First of all, for the low attention span audience (which is sadly high), here is the SOS (summary of summary): "We are sinking, not thinking; we can think and do better." How concise and clear is that? But really, let me elaborate, hopefully without boring you.
The final and critical chapter in the Zeitgeist series, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward gets right down to the essentials. We are living in a system that does not help us: the monetary (and market) system. Peter Joseph was a stock broker (for 6 years) but left the financial sector realizing that it created no real value to society.
This system of "free" market, competition and socioeconomic divide is the biggest problem. Before looking at the ideologies between capitalism or socialism, democracy or dictatorship, liberal or conservative, etc. we need to realize how this underlying reality of our world is affecting us now and in the near future in diverse and very fundamental ways. The rest is in fact almost irrelevant. As we changed from the barter system to the money system, we are on the verge of recognizing we need a newer system all together.
Planned obsolescence of products, the continuous creation of debt and the exploitation of natural and human resources in a never-ending spiral of money-hungry economy is duplicity in drudgery. Inefficiency, waste and sickness are intrinsic part of the system. The proposed solution is a radical change to a resource-based economy and the use of science and technical advances, including automation, and a continuous survey of local and global resource with distribution and sharing without the current concept of ownership.
To the detractors of the proposed system, there are many answers, based on scientific findings. For the constantly claimed unstable social elements potential problems, the idea of "victims of culture" is well explained and a culture shift, education and action without judgement are keys to the potent paradigm shift. When people have their needs met, the adaptation becomes easier.
The film feature many interviews, some narration and a few animations and scenes. The longest film of the series (161 mins) is well written and edited even if the subject(s) actually can be much more explored in further details. After a musically & visually engaging intro and anecdote by 94-year-old Jacque Fresco, the movie starts rather slowly. The Part I & II (Human Nature & Social Pathology) discuss some concepts that will build the overall premise, but with limited intensity in the flow of ideas. The nature vs. nurture debate is slightly debunked and the idea of a strong environment component along with clear cultural conditioning in ultimately shaping human behaviour is put forward in Part I. We then see the details of the philosophy of ownership (theory of property) by John Locke in the late 17th century and the machination of the market system as the first part of Part II. Joseph then revisits the ideas of the monetary system we know and its failings which were discussed differently in the first two films.
The crux of the film tries to fulfil its title of "Moving Forward" and proposes to first reset the planet and its people and try to build a better system from scratch with at its base, better goals, more appropriate ideas and superior tools. Project Earth (Part III) advances many of the ideas of Jacque Fresco's Project Venus and shows the use of computers and automation as the next logical step, even to create homes and reduce human labour construction work and related accidents. Same goes for car accident deaths and pollution, among many proposed benefits of the plan in progress. The good thing about science is that it needs to be tested and that its ideas are always open to better ideas that represent and acts upon reality better, we are told. Maybe that point could have been repeated, as I find it to be quintessential to the approach of this film and perhaps to humankind's advancement as a whole.
"Part IV: Rise" is a peaceful, but determined call to action and also a call for creative people to get involved in thinking now about how we can better our derelict and detrimental ways or living. For someone who wrote a novel, "Paradise on Earth?", about a utopian society without money, while being 19 to 22-year-old, I can definitely relate and I am elated at the created sense of urgency, with thought-out open-minded, but basically feasible and achievable, aspirations for real world awakening in the midst of this mind-numbing masked mayhem we meander and marinate in, militantly or unconsciously.
In a world where empathy and trust are often empty and lost, the Zeitgeist trilogy (and especially part 2 & 3) may well be the best thing since CouchSurfing...
The final and critical chapter in the Zeitgeist series, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward gets right down to the essentials. We are living in a system that does not help us: the monetary (and market) system. Peter Joseph was a stock broker (for 6 years) but left the financial sector realizing that it created no real value to society.
This system of "free" market, competition and socioeconomic divide is the biggest problem. Before looking at the ideologies between capitalism or socialism, democracy or dictatorship, liberal or conservative, etc. we need to realize how this underlying reality of our world is affecting us now and in the near future in diverse and very fundamental ways. The rest is in fact almost irrelevant. As we changed from the barter system to the money system, we are on the verge of recognizing we need a newer system all together.
Planned obsolescence of products, the continuous creation of debt and the exploitation of natural and human resources in a never-ending spiral of money-hungry economy is duplicity in drudgery. Inefficiency, waste and sickness are intrinsic part of the system. The proposed solution is a radical change to a resource-based economy and the use of science and technical advances, including automation, and a continuous survey of local and global resource with distribution and sharing without the current concept of ownership.
To the detractors of the proposed system, there are many answers, based on scientific findings. For the constantly claimed unstable social elements potential problems, the idea of "victims of culture" is well explained and a culture shift, education and action without judgement are keys to the potent paradigm shift. When people have their needs met, the adaptation becomes easier.
The film feature many interviews, some narration and a few animations and scenes. The longest film of the series (161 mins) is well written and edited even if the subject(s) actually can be much more explored in further details. After a musically & visually engaging intro and anecdote by 94-year-old Jacque Fresco, the movie starts rather slowly. The Part I & II (Human Nature & Social Pathology) discuss some concepts that will build the overall premise, but with limited intensity in the flow of ideas. The nature vs. nurture debate is slightly debunked and the idea of a strong environment component along with clear cultural conditioning in ultimately shaping human behaviour is put forward in Part I. We then see the details of the philosophy of ownership (theory of property) by John Locke in the late 17th century and the machination of the market system as the first part of Part II. Joseph then revisits the ideas of the monetary system we know and its failings which were discussed differently in the first two films.
The crux of the film tries to fulfil its title of "Moving Forward" and proposes to first reset the planet and its people and try to build a better system from scratch with at its base, better goals, more appropriate ideas and superior tools. Project Earth (Part III) advances many of the ideas of Jacque Fresco's Project Venus and shows the use of computers and automation as the next logical step, even to create homes and reduce human labour construction work and related accidents. Same goes for car accident deaths and pollution, among many proposed benefits of the plan in progress. The good thing about science is that it needs to be tested and that its ideas are always open to better ideas that represent and acts upon reality better, we are told. Maybe that point could have been repeated, as I find it to be quintessential to the approach of this film and perhaps to humankind's advancement as a whole.
"Part IV: Rise" is a peaceful, but determined call to action and also a call for creative people to get involved in thinking now about how we can better our derelict and detrimental ways or living. For someone who wrote a novel, "Paradise on Earth?", about a utopian society without money, while being 19 to 22-year-old, I can definitely relate and I am elated at the created sense of urgency, with thought-out open-minded, but basically feasible and achievable, aspirations for real world awakening in the midst of this mind-numbing masked mayhem we meander and marinate in, militantly or unconsciously.
In a world where empathy and trust are often empty and lost, the Zeitgeist trilogy (and especially part 2 & 3) may well be the best thing since CouchSurfing...