WEBVTT 00:00:00.480 --> 00:00:03.170 In January 2011, the movie "ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD" 00:00:03.320 --> 00:00:06.730 was screened in cities all over the world; it is a non-profit documentary 00:00:06.870 --> 00:00:09.840 directed by Peter Joseph, also available online for free download. 00:00:10.000 --> 00:00:13.100 In Italy, twenty cities participated in this global screening project. 00:00:13.250 --> 00:00:16.010 The Zeitgeist Movement chapter in Rome screened the movie 00:00:16.160 --> 00:00:19.080 at the Azzurro Scipioni Cinema, owned by director Silvano Agosti. 00:00:19.220 --> 00:00:22.390 To our great surprise, Paolo Bonolis, presenter of "The Meaning of Life" 00:00:22.540 --> 00:00:26.180 a prime time TV program on Channel 5, also attended the screening. 00:00:26.320 --> 00:00:30.220 Paolo and his co-author, Michele Afferrante, have shown great interest 00:00:30.370 --> 00:00:33.960 for the Movement's ideas and immediately welcomed a cultural exchange 00:00:34.150 --> 00:00:37.650 thereby starting a cooperation with the Zeitgeist Movement. 00:00:37.850 --> 00:00:41.900 They have been broadcasting a series of intellectually stimulating snippets 00:00:42.050 --> 00:00:44.780 throughout the season without soliciting any funding 00:00:44.940 --> 00:00:47.560 which is proof that even on a commercial TV channel 00:00:47.700 --> 00:00:51.010 there are people who don't regard monetary reward as their only target. 00:00:51.170 --> 00:00:54.190 We have collected those bits and put them together, showing the path 00:00:54.330 --> 00:00:57.100 that millions of Italians have followed for over two months. 00:00:57.260 --> 00:01:00.720 We thank Paolo, Michele and their staff for granting us this great opportunity 00:01:00.870 --> 00:01:04.370 and hope this effort will arouse curiosity and meditation in some of the viewers. 00:01:07.630 --> 00:01:09.820 Clip #1 00:01:10.290 --> 00:01:14.720 I would like to show you and have you listen to these words, please. 00:01:19.730 --> 00:01:23.150 Not to accept things as they are 00:01:25.210 --> 00:01:28.470 but to understand it, to go into it, to examine it. 00:01:28.630 --> 00:01:32.860 Give your heart and your mind with everything that you have to find out 00:01:33.010 --> 00:01:35.440 a way of living differently. 00:01:40.180 --> 00:01:43.950 But that depends on you and not somebody else. 00:01:45.290 --> 00:01:48.410 Because in this there is no teacher, no pupil. 00:01:49.210 --> 00:01:51.500 There's no leader. 00:01:51.660 --> 00:01:53.300 There's no guru. 00:01:53.450 --> 00:01:55.590 There's no master, no savior. 00:01:55.740 --> 00:01:58.110 You yourself are the teacher and the pupil. 00:01:58.260 --> 00:02:00.930 You're the master, you're the guru, you are the leader. 00:02:01.070 --> 00:02:03.190 You are everything! 00:02:03.970 --> 00:02:06.190 And 00:02:06.650 --> 00:02:08.410 to understand 00:02:08.560 --> 00:02:10.760 is to transform what is. 00:02:16.080 --> 00:02:19.930 The character that you have just seen and heard is Krishnamurti. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:22.640 He is considered as one of the greatest thinkers of all time. 00:02:22.790 --> 00:02:25.660 He didn't theorize any philosophy or religion. 00:02:25.810 --> 00:02:29.620 Instead he spoke of things concerning all of us in our daily lives 00:02:29.760 --> 00:02:34.760 in particular about the need for a radical change in human consciousness. 00:02:34.910 --> 00:02:38.690 The video clip is taken from the documentary movie "Zeitgeist" 00:02:38.830 --> 00:02:41.420 which means "the spirit of the time" by Peter Joseph. 00:02:41.560 --> 00:02:44.870 It is a three chapter non-profit work 00:02:45.010 --> 00:02:49.070 which brings some of our certainties into question. 00:02:49.220 --> 00:02:53.190 It is a movie which tries to make us think in a different way 00:02:53.340 --> 00:02:55.930 out of the box and away from conventions. 