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[Roxanne Meadows] We live in the world
where our social systems are old.

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our language is old,

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The way we acquire goods
and services is outdated.

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Our cities are detrimental to our health,
chaotic,

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and a tremendous waste
of energy and resources,

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and our politicians do not provide
a way out of these problems.

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In other words they do not serve us.

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But our technology is racing forward.

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We're trying to adjust to the
rapid advances in technology

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with obsolete values, that no longer
work in our technological age.

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What is needed is a change in our
sense of direction and purpose,

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an alternative vision for a
sustainable new world civilization

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unlike anything in the past.

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This is what we are presenting here
and we call it The Venus Project.

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And the activist arm
organized by Peter Joseph

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is called the Zeitgeist Movement.

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When I refer to sustainability,

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I'm not referring to sustainability
for the banks, the corporations,

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or the obsolete social
system that we live under.

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By sustainability I mean
the well-being of all people

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in a new system that would help bring
them to their highest potential,

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while protecting and
preserving the environment.

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What I'm talking about is intelligently
managing earth's resources

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by using the methods of science
to organize and manage society.

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I'm not referring to
scientists running things

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but the methods of science
applied to the way we live

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and achieve a more humane society for all.

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Almost everyone prefers
using scientific means

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when it comes to surgery,
the building of aircraft,

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skyscrapers, bridges and automobiles.

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Over the centuries we've
developed a consensus

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that when it comes to
matters of personal safety

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we choose science and technology

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rather than primitive
belief systems or politics

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because science has been proven to work.

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Then why don't we use
scientific scales of performance

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when it comes to planning
our societies or our cities,

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transportation systems,
health care and so on?

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If science has a lot to do with what works

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then clearly there's much about
today's social and economic systems

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that are not scientific,
because things aren't working very well

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for the majority of the world's
people and the environment.

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If they were, war, poverty,
hunger, homelessness,

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and pollution would have
been solved long ago.

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Unfortunately our social structures evolved

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when there was no overall global planning,
or an understanding

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of what shapes human behavior,

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and these are not being considered today.

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The Venus Project, on the other hand,

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wants to apply an intelligent
method of planetary ...

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of planning for planetary survival.

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If we don't apply the scientific
method to the way we live,

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unnecessary human suffering will continue.

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We have the technological
ability and the resources

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to feed, house,
and educate everyone on the planet.

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But our practice of rationing
resources through monetary methods

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never provided the means to do so.

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Then how do we ever begin
to solve our problems

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using the methods of the monetary
system that we all live under?

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The use of money is hardly ever examined,
but let's consider it,

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along with how much it influences
our behavior and our values.

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Money itself doesn’t have any value at all.

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There's no gold or anything to back it up.

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It's just a piece-...
it's just a picture on a cheap piece of paper

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with an agreement amongst
people as to what it will buy.

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And I would say a forced agreement because

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we really don't determine
the prices of things.

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If it rained hundred dollar bills right now,

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everybody would be thrilled
except the bankers.

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So let's look at money.

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Money is just an interference
factor between what you want

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and what you're able to get.

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People think in terms of
wanting a job to get the money

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to fulfill their needs.
But if they really thought about it,

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it's not the job that they want or the money,

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but they want access to
the necessities of life.

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The use of money results in
social stratification and elitism.

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They say in America that people are equal,
that everyone is equal.

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But most people don't drive
the kind of car they'd like

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or live in the kind of house they want.

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They buy what they can afford.

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Many cultures tell their
people they are free.

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But one is really as free
as their purchasing power.

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Watch out when some people
tell you that they’re free,

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when the countries and the
politicians tell you that you're free.

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If you really were free,
they wouldn't have to tell you.

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How can someone have
freedom when they can’t

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buy the best medical care or
education for their children?

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Most people are slaves to jobs
that they don’t really like,

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only because they need the money.

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Many laws are enacted for
the benefit of corporations

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that have the money,
that can persuade government officials

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to make laws to serve
their own self-interests.

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People say that the monetary
system produces incentive.

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This may be true to a limited extent,
but it also produces

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greed, corruption, war, poverty,

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and tremendous unnecessary human suffering.

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We really have to look at the entire picture.

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The monetary system is based
on artificial scarcity.

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For example,
food products are sometimes destroyed

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just to keep the prices up.

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There’s an enormous waste
of energy and resources

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as a result of frequent
superficial design changes ...

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in order to have a continuous market.

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This is really evident
in the fashion industry.

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You can be assured if the fashion
style for the skirts are up here,

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the next year they'll be down to your ankles.

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Our system is based on the
need to continuously buy

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so you're never in fashion
in regards to clothing.

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You and I are merely
consumers in this system.

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There's also a tremendous
environmental degradation

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due to the higher costs of more
appropriate waste disposal.

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In other words,
the Earth is being plundered for profit.

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The recent oil spill in the Gulf of
Mexico is a really good example of this.

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But one of the greatest wastes of
resources and lives is the military.

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How shameful that it's one
of our biggest industries,

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second to our banking systems.

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And the armament industry makes their living

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off of arming all sides.

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They have no loyalty to anything or anybody

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other than the need to make money.

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It's really little understood
just how much our values

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are shaped by the monetary system.

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Our values are influenced by the media

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for the benefit of the establishment.

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We call them “The Unholy 3”:

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the corporations,
the military, and the banks.

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(Not everybody gets that.) [Laughter]

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For the most part they
determined the public agenda

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to serve their own narrow self-interests.

