1 00:00:00,295 --> 00:00:03,415 Hi guys! I'm Abby Martin, welcome to Breaking The Set. 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:05,700 Well the government has been scrambling recently 3 00:00:05,815 --> 00:00:07,963 to keep any more potential leakers under wraps. 4 00:00:08,086 --> 00:00:10,098 And now we know about the software they’re using to help 5 00:00:10,209 --> 00:00:12,360 pinpoint the troublemakers within their ranks. 6 00:00:12,707 --> 00:00:14,806 It’s a test called the Cyber Awareness Challenge, 7 00:00:14,910 --> 00:00:17,261 and it’s used to determine whether or not federal employees 8 00:00:17,372 --> 00:00:19,476 or contractors are considered to be a threat. 9 00:00:19,833 --> 00:00:22,018 The test gauges workers on several factors: 10 00:00:22,123 --> 00:00:24,190 how often they travel, their views on the government, 11 00:00:24,492 --> 00:00:26,160 and even their driving behavior. 12 00:00:26,424 --> 00:00:28,430 After you complete the test, the program determines 13 00:00:28,547 --> 00:00:31,396 if you’re considered a low, medium, or high-level threat. 14 00:00:31,507 --> 00:00:33,969 Well, I’m glad I’m not one of the millions 15 00:00:34,073 --> 00:00:35,403 that works for the government, 16 00:00:35,593 --> 00:00:38,590 because I’m pretty sure that’s a test I wouldn’t pass. 17 00:00:38,701 --> 00:00:40,215 As you can see right here, 18 00:00:40,486 --> 00:00:43,329 not only do I frequently travel outside the US, 19 00:00:43,440 --> 00:00:47,421 but I’m facing hundreds of dollars in fines in speed trap tickets in DC, 20 00:00:47,790 --> 00:00:49,889 and, I think we all know that I could just be 21 00:00:50,098 --> 00:00:52,473 "slightly" critical of the US government. 22 00:00:52,763 --> 00:00:55,852 Look, this program is basically forcing workers to implicate themselves 23 00:00:55,963 --> 00:00:58,880 based on their personal beliefs and driving habits! 24 00:00:59,261 --> 00:01:01,618 But the real issue here is that this is just another tactic 25 00:01:01,723 --> 00:01:04,670 being used to squash any kind of dissent among workers, 26 00:01:04,920 --> 00:01:06,529 thereby discouraging people to speak up 27 00:01:06,633 --> 00:01:09,210 or ever blow the whistle on government wrongdoing. 28 00:01:09,409 --> 00:01:12,178 But hey, that’s exactly what the government wants. 29 00:01:12,332 --> 00:01:15,249 In fact I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that this little pilot program 30 00:01:15,661 --> 00:01:18,609 was an experiment that'll one day be used to recognize and categorize 31 00:01:18,720 --> 00:01:21,064 EVERY American into different threat levels! 32 00:01:21,575 --> 00:01:24,732 Doesn’t quite feel like we're that far off from that being a reality. 33 00:01:25,175 --> 00:01:27,587 And that means there’s lots of work to be done guys. 34 00:01:27,790 --> 00:01:29,661 So join me, and let’s break the set. 35 00:01:30,460 --> 00:01:32,036 ♪ [Hip Music] ♫ 36 00:01:32,227 --> 00:01:34,240 [Voiceover] I want you to watch what we’re about to do 37 00:01:34,350 --> 00:01:37,009 because you’ve never seen anything like this, on television. 38 00:01:38,596 --> 00:01:40,620 Breaking News 39 00:01:40,760 --> 00:01:42,793 Breaking The Set 40 00:01:43,883 --> 00:01:46,110 The revolutionary Albert Einstein once said 41 00:01:46,221 --> 00:01:49,064 “We cannot solve problems by using the same kind of thinking 42 00:01:49,181 --> 00:01:50,695 we used to create them.” 43 00:01:50,950 --> 00:01:52,750 Meaning that we have to keep reinventing the wheel 44 00:01:52,861 --> 00:01:54,535 if we want a better society. 45 00:01:54,780 --> 00:01:57,095 And that’s the driving force behind an organization 46 00:01:57,206 --> 00:01:58,898 called The Venus Project. 47 00:01:59,060 --> 00:02:01,987 It’s a movement offering an architectural plan for human beings, 48 00:02:02,090 --> 00:02:04,240 technology, and nature to coexist 49 00:02:04,610 --> 00:02:06,129 to create a sustainable future. 