00:02:56.070 --> 00:02:58.480 We liked the Zeitgeist project so much 00:02:58.620 --> 00:03:02.810 that we decided to share some parts of it with you 00:03:02.970 --> 00:03:06.140 throughout this 4th edition of "The Meaning of Life". 00:03:06.280 --> 00:03:10.760 They are short and, according to us, enlightening fragments like this one. 00:03:15.430 --> 00:03:18.010 Now, my grandmother was a wonderful person. 00:03:18.610 --> 00:03:21.410 She taught me how to play the game Monopoly. 00:03:21.760 --> 00:03:25.290 She understood that the name of the game is to acquire. 00:03:25.450 --> 00:03:27.600 She would accumulate everything she could and eventually 00:03:27.750 --> 00:03:30.930 she became the master of the board. 00:03:31.070 --> 00:03:33.250 And then she would always say the same thing to me. 00:03:33.400 --> 00:03:34.960 She looked at me and said 00:03:35.110 --> 00:03:38.390 “One day, you'll learn to play the game.” 00:03:38.980 --> 00:03:42.550 One summer, I played Monopoly almost every day, all day long. 00:03:42.690 --> 00:03:45.470 And that summer, I learned to play the game. 00:03:45.610 --> 00:03:47.760 I came to understand the only way to win 00:03:47.910 --> 00:03:50.660 is to make a total commitment to acquisition. 00:03:50.810 --> 00:03:52.900 I came to understand that money and possessions 00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:55.390 that's the way that you keep score. 00:03:56.130 --> 00:03:59.770 And by the end of that summer, I was more ruthless than my grandmother. 00:03:59.910 --> 00:04:03.550 I was ready to bend the rules if I had to, to win that game. 00:04:03.960 --> 00:04:06.510 And I sat down with her to play that fall. 00:04:07.080 --> 00:04:08.650 I took everything she had. 00:04:08.790 --> 00:04:13.340 I watched her give her last dollar and quit in utter defeat. 00:04:14.260 --> 00:04:18.600 And then she had one more thing to teach me. 00:04:18.820 --> 00:04:22.170 Then she said 00:04:22.320 --> 00:04:25.750 “Now it all goes back in the box." 00:04:26.020 --> 00:04:27.510 Clip #2 00:04:28.800 --> 00:04:33.020 As we did in the last episode of this 4th season of "The Meaning of Life" 00:04:33.030 --> 00:04:37.600 we will showcase some clips from "Zeitgeist". 00:04:37.760 --> 00:04:40.720 Zeitgeist, which means spirit of time 00:04:40.870 --> 00:04:44.380 is a movie directed by Peter Joseph. 00:04:44.540 --> 00:04:50.150 It is a countercurrent and countercultural view of our reality. 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:54.340 Here's today's segment. 00:05:03.830 --> 00:05:08.970 In a world where 1% of the population owns 40% of the planet's wealth... 00:05:09.120 --> 00:05:11.990 In a world where 34.000 children die every single day 00:05:12.130 --> 00:05:15.800 from poverty and preventable diseases 00:05:15.950 --> 00:05:18.310 and where 50% of the world's population 00:05:18.460 --> 00:05:20.860 lives on less than 2 dollars a day... 00:05:21.040 --> 00:05:22.990 One thing is clear. 00:05:23.810 --> 00:05:26.080 Something is very wrong. 00:05:26.630 --> 00:05:28.690 And whether we are aware of it or not 00:05:28.830 --> 00:05:31.370 the lifeblood of all of our established institutions 00:05:31.520 --> 00:05:34.760 and thus society itself, is money. 00:05:35.410 --> 00:05:38.800 Therefore, understanding this institution of monetary policy 00:05:38.950 --> 00:05:43.550 is critical to understanding why our lives are the way they are. 00:05:43.880 --> 00:05:48.790 Unfortunately, economics is often viewed with confusion and boredom. 00:05:48.920 --> 00:05:51.130 Endless streams of financial jargon 00:05:51.270 --> 00:05:53.270 coupled with intimidating mathematics 00:05:53.400 --> 00:05:55.900 quickly deters people from attempts at understanding it. 00:05:56.070 --> 00:06:00.620 However, the complexity associated with the financial system is a mere mask 00:06:00.770 --> 00:06:05.390 designed to conceal one of the most socially paralyzing structures 00:06:05.540 --> 00:06:07.900 humanity has ever endured. 