Wood’s World

Zeit - geist:

“Is originally a German expression that means “the spirit of the age”, literally translated as “time (Zeit) spirit (Geist)”. It describes the intellectual and cultural climate of an era.”

Zeitgeist: Addendum (2008) is the second film in an on going series of documentary’s.

Taken from a statement on it’s website it:

“Attempts to locate the root causes of this pervasive social corruption [caused by the power structures at large] , while offering a solution. This solution is not based on politics, morality, laws, or any other “establishment” notions of human affairs, but rather on a modern, non superstitious based understanding of what we are and how we align with nature, to which we are a part. The work advocates a new social system which is updated to present day knowledge, highly influenced by the life long work of Jacque Fresco and The Venus Project.”

The film is segregated into 4 parts:

PART 1: The Monetary System

This section explains the role of money in today’s society and how the monetary system in the U.S. Functions.

PART 2: ‘Economic Hit Men’

This section explains how a relatively secret global empire is built up through using the power of wealth to put smaller country’s into debt. Thus being able to influence or control parts of that country’s liberties, social services and natural resources. It then explains the part of an ‘economic hit man’ in this process.

PART 3: The Venus Project

This section introduces the Venus Project and their view for progress towards a resource based economy rather than a monetary based economy. Which focuses on the advancement of technology and the untapped abundance of renewable energy sources.

PART 4: The Emergent and Symbiotic Aspects of Natural Law

This section explains “two of the most basic insights humans can have about reality… the Emergent and Symbiotic aspects of natural law.” (taken from the transcript) It progresses to state that the change must first take place in you, where it puts forth 6 suggestions on how you can begin to make a difference.

Review

As with everything you watch, you need to critically assess it. This goes for things you initially agree with as well as disagree with.

This film is most definitely worth watching, what ever your current beliefs are. There has been much criticism of the film, some founded, some unfounded. I propose that you watch the film before you read any of the reviews. Attempt to form your own opinion about the concepts it presents and the overall message it conveys by using your own common sense, along with observations you have made and opinions you have formed about world affairs. Rather than being influenced by someone else’s view of it, including mine.

You may be viewing this article because you have already seen it, so I will give you my thoughts on it. If you haven’t seen it, watch it before you read any further, I don’t want to give you any preconceptions.

I’m guessing that if you are not one of the minority that substantially benefits from the current monetary system, and/or someone who is very selfish. Then you will be in agreement with the film when It says that when 1% of the population owns 40% of the planet’s wealth in the same world that 34,000 children die every day from poverty and preventable diseases, something is wrong with the system the world runs on. Therefore I think it is of value to be putting forth new ideas about how society can be run. For this the film is commendable, whether or not the system it is proposing throws up questions about its functionality, or even if some of it’s ideas need to be developed further.

From what I can gather through further research, the explanation about the functionality of the U.S. monetary system (part 1) for the most part is accurate.

The existence of wealthy/larger countries manipulating poorer/smaller countries through debt, covert operations and military strength to gain control of, or influence, social services and natural resources (part 2) is clearly visible in today’s world. One only has to look at the invasion of Iraq and the false claims given as reasoning.

The Venus project’s campaign (part 3) to increase the collection of renewable energy is something which I support. I am also in favor of a science based society free from religion and the military. I think that with the advancement of technology there will be a time when the abundance of necessary amenities will be high enough to render the monetary system obsolete.

No one can say how people would react to a resource based economy as suggested by the Venus project, because it hasn’t happened. Would people have no incentive to do anything without the promise of financial gain, or some form of materialistic reward? Or would people’s motivations and ambitions adjust accordingly and become more focused on exploration, adventure or the acquisition of knowledge perhaps? I remember how the makers of star trek viewed it. A quote from Star Trek: First Contact, in which money no longer exists, a character from the past asks Picard:

Lily Sloane: “No money? You mean you don’t get paid?”
Jean Luc Picard: “The acquisition of wealth is no longer the driving force in our lives. We wish to better ourselves and the rest of humanity.”

It’s hard to say what other people would do, but I think my motivations would come from three main themes; self improvement, investing time in research or action which helped others overcome their problems and making energy consumption more clean and efficient. You have to consider the thousands of people that currently have the motivation to find time and energy to do volunteer work and charitable activities for no material gain, even though most of them do have financial obligations, such as a mortgage, or children to look after.

Although I believe that there will eventually be a time when the monetary system is a thing of the past, I think there is a long way to go and much more violence, struggle and inhumanity will occur before we reach that stage. It almost certainly wont happen in my life time. However, every progression in humanity has to start somewhere. Progression, awareness and new ideas are all good things.

As a final word, no matter whether you agree or disagree with the ins and outs of the information and concepts in the film, it gets people talking and thinking about how things could be improved. For further reading, here is a link to The Zeitgeist Movement.

The director, writer, producer and editor of the film is Peter Joseph. The following video is a ‘discussion’ between Peter and Alex Jones. Alex Jones is a really annoying guy, so you have to kind of put up with his constant interrupting, large ego and immaturity. I think peter does pretty well to stay calm in places, I would find it hard to stay cool talking to Alex Jones, he hardly ever allows peter Josef to finish a statement.