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