Thank you very much.

[Applause]

So again - thanks for everyone to come here.

Welcome to the 7th annual Zeitgeist Day.

As you already heard my name is Franky Müller.

I am a coordinator for The Zeitgeist Movement since 2009.

The title of my talk is 'TZM - Simplified'.

I was inspired to do this talk

by a quote often attributed to Albert Einstein which says

"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler."

So I pieced this presentation together with this in mind, in the hope

to give you a better understanding what The Zeitgeist Movement actually is.

The Zeitgeist Movement in its structure, tendency [and] philosophy

is a phenomenon never before seen.

It's not easy to cover all aspects of it,

but I'll try to deliver a definition of the name,

talk a little bit about the organization in general

and where it's coming from, its mission,

why we do this, some understandings,

and hence explain some characteristics of it,

along with talking about how we go from here to there.

Why the name "Zeitgeist Movement"?

Since this is an international movement, the world is challenged

that we use a German word in our name.

Allow me to explain.

The term 'zeitgeist' is defined as

"the intellectual, moral and cultural climate of an era".

The term 'movement' implies motion or change.

Change is the only constant in the universe.

Therefore, The Zeitgeist Movement is an organization that promotes change

in the dominant, intellectual, moral and cultural climate of an era.

The Zeitgeist Movement's inception was late in 2008

as a reaction to an independent personal piece of cinematic artwork

by filmmaker Peter Joseph.

All three movies carry the name "Zeitgeist"

but are not to be confused with the organization The Zeitgeist Movement,

which originally sprung in advocation of an economic model,

proposed by an organization called The Venus Project.

To help make the public aware of this economic model,

the Movement partnered with ... The Venus Project,

and although this relationship has since disbanded,

the two organizations coexist with a similar pursuit

to continue working in different ways towards global sustainability.

The Zeitgeist Movement - or TZM for short -

chooses not to be rooted into a single organization or dataset.

Its interest is primarily, to develop an emergent train of thought,

accessible and expanded on by everyone

who wishes to consider the reasoning and become involved.

This train of thought is logically self-realizing

when the causal considerations of sustainability and public health

are referenced from a scientific perspective.

Through a network of global [and] regional chapters,

project teams, annual events like this one here,

media and charity works, TZM covers a wide range

of community-based activism and awareness projects

to become involved with.

In this structure it's designed to be a decentralized, holographic,

personal-initiative activist movement.

If one sympathizes with TZM, he or she reflects an attitude,

a worldview so to speak.

Before I describe TZM's mission, it's important to note

that the welfare of any given society

is directly depending on this society's values.

The foundation of our current dominant, global, economic system

is profit maximization, consumerism and competition,

which in turn, creates unsustainable values and practices

which have no reference to the natural world,

which is based on resources, preservation and symbiosis.

Hence our problems ...

hence our problems today can directly be referenced to our values.

As a global organization, TZM's mission is to advocate

a sustainable socioeconomic model,

and a change in human values to achieve it.

The definition of sustainable being:

capable of being maintained at a steady level,

without exhausting natural resources

or causing severe ecological damage.

Our mission is an educational one.

The people who sympathize with this movement also recognize

that technical solutions exist, to solve the majority

of our social problems.

Unfortunately, these solutions are unapplied

due to our current socioeconomic system.

"Socio" comes from society, "economic" from economy -

which will be described in a later slide.

So, to summarize it,

TZM's mission is to show the world what's possible,

get humanity on the same page through a common ground relationship

of meeting human need and sustainable economic protocols,

and to help facilitate the development towards an implementation and transition

to a new sustainable economic model, that could be termed

a Natural Law Resource Based Economy.

A Natural Law Resource Based Economy - or NLRBE for short -

is an adaptive socioeconomic system,

actively derived from physical reference

to the governing scientific laws of nature.

Or simply said, it's an "earth economy",

where biodiversity, demanded to support life,

is inherently respected (not disrespected).

Contrary to today's culturally accepted definition of an economy,

in which we merely measure money and its circulation,

this "earth economy" is linked to all resources of this planet -

meaning all animal and plant life, the health of the oceans,

and all other relevant factors to supporting ourselves

and the biosphere which we are all depending on.

So, to put it in another way,

a Natural Law Resource Based Economy is an economic model

that is not based on the movement of money and the dynamics associated,

but rather on truly scientific resource management and allocation.

Strategically seeking to enable an equitable distribution of all goods and services

to meet the needs of the entire global human population,

while ensuring maximum environmental sustainability,

over generational time.

This economic model is best understood

if we get to the root of what an economy actually is.

"Economics" derives from Greek to mean 'management of a household',

with the aim of an economy to actually economize.

