Thursday, April 30, 2009

Discussion on Money

Let's argue the ideas friends, not insult the person. Every person has the same value, the same awareness looking out their eyes, even if their egos have all kinds of silliness. Don't alienate the person as you argue the ideas.

Mostly, those who argue for the existing system value people according to their worth in money, seeing that as a measure of their investment in production and 'superiority' to other people. The idea that someone who invests money to make money are taking more of a risk than the worker who actually produces the product is obviously silly. If the person who invests the money loses it, they simply become the worker, while if the worker loses their ability to produce, they and their family face homelessness enforced by police. That shows the foolishness of that evaluation of people.

The economic system came from the old idea that there are superior and inferior people, that the superior 'deserve' what they get, and the inferior 'deserve' what they get... that somehow it's built into Universe that there be superior and inferior and the inferior deserve only what the superior allow them to have. The paradigm is the old 'royalty' versus the 'commoner' idea, and the goal of all 'commoners', it is believed by the royalty, are to become the 'royalty', although being inferior, they cannot. It was inherent in the Constitution of the US, which is why so many 'founding fathers' didn't sign the Constitution. It's always been based upon the ancient 'right of conquest' where the person with the greatest talent and skill in fighting deserved the best, and everyone else deserved what the 'winners' allowed them to have. In money terms, it's that the superior person gets the most money, which they inherently 'deserve' while the inferior person gets the table scraps of the superior, and somehow this silliness is inherent in our nature and in Nature itself. How that happens, regardless of the morality or anything else, is not relevant to the 'superior' person, since only the result counts.

And it's basically stupid. It loses in the system the valuable talents and skills of the so called 'inferior', who the 'superior' disregards as only worth their table scraps. The only opinion that counts, in that system, is the opinions of the 'superior'. Basically, everyone but the 'superior' are just domesticated animals in the eyes of the 'superior', the 'winner'. It's called, in modern times, Social Darwinism.

Now that it's shown that the methods, attitudes, and opinions of the 'superiors' produce cruelty, deadly systems, and destruction of the environment, and kills off the poor although modern science has shown that as many geniuses come from the 'inferiors' as the 'superiors', and thus we lose the benefit of their brilliance, the 'superior' are still hellbent on keeping their ancient privileges and power, and have taught most people to accept their lower status by holding the 'superior' social status out as a carrot in the same way that the police and laws are the stick to motivate the 'inferior' to work harder for the crumbs from the superior's table. THAT is what the money system is, nothing more or less. The 'benefits' which the 'superiors' hold out to the 'inferiors', like TVs, Cars, and suchlike, even in the wealthy countries, are not produced by the superiors but by the use of technology, and it's technology that can make true wealth available to everyone and stop the destruction of the environment. The argument that the money system is necessary and good is only an argument that the superiors are using to keep their 'special' social status and perks.

The fact is, there are no superiors or inferiors. The whole paradigm is essentially suicidal, especially on the global scale considering it's destruction of the environment. If we don't realize that all people are truly equal on this planet, that all people have the same needs, that the old social systems and paradigms are too inherently limited in their scope to actually create a world worth living in for most people, then Humanity will die out from our own stupidity, and take most of the ecology with us.

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

In response to religious folks and others

I am a member of the Zeitgeist Movement, and understand the idea being proposed.

The movie was the opinion of the maker, and most of us in the movie do not think the religious part was necessary or desirable. It just turned off a lot of folks who really don't have any reason to fear the ZM. We don't care what religion someone is. or if they have any religion. It's irrelevant to the idea of the ZM we propose.

The ZM has no 'hierarchy' ruling it. It is a movement, not an organization. There is no 'Plan', rigid and unchangeable, to be implemented. It's an idea whose time has come, not a 'ism' or ideology in the usual sense of the word. It is inherent in the ZM concept that no coercion or intimidation shall be used in the ZM effort. It is not a political system. Nobody will lose anything or have anything taken away from them. Only a good means can create a good end. And it will not restrict anyone's freedom, it will add a level of freedom most people cannot even imagine.

Especially it will give us all the freedom from fear that now grips and destroys the world.

It will not be a utopia. Utopias are impossible. Human seem to love making problems to solve. But such problems don't have to destroy the environment or kill so many children through starvation and preventable diseases as is happening now. The ZM is about self-education and resources, not about politics or currency. Yes, it hopes to get rid of many existing systems that have obviously not worked and we think will never work, which, if retained by the Human Species, will doom us on this planet.

