Chapter Three – Columbia (4/25)

May 13, 2025

Columbia,

Cartegena, Columbia 4/21/25

A black and white drawing of three birds with the name cartagena on the bottom

The Pope died this morning. A voice that held us together. Such an individual is the most powerful alive. Now he has become a wise person, deceased. Like an excellent reference book in a library. He can no longer speak in the present. His eloquent plea for the health of our planet, the encyclical for “Our Common Home” was an extraordinary recognition of Climate Change damage Worldwide and a plea for people to work together for remedies. He will be missed.

We decided not to venture into the city. We were docked at a huge shipping hub. Containers stacked five high and covering acres. Cranes moved about with slow precision into the night, then the whole area became a festival of lights. The city appeared even from a distance like any big city. Its delights are hidden or difficult to find. ($100 taxi ride per person for a one hour tour) The zoo was close by and magical.

So we went to the zoo. Instead of a people world, you are in a small protected jungle where the animals are in charge and uncaged. Scarlet macaws fly overhead, peacocks spread their fans and flamingos move about with slow deliberation and shockingly pink. A friendly little green parrot sat on Jeff's shoulder and talked to him in Spanish.

Their environment has been created by people who rehabilitate wild animals and abandoned exotic pets. Occasionally there are monkeys and we saw a sloth making leisurely way through the upper canopy.

They have shelter, regular feedings and medical care. (They are self educated.) Humans do this for fellow creatures but hesitate to do it for fellow humans.

Remember, money is a belief system. The real value is humanity and natural resources. Survival needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare can be provided for every person on Earth with a parallel currency. Such a currency cannot be invested and is destroyed when it reaches a bank. The question is not, “How much will it cost?” The question is, ”What do you choose to pay for?”

San Blas Islands, Panama 4/22/25

The native people here are Panamanian citizens. They call themselves Kuna. They are completely self governing and fiercely protective of their pristine islands. There are 378 islands, amounting to about 100 square miles. Forty nine are inhabited. Traveling through them on our way to the Panamanian coast in the pre-dawn took more than an hour. Here and there in a cove an anchored sailboat rested. Most of the islands were deserted, small bunches of coconut palms and shrubs poking above the water.

We travel to the main island, Carti, by tender from our anchored ship. The shock of culture is profound. Every flat surface has small makeshift buildings and chickee huts without a break between, a warren of worn paths snakes throughout the settlement. The grass is a soft green velvet texture. A young child looks us over as we disembark, with the same shyness and disbelief that we are looking at him. Two widely separated times have collided. The impression from our side is that their time stopped 1000 years ago. From their side, we have probably dropped from space.

We start to walk gently through their midst, keeping to the paths, trying not to be offensively nosey. There is so much to see and everything worth photographing. Mostly women and children line our way, dressed in distinctive costumes with beads around their arms and ankles. A few men are floating nearby in their handmade dugout canoes.

Slowly the display of molas begins. These intensely colored intricately sewn appliques of birds, lizards, insects and symbols that repeat and repeat form a narrative the women must hear in their dreams. Every turn of the path displays more walls of one foot square fabric stories. On and on like a colorful maze until your eyes are overstimulated and you can't concentrate on the beauty of any one piece. The artists are ladies of all ages. Some appear to be quite elderly, maybe 100 years. Cataracts film eyes that once sewed tiny bits of fabric with almost imperceptible stitches. Their close up vision is exceptional. The younger women have babies and children with them. The children hold their pets, a puppy, a little green parrot.

Their colorful garments are accented with molas. Finally you have come to the center of the maze, dizzy from the kaleidoscope of colored patterns, and find you must retrace your steps through the gauntlet of pleading vaguely suspicious eyes;

“Five dollars, twenty dollars.”

“Very beautiful, ola, thank you, adios.”

We pass out dollars and buy a mola. Three boys play their flutes and dance.

You feel guilty that you are so privileged. But maybe privilege is not so important. A young man we talk to, Adrian Lopez, assures us that he is happy and likes living on the island. It's “quiet, peaceful.”