To economize is to conserve, and to conserve is to create efficiency.

And what is efficiency? It's the absence of waste.

Everyone who likes cooking (like me)

knows what I'm talking about:

Don't let your food spoil, don't throw it away,

manage what you have, and create the best meal out of it possible

by also using the best technical equipment in your kitchen.

The goal of a Natural Law Resource Based Economy

is to optimize technical efficiency

and create the highest level of abundance possible,

within the bounds of earthly sustainability,

seeking to meet the human needs directly

through a systems theory approach.

A good analogy to this would be to think of your own body.

All systems to extract or synthesize energy and nutrients

are fully integrated into the system.

Just as the circulatory system can transport gases,

minerals and nutrients to all cells of your body,

if there is damage to the system, the circulatory and lymphatic systems

quickly respond and act accordingly. In the living body

is there the requirement for a monetary and some similar medium of exchange,

or for actions and transactions to occur? Of course not.

There's no money, no barter, debt, or servitude.

Organisms and bodies are fully integrated holistic subsystems,

just as our planet is.

So a Natural Law Resource Based Economy

would operate within the same manner.

The production of most goods and services

will be fully automated, along with any other protocols

which are relevant to the planetary, ecological regeneration and balance.

Energy sources, recycling, delivery systems, etc.,

will all be fully integrated as part of the whole system.

The strategic efficiency and the planetary management

and socioeconomic practice and design

would lead to something never before seen:

access abundance.

In an economy with access abundance,

the new medium for transactions to take place would be

with the systems engineering with its fully integrated holistic view.

Money - identified as our currency or tool for transactions -

would be replaced.

The new currency would be mutual respect.

One could earn respect, pay respect, give respect,

have respect, learn respect,

respect the truth, the laws of nature,

your fellow human beings, and essentially life in general.

Respect here meaning a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something,

elicited by their abilities, qualities and achievements.

In a fully operational Natural Law Resource Based Economy,

the goods and service production and distribution systems

will be holistic and fully integrated into the global civilization.

If you need a good or service, you could communicate your needs

through a fully integrated communication network, much like the Internet is.

The system itself would then calculate and orchestrate

the best means currently available to meet those needs

in the most optimal way known at the time,

through the medium of scientific inquiry,

the most sustainable best quality materials,

proximity to user, best design, etc.

Is this a techno-utopianism? No!

Today we have the technology, the know how, and the resources to do this.

But the inefficiency and waste built directly into our current

monetary market system cannot absorb such advances.

But still, along with our human development, we get better and better

at using materials in a more sophisticated way.

This rate is increasing and can be called

ephemeralization, which essentially is

"the ability of technological advancement to do more and more with less and less"

until eventually, you can do everything with nothing.

You see, evolution is development.

And an utopia is a static notion,

whereas our understanding of nature is in constant motion,

just like our planets and indeed, the entire universe.

A Natural Law Resource Based Economy is an emergent system

that will adapt and welcome change as an integrated factor,

rather than suppress it through self-interest and maximization.

To put it in short:

We will understand the importance of questioning all things

and challenging all ideas,

changing all concepts as and when they need to be changed.

So please do investigate this economic model with an open mind,

but with scrutiny too. After all,

the scientific method on which the NLRBE is based,

demands a healthy dose of both. And so of course should we,

when we attempt to decipher the truth of any idea.

I will now outline the characteristics of what helps

make this social movement interesting.

Well first of all, TZM recognizes the Earth as one single organism.

Out of this derives the understanding

that we are in fact one species, sharing one planet.

So TZM does not recognize contrived notions of

nations, governments, race, creeds, class and alike.

And of course, we are also not religious.

We find science as a language is the best tool

to avoid misinterpretations and misunderstandings,

which has been at the heart of so much conflict, and division between humans.

People of all faiths are of course welcome,

as the many spiritual aspirations for a world

without war, crime [and] bigotry are obviously noble aims.

But all aims must be put into practice

and make them a reality and not just a religion.

Science makes these aims possible.

Different from the classical concept of politics,

we are neither "right", "left", "liberal" or "conservative".

There's no political way on deciding what shape our planet is,

or how to keep the lights turned on.

Using logic isn't a political act.

Within the monetary system,

one should come to expect any politician to be corrupted.

Besides, any civilized society should be electing ideas - not people.

And as TZM promotes a more equal society,

it's also not hierarchical.

Hierarchy can only be seen by necessity

as TZM has an organizational structure of sorts,

but not one of authoritative, top-down decision making.

Once you have understood the importance of interrelationships between people

the concept of a leader becomes obsolete as well.

Instead we choose to follow a path.

Everyone of us can be our own inspiration, motivation,

and solution to the world's problems.