I will be happy to answer any questions about the ZM to the best of my knowledge, but I will not argue with anyone or provide 'proof', since ideas unimplemented cannot be 'proved'. The ZM is a work in progress, not a fixed idea. But I will correct statements which others make which are deliberate BS yelled out into this public venue. The ZM is not about pointing out negative stuff. It's about find positive answers to the existing insanity on this planet.

More Questions answered about the Zeitgeist Movement

Here are the answers as we have proposed:
1. Who is going to make the machines?.

People who want to and can. Who else? lol

2. What type of educational system is in place?.

right now, the talk is about 'curiosity based systems' where a child can follow their interest in some subject to the full extent of that subject using audio/visual means. Considering that I read recently that many children right now are learning more from the internet than from school, it might be the best way to do it.

3. What is the system based on?

This question is a little vague but I'll try to answer it. The idea is to give everyone in the world anything they want in a 'resource based economy' where technological amplification produces the items they want and they are free to do what they wish.

4. What computer system will it use?

I don't know. Subscribe to ScienceDaily.com and you can read of the latest computer technology as it is discovered from peer group review publications. The advancements are amazing and what will eventually used is not likely yet invented.

5. Where are all the people who are living in such a system?

Everywhere. It's a global plan. People will live in cities, in the countryside, anywhere they like. The people who want to accomplish the ZM live all over the world. And nobody is actually, at this time, living in that system. it does not exist yet.

6. Where is the product to try?

They haven't been built yet, and most have not been designed yet. Like all products, it takes planning and effort to bring them into existence.

7. Why should I follow such a system of hate?

Loaded question. Have you stopped beating your wife yet? :LOL:

8. Is it your way or the highway?

No. And it will never be that way.

9. Why should people be re-educated in thought processes controlled by a computer?

Nobody will be 're-educated in thought processes controlled by a computer.'
Computers are useful for analyzing large amounts of data. They don't tell us how to think.

10. Why should I have my children at birth implanted with a computer chip?

Your reference is to a Science Fiction manuscript written decades ago by Jacque Fresco with another writer. It was a futurist book and has nothing to do with the Zeitgeist Movement or the Venus Project other than some of the concepts in it are good ideas. That is not one of those good ideas. We are not proposing such implantation in any way whatsoever.

11. What is there is decent in the system?

It will give people their time back, so they can spend more time with their families, have the resources and time to accomplish their dreams, end starvation and poverty, end war, give people better health care than they have now by far, allow people to live where they want, do what they want, and enjoy their lives as they wish. What's not decent in the idea we propose?

12. What happens to those who refuse to follow such a system?

Nobody is going to force the system on anyone else. They will do what they decide to do and if they need it, the system will be there for their use.


13. What are the punishments for not doing anything?

There will be no punishments for not doing anything. And if someone does not do anything... sits around and picks their nose all day everyday, it will not take anything from anyone else. Without scarcity, and with the needs of life supplied, people can do that without any problem. However, most people will not do that long. People have things they like to do and with the time and resources to do them, they get up and enjoy doing them.

14. No one knows what is going to happen, that is a given.

But we all have a good idea of what will happen if we don't do something. The economy will make most of us homeless, the government will become fascist to 'control the homeless' when they protest the situation and the environment will slowly but surely die. And when it dies, we will die.

There are always and I mean always a wrench thrown into the machine that is portrays that it will break. I can not believe you follow this so religiously.

If a child is starving, would you not share your food with them? If someone is bruised and battered, would you not care for them? The great teacher Jesus said 'Whatsoever you do not do unto these, you do not do onto me'. I don't see that as a specifically religious statement but a practical advice for humans to follow. You don't have to be religious to see the wisdom of taking care of others. We are all in this together.

I do feel sorry you do not rely on your inner human spirit.

The Zeitgeist Movement came from our 'inner human spirit'. We cannot sit by while thousand die of starvation and preventable diseases in the world, people who worked their entire lives get thrown from their homes, their countries are taken over by elites who brutalize them, and the bright promise of Humanity is eventually extinguished.

The spirit which is missing from computers and compassion I have to help you understand that this is just another scam.

