on all levels

it’s not a step backward but it’s a huge

step forward for

humanity we need to install functioning

international rules for production and

consumption

import and export that are dictated

by and their environmental

sustainability

let’s change the goals of the algorithms

to create helpful results for

humanity and our environment what if the

goals

were to not only earn money but also to

help us stay within

the limits of the social of the

indigenous model the algorithms could

help us to

take long-term sustainable decisions

distribute wealth fairly and

provide equal opportunities

today we live in a society where it’s

harder for children to know

who and what to imitate we are more

disconnected

with each other aaron and our

environment

partly because of commercials and social

media

expectations skyrocket

and if happiness equals reality

minus expectations then we end up

on the negative side of the equation

most or many people today can’t even

expect to have

their basic needs fulfilled

i hope the people in power will lead us

towards

a modern version of the indigenous model

i believe it’s more likely to provide us

with what

everyone strive for happiness

we can help traditional cultures to

reduce child mortality

while at the same time keep population

growth under control

we can help them to further understand

their environment

and live even more comfortably with it

instead of giving the trash of modernity

we can provide the best technology

knowledge and ideas from the modern

world

that are suitable for their living

conditions

if we were to do that i couldn’t think

of a better place to be born

than in the jungle thank you