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Il Movimento Zeitgeist a "Il senso della Vita"

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    In January 2011, the movie "ZEITGEIST: MOVING FORWARD"
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    was screened in cities all over the world; it is a non-profit documentary
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    directed by Peter Joseph, also available online for free download.
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    In Italy, twenty cities participated in this global screening project.
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    The Zeitgeist Movement chapter in Rome screened the movie
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    at the Azzurro Scipioni Cinema, owned by director Silvano Agosti.
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    To our great surprise, Paolo Bonolis, presenter of "The Meaning of Life"
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    a prime time TV program on Channel 5, also attended the screening.
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    Paolo and his co-author, Michele Afferrante, have shown great interest
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    for the Movement's ideas and immediately welcomed a cultural exchange
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    thereby starting a cooperation with the Zeitgeist Movement.
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    They have been broadcasting a series of intellectually stimulating snippets
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    throughout the season without soliciting any funding
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    which is proof that even on a commercial TV channel
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    there are people who don't regard monetary reward as their only target.
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    We have collected those bits and put them together, showing the path
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    that millions of Italians have followed for over two months.
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    We thank Paolo, Michele and their staff for granting us this great opportunity
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    and hope this effort will arouse curiosity and meditation in some of the viewers.
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    Clip #1
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    I would like to show you and have you listen to these words, please.
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    Not to accept things as they are
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    but to understand it, to go into it, to examine it.
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    Give your heart and your mind with everything that you have to find out
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    a way of living differently.
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    But that depends on you and not somebody else.
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    Because in this there is no teacher, no pupil.
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    There's no leader.
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    There's no guru.
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    There's no master, no savior.
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    You yourself are the teacher and the pupil.
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    You're the master, you're the guru, you are the leader.
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    You are everything!
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    And
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    to understand
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    is to transform what is.
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    The character that you have just seen and heard is Krishnamurti.
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    He is considered as one of the greatest thinkers of all time.
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    He didn't theorize any philosophy or religion.
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    Instead he spoke of things concerning all of us in our daily lives
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    in particular about the need for a radical change in human consciousness.
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    The video clip is taken from the documentary movie "Zeitgeist"
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    which means "the spirit of the time" by Peter Joseph.
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    It is a three chapter non-profit work
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    which brings some of our certainties into question.
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    It is a movie which tries to make us think in a different way
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    out of the box and away from conventions.
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    We liked the Zeitgeist project so much
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    that we decided to share some parts of it with you
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    throughout this 4th edition of "The Meaning of Life".
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    They are short and, according to us, enlightening fragments like this one.
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    Now, my grandmother was a wonderful person.
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    She taught me how to play the game Monopoly.
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    She understood that the name of the game is to acquire.
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    She would accumulate everything she could and eventually
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    she became the master of the board.
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    And then she would always say the same thing to me.
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    She looked at me and said
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    “One day, you'll learn to play the game.”
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    One summer, I played Monopoly almost every day, all day long.
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    And that summer, I learned to play the game.
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    I came to understand the only way to win
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    is to make a total commitment to acquisition.
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    I came to understand that money and possessions
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    that's the way that you keep score.
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    And by the end of that summer, I was more ruthless than my grandmother.
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    I was ready to bend the rules if I had to, to win that game.
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    And I sat down with her to play that fall.
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    I took everything she had.
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    I watched her give her last dollar and quit in utter defeat.
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    And then she had one more thing to teach me.
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    Then she said
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    “Now it all goes back in the box."
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    Clip #2
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    As we did in the last episode of this 4th season of "The Meaning of Life"
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    we will showcase some clips from "Zeitgeist".
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    Zeitgeist, which means spirit of time
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    is a movie directed by Peter Joseph.
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    It is a countercurrent and countercultural view of our reality.
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    Here's today's segment.
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    In a world where 1% of the population owns 40% of the planet's wealth...
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    In a world where 34.000 children die every single day
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    from poverty and preventable diseases
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    and where 50% of the world's population
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    lives on less than 2 dollars a day...
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    One thing is clear.
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    Something is very wrong.
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    And whether we are aware of it or not
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    the lifeblood of all of our established institutions
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    and thus society itself, is money.
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    Therefore, understanding this institution of monetary policy
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    is critical to understanding why our lives are the way they are.
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    Unfortunately, economics is often viewed with confusion and boredom.
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    Endless streams of financial jargon
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    coupled with intimidating mathematics
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    quickly deters people from attempts at understanding it.
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    However, the complexity associated with the financial system is a mere mask
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    designed to conceal one of the most socially paralyzing structures
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    humanity has ever endured.
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    Clip #3
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    The dominant values of a culture tend to support and perpetuate
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    what is rewarded by that culture.
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    And in a society where success and status
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    is measured by material wealth, not social contribution
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    it is easy to see why the state of the world is what it is today.
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    We are dealing with a value system disorder, completely denatured
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    where the priority of personal and social health
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    have become secondary to the detrimental notions
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    of artificial wealth and limitless growth.
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    And, like a virus, this disorder now permeates
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    every facet of government, news media
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    entertainment and even academia.
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    And built into its structure are mechanisms of protection
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    from anything that might interfere.
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    Disciples of the monetary-market religion
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    the self-appointed guardians of the status quo
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    constantly seek out ways to avoid any form of thought
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    which might interfere with their beliefs
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    the most common of which are projected dualities.
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    If you're not a Republican, you must be a Democrat.
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    If you are not Christian, you might be a Satanist.
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    And if you feel society can be greatly improved
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    to consider, perhaps, I don't know, taking care of everyone?
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    You're just a “Utopianist”.
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    And the most insidious of them all:
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    If you are not for the "free-market"
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    you must be against freedom itself.
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    Clip #4
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    If there is any testament to the plasticity of the human mind...
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    If there is any proof to how malleable human thought is
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    and how easily conditioned and guided people can become
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    based on the nature of their environmental stimulus
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    and what it reinforces
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    the world of commercial advertising is the proof.
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    You have to stand in awe at the level of brainwashing
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    where these programmed robots known as "consumers"
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    wander the landscape only to walk into a store and spend, say
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    $4000 on a handbag that likely cost $10 to make
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    in a sweatshop overseas
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    only for the brand status it supposedly represents
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    in the culture.
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    Or perhaps the ancient communal traditions which increase trust
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    and cohesiveness in society
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    which have now been hijacked by acquisitive
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    materialistic values where now annually
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    we exchange useless crap a few times a year.
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    And we might wonder why so many today
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    have a compulsion to shopping and acquisition