The spirit is not missing from our hearts and the whole idea is a manifestation of compassion. Do you accept children starving in a world that could feed them? Do you accept people being tossed out of their homes because of the manipulation by people who are too greedy to care about them? WE CARE!

BTW, we do not hate you. I'm sorry I treated you like a troll when I first read your posts. Your questions are good questions many people have, and I rejoice to get to answer them. Ask all you have and we will try to answer them as fully as possible. The Venus Project is only some sets of blueprints and a lot of ideas, but we do this with good hearts and clear consciences for the benefit of all people in the world and our common environment. When good people decide to create a freer and better world for everyone, it is worthwhile and moral. We know only a good means can create a good end, and we are willing to take new ideas when they are presented. Please present yours if you have any. Otherwise, please continue asking questions.

Peace,
Worldmind

The most important question a person can ask themselves is 'Why do I think like I do?'

Monday, April 20, 2009

I am a member of the Zeitgeist Movement

I am a member of the Zeitgeist Movement, and understand the idea being proposed.

The movie was the opinion of the maker, and most of us in the movie do not think the religious part was necessary or desirable. It just turned off a lot of folks who really don't have any reason to fear the ZM. We don't care what religion someone is. or if they have any religion. It's irrelevant to the idea of the ZM we propose.

The ZM has no 'hierarchy' ruling it. It is a movement, not an organization. There is no 'Plan', rigid and unchangeable, to be implemented. It's an idea whose time has come, not a 'ism' or ideology in the usual sense of the word. It is inherent in the ZM concept that no coercion or intimidation shall be used in the ZM effort. It is not a political system. Nobody will lose anything or have anything taken away from them. Only a good means can create a good end. And it will not restrict anyone's freedom, it will add a level of freedom most people cannot even imagine.

Especially it will give us all the freedom from fear that now grips and destroys the world.

It will not be a utopia. Utopias are impossible. Human seem to love making problems to solve. But such problems don't have to destroy the environment or kill so many children through starvation and preventable diseases as is happening now. The ZM is about self-education and resources, not about politics or currency. Yes, it hopes to get rid of many existing systems that have obviously not worked and we think will never work, which, if retained by the Human Species, will doom us on this planet.

I will be happy to answer any questions about the ZM to the best of my knowledge, but I will not argue with anyone or provide 'proof', since ideas unimplemented cannot be 'proved'. The ZM is a work in progress, not a fixed idea. But I will correct statements which others make which are deliberate BS yelled out into this public venue. The ZM is not about pointed out negative stuff. It's about find positive answers to the existing insanity on this planet.


You can access Zeitgeist Addendum on this website and/or sign up with the Movement.
The Zeitgeist Movement Website

Zeitgeist Transition Video

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Parable: For a Thousand Years...

For a Thousand Years... (parable)

For a thousand years, the people in a village built their houses the same way; by digging up mud and piling it up into walls. They had many tools for doing it; shovels, packers, smoothers…

But digging up the mud caused the water to rise, and erode the walls away, and the people had to repair or rebuild their houses, and much of their time went into the constant building.

As the years passed, the digging caused the water to rise higher and higher , and the people had to work harder and harder to keep their houses together, with less and less time for living otherwise, and raising their children, and finding their food, and dancing together…

Then, one day a child of the village got up and said; "Why not stop building with mud, and build with stone instead… the water does not rise when we dig up stone, nor could it melt away the stone, and, after all, it is the stone in the ground that is the foundations of all our houses.

One man asked, "but what motivation would anyone have then, to repair their houses?"

And another asked, "What would we do with all our shovels and packers and smoothers then?"

And the rejection came hard and fast: What would we do with the mud? How would we shovel up stone, or pack it, or smooth it? If everyone had stone houses they would just sit around and starve to death. It's good for the children to have to rebuild their houses, it makes them good citizens. Without mud, life would lose it's zest. Without mud, how would anyone know who was the best in building with mud? Why, we have always used mud… it's tradition! …

…and lastly, the local expert in building mud houses, with the biggest mud house of all said, "It's an interesting idea, but it'll never happen! Too many have nice mud houses to let anyone else build stone houses, so they would stop you somehow. It's 'Human Nature'!"

And everyone nodded.

So the village continued to build their houses with mud, working harder and faster all the time, until one day the water rose so high all the houses melted.