50 00:02:06,473 --> 00:02:08,867 The man behind the project is Jacque Fresco. 51 00:02:09,193 --> 00:02:12,436 He’s a self-educated industrial designer, engineer and futurist, 52 00:02:12,707 --> 00:02:15,858 who truly believes the ills of society can be cured only 53 00:02:15,969 --> 00:02:19,267 if we throw away the rules that govern it, and ourselves. 54 00:02:19,840 --> 00:02:21,944 Fresco poses a question for us all: 55 00:02:22,283 --> 00:02:26,006 “Will humanity create the paradise we know is possible? 56 00:02:26,350 --> 00:02:28,658 or will it drive itself into oblivion?” 57 00:02:29,003 --> 00:02:30,258 The choice is ours. 58 00:02:30,480 --> 00:02:32,000 Well I spoke to him earlier, 59 00:02:32,110 --> 00:02:35,716 and I first asked him what drives this system of greed and war, and - 60 00:02:35,938 --> 00:02:39,126 why haven’t political and social institutions evolved along 61 00:02:39,280 --> 00:02:40,307 with technology? 62 00:02:42,307 --> 00:02:43,452 [Jacque Fresco] Scarcity, 63 00:02:44,258 --> 00:02:45,895 or fear of scarcity. 64 00:02:46,504 --> 00:02:48,024 So it makes people 65 00:02:48,307 --> 00:02:51,169 want to grab as much territory as they can, 66 00:02:51,612 --> 00:02:54,363 as much arable land as they can, 67 00:02:54,603 --> 00:02:56,572 and as much water as they can. 68 00:02:58,055 --> 00:03:00,086 So the needs of people 69 00:03:00,873 --> 00:03:02,923 have to do with their behavior. 70 00:03:04,633 --> 00:03:07,526 The more scarcity, the more aberrant behavior. 71 00:03:07,690 --> 00:03:10,086 - What does the Venus Project propose 72 00:03:10,196 --> 00:03:14,170 to redesign society in a way that is possible today? 73 00:03:17,169 --> 00:03:21,581 It’s the bringing [of] all of the nations together, as one nation, 74 00:03:21,920 --> 00:03:24,104 and agree to take care of the Earth, 75 00:03:24,584 --> 00:03:26,720 and everything on the Earth. 76 00:03:27,513 --> 00:03:28,861 And then in nature, 77 00:03:28,984 --> 00:03:33,680 to restore nature as near a natural condition as possible. 78 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:38,633 And [there's] no dumping of toxic materials 79 00:03:38,756 --> 00:03:40,547 into rivers or the oceans. 80 00:03:40,756 --> 00:03:42,910 - Can you break down some of the specifics 81 00:03:43,027 --> 00:03:47,218 about the transportation and energy capabilities in said society? 82 00:03:48,510 --> 00:03:51,095 - I would say the energy capabilities 83 00:03:51,415 --> 00:03:53,883 would be based on geothermal energy, 84 00:03:54,221 --> 00:03:56,332 the natural heat of the earth. 85 00:03:57,052 --> 00:03:59,224 When you rely on solar, 86 00:03:59,661 --> 00:04:01,347 if there’s clouds in the way, 87 00:04:01,513 --> 00:04:03,729 you don’t get as much electric generated. 88 00:04:04,473 --> 00:04:06,590 But geothermal energy, 89 00:04:06,836 --> 00:04:09,784 those are natural fumaroles under the ocean, 90 00:04:09,944 --> 00:04:11,206 and on the land. 91 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:14,301 And we can tap those, make steam, 92 00:04:14,436 --> 00:04:16,547 and the steam can turn the turbines, 93 00:04:16,750 --> 00:04:19,286 and generate power continuously, 94 00:04:19,556 --> 00:04:22,929 without worrying about whether the sun’s out or not. 95 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:25,563 - And what about transportation? 96 00:04:26,707 --> 00:04:30,196 - Transportation would be by monorail. 97 00:04:30,455 --> 00:04:33,310 In other words, about 30 feet off the ground, 98 00:04:33,612 --> 00:04:35,864 so it doesn’t have to stop at every corner. 99 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:37,673 - I thought that something was really interesting 100 00:04:37,784 --> 00:04:41,267 in one of your presentations talking about sea cities. 