This blog is a forum for my thoughts on subjects that interest me. Below is an academic paper I wrote on the recent Zeitgeist phenomenon.

The Zeitgeist Movement

Description and Analysis

On January 14, 2011 an Internet movie called Zeitgeist, Moving Forward hit You Tube. Within a week, it had over a million views (Valdez, 2011) and to date has almost six million. The film chronicles the causes of crime and general social dysfunction—linking them to poverty and the stress of living in a highly stratified society. It then presents the cure: a technology-driven economy where no money is ever exchanged. The movie was produced by Peter Joseph, who previously created two other movies on the same subject: Zeitgeist and Zeitgeist Addendum. The earlier films also created a huge following—50 to 100 million viewers by some estimates—but they had a more strident tone and contained some far-fetched material, such as hard-to-believe conspiracy theories (Donovan, 2010).

Since the first movie came out, a Zeitgeist movement of several hundred thousand people has formed, which joined forces with the Venus Project, a technology think tank founded by Jacque Fresco, an industrial designer whose economic ideas were shaped by his childhood in the Great Depression (Durrani, 2007).

One of the basic premises of the movement is that the earth has sufficient resources to feed, clothe and abundantly sustain its entire population, but because of greed created by the monetary system, those resources are inequitably distributed. The Venus Project contends that with our advanced technology, computer programs could allocate goods and services across the globe fairly and evenly. This "resource-based" economy would not require any type of payment or even a barter system (Donovan, 2010).

Another premise of the movement is that a capitalistic system encourages unsustainability and excessive consumption. They contend that companies build obsolescence into their products in order to constantly sell newer versions to a public that has no other choice than products that wear out and break down on a regular basis. A resource-driven society, on the other hand, has no such incentives, and would instead produce the highest-quality goods possible the first time around, making for a more sustainable and environmentally-sound society (Stamets, 2011).

Interpretation and Evaluation

For detractors who declare that Joseph and Fresco are advocating a communistic system, the response is that what they propose is a completely different animal. Communism and socialism are based on money, banks and a medium of exchange; this system has none (Rahman, 2010).

Joseph stresses in his latest movie that countries with the largest gap between the rich and poor have the most social problems—crime, drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, etc. Although the United States has a high GDP, its rates of social problems are far higher than countries where income is more evenly distributed, such as in Japan (Donovan, 2010). Since hooking up with Fresco, Joseph has backed off of his more extreme opinions of conspiracy and focused on solving the world's problems through technology (Valdez, 2011).

Both the film and the movement have been commented on by major news outlets, such as the New York Times and the Chicago Sun-Times, reporting that 450 Zeitgeist events were held in 70 countries on 2009’s Z-Day (Feuer, 2009), and quoting the movement as saying that economists such as Milton Friedman are the “bad guys” for advocating unbridled capitalism (Stamets, 2011).

A writer in the Wall Street Journal questions the attainability of a utopian society. He contends that happiness is not based on any outside circumstances, but is often acquired inexplicably and is of less importance than lucidity and dignity (Meaney, 2011).

Engagement

I have been electrified by the information I found in the Zeitgeist movie and the articles I have read about the movement. It has become clear to me over the years that a money-based economic system breeds corruption, greed and power games. I used to think capitalism was the best system to deal with human nature, but the events of the past decade have revealed its deep flaws.

I realize that collective economic systems have been tried in the past, but they always turned out to be a con game—the people at the top got all the money and privileges. In a true resource-based economy, with the distribution of goods and services facilitated by computers, I think it is possible to create abundance for all. As an added bonus, there would be myriads of unnecessary jobs eliminated, and those people could do something constructive and productive. I'm thinking of lawyers, accountants, policeman, jailers, bureaucrats, advertisers, and many more.

The Zeitgeist Movement has inspired me to rethink my life and my priorities. I would consider it an honor to help bring into existence a community based on the principles espoused in the movement. And to help spread the word about the philosophical basis for such a community I have condensed the 2.5 hour Zeitgeist, Moving Forward movie into a ten-minute video.

References

Donovan, T. W. (2010, March 16). The Zeitgeist Movement: Envisioning A Sustainable Future. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/travis-walter-donovan/the-zeitgeist-movement-en_b_501517.html

Durrani, N. (2007, October 15). Jacque Fresco On The Future. Retrieved February 14, 2011, from Forbes.com: http://www.forbes.com/2007/10/13/jacque-fresco-prediction-tech-future07-cx_1015fresco.html

Feuer, A. (2009, March 17). They've seen the future and dislike the present. The New York Times , p. 24.

Meaney, T. (2011, February 1). Be Not of Good Cheer. Wall Street Journal (Online) , p. n/a.

Rahman, J. (2010, March 21). Redesigning the future with Venus Project. The Jakarta Post , p. n/a.

Stamets, B. (2011, January 14). Zeitgeist, Moving Forward. Chicago Sun Times , p. 2.

Valdez, C. K. (2011, January 14). Move Forward -- Free movie screening part of Zeitgeist movement. McClatchy - Tribune Business News; Washington , n/a.