Chapter 6 - The Nightcap Pt.1 (Midnight)
The Director suggests individuals must acknowledge their own selfishness.
In this chapter, the Director provides the final piece of the jigsaw by shifting focus from elite puppet masters to individual responsibility.
He argues that society is caught in a capitalist pyramid scheme fuelled by personal greed. To fix this, he suggests a Truth and Reconciliation process where individuals acknowledge their own selfishness. This personal dragon, he claims, is what feeds the global capitalist dragon.
The Director uses the history of the board game Monopoly to illustrate his point. While an alternative version called Prosperity existed to promote cooperation, players ultimately chose the version centred on bankrupting others. He argues that human selfishness is not a law of nature but a cultural choice.
To provide historical context, he contrasts Adam Smith’s justification of greed with the work of Adam Ferguson. In 1767, Ferguson warned that a narrow focus on money makes people weak and dishonourable, arguing instead that societies flourish through social bonds and cooperation.
The chapter concludes with a personal confession. The Director reveals that he once worked in advertising, where he spent years flogging empty dreams to the masses. This background in the art of persuasion sets the stage for his final explanation on how to dismantle the current system and change the world.
