And we are here to answer any questions regarding

"Zeitgeist Moving Forward" and we're here with The Venus Project

our New York chapter coordinator

and you are also our New York chapter coordinator.

I'm not sure... We haven't given a categorization yet, have we?

- We're co-coordinators... - Co-coordinators, very beautiful.

I figured as much.

And open to any questions you guys have to ask.

(Interviewer #1) The third film is very ambitious and very radical.

How do you think that it could become a reality

when you step outside into the city and you see the condition.

Take a city like New York, for instance. You look at the skyline

you look at the people, you look at the piles of trash.

How do you think that we can really transition?

How realistically speaking, what do you think is...?

- Well, there's two angles of transition:

There's the physical transition and then there's the cultural transition.

And out of both sides, the latter is much more complex.

The physical transition, rebuilding of buildings:

this is all technically feasible. It's provably and scientifically concrete

that we can do much more advanced things with extreme high efficiency.

So the physical transition isn't a problem to me at all.

It's the cultural transition. It's the people that are locked

into this system. It's the people that identify so dogmatically

that they feel that anything that alters their sense of identity

is an attack on them. And often

people identify with social systems.

They want to believe that their social systems are for them

just like they want to believe that their governments are for them.

Just like they want to believe that marketing and advertising

or corporations like Apple Computer

has a huge following of people that identify strongly.

Same thing goes for corporations and social systems.

So we have the "free market". We live in "freedom" and "democracy"

and these words have resonant meanings with people

whatever you want to define them as. It's a whole different subject

because of the ambiguity of what people have been conditioned

to believe those words mean. Point being, the cultural transition

is by far the most difficult. We have to educate people

on what it means to be sustainable, and get them to understand the need

to identify with that for their own purposes

for the reasoning of their own survival

the survival of their kids and their grand-kids.

To give it a more concrete definition

of time span or technical transition

once you have enough people that believe in this

then you begin to slowly change certain environments

and certain regions to more sustainable practices

more sustainable practices not only regarding industry

but also what people actually do or engage in.

And then slowly the system will shift and then hopefully that will spread.

One more thing I'll add though is that there will be a social breakdown

which has already been underway for many decades

which people don't seem to reconcile or pay attention to

such as the continual doubling of poverty

the tremendous suffering, the extreme class division

the onslaught of all sorts of mental diseases, neuroses

and many things covered in the film as a result literally of this system.

These things are eventually going to come to a head, when people

will step back and finally say, "We can't do this anymore!"

This is affecting all of our health.

We are suffering tremendously at multiple levels.

We have energy deficiencies. We have health deficiencies.

And all of these things will come to a head to an effect where I think

eventually, slowly, they will permeate

most consciousness, and people will wake up

and realize that we have to do something new.

Either that happens or we're going to move into something

much, much worse, frankly.

(Interviewer#1) Right, and that's I think the area

that I'd like to talk about. How then would the movement

encourage people to get in front of that or get behind it?

- I feel my big influence

I say this, people find it cliché, is the American Civil Rights Movement

because it actually did work to a certain effect.

It was allowed to work, if you will

because of the fact that so many people got behind it.

The power is in critical mass. I don't believe that politicians

will do anything. To get into a position of political power

you have to navigate a certain path

that automatically creates a void

for challenging the system, to put it along with its sense.

You have to orient the status quo to even be in a position

to have a relationship with the status quo.

That's just the inevitable motion. You can't possibly have...

and if they do get in power, something will remove them from it

and that has been historically true or they're demeaned.

And the few people that are in power today in the Congress of the US

Dennis Kucinich, Ron Paul

that have hints of trying to change things for the better

they get more attacked than any other politician out there.

They are stifled in their communication.

So the change will not come from any political system

and it certainly won't come from a corporate system.

You are not going to see corporations magically trying to be

actually sustainable because as I point out in the film

it is mathematically impossible for them to do so.

The entire financial system is driven by consumption

and the more consumption the better; therefore, sustainability

is intrinsically thrown out the window, and that's just one facet of it.

So the change will come from critical mass and people understanding...

Hopefully grassroots level through the Zeitgeist Movement Chapters globally

it will rise up. It will become dominant

in the sense that everyone knows about it

and eventually those status quo institutions

will have to step back and say "OK

we can no longer ignore this gigantic, global movement."

And that will be a peaceful type of interaction. Compromises will be made.

