TZM or TVP?

Back in April 2011, the Venus Project (TVP) asked that the Zeitgeist Movement (TZM) to no longer officially represent them as their activist arm, and have decided to revamp their own operations and separate themselves from the Zeitgeist Movement. 

Regardless of his reasons for this separation, Jacque Fresco, founder of the TVP, has stirred the imaginations of many people, and inspired them to think critically about our future. He has shown us through models, digital renders, video clips, and his literature, many of the radical ways we can embrace technology and the scientific method to design a better (not perfect or utopian) society. 

Initially, this separation had upset me, though I also realize that these ideas exist no matter who represents them. I wish to spread the good news of a better future, one I did not create, but one I will advocate.

As to the name of this blog ... join the Zeitgeist Movement ... I do not wish to appear to support one group over another (though they both advocate the same thing), so I will begin to write under a new blog banner. Find me here !

Occupy Wall Street !!!

'Occupy Wall Street', or 'Occupy YourCityHere', has taken on an infectious vibe akin to the Arab Spring movement witnessed earlier this year. And, as other online articles have pointed out, it's no surprise that this theme appeals to so many. The global financial system is on the brink of collapse, and we've discovered that throwing more money (debt) at the problem won't solve anything.

Traditionally, an economist might use a debt-to-GDP ratio to roughly estimate the stability or health of a nation's economy and ability to sustain their current economic growth. If a country spends more than it makes in a year, then the budget is not balanced, and they will have debt carry over into the following year. Historically, countries have gotten into trouble when their total or public or government debt-to-GDP ratio's have gotten too high. In actuality, countries can only afford to spend between 5 - 10% of their budget on debt repayment. Depending on our position in a credit bubble, we might be told, or incentivized to do one of two things - spend or save. Though there are times when it is not so clear what we should do with our money (for those that have any). We have to cut back on spending to pay off our debts, but we also have to spend money to stimulate the economy. This sounds challenging, no?

The Greek austerity measures saw cut backs and spending happening simultaneously, and have gotten them no further ahead of where they were three years ago. So, will Germany bail them out? How much shifting of debt and dancing around can we actually do before it all falls apart?

Do your best to spread the word - OccupyWallSt.org

It's our chance to really re-think and re-tool our socio-economic systems ... dramatically. Let's reclaim our future!

Hiatus - A year in Japan

It's been a year since my last entry to the blog. I had always intended to keep up with my Zeitgeist support in the form of this blog, but I made a life choice that distracted me from TZM. I took a job in Japan teaching English in August, 2009. My year in Japan is coming to an end, and I am now struggling with the choice of whether to stay here or return home.

I have avoided personalizing this blog until now, but I wanted to explain the absence of new entries to the blog, and inform any readers that I hope to become active again from this point on.

There is much to talk about. Thanks for listening.

TED talk - Clay Shirky on Media today

In a recent TED talk (TED releases amazingly informative videos of their conferences everyday on their site http://tedtalks.com) Clay Shirky discusses the power of the vast changes we’ve seen in our media. In his own words, we’re experiencing the “largest increase in expressive capability in human history”. So what? Well, there are a number of implications to this paradigm shift.

Information becomes freely available. Consumers become producers. New uses for existing technology emerge. The conversation, the information, becomes global, social, ubiquitous and cheap. No longer is it a one-way dialogue between media producers and media consumers. The Internet has provided a means of collaboration, and a means to share creativity freely and easily. The potential for growth in its application seems boundless. The creators of Twitter (Evan Willams gave a TED talk as well) worked on the software as a side project, on a gut feeling. They had no idea what it would be used for, or where the users would see opportunities to use it. Twitter has been wildly successfully thanks to the innovation of its users, and the wise decision of Twitter to create an empowering product (allowing third party’s to create different apps for Twitter).

While Clay does not explicitly describe the ways big business must change to survive, he is convinced that “the old way of doing things has gone, never to return.” The kind of change Clay describes happening to our media allows for fresh new ideas or old ideas that previously never had a voice, to be heard and discussed. The Zeitgeist Movement and The Venus Project that it supports, rely on this open exchange of ideas to awaken the public to the possibilities of a better future for everyone.

The most exciting implication is the evidence for an incentive other than a profit motive. These open-source models display levels of efficiency unheard of in typical business models that hire employees to do all the work. What provides incentive to people in an open-source model? Generosity and altruism are great motivators for some, but most find that contributing of their own volition to something they care about is reason enough. This is true freedom. How might you contribute?

Original Song for The Venus Project - from Greece!

The Greece Zeitgeist movement recently posted this video on their uTube page. Three members of the movement in Greece wrote a song about the Venus Project, and I would like to share it with you. Thank you Michalis, Erofili, and Fotis, it sounds great :)

Sign the Petition for the Venus Project - The Petition Site

Please take a moment to read the petition summary for the Venus Project. You click below for more, to read the entire petition, or click the link following to go directly to the site to sign the petition. Thank you for your time!