…and finally; the people gave up the mud and built with stone, and thus the village stands to this day!

And , Gee, they all found something else to do with their vast new spare time… like raise their children, grow better food, and get to know one another.

Key to the story:

The Mud is the money system.

The water that always rises higher is the built in, ever growing, inequality, the effects of money on human behavior, the pain and death, ecological destruction, murder and starvation that comes from using the system, the way money, through limiting our options to 'economic sense', puts our survival at risk when adaptation and adoption of new ways are required to survive.

The stone is the reality that we are really in this together, that we survive through our cooperation motivated by our desire to survive, and the work done by the leverage of technology, that we are all absolutely dependent upon the ecology we evolved from, and ultimately, we can choose to have much better lives with a lot more freedom by changing how we do things... by eliminating money and barter and overwhelming 'ownership' of 'property' (which was originally taken by force anyway, by 'right of conquest').

There is no reason to suffer under a system which puts half the world's wealth in the hands of 385 people and lets millions die in totally unnecessary poverty… AND destroys our common ecological life support system. Do we have to have the whole system crash into ruin before we learn what the village learned?

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Understanding the Zeitgeist Movement

This was part of the original post I responded to:

I read a lot of these messages on the Zeitgeist/Venus Project thing.
Interesting. I've been following it, the Venus Project. I like the idea. I see the communist connection, and the anarchist connection. Though, they are both, scary and poisoned words.

They had no police force, and no crime, unless you count the criminals, fascist republicans who came from Madrid in 1939. They had worker managed factories.. No concept of money, everything was done by barter. On the youtube videos, a Catalan did point out that it was the absence of money, that attributed to the absence of crime.

Jacque Fresco in his FAQ claims it is not communism. Either he misunderstands the word and/or fears it. It is right to be feared. Stalin and Lenin with the help of the US destroyed communism in Russia, turned it into "state capitalism" which is what people currently "understand" communism to be. I really want to make sure.


My Response:

It is not communism.

It is a tendency of modern mind to pigeonhole anything new into a previous concept or philosophy. It could just as easily pigeonholed into Christianity, since the bible said "All who believed held all things in common, sold what they had, and gave to the many, and so each man received what he needth." (something like that, anyway)

But it's not that either.

The Zeitgeist Movement is not about bringing into existence an 'ism'. It's about the use of technology in a comprehensive way on a global scale. It's about using the scientific method for making decisions. It's about the ability of computer to take in large blocks of data and produce workable answers.

It's about giving people their lives back, giving them a much higher level of initiative, a far better ability to bring their dreams into existence, give them far more time to do what they want to do, and the tools of education and technology to create what they want to create.

It's not about controlling people's lives, implanting anything on or in them, having computers control them, setting up new hierarchies or elites to replace those who rule them now, or turning people into drones.

Children have dreams about what they want to do in life. By the time they are teenagers, they learn the ugly truth... instead of 'you can do anything you want in life' they learn 'you can do anything you can afford to do in life' and to afford to do anything, you have to spend your time doing what you are told to do, in order to get the money.

And for every idea they have to change things to a better way, they hear... 'Never happen ...because those with money, power, etc, will stop you.' And every idea they want to do, they hear... "where's the money going to come from?" And they figure out they are to be wasted, used, and manipulated, nothing more.

Communism is an ideology. To live in a Communism, you have to agree to the ideology. The Zeitgeist Movement is not an ideology, you don't have to believe in the same things to be part of it.

Buckminster Fuller came up with a way to measure labor. He said a single 'energy slave' (ES) is what an uneducated slave can do in one day bare handed. Each American has the equivalent of 2k ES at his disposal because of the leverage of technology. But the technology is not comprehensive, so it messes up the environment. The same number of ES, if used more efficiently, could provide the same work, but without the environmental destruction. The richest kings of the past only had a few hundred ES, and the serfs had, at best, 1 or 2 ES. Most 3rd world individuals, right now, have .80 ES, so they are screwed.

The ZM wants to give everyone 5k, 10k, 20k ES or more, which will end human labor as we know it. Which would give people more freedom and wealth than anytime in history. No utopia involved. No ideology involved. No intimidation involved. Just a longer lever that benefits everyone.


(Criticisms and opinions are welcomed.)