00:06:08.320 --> 00:06:10.020 Clip #3 00:06:15.180 --> 00:06:19.220 The dominant values of a culture tend to support and perpetuate 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.610 what is rewarded by that culture. 00:06:21.760 --> 00:06:24.350 And in a society where success and status 00:06:24.500 --> 00:06:29.230 is measured by material wealth, not social contribution 00:06:29.390 --> 00:06:32.710 it is easy to see why the state of the world is what it is today. 00:06:32.870 --> 00:06:37.190 We are dealing with a value system disorder, completely denatured 00:06:37.370 --> 00:06:40.230 where the priority of personal and social health 00:06:40.370 --> 00:06:43.570 have become secondary to the detrimental notions 00:06:43.720 --> 00:06:46.510 of artificial wealth and limitless growth. 00:06:46.720 --> 00:06:49.650 And, like a virus, this disorder now permeates 00:06:49.790 --> 00:06:52.920 every facet of government, news media 00:06:53.070 --> 00:06:56.020 entertainment and even academia. 00:06:56.180 --> 00:06:59.100 And built into its structure are mechanisms of protection 00:06:59.240 --> 00:07:01.680 from anything that might interfere. 00:07:01.830 --> 00:07:04.170 Disciples of the monetary-market religion 00:07:04.310 --> 00:07:07.150 the self-appointed guardians of the status quo 00:07:07.290 --> 00:07:10.720 constantly seek out ways to avoid any form of thought 00:07:10.860 --> 00:07:12.980 which might interfere with their beliefs 00:07:13.120 --> 00:07:16.320 the most common of which are projected dualities. 00:07:17.930 --> 00:07:20.690 If you're not a Republican, you must be a Democrat. 00:07:20.830 --> 00:07:23.790 If you are not Christian, you might be a Satanist. 00:07:23.940 --> 00:07:26.220 And if you feel society can be greatly improved 00:07:26.360 --> 00:07:28.950 to consider, perhaps, I don't know, taking care of everyone? 00:07:29.100 --> 00:07:31.930 You're just a “Utopianist”. 00:07:32.790 --> 00:07:35.100 And the most insidious of them all: 00:07:35.280 --> 00:07:37.670 If you are not for the "free-market" 00:07:37.820 --> 00:07:39.610 you must be against freedom itself. 00:07:39.760 --> 00:07:41.570 Clip #4 00:07:42.450 --> 00:07:45.640 If there is any testament to the plasticity of the human mind... 00:07:45.790 --> 00:07:48.540 If there is any proof to how malleable human thought is 00:07:48.700 --> 00:07:52.330 and how easily conditioned and guided people can become 00:07:52.470 --> 00:07:55.040 based on the nature of their environmental stimulus 00:07:55.180 --> 00:07:57.360 and what it reinforces 00:07:57.510 --> 00:08:00.630 the world of commercial advertising is the proof. 00:08:01.490 --> 00:08:04.590 You have to stand in awe at the level of brainwashing 00:08:04.730 --> 00:08:08.630 where these programmed robots known as "consumers" 00:08:08.810 --> 00:08:12.930 wander the landscape only to walk into a store and spend, say 00:08:13.080 --> 00:08:18.340 $4000 on a handbag that likely cost $10 to make 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:21.810 in a sweatshop overseas 00:08:22.850 --> 00:08:26.400 only for the brand status it supposedly represents 00:08:26.530 --> 00:08:28.540 in the culture. 00:08:28.910 --> 00:08:31.860 Or perhaps the ancient communal traditions which increase trust 00:08:32.010 --> 00:08:34.350 and cohesiveness in society 00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:36.550 which have now been hijacked by acquisitive 00:08:36.680 --> 00:08:39.160 materialistic values where now annually 00:08:39.300 --> 00:08:42.810 we exchange useless crap a few times a year. 00:08:44.040 --> 00:08:46.070 And we might wonder why so many today 00:08:46.200 --> 00:08:49.530 have a compulsion to shopping and acquisition 00:08:49.680 --> 00:08:52.960 when it is clear that they have been conditioned from childhood 00:08:53.130 --> 00:08:56.690 to expect material goods as a sign of their status 00:08:56.840 --> 00:08:59.250 with friends and family. 