Welcome to ZDay 2010, Saturday, March 13, Eugene, OR, USA
Location: University of Oregon (UO)
Pacific (PAC) building - end of University St. at 13th - see UO map
Rooms 11 & 12 (downstairs), Time: 12:30-4:30pm (4 hrs)
First 25 attendees get a free CD containing:
Zeitgeist (2 hrs, remastered edition), Zeitgeist II: Addendum (2 hrs)
The Zeitgeist Movement Orientation Presentation (1 hr 37 min)
Home (1 hr 30 min movie about ecology), Looking Forward (121 pgs) &
Designing the Future (79 pgs) books by Jacque Fresco
The Zeitgeist Movement (83 pgs), The Venus Project calendar
The Venus Project screen saver, All the Venus Project pictures, etc
Agenda: (subject to change), including issues from the Orientation Guide
that opponents of the Zeitgeist Movement will demand answers about:
New to Zeitgeist movement:Room 11, Members of Zeitgeist movement:Room 12
12:30-12:45pm: welcome people & let them talk to each other
while there's a slideshow on the projector w/pics from the Venus Project
12:45-1pm: my intro, which includes a 2 min video about Venus Project
**** 1-2pm: watch "Part 1: monetary economics" of the "Zeitgeist ****
Movement Orientation", video then discuss it, address possible fallacy
Even used merchandise cannot be made usefully available without
shipping costs and handling labor. A system that can work towards free
access could be harmless, but one that involves denying the value of
human initiative and stewarded resources is criminal.
Scarcity is rarely artificially created, and is only possible for a
very large organization, like the Zeitgeist Movement is proposing to
create. Scarcity is simple logic, that even a world with plenty of air
has to charge for it at the bottom of the sea.
Planned obsolescence is a very minor factor in actual business
planning, and only by a few very gigantic organizations on the scale
of the Zeitgeist Movement (which proposes to scrap a huge number of
existing but outdated buildings and materials) can actual promote
that. In reality, the average 286 computer is still usable, though not
on the Zeitgeist Website. Only a minority of consumers are willing and
able to pay extra for durability. The monetary system would not lose
usefulness in a world with equipment that needed no maintenance or
replacement, any more than piped water has. People have endless
imagination for desired stuff and services.
Survival through economic activity drives only a tiny idiotic
minority. Likewise for the motivation to obtain profit for it's own
sake. Nearly all economic motivation originates in wishing to
participate in a shared activity and wishing for nonessential services
and things. Even the starving poor in Ethiopia cannot be motivated to
work by offering survival, and almost no-one can be motivated in
business by the prospect of profit alone. To the degree that social
concern is in fad it has become a major factor in both business
activity and individual life planning. Almost everyone views money and
the monetary system around them as a tool like a screwdriver,
completely forgotten most of the time, and not a life direction
determinant.
Differential advantage is not required for the monetary system to
work, and it actually handicaps it somewhat by inspiring criminal
activity. Many cities in America have strikingly reduced petty crime
by prohibiting new residents who are satisfied with very little
wealth, with no compromise to their monetary system.
**** 2-3pm: watch "Part 2: what is relevant?" then discuss it ****
War is not created by industry desire for it any more than is college
football. The public everywhere promotes vanquishing of worthy
opponents, or legitimately demonized groups of people, and seeks out
the spectacle to watch and read about. Some political leaders
deliberately use public war interest and industry avarice for criminal
purpose, but war is actually no more financially essential than the
state lottery, it's just another racket, no more vital than any other.
The general disregard for the well-being of others is not a
psychological side affect of the pursuit of "profit". Even groups of
people whose lives are nearly entirely focused on video games or
gossip or the like can fall into even greater indifference to
suffering of others than working people or business leaders.
Significantly, most families that blast apart from unrest are in a
resource based relation with each other. This crassness is actually
the source of the monetary conquest culture, not the other way around.
Economic growth is not illusion. The total amount of infrastructure
has been increasing even faster than population. The fiat money has
proved to be far more socially stable than the previous commodity
based money. The debt con game is a trick to pursue world conquest
without using actual warfare to conquer. In recent years War has been
used only to rob and weaken all sides. It is bad-hearted but the
heartlessness involved is no more a product of the use of the monetary
system than what the Vikings did or the civil wars in Rwanda. The
people focused on conquest invented the money. Interest is a trick to
rob people in the long run by giving them an apparent gift in the
short run. As long as the total economic infrastructure is expanding
the robbery goes unnoticed by the majority.