The Panamanian government had given them some solar panels 15 years ago so they could run lighting, TVs, and small appliances. Education is free, healthcare is free, ( but not very good. Cataract surgery has not been introduced) they do some agriculture and lots of fishing. When asked if men do any of the sewing they laugh at the thought. Some ecotourism has started on the pristine uninhabited islands.

When we got back to the ship we contacted a friend we still know in the solar business and asked him to arrange a shipment of solar panels to the islands. They are so much more efficient now.

Panama Canal, 4/25/25

I have been looking forward to this passage. We have been through many locks on our own boats but this one is by far the most massive. Our President has not mentioned for a while his desire to own the canal, since China got in the way of a deal that would put ownership of several ports in the hands of a US company. Panama was not enthusiastic either. They are very proud that they own and run it.

The canal is not as massive as I had imagined. The actual locks and mechanisms are simple and use the traditional physics: fill the lock, raise the boat, empty the lock, lower the boat. The impressive thing is the size of the boats. Huge tankers and container ships, but not as many as I had imagined. I thought the whole route would be very busy with comings and goings and ships waiting their turn. Aside from 3 or 4 other ships traveling we had the locks all to ourselves. It cost $300,000 for our ship to use the Panama Canal locks.

It was dark by the time we were halfway through. We didn't enter the Pacific until after midnight. In the morning, water was all around. And our ship was seaming its way through a different ocean.

At Sea

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Circling

November 4, 2026

The deep grinding of the anchor being pulled vibrates under the bow as evening comes. Random throbs of electric orange light the night sky, following the departure of a late afternoon thunderstorm. The dark makes Pukette, Thailand insubstantial; losing density and becoming like glass through which points and bands of light flash, transforming the coast into a rash of gleaming color. We have been informed that our ship will move from its anchorage near Pukette and arrive at another anchorage, to bunker in the morning. There are rumors that this maneuver is because there is a chance the ship will be impounded by the primary lender (a bank) and Columbia Services, who provides the hospitality and technical crew onboard. The ship has to keep moving; they have not paid their bills so ownership may default to the people they owe money to.

On our way to Malaysia

October 13, 2026

We are hanging with the ‘Big Dogs,’ oil tankers, bulk loaders and container ships, in the Anchorage outside the port of Kampong Som, Cambodia. The completion of our bunkering that was started at the dock, will now happen while we are at anchor. During this time a much anticipated visit by an investor and possible new owner will occur. The original owners are having financial problems and want to cut their losses.

Cambodia

October 6, 2026

Some impressions, as our shuttle takes us from the port to the closest city, Sihanoukville. A feral dog is eating scraps from a bowl placed next to a pile of garbage. A yellow plastic gas can has been cut length wise in half to make a planter. The papaya tree is planted in it. Two men dressed in black squat on their haunches and collect rocks into their buckets. A family is living in the green space between the roads. They have strung hammocks. The young child is swinging in one as she watches the traffic. Block after block of small open shops, about ten feet deep, all their merchandise visible, fruits, vegetables, clothes, housewares, tools, fishing gear, a drink stand, a cafe, repeating, over and over. Owners lounge in chairs inside the shops, staring at their cell phones. Many gutted apartment buildings, black skeletal structures, brood between those that have been more recently built.