00:09:00.290 --> 00:09:02.260 Clip #5 00:09:02.610 --> 00:09:06.150 Famines throughout at least the last century of our history 00:09:06.650 --> 00:09:09.700 have not been caused by a lack of food. 00:09:09.850 --> 00:09:13.670 They have been caused by relative poverty. 00:09:13.820 --> 00:09:17.500 The economic resources were so inequitably distributed 00:09:17.650 --> 00:09:21.310 that the poor simply didn't have enough money 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:24.000 with which to buy the food that would've been available 00:09:24.150 --> 00:09:26.910 if they could have afforded to pay for it. 00:09:27.110 --> 00:09:30.080 That would be an example of "Structural Violence". 00:09:30.560 --> 00:09:33.920 Gandhi saw this. He said 00:09:34.070 --> 00:09:39.030 “The deadliest form of violence is poverty.” 00:09:39.180 --> 00:09:40.800 And that's absolutely right. 00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:45.520 Poverty kills far more people than all the wars in history 00:09:46.210 --> 00:09:48.420 more people than all the murderers 00:09:48.570 --> 00:09:51.390 and all the suicides in history. 00:09:51.570 --> 00:09:54.610 Not only does Structural Violence kill more people 00:09:54.760 --> 00:09:58.230 than all the Behavioral Violence put together 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:03.470 Structural Violence is also the main cause of Behavioral Violence. 00:10:03.630 --> 00:10:05.070 Clip #6 00:10:05.630 --> 00:10:07.500 So, a Resource-Based Economy 00:10:07.640 --> 00:10:11.210 is nothing more than a set of proven, life supporting understandings 00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:13.730 where all decisions are based upon 00:10:13.870 --> 00:10:17.150 optimized human and environmental sustainability. 00:10:17.320 --> 00:10:20.690 It takes into account the “Life Ground” which every human being shares 00:10:20.830 --> 00:10:25.860 as a need, regardless of their political or religious philosophy. 00:10:26.620 --> 00:10:30.420 There is no cultural relativism to this approach. 00:10:30.570 --> 00:10:32.700 It isn't a matter of opinion. 00:10:32.850 --> 00:10:35.520 Human needs are human needs 00:10:35.680 --> 00:10:38.870 and having access to the necessities of life, such as clean air 00:10:39.010 --> 00:10:41.110 nutritious food and clean water 00:10:41.250 --> 00:10:43.830 along with a positively reinforcing, stable 00:10:43.950 --> 00:10:47.260 nurturing, non-violent environment 00:10:47.410 --> 00:10:51.180 as demanded for our mental and physical health 00:10:51.320 --> 00:10:56.020 our evolutionary fitness, and hence, the species' survival itself. 00:10:56.190 --> 00:10:57.830 Clip #7 00:10:59.070 --> 00:11:03.350 Making homes using hammers and nails and wood 00:11:03.500 --> 00:11:07.560 with the state of our technology today 00:11:07.710 --> 00:11:10.850 is really absurd and will go the way of our labor class 00:11:10.990 --> 00:11:14.990 in regards to manufacturing in the United States. 00:11:15.170 --> 00:11:20.160 Recently, there was a study by economist David Autor of MIT 00:11:20.680 --> 00:11:22.690 that states that our middle class is obsolete 00:11:22.830 --> 00:11:27.080 and being replaced by automation. 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:30.900 Quite simply, mechanization is more productive 00:11:31.050 --> 00:11:33.750 efficient and sustainable than human labor 00:11:33.890 --> 00:11:37.110 in virtually every sector of the economy today. 00:11:37.330 --> 00:11:41.660 Machines do not need vacations, breaks, insurance, pensions 00:11:41.830 --> 00:11:45.040 and they can work 24 hours a day, everyday. 