101 00:04:41,600 --> 00:04:43,618 Can you describe what those would look like? 102 00:04:45,138 --> 00:04:46,750 - The city is circular; 103 00:04:46,892 --> 00:04:49,796 it looks like a series of rings, 104 00:04:50,098 --> 00:04:53,046 emanating out from a central dome. 105 00:04:53,384 --> 00:04:58,172 The central dome will have the socially integrated computer, 106 00:04:58,590 --> 00:05:03,083 which has its tentacles way out into the agricultural belt, 107 00:05:03,329 --> 00:05:07,120 and deep into the soil. So if the water table drops, 108 00:05:07,532 --> 00:05:10,006 that unit can pump water out there. 109 00:05:10,200 --> 00:05:12,673 Whereas man has to take too much time 110 00:05:13,218 --> 00:05:15,661 to decipher the conditions. 111 00:05:16,744 --> 00:05:20,535 - Jacque, if all of these amazing technologies exist today, 112 00:05:20,652 --> 00:05:23,833 what is prohibiting them from flourishing right now? 113 00:05:25,120 --> 00:05:27,120 - The established institutions. 114 00:05:27,544 --> 00:05:31,876 Once you’ve invested $10 million in oil platforms, 115 00:05:32,092 --> 00:05:34,104 you don’t want the electric car. 116 00:05:34,504 --> 00:05:37,827 You don’t want anything that'll interfere with your income. 117 00:05:39,175 --> 00:05:41,563 So we become self-centered that way. 118 00:05:42,701 --> 00:05:45,723 - Is there anywhere in the world that’s practicing a society 119 00:05:45,833 --> 00:05:48,418 such as the one that you’re proposing right now? 120 00:05:49,335 --> 00:05:53,218 - I would say that 90% of the societies 121 00:05:53,446 --> 00:05:55,575 are corrupted by scarcity. 122 00:05:57,581 --> 00:06:01,464 No, I can’t say there’s any decent society in the world. 123 00:06:01,753 --> 00:06:04,480 Maybe, maybe Iceland … 124 00:06:06,744 --> 00:06:07,920 might be okay. 125 00:06:08,147 --> 00:06:11,076 - You've said that all world systems thus far - 126 00:06:11,187 --> 00:06:15,950 communism, socialism, fascism and free-market enterprise - 127 00:06:16,061 --> 00:06:20,966 have all failed to eliminate racism, elitism and scarcity. 128 00:06:21,520 --> 00:06:24,800 Can you explain how your vision would eliminate those things? 129 00:06:25,741 --> 00:06:28,436 - I’m trying. First of all, 130 00:06:29,803 --> 00:06:33,944 money corrupts people in all areas. 131 00:06:34,252 --> 00:06:37,483 You can pay off judges, senators, politicians, 132 00:06:37,766 --> 00:06:38,966 with the use of money. 133 00:06:39,224 --> 00:06:41,741 We must outgrow the need for money, 134 00:06:42,006 --> 00:06:44,793 and go on to a resource-based economy, 135 00:06:45,076 --> 00:06:47,347 where we make things available to people, 136 00:06:47,612 --> 00:06:49,403 just like the public library. 137 00:06:49,796 --> 00:06:52,012 If you have difficulty understanding that, 138 00:06:52,227 --> 00:06:55,046 you can check out any book in the library 139 00:06:55,556 --> 00:06:58,387 without paying payments of any kind, 140 00:06:58,541 --> 00:07:00,744 or going into debt of any kind. 141 00:07:01,027 --> 00:07:03,353 That isn’t true of the whole of society. 142 00:07:03,833 --> 00:07:06,129 The society generates debt 143 00:07:06,455 --> 00:07:09,913 and obligations which people cannot fulfill. 144 00:07:11,556 --> 00:07:12,867 - Jacque, you said that 145 00:07:13,089 --> 00:07:16,880 greed and an endless war are based on aberrant behavior 146 00:07:16,996 --> 00:07:19,415 based on social conditioning alone. 147 00:07:19,820 --> 00:07:24,080 Would you say that the need for competition, for reward, 148 00:07:24,190 --> 00:07:27,900 is also based on our societal conditions? 149 00:07:28,393 --> 00:07:29,446 - Yes. 150 00:07:30,018 --> 00:07:32,172 - And that it’s not innate within human nature? 151 00:07:33,187 --> 00:07:35,606 - No. There’s no such thing as human nature. 152 00:07:35,993 --> 00:07:39,790 Human nature, or human behavior, is shaped by culture. 153 00:07:40,295 --> 00:07:43,427 After all, what makes a person a patriot? 