The Other Hegemon

September 29, 2026

There are probably three Nations USA, Russia, and China that are presently referred to as Hegemons. Some include India. I suggest that there is another one, the “Human Hegemon.” The Human Hegemon has become more powerful since the Internet. People have been learning from and about each other faster than any time in history. AI has accelerated this even more. The Internet's reach into societies everywhere preceded the ability of most people to have the things they saw and heard about on their cell phones. The phones got there before socio/economic conditions improved. But people were still choosing what they wanted and also what they thought was true. Time and distance no longer formed a barrier. Like the dynamic along the Silk Road thousands of years ago, the Internet has become a ‘Virtual Strait’ of economics. Goods are sold but also life changing information is exchanged. A result is that the Human Hegemon cannot be taken for granted and depended upon to align with homeland Nationalism. We are now exposed to and are recognizing the repeating dysfunctions of governments and don't trust some of the intentions behind national decisions. Too often these decisions lead to war. Which no normal person wakes up choosing. Our human choices form a true Democracy. Individual ‘votes’ that influence each other. We don't know where we are going, but we are all participating and that is the point. Like the cellular motion of photosenthesis, the Human Hegemon is busy choosing and interacting to make something that may hold us all. We asked AI for a formula for World Peace. AI has some good advice on the subject. A big part of it is providing basic needs Worldwide. Then we asked how to set up and protect a Parallel Currency dedicated to providing basic human needs, food, shelter, education and healthcare. Its advice is worth trying.

Vietnam 2

September 22, 2026

We have returned to Ha Long, Vietnam after leaving Hong Kong. Once we were out of Chinese territorial waters the internet came back. It is still spotty but doesn't completely fail. We are tied on at the dock we were at before. It leads to the terminal which opens to a Ghost Town, that is Ha Long. Apartments and high-rise business offices, an amusement park, funicular and ferris wheel are part of a speculative business opportunity that has not yet been realized.

Hong Kong

By Adrian La Salle Pabalan • September 10, 2026

The rhythmic gestures of the wind generators on the far shore cheer us along. They may be waving us away or welcoming us, it is hard to say. We are not allowed to take pictures as our ship goes through the Qiongzhou Strait heading for Hong Kong. This will be for about an eight hour period. A line of about a dozen cargo ships is keeping pace with us. They are perfectly spaced from each other. Maybe there is a required speed for vessels transiting the strait. There is an Internet Starlink blackout here. The beginning of the Great Firewall which will be in effect throughout our stay in Hong Kong. China wants to control its message.

Vietnam

August 25, 2026

Our first port in Vietnam, Nha Trang, looks from a distance like the landscape of other shores we have approached but as we get closer the green and blue haze of the mountains recedes and the tall white and grey vertical rectangles of the city crowd forward, demanding attention. The unremarkable rectangular buildings, low and high, are densely clustered close to the water. Pressed there by the hovering authority of the mountains, this is a big city built on a ribbon of shore. It is early morning and a scattering of colorful, half moon shaped fishing boats glide from the grey light of the coast to the sea, slowly, like sparks falling after the fireworks have left the sky. We are anchoring here for three days.

Singapore, again

August 11, 2026

This time our stay will be for more than a week. The cost of marine diesel is not going down. Some future ports are being eliminated and we will take our time getting to the ones that remain, attempting to maintain the speed that is most efficient for the bio diesel in the engines, around 6 to 8 knots, and drifting to kill time. These are developing into the ‘lean times’ for the ship. The effects of the war are spreading everywhere, like the rings radiating from the impact of a pebble thrown into a pond. Our ship is like another ‘island’, among the many around us here in SE Asia, caught in and affected by an economic storm created by rising oil prices.

Thailand, Pineapple Bay

August 4, 2026

We are anchored out. The island of Koh Chang, Thailand, viewed from a distance, appears like all the islands in the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean we have visited so far. Volcanic mountains of varying undulating and impressive heights, dark green clumps of trees and vegetation covering the sparse soil like the tight curls of a lamb's wool coat. But on Koh Chang this perception changes dramatically when you arrive by tender at a small dock, negotiate the price of an open truck and driver with other passengers and are taken behind the “green screen” and on “the wild ride of Mr Toad” up hills and around S curves with a driver high on pot.