00:11:45.200 --> 00:11:47.000 The output potential and accuracy 00:11:47.140 --> 00:11:50.090 compared to human labor, is unmatched. 00:11:50.230 --> 00:11:53.970 The bottom line: Repetitive human labor is becoming obsolete 00:11:54.110 --> 00:11:56.280 and impractical across the world 00:11:56.420 --> 00:11:58.380 and today's unemployment is fundamentally 00:11:58.530 --> 00:12:01.600 the result of this evolution of efficiency in technology. 00:12:01.760 --> 00:12:05.020 The bottom line is that the “labor for income” game 00:12:05.170 --> 00:12:07.170 is slowly coming to an end. 00:12:07.310 --> 00:12:09.450 In fact, if you take a moment to reflect on the jobs 00:12:09.600 --> 00:12:12.440 which are in existence today which automation could take over 00:12:12.590 --> 00:12:16.910 right now, if applied, 75% of the global workforce 00:12:17.060 --> 00:12:20.860 could be replaced by mechanization tomorrow. 00:12:21.000 --> 00:12:23.000 Clip #8 00:12:24.160 --> 00:12:27.480 Now, we'd like to end this fourth season of "The Meaning of Life" 00:12:27.620 --> 00:12:32.510 by leaving the conclusion to 95-year-old Jacque Fresco 00:12:32.830 --> 00:12:34.820 who would have attended in person if he could. 00:12:34.970 --> 00:12:38.350 Unfortunately, his age prevented him from doing so. 00:12:38.490 --> 00:12:43.340 He is the founder of The Venus Project which we came to know 00:12:43.490 --> 00:12:47.310 through the documentary movie "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward" 00:12:47.460 --> 00:12:50.510 which we have shown in some of its segments. 00:12:50.640 --> 00:12:53.100 I suggest you to follow his speech carefully 00:12:53.240 --> 00:12:55.820 in which he will express his vision of things 00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.610 with a deep sense of freedom. 00:12:58.750 --> 00:13:03.050 See you all at the next edition of "The Meaning of Life" hopefully. 00:13:09.680 --> 00:13:11.377 When I was a young man 00:13:11.527 --> 00:13:13.698 growing up in New York City 00:13:13.842 --> 00:13:17.111 I refused to pledge allegiance to the flag. 00:13:18.456 --> 00:13:22.507 Of course I was sent to the principal's office, and he asked me 00:13:22.651 --> 00:13:26.447 "Why don't you want to pledge allegiance? Everybody does!" 00:13:26.630 --> 00:13:30.089 I said "Everybody once believed the Earth was flat 00:13:30.227 --> 00:13:32.079 but that doesn't make it so." 00:13:32.229 --> 00:13:35.604 I explained that America owed everything it has 00:13:35.754 --> 00:13:38.063 to other cultures and other nations 00:13:38.207 --> 00:13:40.243 and that I would rather pledge allegiance 00:13:40.387 --> 00:13:43.911 to the Earth and everyone on it. 00:13:44.180 --> 00:13:49.433 Needless to say it wasn't long before I left school entirely 00:13:49.583 --> 00:13:52.176 and I set up a lab in my bedroom. 00:13:52.314 --> 00:13:55.955 There I began to learn about science and nature. 00:13:56.099 --> 00:14:00.557 I realized then that the universe is governed by laws 00:14:00.726 --> 00:14:03.638 and that the human being, along with society itself 00:14:03.788 --> 00:14:06.651 was not exempt from these laws. 00:14:07.258 --> 00:14:10.120 Then came the crash of 1929 00:14:10.258 --> 00:14:14.208 which began what we now call "The Great Depression". 00:14:14.458 --> 00:14:19.266 I found it difficult to understand why millions were out of work 00:14:19.448 --> 00:14:21.896 homeless, starving 00:14:22.050 --> 00:14:25.875 while all the factories were sitting there. 00:14:26.026 --> 00:14:28.043 The resources were unchanged. 00:14:28.200 --> 00:14:31.040 It was then that I realized 00:14:31.184 --> 00:14:34.681 that the rules of the economic game were inherently invalid. 00:14:34.825 --> 00:14:37.759 Shortly after, came World War II 00:14:37.903 --> 00:14:39.999 where various nations took turns 00:14:40.137 --> 00:14:42.705 systematically destroying each other. 