The monetary system was not invented to manage distribution of goods
and services, it was invented to referee conflict about constructive
initiative. In it's absence there must be a new equally effective
referee method.
**** 3-4pm: watch "Part 3: resource-based economy" then discuss it ****
The world cannot afford an easy life for everybody living today. The
present world production level, comparable to $600US per month, does
not support a conjecture that even an American minimum level of
opulence is possible for all the current world's people.
A political system or idea that proposes to centrally control world
resource use 100%, and enforce that, looks quite terrifying to be
around. Regular ownership seems far more diplomatic from an American
viewpoint, though maybe not from the Bangladesh viewpoint.
"technological unemployment" is just as illusory as the idea that
computers would reduce paper use.
"We", implying the reader is included, is a major disrespect,
presuming that a genuine agreement about social goals is not
difficult.
No-one can trust the integrity of the scientific community. Lately the
scientific community has been showing more and more tendency towards
politically motivated corruption, so it's not necessarily any more
sane as a government controller.
The 911 event and white collar criminality in general is not done by
poor people, is not motivated by need, causes more tragedy than all
the petty thieves and muggers put together, and is usually not
prosecuted at all, so it cannot be made less likely by eliminating
poverty. The motive is conquest, manifest destiny, achievement for
it's own sake, going for the Rose Bowl of life.
Conquest does not appear to be human nature, but it appears to be
universally admired by rich and poor alike, and is thus encouraged.
Relatively few have the nerve to lead it, but they get massive
encouragement. From the Zeitgeist Forum writings one would think that
it is the conquest aura of the Zeitgeist Movement that is it's main
appeal to those doing it and the main concern of those who oppose it.
Constructive economic activity worldwide is currently done mostly by
women, a substantial percentage of whom are in a resource based relation
to their social environment, and nearly all Zeitgeist Movement
discussion is done by men, most of whom make no remark indicating a
resource based context in their current life.
4-4:30pm: my 5 min conclusion, then watch a 4 min interview
of Jacque Fresco & Roxanne Meadows, then present announcements from
Room 12 and discuss anything else.
Events in Room 12
12:30-1pm: With the others in Room 11
1-2pm: discuss strategies & time-frame to move to a resource-based
economy.
Strategies:
-Resource based microcosms inside a monetary shell, like Alpha Farm
-Promotion of open source cultural focus, like Youtube, Linux and
curbside offerings
-Seduction of cultural focus away from industrial conquest and overkill
-Promotion of ludite focus, use of simpler machines and techniques
-Conventional adversarial, protest oriented, political activism
-Boycott, off-grid, and sovereignty lifestyle promotion
-Small scale farming and industry
-Robbery or guilt monstering of wealthy people
-Deliberate personal solicitation of current political and economic
controlling people
-Study and development of regulatory apparatus, in and out of government
-Experiments with local script money, barter, soliciting of volunteers
-Communal householding
-Telling sad stories
-Blogging, movie making and website articles
-Internet forum discussion
-Deliberate solicitation of debate on social and technical details
-Social networking in pursuit of kindred souls and comraderie
-Promotion of sensual cultural focus and humanizing of strangers
-Meditation, prayer, service oriented childcare, playing video games,
organized wishful thinking
2-3pm: discuss strategies to grow the Z movement locally & globally
Strategies:
-Infotainment speaker events and seminars
-Religious style organized meetings on a schedule
-Showing movies in a theatre setting
-Canvasing like the Mormons
-Soliciting belief among associates
-Internet seduction
-Establishment of a clear publically recognized definition of a non-member
-Scolding or humilating of non-believers and heretics
-Forcing people to create a login name to access ideas or observe
discussion
-Redesign of the website to make the local chapter findable, and make the
ideas readable by casual surfers and people with old equipment
3-4pm: discuss a local monthly plan until ZDay 2011
-Defining what a group meeting would be about, would focus on, would do
>Backing entreprenural independence as with this event
>Development of events through concensus of several people
>Shakedown of definable Zeitgeist concensus of values and hopes
>Renewal of comraderie through commercial or traditional ritual
>Basis for a conventional drug and music based party
>Degree of emphasis on inviting strangers to a meeting
>Stability of meeting location, use of personal homes and outdoors
-Is a schedule, rather than having ego initiated activity, a good thing
or a spiritual poison?
-Do we who are present already have an underlying resource based
connectedness that can be recognized in order to evoke organized sharing and
inspire design?
-Do we who are present have any identifiable shared hopes already
4-4:30pm: Closing event in Room 11
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