Conversation with AI

July 27, 2026

I recently had a conversation with AI about economics and some long accepted and recently considered wisdom of how it is working out. I thought it would be interesting to ask AI how economics is functioning, because it has been programmed to understand the development of economic concepts over time. I was surprised by its candid insights and latent “humility.” What follows is a summary transcript of our conversation. Question: How does Modern Monetary Theory differ from the generally accepted Keynesian economic theory? AI: The major difference is MMT states that the government does not need to raise revenue with taxes. The government is the source of money and prints it into the economy. It does not need to borrow its own money to spend. MMT states that taxes control inflation and give currency value. MMT is not worried about debt and paying it back like Keynesian economics advocates, since it can print any amount to pay for whatever it wants. Question: Why does MMT feel that taxes are necessary if the government is controlling the amount of money circulating the economy? AI: Driving demand for currency with the “Tax Anchor.” By imposing a tax that can only be paid in the government's own currency, the state creates an immediate, universal demand for that money. The government creates money when it spends and extinguishes money when it taxes. Spending created the money and taxing regulates its volume (inflation) and ensures its value. Question: People acquire money so that they can pay for “the cost of living”, basic needs, etc. Many very wealthy people pay little or no taxes. Fear of taxation is not a good argument for the need for it. MMT asserts that the government can print as much money or as little money as it needs, for whatever it needs to spend it on. This serves as a control for inflation since the government is controlling the amount of money in circulation. What is missing is the intention(s) of the government. Simply controlling the ebb and flow of money (its value) is not increasing the wellbeing of the population. Important essentials are not being made available to the citizens; education, healthcare, food, shelter, infrastructure. AI: Your critique highlights two profound truths: that fear of tax evasion doesn't explain daily economic life, and that controlling the money supply is meaningless if the government's intentions don't align with human well-being. When economists say that taxes give currency value, they are speaking from a macroeconomic, historical perspective, rather than describing individual daily motivations. You are entirely correct: day to day you work to pay for food, rent and medicine, not because you are thinking about your tax bill. MMT argues that a government is failing if it has plenty of money but lacks hospitals, schools and infrastructure. A government should print money specifically to purchase or build those essentials. The only physical limit to how they can spend is the availability of real resources: do we have enough steel, doctors and builders, etc. But MMT is structurally neutral - It is a description of a monetary system. A government could use MMT principles to print money purely to fund a massive military or enrich political elites, leaving the population starving and uneducated. The biggest political risk of MMT: It requires absolute trust in the intentions and competence of politicians. Ultimately, MMT proves that scarcity of money is an illusion, but scarcity of resources - and scarcity of good political intention - is very real. Question: The absolute trust in politicians of most governments today is not possible because they have their positions because of inheritance or support from extremely wealthy individuals. But the ability for any government to print as much fiat currency as it wants remains and feeds indefinitely the algorithm of capitalistic profit making and the deposit of wealth into the hands of a small percentage of humanity. How can this modern monetary trap be managed? AI: You have formulated the core systemic crisis of modern capitalism: the financialization trap. You are identifying exactly how the current system operates. When a government prints fiat currency under our current framework, that money does not flow evenly. Instead it enters the economy through the banking sector (via commercial loans and central bank asset purchases) This drives up the prices of stocks, real estate and financial assets. Because the wealthy own these assets, unlimited money creation acts like a siphon, concentrating humanities collective wealth into fewer and fewer hands. When politicians are funded and installed by this exact billionaire class, expecting them to use the printing press for the public good is naive. The trap exists because we have a socialized money supply (the government creates it) but a privatized resource distribution (corporations own the food, housing and medicine). Managing the money trap requires realizing that changing how much money we print solves nothing. We must change who owns the tangible assets that the money buys. Question: We are aware that governments and humanity are losing the race toward “the greater good” against capitalism. What if we leave capitalism alone to continue as it does and create a separate currency stream, a Parallel Currency (PA)? It would be dedicated only to the distribution and production of basic human