Sign the Petition for the Venus Project - The Petition Site

Designed by Jacque Fresco

"We the undersigned, Ask that this project is funded and pushed to forefront of everything else, this must happen in order for us to not just save our country but work on making the world a better place for everyone to live in. The Venus Project is a huge example at what kind of world we can live in. This is not about profit or financial Gain it is about people and sustainability. This is what we need to fix our problems in Today"s world. This is all really Possible to accomplish because we all are behind this Project. This is not some Pipe dream it is a Reality and the sooner we realize what kind of world we can live in millions more people will accept this kind of way of living. The Monetary system that we are in is not working, and you can see that. It would be a much logical and practical choice to start something new into a resource based economy. This is what we want and we are willing to help If your going to back and fund this Project. The sooner we get this going the sooner people's lives will be saved and the planet will be taken care of. I'm sure you have Children and you want the best future possible that is benefiting all people.

I hope you take this Project very seriously. Thank you for listening"

The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for humanity, entailing nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. Unemployment, violent crime, replacement of humans by technology, over-population and a decline in stability of the Earth's ecosystems; These are the problems of today, and as you will see, The Venus Project is dedicated to confronting all of these problems. Through the use of innovative approaches to social awareness, educational incentives, and the consistent application of the best that science and technology can offer directly to the social system, The Venus Project offers a comprehensive plan for social reclamation in which human beings, technology, and nature will be able to coexist in a long-term, sustainable state of dynamic equilibrium.

As one, we can make this project happen. We have the power to decide if this is the future that humanity actually deserves, and in doing so may act with foresight to re-align our current crash-course. There has never been a time in history, a better time than now, for we the united to choose a better way. How long will it take before all understand that Life, capital L, can be better? It doesn't have to be this way.

Ask yourself: Is THIS why am i here? To turn a dollar from the sweat of my brow, so as to afford to keep the sun from my back, the rain from my head? Here I am, here to watch the daytime television, to buy the designer clothes, to consume industry-approved placation after placation? No. There is more, and more still.

The way we are living right now is a mad rush, a stampede; This pollution of mind and body is stagnation, not evolution. Money cannot warm a heart or enrich the mind. All recognize the heedless waste of planned obsolescence and monetary greed. And yet, it need not be so. With even the slightest action, you will be so amazed at just how little is needed to enact a change. You are all very special, every human on this planet is so special, so aren't we all deserving of something better, to live without fear or undue strife? As much as the water we drink, as much as the air we breathe, as much as the sun which shines down, now more than ever, we need each other to survive. Lest the soil go bare, the water impure and the air go foul, we cannot risk anything less. Nothing will change unless we want something better for ourselves. The day your child comes to you, asking "Why can't we live in a real home, why can't we have food to eat?" It will be sooner than you think if we cannot act together.

Listen, and hear. Our future is in our hands, hearts and minds. Let's make it happen. Let's come together and save our world, save each other, and save our future from ourselves.

Special Note: Please pass this petition along to your friends and family, and share the videos from Youtube and Google Video. The more people who see this petition, watch the videos, and go to the home-page, the more people will rise up with one voice to reject our current destiny. With your voice and with your vote, we can make this happen. Thank you for your support, your signatures, and your continuing spirit. Keep spreading the word.

For more info:
Zeitgeist: Orientation

Zeitgeist: Addendum

Zeitgeist: The Movie

Other Info: The Venus Project , Zeitgeist Movement
Updated:I also found this Foundation (Resource based economy foundation) RBEF for short.
What is RBEF?

Very generally speaking, RBEF is a set of tools for the transition from the Monetary System to Resource Based Economy. RBEF provides research on the transition economy model, develops global projects, and a libre resources management platform.

We believe that the current economic setup creates more problems than provides solutions.

Economy, in order to function, relies on artificially upholding scarcity which is maintained by various mechanisms like "planned obsolescence", "priority of profit", or "distortion of values".

Those fundamental causes are:
# The misunderstanding about human behavior that allows manipulation of the people in various aspects.
# The erroneous design of the monetary economy that, a priori, must lead to stratification and a widening gap between economic classes, and unemployment.

Our efforts are directed at removing the causes that lead to societal degradation rather than wasting them on remedying effects. For the entire petition, click read more.

Humane A.I. Governance

The Venus Project describes a world united, sharing the world's resources and working together through the scientific method to create the most efficient automated cities providing everything for everyone. Some people question how we will acquire the things we need and want, and who is going to build/repair everything? Better yet, who is in charge of all this?

With cybernetic systems at the core of the cities, a Humane A.I. would govern all resource management, product manufacturing and distribution, and would be a tool for learning, growing the knowledge base of humanity stored within it.

The following video is a short clip of how one of those cybernetic A.I. systems might interact with one of us in The Venus Project.