I'll just add one more thing. If things don't materialize

if things continue to get worse and worse. If things don't operate

in a relatively rational way

where people are paying attention to each other, where the governments

the United Nations, for example, says "OK. We are going to bring in

this new organization to see what they have to say

because they have hundreds of millions of people that follow it."

If that doesn't happen, then I think

certain acts of civil disobedience would be necessary.

(Interviewer#1) They are happening now. - There are, but on a global scale

not country specific. Civil disobedience on a global scale that

if any actions are taken, they are presented globally.

I think one action like that to show that there was a power to do so

would rattle the system to such an effect

that I think it could be very, very positive to get people

to finally want to listen to what we have to say, in power.

(Interviewer#1) But you take a look at all the austerity measures

that happened in Europe this past summer

and you see the protests in England and in Greece

and you see all that, and you see it in the media

the images of the firebombing from the police and the students

just the street violence that's occurring

at an alarming rate all through Europe... - Absolutely.

- And nothing is being done. - True. - Nobody cares.

People look at the images, and they don't see that it's a problem.

- They are getting used to it; they are getting numb to this.

What happens in society as the breakdown occurs

is people just start to say "Oh, that's the way it is."

They just say "That's the way it is that we have protests

or crime. That's the way it is that we have poverty."

And then generation after generation more "that's the way it is"

and everyone slowly accepts it and eventually

you have four or five, six billion people, many decades from now, starving

and they'll just say "Oh, it's our natural resources;

we don't have enough resources."

That's their conditioning to believe and that's the way it is.

So I don't advocate protest at all.

I don't believe in war protest in a direct sense.

I think it does something; I don't put it down

but I advocate actual action, so you're not going to see

the Zeitgeist Movement with signs held up in front of Congress

or anywhere in any country. That's not the point.

The point is, to actually, if there is a need

to actually do something that causes an act.

So to give a hypothetical, which I'm not advocating by the way

to show the power of critical mass

if 50% of the US population decided not to pay income taxes

there's no way the US government can prosecute all of these people.

(Int#1) I completely agree and I haven't paid income taxes in 10 years.

- So point being once the masses come together

and the strategy of divide and conquer is finally nullified

which has been with us for centuries and centuries

that's how you control people: divide them.

Once the artificial boundaries are overridden

by this core necessity of life

the life ground necessity that is talked about

life value analysis that John McMurtry describes

which is essentially implying exactly what the Venus Project is about

then people will come together and realize that we have to work

to preserve resources. We have to work to create a stable environment

for the benefit of everyone. We have to work to create equality

because of the evidence I've shown by Richard Wilkinson:

a stratified, divided society is one of the most unhealthy societies

you can possibly have and causes a vast spectrum of disease and illness.

It's scientifically proven in that sense

social science. I'm not going to say it's a technical science

but right now all stratified societies

the more stratified, the worst their health is overall

and that is something that has to be recognized.

We can't have a society that is so unhealthy when we know it's unhealthy

and hopefully people will begin to understand that and want to work

towards something that actually is in line with nature

and in line with what it takes to actually have a healthy society.

(Interviewer#2) As far as moving steps forward...

The whole design of the city as it's presented seems really...

...worthwhile but also perhaps expensive

in the first iteration, in transition from what we've got now into...

It'll be one thing once there are 50 of those cities

and people are living in a different mind-set and in a different system

for those to regenerate is one thing. How do you get the first one?

But what can people start doing so it's not purely ideas but practice

because at a local level what people respond to is a better option

an actual better option they experience as a better experience.

You win over that many more people because...

It might not be the full city the first time.

It might be aspects of it... at a community level to build towards...

I'll wait until the camera's in. I'll respond

and I'll tell Jacque the question and he can respond as well.

- We're ready to go. - OK. With respect to what communities

can do to try to inch towards this type of environment

especially with respect to the city systems

which are an intricate part to... I mean you can...

The depiction of the city system is only one depiction

and I think Jacque Fresco would point out, but it's logical.

And it just shows what you would do to make

the most efficient, energy efficient, ease of transport.

You make things localized. These are very common things

and yes, I do believe that people can do this on a local level

on a low-fi way. That's the term I use, "low-fi"

as opposed to the hi-fi technical stuff that we point out.

But it doesn't create the real resolution of applying technology

in the highest order. That's all that has to be kept in mind

and when it comes to money...

You know, Jacque, people always ask

how much will it cost to build your city.

What do you say when they ask you that question in the sense of

what's relevance of cost. Is it relevant to cost?

- No, it's not. Do we have the resources to do it?

I mean the physical resources like trucks

to deliver materials: concrete, steel...