00:14:43.112 --> 00:14:46.512 I later calculated that all the destruction 00:14:46.656 --> 00:14:48.574 and wasted resources spent on that war 00:14:48.718 --> 00:14:53.805 could have easily provided for every human need on the planet. 00:14:56.811 --> 00:14:59.207 Since that time I have watched humanity 00:14:59.345 --> 00:15:03.105 set the stage for its own extinction. 00:15:03.636 --> 00:15:06.752 I have watched as the precious finite resources 00:15:06.902 --> 00:15:09.577 are perpetually wasted and destroyed 00:15:09.718 --> 00:15:13.028 in the name of profit and free markets. 00:15:13.172 --> 00:15:16.284 I have watched the social values of society 00:15:16.435 --> 00:15:19.604 be reduced into a base artificiality of materialism 00:15:19.747 --> 00:15:23.104 and mindless consumption. 00:15:23.398 --> 00:15:26.167 And I have watched as the monetary powers 00:15:26.311 --> 00:15:31.399 control the political structure of supposedly free societies. 00:15:33.029 --> 00:15:35.813 I'm 94 years old now 00:15:35.963 --> 00:15:38.146 and I'm afraid my disposition 00:15:38.290 --> 00:15:41.636 is the same as it was 75 years ago. 00:15:44.860 --> 00:15:47.568 This shit's got to go. 00:15:47.786 --> 00:15:49.751 Clip #9 00:15:54.540 --> 00:15:57.130 A “RESOURCE-BASED ECONOMY” 00:15:57.790 --> 00:16:00.360 The idea was defined in the 1970's 00:16:00.500 --> 00:16:02.380 by structural engineer Jacque Fresco. 00:16:02.520 --> 00:16:05.050 He understood back then that society was on a collision course 00:16:05.190 --> 00:16:09.480 with nature and itself, unsustainable on every level 00:16:09.690 --> 00:16:11.540 and if things didn't change 00:16:11.690 --> 00:16:15.310 we would destroy ourselves, one way or another. 00:16:15.490 --> 00:16:18.010 (Larry King) Are all of these things you are saying, Jacque 00:16:18.160 --> 00:16:20.950 could they be built with what we know today? 00:16:21.100 --> 00:16:24.509 Or are you guessing based on what we know today? 00:16:24.670 --> 00:16:28.610 - No, all of these things can be built with what we know today. 00:16:28.760 --> 00:16:31.680 It would take 10 years to change the surface of the earth 00:16:31.820 --> 00:16:35.750 to rebuild the world into a second Garden of Eden. 00:16:35.890 --> 00:16:39.230 The choice lies with you. The stupidity of a nuclear arms race 00:16:39.370 --> 00:16:43.240 the development of weapons, trying to solve your problems politically 00:16:43.380 --> 00:16:45.360 by electing any given political party... 00:16:45.500 --> 00:16:48.530 All politics is immersed in corruption. Let me say it again: 00:16:48.680 --> 00:16:53.130 Communism, socialism, fascism, the Democrats, the liberals 00:16:53.610 --> 00:16:55.900 we want to absorb human beings ... 00:16:56.050 --> 00:16:59.310 all organizations that believe in a better life for man! 00:16:59.450 --> 00:17:02.140 There are no Negro problems or Polish problems 00:17:02.290 --> 00:17:05.380 or Jewish problems or Greek problems or women's problems. 00:17:05.520 --> 00:17:08.820 There are human problems! I'm not afraid of anybody 00:17:08.960 --> 00:17:13.170 I don't work for anyone. No one can discharge me. I have no boss. 00:17:13.380 --> 00:17:16.410 I am afraid to live in the society we live in today. 00:17:16.550 --> 00:17:19.720 Our society cannot be maintained by this type of incompetency. 00:17:19.860 --> 00:17:22.320 It was great, the free enterprise system, about 35 years ago. 00:17:22.460 --> 00:17:24.620 That was the last of its usefulness. 00:17:24.780 --> 00:17:29.180 Now we have got to change our way of thinking or perish. 00:17:29.860 --> 00:17:32.620 The horror movies of the future will be our society 00:17:32.760 --> 00:17:36.280 the way it didn't work. 00:17:36.670 --> 00:17:39.660 And politics would be part of the horror movie.