154 00:07:43,852 --> 00:07:47,255 The Nazis were just as patriotic as the Americans. 155 00:07:47,433 --> 00:07:49,796 Propaganda makes them all alike. 156 00:07:50,320 --> 00:07:54,313 They hate Americans and we hate the Germans, before the war. 157 00:07:55,156 --> 00:07:59,236 And the Japanese used the same technique of propaganda 158 00:07:59,452 --> 00:08:02,147 to get them to want to do away with the Americans. 159 00:08:03,021 --> 00:08:05,901 It’s all environmentally determined. 160 00:08:06,492 --> 00:08:09,329 Every word you use, you learn. 161 00:08:09,670 --> 00:08:11,852 Your mother said cup, table, 162 00:08:11,993 --> 00:08:14,160 light, papa, mama. 163 00:08:14,326 --> 00:08:15,950 Every word you use 164 00:08:16,209 --> 00:08:18,055 and all the facial expressions 165 00:08:18,221 --> 00:08:20,713 come from movies, books that you read, 166 00:08:20,867 --> 00:08:24,276 role models that you look up to, and so on. 167 00:08:24,418 --> 00:08:27,483 There seems to be nothing that humans can say 168 00:08:27,846 --> 00:08:29,858 that doesn’t reflect their culture. 169 00:08:30,289 --> 00:08:32,566 When you are brought up in the south, 170 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,480 and you hear all day long the same thing: 171 00:08:36,710 --> 00:08:38,504 “I’m gonna get me a [nigger], 172 00:08:38,615 --> 00:08:40,615 and I’m gonna hang him up from a tree!” 173 00:08:40,880 --> 00:08:43,833 That isn’t inborn, that’s learned in the South-… 174 00:08:44,363 --> 00:08:46,098 southern areas of the South, 175 00:08:46,258 --> 00:08:49,046 uneducated regions of the South. 176 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,476 Where do you think prejudice comes from? 177 00:08:51,747 --> 00:08:55,433 It isn’t inborn. Children will play with anybody. 178 00:08:55,770 --> 00:08:59,692 Afro-Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, 179 00:08:59,809 --> 00:09:01,236 until mother says 180 00:09:01,353 --> 00:09:04,073 “You’re a Lutheran, you don’t play with that Catholic. ” 181 00:09:04,670 --> 00:09:08,301 She means well, but she doesn’t understand what she’s doing. 182 00:09:09,538 --> 00:09:13,870 - Jacque, I commend you for actually presenting solutions 183 00:09:13,993 --> 00:09:16,867 to the multitude of problems that we face in the world - 184 00:09:16,970 --> 00:09:20,393 the scarcity, all the problems that we're facing - 185 00:09:20,500 --> 00:09:22,135 it seems really overwhelming and I think 186 00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:24,820 it’s amazing that you’ve actually produced something 187 00:09:25,101 --> 00:09:27,520 that could be a solution. However, 188 00:09:27,850 --> 00:09:30,553 how can we insure that putting full trust 189 00:09:30,660 --> 00:09:33,710 in one concentrated planning system of society 190 00:09:34,166 --> 00:09:36,418 will work and not become corrupted? 191 00:09:36,676 --> 00:09:39,353 Because I’m just worried that we’re not there yet, and that 192 00:09:39,926 --> 00:09:42,566 I feel like that’s how socialism’s failed in the past. 193 00:09:43,636 --> 00:09:46,824 - If you do away with a scarcity, number one, 194 00:09:46,941 --> 00:09:48,640 and you do away with money, 195 00:09:48,898 --> 00:09:51,969 and make things available like a public library-… 196 00:09:52,412 --> 00:09:55,618 Next door to the public library, we have a camera center, 197 00:09:55,870 --> 00:09:58,523 where anyone can go in and check out a camera. 198 00:09:58,886 --> 00:10:02,160 Next door to the camera center, there’s musical instruments. 199 00:10:02,320 --> 00:10:05,040 You can check out a violin, a saxophone, 200 00:10:05,224 --> 00:10:06,941 just like the public library. 201 00:10:07,144 --> 00:10:08,744 No payments of any kind. 202 00:10:08,960 --> 00:10:12,584 And we have all those buildings around the central building. 