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They perpetuate the illusion
that society's values

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are determined from the ground up
and they do this through notions

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and empty words such as freedom,
democracy, and patriotism.

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What we have all over the
world is managed news.

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They produce the books,
the newspapers, the TV shows,

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the movies, the entertainment, the education,

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which in turn helps to shape
our values and our behavior.

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In other words,
we have an established society

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that works for just a very little amount
of people; it works for just a few,

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and they influence our values and behavior

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to keep things as they are.

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Most important though,
when the corporation's bottom line is profit,

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all decisions are made not
for the benefit of you and I,

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or the environment,

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but primarily for the acquisition of wealth,
property, and power.

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For instance,
if your country really cared about you

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they wouldn't outsource jobs
for lower wages elsewhere.

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What if all the money in the
world suddenly disappeared?

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As long as we had arable land,

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factories, technical personnel,
and other resources existed,

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we could build anything we wanted
to fulfill most of our needs.

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The Venus Project advocates
that with today's ingenuity

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we could easily overcome scarcity,

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which is the cause of most
of our problems such as war,

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corruption, and aberrant behavior.

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We could accomplish this through
implementing a resource-based economy.

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This is a very different concept
than anything that's gone before.

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It has nothing to do with socialism,

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communism, capitalism, or fascism.

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To put it simply,
a resource-based economy uses resources

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rather than money,
and all people have access to their needs

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without the use of money,
credit, barter, taxation,

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or any other form of debt or servitude.

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All the earth's resources are
held as the common heritage

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of all the earth’s people.

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The real wealth of any nation is
not its money but its resources,

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and the people who are working
toward eliminating scarcity

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for a more humane society for all.

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If this is still confusing to you,
consider this.

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If a group of people were
stranded on an island with gold,

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money and diamonds,
but the island had no arable land,

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no fish, no clean water,

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their wealth would be
irrelevant to their survival.

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Money is not what people need;

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rather it's the access to
the necessities of life.

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In a resource-based economy,

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resources are used directly

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to enhance the lives of
all the world's people.

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If we managed our resources wisely

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we could easily produce
the necessities of life

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and provide a very high
standard of living for everyone.

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This may be hard ... to believe

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but even the wealthiest of today would
have a much higher standard of living

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within a resource-based economy.

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When science and technology are unleashed

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into society directly to
improve people's lives,

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without the restrictions of money
and the marketplace or patents,

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we could then begin to know the
real meaning of spirituality.

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Today it's a verbal hobby I’m afraid.

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In a resource-based economy

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children would be taught
to be problem solvers

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instead of the parasitic professions
that the monetary system produces.

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These professions do not contribute
anything to the well-being of people.

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These would be fields such as advertising;
you don't need it

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when you eliminate or
surpass the need for money;

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and insurance, and sale and real estate,

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and law, banking, politics, stockbrokers,

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and sales just to name a few.
I hope I haven’t

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disturbed too many people here with that.

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When all the earth's resources are shared

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there would be no need for the military.

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This savage profession
could easily be surpassed

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in a resource-based economy.

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These people are trained
merely to be killing machines,

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to support the establishment's directions.

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How wonderful it would be if they
were trained to be a problem solvers

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and sent back to school and taught
how to bridge the difference

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between nations without violence.

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When all the earth's resources
are managed and shared

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as the common heritage
of all the world's people

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the artificial barriers that separate
nations would no longer be necessary.

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Invasion of countries
purely for resource theft

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would be a thing of the past.

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And that's really why we
invade other countries.

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It's not to bring democracy and freedom,

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as they tell us in the United States,

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but it’s to get resources,
cheap labor, or access

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to strategic locations.

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In a resource-based economy,

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instead of fighting
one another for scarce resources,

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people will be working
towards problem-solving

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and problems that are common to everyone.

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People would be working in
this highly automated system,

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but they'd been working at things
that are threatening to all of us

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such as tsunamis, or heart disease,
or cystic fibrosis,

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or earthquakes and things of this nature.

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Remember that almost every
new concept was ridiculed

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and rejected and laughed at when presented,

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especially from the experts of the times.

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All new ideas for social betterment,

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including women's rights,
black rights, and child labor

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have always been met with great resistance.

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During the time of the Wright brothers,

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the distinguished scientists
of the times were writing books

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exclaiming why man can't fly.

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The Wright brothers didn't read
their books and what right ahead

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and built the flying machine.

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When science is applied with
human and environmental concern

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to the way we live,
we can easily create abundance for all.

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We will eventually
understand that most crimes

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that fill our jails are a result
of the need to acquire money

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and property in an age of
often contrived scarcity

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of the monetary system.
Children will look back

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and wonder why we couldn't
see the limitations

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of this obscene system.

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Being civilized is an ongoing process.

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There are no utopias
and there are no final frontiers.

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You can never create the best laptop;

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that's the same scenario
with our social designs.

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All things change and are in a
constant and continuous process

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of social evolution.
Those countries that try and freeze things

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and keep things as they are- they
will be surpassed. Thank you.

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[Applause]

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The Venus Project | World Lecture Tour 2010

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00:18:16,500 --> 00:18:21,000
Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows traveled to over 18 countries
and gave more than 20 presentations about the Venus Project.

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The lectures were a vision of what the world can be if we apply what
we already know to achieve a sustainable New world civilization.

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TheVenusProject.com