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    when it is clear that they have been conditioned from childhood
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    to expect material goods as a sign of their status
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    with friends and family.
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    Clip #5
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    Famines throughout at least the last century of our history
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    have not been caused by a lack of food.
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    They have been caused by relative poverty.
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    The economic resources were so inequitably distributed
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    that the poor simply didn't have enough money
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    with which to buy the food that would've been available
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    if they could have afforded to pay for it.
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    That would be an example of "Structural Violence".
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    Gandhi saw this. He said
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    “The deadliest form of violence is poverty.”
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    And that's absolutely right.
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    Poverty kills far more people than all the wars in history
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    more people than all the murderers
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    and all the suicides in history.
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    Not only does Structural Violence kill more people
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    than all the Behavioral Violence put together
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    Structural Violence is also the main cause of Behavioral Violence.
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    Clip #6
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    So, a Resource-Based Economy
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    is nothing more than a set of proven, life supporting understandings
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    where all decisions are based upon
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    optimized human and environmental sustainability.
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    It takes into account the “Life Ground” which every human being shares
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    as a need, regardless of their political or religious philosophy.
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    There is no cultural relativism to this approach.
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    It isn't a matter of opinion.
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    Human needs are human needs
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    and having access to the necessities of life, such as clean air
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    nutritious food and clean water
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    along with a positively reinforcing, stable
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    nurturing, non-violent environment
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    as demanded for our mental and physical health
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    our evolutionary fitness, and hence, the species' survival itself.
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    Clip #7
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    Making homes using hammers and nails and wood
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    with the state of our technology today
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    is really absurd and will go the way of our labor class
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    in regards to manufacturing in the United States.
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    Recently, there was a study by economist David Autor of MIT
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    that states that our middle class is obsolete
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    and being replaced by automation.
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    Quite simply, mechanization is more productive
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    efficient and sustainable than human labor
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    in virtually every sector of the economy today.
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    Machines do not need vacations, breaks, insurance, pensions
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    and they can work 24 hours a day, everyday.
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    The output potential and accuracy
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    compared to human labor, is unmatched.
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    The bottom line: Repetitive human labor is becoming obsolete
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    and impractical across the world
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    and today's unemployment is fundamentally
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    the result of this evolution of efficiency in technology.
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    The bottom line is that the “labor for income” game
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    is slowly coming to an end.
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    In fact, if you take a moment to reflect on the jobs
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    which are in existence today which automation could take over
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    right now, if applied, 75% of the global workforce
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    could be replaced by mechanization tomorrow.
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    Clip #8
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    Now, we'd like to end this fourth season of "The Meaning of Life"
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    by leaving the conclusion to 95-year-old Jacque Fresco
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    who would have attended in person if he could.
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    Unfortunately, his age prevented him from doing so.
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    He is the founder of The Venus Project which we came to know
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    through the documentary movie "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward"
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    which we have shown in some of its segments.
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    I suggest you to follow his speech carefully
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    in which he will express his vision of things
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    with a deep sense of freedom.
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    See you all at the next edition of "The Meaning of Life" hopefully.
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    When I was a young man
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    growing up in New York City
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    I refused to pledge allegiance to the flag.
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    Of course I was sent to the principal's office, and he asked me
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    "Why don't you want to pledge allegiance? Everybody does!"
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    I said "Everybody once believed the Earth was flat
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    but that doesn't make it so."
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    I explained that America owed everything it has
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    to other cultures and other nations
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    and that I would rather pledge allegiance
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    to the Earth and everyone on it.
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    Needless to say it wasn't long before I left school entirely
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    and I set up a lab in my bedroom.
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    There I began to learn about science and nature.
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    I realized then that the universe is governed by laws
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    and that the human being, along with society itself
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    was not exempt from these laws.
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    Then came the crash of 1929
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    which began what we now call "The Great Depression".
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    I found it difficult to understand why millions were out of work
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    homeless, starving
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    while all the factories were sitting there.
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    The resources were unchanged.
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    It was then that I realized
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    that the rules of the economic game were inherently invalid.
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    Shortly after, came World War II
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    where various nations took turns
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    systematically destroying each other.
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    I later calculated that all the destruction
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    and wasted resources spent on that war
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    could have easily provided for every human need on the planet.
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    Since that time I have watched humanity
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    set the stage for its own extinction.
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    I have watched as the precious finite resources
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    are perpetually wasted and destroyed
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    in the name of profit and free markets.
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    I have watched the social values of society
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    be reduced into a base artificiality of materialism
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    and mindless consumption.
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    And I have watched as the monetary powers
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    control the political structure of supposedly free societies.
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    I'm 94 years old now
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    and I'm afraid my disposition
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    is the same as it was 75 years ago.
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    This shit's got to go.
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    Clip #9
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    A “RESOURCE-BASED ECONOMY”
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    The idea was defined in the 1970's
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    by structural engineer Jacque Fresco.
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    He understood back then that society was on a collision course
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    with nature and itself, unsustainable on every level
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    and if things didn't change
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    we would destroy ourselves, one way or another.
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    (Larry King) Are all of these things you are saying, Jacque
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    could they be built with what we know today?
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    Or are you guessing based on what we know today?
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    - No, all of these things can be built with what we know today.
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    It would take 10 years to change the surface of the earth
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    to rebuild the world into a second Garden of Eden.
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    The choice lies with you. The stupidity of a nuclear arms race
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    the development of weapons, trying to solve your problems politically
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    by electing any given political party...
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    All politics is immersed in corruption. Let me say it again:
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    Communism, socialism, fascism, the Democrats, the liberals
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    we want to absorb human beings ...
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    all organizations that believe in a better life for man!
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    There are no Negro problems or Polish problems
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    or Jewish problems or Greek problems or women's problems.
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    There are human problems! I'm not afraid of anybody
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    I don't work for anyone. No one can discharge me. I have no boss.
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    I am afraid to live in the society we live in today.
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    Our society cannot be maintained by this type of incompetency.
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    It was great, the free enterprise system, about 35 years ago.
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    That was the last of its usefulness.
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    Now we have got to change our way of thinking or perish.
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    The horror movies of the future will be our society
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    the way it didn't work.
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    And politics would be part of the horror movie.
Title:
Il Movimento Zeitgeist a "Il senso della Vita"
Description:

Nel gennaio 2010 sono state organizzate proiezioni in tutto il mondo del film "Zeitgeist: Moving Forward", un documentario realizzato da Peter Joseph senza fini di lucro e disponibile gratuitamente in rete.
Anche l'Italia ha partecipato, in 20 città. Tra queste, il gruppo Zeitgeist di Roma ha proiettato il film al Cinema Azzurro Scipioni del regista Silvano Agosti. Con nostra grande sorpresa, alla proiezione si è presentato anche Paolo Bonolis, che conduce il programma di prima serata su Canale 5 "Il senso della vita".

Paolo, e il suo co-autore Michele Afferrante, hanno mostrato di essere in linea con le idee del Movimento ed hanno subito accolto lo scambio libero di idee, iniziando una collaborazione con il Movimento Zeitgeist. Hanno mandato in onda per tutta la stagione questa serie di pillole intellettualmente stimolanti, senza alcun fine di lucro da parte nostra, a dimostrazione che anche in una TV commerciale ci sono persone che non ragionano solamente sullo schema del profitto monetario.

Le abbiamo qui raccolte e messe insieme, mostrando un percorso che ha accompagnato milioni di italiani per oltre due mesi. Ringraziamo Paolo, Michele e il loro staff per questa opportunità e speriamo di aver stimolato la curiosità e il pensiero di qualcuno.

MOVIMENTO ZEITGEIST ITALIA
www.zeitgeistitalia.org
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Video Language:
English

English subtitles

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