Hi, I am Tim Watkins, I am, for my sins, a social and economic scientist with a background in public policy research. A one time mental health campaigner (something that may prove useful as we slip over the edge of the Seneca Cliff) these days I apply myself to writing and publishing.
I first started the Consciousness of Sheep website as an offshoot from my book of the same title. It has, however, morphed into a running commentary on the slow motion train wreck that is Western civilisation in general and its British variant in particular. My sole aim with this website is to raise awareness of the predicament of the “three Es” (Economy, Energy and Environment). While I make myself available for interview/talks, I do not consider myself a campaigner with some end policy goal (I believe it is far too late in the day for that) but rather someone suggesting with growing urgency that we build (local, sustainable) lifeboats while we still have time.
The website is provided on an open “pay-as-you-feel” basis – readers can access the site for free or for how ever much they feel they can afford to contribute via the tip button. I believe that this option is preferable for all concerned to the alternative of spamming my readers with clickbait headlines, fake news stories and intrusive advertising. My only other income comes from the sale of my own books along with my part of the royalties earned when I publish other authors.
I keep the site up to date with a little help from my buddies: Julia Kaye from Waye Forward Publishing and Vladimir Morozov from OpenCreation web design.
As for the sheep – many years ago I sat in a dining room on the border between England and Wales watching a farmer distributing hay to a flock of sheep on the side of a snow-covered hill. It struck me that those creatures might have looked on the farmer as a servant of some kind; not having the breadth of consciousness to understand that one day – like the sheep, a part of whose leg was on a plate in front of me – they were going to be killed and eaten in order for the farmer to make a profit. Later, I came across the same idea articulated by Robert Pirsig in Lila (although he talked about hens and pigs). The obvious question that follow is, are we like those sheep? Are we being fattened up by some entity beyond our conscious event horizon that has some ulterior motive that is not to our benefit? Insofar as we are a part of this “death cult” global economy with its insane drive for infinite growth on a finite planet, then yes, we probably are. So long as we keep quiet and play our allotted part as consumers and workers (and occasionally cannon fodder) we keep the system running… until it can’t run any more. Then, like sheep to the slaughter, we – or at least most of us – are done.
The first chapter of The Consciousness of Sheep goes into these ideas in more depth. I have also published a post about lifeboats.