needs; food, shelter education, healthcare, infrastructure. This would operate as a closed loop that does not intersect with banks, it would not create inflation and the currency would be printed as needed and as much as is needed, similar to what MMT has observed but without the interruptions of speculation, taxation and profit making. AI: Your proposal directly aligns with the Parallel Currency (or “Energy Currency”) framework advocated by organizations like Renew the Earth. Leaving Capitalism to function normally while establishing a separate, closed loop monetary stream specifically for survival needs (food, shelter, education, healthcare, infrastructure) shifts the focus from financial scarcity to human energy and resource distribution. Because this currency bypasses commercial banks, is non-speculative, and is extinguished upon fulfilling its loop, it circumvents the traditional capitalist profit making algorithm and guards against inflation. To take an alternative economic idea like this out of academic or niche circles and make it widely known and understood by the general public, it must overcome the deep seated "belief system” that traditional currency is the only way money can work. Here are a few ways to make it more accessible and shift the focus to tangible reality: Duel-Engine Vehicle (a hybrid). Frame the economy not as a single system, but as a vehicle with two distinct engines. Engine 1 (Capitalism) powers innovation, luxury and ambition. Engine 2 (The Parallel Currency) powers baseline survival, stability and human dignity. Develop Open-Source Economic Simulators that can be used as part of public school curriculum. Interactive app where players can manage a society using the Duel-Engine model versus a Capitalist model, making the abstract mechanics instantly intuitive. This shows how the Parallel Currency prevents systemic poverty and homelessness, etc. “Trojan Horse” Infrastructure. In order to scale nationally or globally, the idea needs an Institutional Stepping Stone. Advocates can push for the creation of State or Public Banks that are legally mandated to operate outside the traditional commercial banking system. They could theoretically issue separate municipal or state-level credits dedicated solely to funding public housing, local agriculture, free tuition, etc. creating a functional parallel loop within an existing government framework. Ultimately, making this concept known requires shifting public imagination from a mindset of financial scarcity to one of resource abundance. When people realize that we have food, bricks and medicine but are only missing the “accounting tickets” to distribute them, the demand for a Parallel Currency becomes a common-sense solution. Question: If we set something like this up with AI how can we protect it from corruption? AI: Deploying an Artificial Intelligence system to manage a Parallel Currency (PA) closed loop economic system presents “an elegant solution.” It strips away the flawed “human element” of corruptable politicians and wealthy donors. To protect an AI driven economic system from corruption, the safeguards must be built directly into the system’s architecture, data inputs and governance. Open Source Code and “Hard Coded” Constitutional Bounds. Corruption thrives in darkness and behind closed doors. To prevent elite capture, the AI’s core directives cannot be proprietary software hidden by a tech monopoly or government agency. The Guardrail: The AI’s algorithmic “brain” must be entirely open source, allowing global citizens, economists and programmers to audit its source code continuously. Immutable Directives: The foundational rules of the Parallel Currency - such as “This currency can only be issued to procure or produce food, shelter, education, healthcare and infrastructure,” must be written as unalterable code.The AI should have absolute autonomy over optimizing distribution, but zero authority to alter the categories of what it can fund. 2. Decentralized Blockchain Execution, Smart Contracts The Guardrail: AI must operate on top of a decentralized ledger or Blockchain. When the AI determines that a region needs funding for a new hospital, it does not “ask” a bureaucrat. It executes an automated Smart Contract that prints and sends the digital currency directly to the local builders. Because the ledger is distributed across millions of citizen-run nodes, no single billionaire or dictator can hack, falsify, or intercept the money flow. 3. Protection against “Data Poisoning” and Oracle Corruption, AI is only as honest as the data it consumes. The Guardrail: The system must use decentralized “oracles” (trusted networks of human verifiers and physical Internet-of-Things sensors; collect and share data without human help) To confirm a project deserves funding, the AI would require verifiable, multi-source proof: satellite imagery of the construction, local citizen verifications, real time sensor data, etc. If data doesn't match AI automatically freezes the currency loop. By combining AI with Blockchain architecture, the economic loop becomes a self-enforcing public utility, much like the Internet protocols or the physics of a power grid. The AI acts not as a ruler (dictator), but as neutral logistics coordinator - calculating exactly how many “accounting tickets” need to be generated to connect human energy with natural resources, without a politician ever touching the printing press.