Man living without money since 2008

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyqavzuFZ3c&feature=player_embedded#!

Not the ideal life IMHO, but I admire anyone who isn't caught up in consumerism. Flashy cars/pretty jewelry is nothing more than an attempt to compensate for a small penis/flat chest (respectively).

 

He must of have been reading Walden:

http://thoreau.eserver.org/walden00.html

 

Oh good, you'll admire me then.

 

Prove your detachment from consumerism, and wire all your money to me.

 

lolwut? Having money means you're into consumerism?

 

Standard operating procedure for a culture that is overflowing with material wealth -- the children of the culture don't appreciate it and start glorifying what they perceive to be the opposite life -- one with no money. They criticize what their parents provided, not realizing what it is to be truly poverty struck.

Which isn't to say that we shouldn't do some self evaluation and not look to material things for our happiness, but nonetheless . . .

 

So... basically what the guy does is work for goods and services instead of accepting the traditional medium of common currency which in turn can be traded for...goods and services? Currency is one of the finer inventions by man, I fail to see what skipping it accomplishes except making things unnecessarily inconvenient. Simply idiotic if you ask me. Oh, and as long as he trades in goods and services he is still actually consuming. If we don't consume we are either hermits completely secluded from all society or dead. The former speeding up the way to the latter quite nicely.

 

I had no idea an appreciation for craft led to reduced breasts We should alert the media

 

The guy looked a bit old to be a "child" in my book. But I take it you don't teach Walden to your students? Pity.

Despite the "Leave It To Beaver" moralizing, child poverty is a real issue, at least here in the US (I think the guy in the clip was from the UK). Nevertheless, it is just about a crime to be poor in America. In some instances, they will even put you in jail for not having any money.

 

That's a great point - he basically has reverted to using the barter system, which was the main way things worked before currency was developed.

 

I was at no point minimizing the plight of those who are truly destitute. I was referring to the sanctimonious middle class -- I'll provide examples later.

It's later: I can't tell you how many teens I taught who would say things like

"I don't care about money! There's more important things in life than money, I don't care about what salary I will make!"

Upon closer inspection, I learned that they didn't pay rent, didn't buy their own clothes, and didn't pay for the car they were tooling around in (but they were paying the insurance, that counts for something, right? )

It's easy to be anti-materialist when all of your material needs are being met, comfortably, by Mom and Dad. Things change once you are out of the house and have to support yourself. It's part of growing up. I am all for the idea that money is not the most important thing, and there are things in life far more important than material possessions. But that doesn't make money, or material possessions for that matter, totally unimportant.

 

Yeah, but this guy doesn't have other people paying for his own way. So I'd say that your attempt to compare him to those teenagers is sort of... stupid, no? He is literally living with no money, he doesn't sponge off his parents or a relative. Anything he acquires is either off the land or via the barter system.

 

I fail to see how paper and metal currency are not part of the barter system. Trading $5 for pumpkin seeds is the same as trading three chickens for a cow. We place value on chickens, therefore they have value. If chickens lost all value to us, no longer would they be used as currency. The same is true for paper currency. We place value on it, and it makes trading much easier; the guy is making things needlessly complex. The whole point of trade-based bartering was to make it easier to acquire what you need. He's stepping backward in evolution. I'd rather move forward.

 

In terms of behaviour, you're right, mordea. In terms of mindset, he's exactly like those kids. They weren't sponges (yet) they were teens. He just never grew out of the "go overboard to make your point" mindset. As Rakhir says, he's really just regressed, he's not really doing anything profound.

 

You really should read Walden.

 

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that he is single. In my opinion he is a fraud. All he is doing is living by bartering. It will be really funny if at some point the tax man comes after him.

 

I read Walden, Chandos.

It's been awhile, but I'm pretty sure Thoreau used paper money, even during the Walden period. He kept track of all his expenditures, and I believe he spent just a few dozen dollars over the course of a year, but he still wasn't regressing down the line of evolution. He provides services so he can build his house and garden. But he also had people assisting him in meeting his basic needs; did he not? His mother, his friends (his best friend in particular) and Ralph Waldo Emerson all helped him meet his basic needs.

Walden is mainly about the benefits of seclusion, independence and a path to transcendence. "I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude."(Thoreau) His independence does not mean becoming completely devoid of modern invention; but becoming completely devoid of modern society to ascertain an objective view of the world.

In my humble opinion, the self-reliance that Thoreau realizes is much deeper than "Refuse to use paper money." What the man in this article is doing is way off of what Thoreau does. The fact that he is doing this "publicity" interview stuff puts him right in the middle of society and right where Thoreau wanted to get away from.

 

Yes. You are missing the point. It's not about whether or not he uses paper money; it's about getting away from the influence of modern society. It provides a different frame of reference, which cannot be avoided because he does live in some seculsion, away from the madness. That is what's profound about it, not the money.

The guy seems pretty self-reliant to me. I would say even more so than Thoreau, since Thoreau did still use some (a small amount) money during his stay at Walden.

 

HOW DARE SOMEONE MAKE A POINT!!! THAT'S SO CHILDISH! BOO HOO HOO HOO!

NEXT WE'LL HAVE A RETARD CLIMBING MOUNT EVEREST TO MAKE THE POINT THAT DISABLED PEOPLE CAN DO THINGS TOO!


So sad that some people are so petty and jealous, that they would attempt to denigrate someone who chooses not to be a wage slave.

It sure would be. I'd love to see exactly how they would tax someone with no income. Then again, this is the government we are talking about. The same government which has men pay child support and alimony based on what they could *potentially* earn, rather than what they actually earn.

 

Mordea, there's no need to be so confrontational.

While I think the whole idea of currency is absolutely bizarre, I accept that for the most part, it works. This guy has taken a backward step to prove a rather stupid point. This is tue kind of thing you see in a chqnnel 4 documentary.

I dont really think what he's done is really that impressive, to be honest.