203 00:10:13,040 --> 00:10:14,904 And that makes it impossible 204 00:10:15,150 --> 00:10:18,443 for people to take bribes or to break into your house, 205 00:10:18,590 --> 00:10:19,760 and steal anything. 206 00:10:20,012 --> 00:10:23,212 If you make goods and services available to people, 207 00:10:23,360 --> 00:10:24,910 they do not steal. 208 00:10:25,723 --> 00:10:26,910 There’s no need for it. 209 00:10:27,020 --> 00:10:29,298 - We need to reinvent our value system 210 00:10:29,409 --> 00:10:32,360 in order to share the resources of this planet. 211 00:10:32,473 --> 00:10:34,566 How much would you say that language 212 00:10:34,676 --> 00:10:36,916 and mental trappings of these social orders 213 00:10:37,027 --> 00:10:39,187 that have failed in the past, trap us? 214 00:10:39,304 --> 00:10:42,572 prevent us from being able to progress with revolutionary ideas? 215 00:10:43,513 --> 00:10:47,064 - Well, our language was designed hundreds of years ago, 216 00:10:47,569 --> 00:10:49,969 and that cannot communicate with people. 217 00:10:50,270 --> 00:10:51,913 We know that because we have 218 00:10:52,110 --> 00:10:53,840 democrats, republicans, 219 00:10:54,104 --> 00:10:56,307 socialists, Lutherans, Catholics, 220 00:10:56,584 --> 00:10:58,689 and language is a terrible thing! 221 00:10:58,873 --> 00:11:02,166 It’s never been invented so that people can 222 00:11:02,996 --> 00:11:05,250 draw the same conclusions. 223 00:11:05,569 --> 00:11:08,843 You see, language is subject to interpretation. 224 00:11:09,181 --> 00:11:11,440 When you read the bible, somebody says 225 00:11:11,556 --> 00:11:13,107 “This is what Jesus meant.” 226 00:11:13,273 --> 00:11:15,784 And another person says “Oh no, he meant something else. ” 227 00:11:15,956 --> 00:11:18,172 And the third person says “You’re both wrong, 228 00:11:18,301 --> 00:11:19,403 this is what he meant.” 229 00:11:19,550 --> 00:11:21,400 That's why you have the Lutheran, 230 00:11:21,563 --> 00:11:24,356 the 7th day Adventists, the Catholics, 231 00:11:24,553 --> 00:11:28,264 only because the bible is subject to interpretation. 232 00:11:28,504 --> 00:11:30,363 And our language is terrible, 233 00:11:30,596 --> 00:11:32,904 because it’s subject to interpretation. 234 00:11:33,261 --> 00:11:37,243 But there is a language that is not subject to interpretation. 235 00:11:37,550 --> 00:11:40,030 And that’s the language used by engineers. 236 00:11:40,290 --> 00:11:42,461 When they talk to each other, they don’t say 237 00:11:42,578 --> 00:11:45,360 “Believe me, this is the strongest material. ” 238 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:49,489 They give you the specifications of what’s in that metal, 239 00:11:49,630 --> 00:11:51,612 how much torsion load it can take, 240 00:11:51,740 --> 00:11:54,184 how much tension, how much compression. 241 00:11:54,338 --> 00:11:56,610 So engineers, when they talk to each other, 242 00:11:56,806 --> 00:11:58,695 they don’t say “I think he means this” 243 00:11:58,886 --> 00:12:00,510 or “I think he means that.” 244 00:12:00,769 --> 00:12:03,723 When you talk to normal people, they interpret it 245 00:12:03,889 --> 00:12:05,550 in relation to their background. 246 00:12:05,790 --> 00:12:07,329 That’s a major problem. 247 00:12:08,560 --> 00:12:11,760 - Yes. Math and science and these things are not 248 00:12:11,890 --> 00:12:14,055 really open for interpretation. It’s mind-blowing to see 249 00:12:14,160 --> 00:12:18,010 the technologies that do exist that are available to us right now. 250 00:12:18,516 --> 00:12:20,960 Jacque Fresco, thank you so much for coming on, 251 00:12:21,076 --> 00:12:23,175 explaining a little bit more about The Venus Project; 252 00:12:23,280 --> 00:12:24,800 everyone check it out. 253 00:12:26,012 --> 00:12:28,012 We're taking a quick break guys, but still ahead 254 00:12:28,129 --> 00:12:31,353 we’ll talk about the tragic nuclear legacy of Japan; stay tuned.