Does the Great Reset Really Mean I’ll Own Nothing?

Online Discussion

Considering the tremendous amount of online discussion, tweets, posts and YouTube videos being made about the Great Reset initiative of the World Economic Forum, for many there has been difficulty connecting what sounds like a conspiracy theory to reality. It’s not impossible, but it seems to have been made intentionally difficult by design. After all, if the WEF and the Davos folks really are trying to shift us to some technocratic corporatist world where we “have no privacy” and “own nothing”, they can’t just come out and say that.

The most recent pushback I’m seeing people argue about regarding the Great Reset, is whether A) it’s even a real thing; and B) that the “Welcome to 2030” article’s claims aren’t necessarily tied to the Great Reset initiatives.

The Purpose of this Article

The purpose of this article is to help make these connections and provide the links, references, and excerpts to show where one particular claim — that we’ll “Own Nothing” — is coming from.

This article specifically focuses on A) showing that the Great Reset is a real set of initiatives by the WEF, and B) shows that 2030 is what they’re aiming for. It also shows the likely sources of C) the “You’ll own nothing” (and rent everything) aspect of recent claims. Certainly there’s a ton of overall documentation but some things are hard to find, and the WEF site is a pain to navigate and directly link to.

First, as you’ll see below — it’s a real set of initiatives. The Davos people have been talking about and slowly planning the Great Reset for years, and in fact some of the things people have stumbled upon are from 2016 or earlier. Nonetheless, it’s a huge initiative and has been in progress for quite awhile. Once you see the sheer amount of documentation on it, it becomes quite clear this wasn’t thrown together in a few weeks, or even months.

The Main Site for the Great Reset
The official Great Reset site is linked below — and once you get halfway down the page you can click the “Read More” button next to “Find out more about the Great Reset”

Side note — the site “greatreset.com” is not useful at all for finding detailed information about the initiatives.

Welcome to 2030/Predictions

The initial exposure to the Great Reset, for many, was the “Welcome to 2030” article, which was written by Ida Auken, part of the WEF’s leadership, and still considered as authored “by the World Economic Forum”. It is purported that the article depicts the very future that the WEF is hoping and trying to achieve through the many aspects of the Great Reset initiative.

The article appears on the WEF website (second link below), and the same article with the original title (they recently changed the WEF version to be a little less shocking) is the first link below:

It has since been re-titled:

There is a also slideshow/video on the WEF’s Facebook page that contains their “8 predictions for the world in 2030”, and an article that goes into more detail about that.

I highly recommend checking out both the 2030 article above, and the two links below, so you get a picture of what people are getting worked up about.

Video:
[World Economic Forum — 8 predictions for the world in 2030 | Facebook]

Article:
[8 predictions for the world in 2030 | World Economic Forum]

Other References to the 2030 date:

In case there is any confusion about connecting the 2030 predictions with the WEF aiming for the same date of 2030, there are multiple references to 2030 as the time-frame to achieve their goals:

2030Vision — about 4th Industrial Revolution and related SDG’s (Sustainable Development Goals):

This link shows a list of the private-sector tech partners, including Amazon Web Services, Cisco, Facebook, Google, HP and many others.

The link below lays out their 2030 desired goals in the areas of Environment, Technology, Crime, IoT, the Sharing Economy, and others:

At this point it should be fairly clear that the Great Reset is a real thing, and that they’re hoping to accomplish all this by 2030. Of course, many people are scandalized after seeing the “8 predictions” above, but they don’t take the time or effort to find the real documentation backing up where this is coming from, which is what I’m hoping to do.

“You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy”

This comes from the WEF’s call for a more sustainable, “Circular” economy. A circular economy has several aspects, everything from design (designing out waste), manufacturing in more eco-friendly ways, and ultimately at the consumer level, aims to avoid the idea of buying something, using it, and throwing it away.

Because they are also incorporating “inclusivity”, and technology will supposedly, according to them, make “almost everything free”, the circular economy extends into the “Sharing Economy”. This type of economy they envision emphasizes “access” over “ownership”.

In and of themselves, most of these ideas are good; they mean less waste, etc. However obviously once you start getting into the territory of renting vs owning, it tends to upset some people.

Below are links and the applicable excerpts from the WEF’s documentation. Please note, you likely need to create a free WEF account to access the “Strategic Intelligence” section of the WEF’s web site, which is where most of the “good stuff” is. This is the link:

Then scroll down, and click “Explore More” under “Access Strategic Intelligence” and log in, or you can try going directly to:

Once there, you will see square graphics of many topics and countries, feel free to explore, however the “own nothing” statement comes from the “Circular Economy” category. You’ll need to scroll and let it continue loading new topics alphabetically. Then in the lower-right section, under the Summary, click “read more”, or try to find these subcategories in the keywords beneath the summary. Note the keywords dynamically change, so not all will be present at once:

Circular Economy link:

The excerpts regarding the idea of “access” (renting) vs “ownership” are below, with each heading being a sub-topic under “Circular Economy”. (emphasis mine). There doesn’t appear to be any way to link directly to sub-topics, so you’ll need to browse around using keywords and the arrows beneath the main category.

“A Circular Economy in Cities”
“The sharing economy, enabled by emerging digital technologies, could thrive within circular economy cities and enable greater access to public spaces, products, and mobility, while reconnecting people to their neighbours and communities. Under this model, people will increasingly shift from owning things to sharing them via product-as-a-service contracts — which incentivize businesses to keep products in use for longer periods.”

“Circular Business Models”
“Business models that emphasize access over ownership, and selling performance rather than the product itself, can keep items in use for longer even as they are used more intensively. In this scenario, manufacturers increase profits through durability, reusability, and energy and water efficiency — and are therefore incentivized to design better products. These models can also benefit users, as paying for the service instead of owning the asset means they can enjoy the benefits without bearing responsibility for maintenance, repair, and disposal — all while accessing better quality, higher-performing products that might have otherwise been out of reach. While cars can be shared among multiple users on peer-to-peer platforms (as evidenced by car-sharing services like Zipcar), power tools can be made available by the hour from local libraries, and clothing can be rented as needed (the New York Public Library, for example, made ties and bags available for rental to job interviewees in need in 2018). The end result is that where manufacturers used to sell cars they are now selling mobility, and where retailers sold clothes they are now providing access.”

Technology Enabling Circularity
“AI can facilitate circular models such as car sharing with better demand prediction, inventory management, and predictive maintenance. For example, dynamic pricing and matching algorithms have unlocked the potential for sharing not only cars but bicycles as well.”

The above are the specific examples from the WEF’s website. This site is gigantic, and you’ll find many other topics, PDF’s, articles etc. that likely also talk about the Circular Economy. One of the WEF’s partners about this area is the Ellen MacArther Foundation. You can read more about what a Circular Economy is here:

And so, the debate should be settled as to whether the Great Reset exists, and that it is associated with 2030 articles.

From there, whether or not we will “own nothing and be happy” ultimately comes down to intent, and how much progress has actually been made by governments and private-sector partners, and of course, if such a thing will ultimately be accepted by the public. The way things have been going however, it is also debatable whether or not we will have a choice in the matter.

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