Zeitgeist: Addendum
February 14, 2010Henry Baum 1 Comment »Say what you will about the conspiracy theory inherit in the Zeitgeist movement, but you cannot deny the intelligence and sincerity of Jacque Frescoe and his vision of a possible utopia. Here’s a fascinating interview (first part) with Larry King from 1974.
The Venus Project clearly separates the Zeitgeist movement from other conspiracy theorizing from the likes of Alex Jones or David Icke – who seem mainly to be fear peddlers without any real answer to moving on from that fear. That’s what disturbs me about them. Obama may be a disappointment who is tasked with rescuing an unsustainable system, but he is not equal to the Bush legacy. The sheer fact that he’s a black man with the name Barack Obama shows that we’re inching closer to a more open society. I don’t think you can underestimate that, even if his promise of change is not really arriving – and most likely can’t because “rescuing banks” is the process of rescuing something that caused the problem. But Jones and Icke want to see totalitarianism everywhere and then sell that fear, so they will look for evidence wherever they can. Their terror alert level doesn’t seem much more honest than the one perpetrated by the Bush administration.
The Venus Project is in part what makes Zeitgeist so convincing, because it offers a level-headed alternative amidst some very far out claims. What this vision of utopia doesn’t see to emphasize is our potential for spiritual evolution, as well as economic and technological progress. Daniel Pinchbeck, in 2012, rails against the concept of the Singularity, as it sees technology as solving all our problems, when his more-New Age stance is that a kind of mind technology is more important for our progress than literal technology. If we see technology as the savior, we’ll be less inclined to explore and expand consciousness and tap into the greater world of outer and inner space. There’s something to this.
Perhaps the Venus Project could usher that in because only until we become less warlike we’d be given access to other worlds. Otherwise we might abuse the privilege, as we abuse everything. What’s attractive to me about a techno utopia is that it satisfies both needs – technological and spiritual, as the technological would free us to spend more time with spiritual and creative pursuits. And it’s more practical and feasible to create a sustainable environment than waiting for an evolution that never comes.
The Maya, after all, were technologically advanced, and going “back to nature” doesn’t necessarily mean being free from technology. The Na’vi from Avatar are nice and all, but I don’t want to sleep in a hammock in a tree – I like my computer and the copy of Logic that allows me to record music. That’s not a distraction like TV, it enhances the potential for creativity. So on that front I agree with the Venus Project and its aim to use technology to create an environmentally sustainable world that frees people from the mindless and unnecessary work that makes up most people’s workdays. If a true Theory of Everything incorporates both the religious and the scientific (determining the “why” as well as the “how”), then it would seem an advanced society would incorporate both as well. My worry is that our entire structure needs to fall apart first in order for it to be rebuilt as something better.
I’m currently reading (among other things) A Paradise Built in Hell by Rebecca Solnit, which makes the supposition that people are at their best amid total catastrophe. Most people have no doubt seen this, even if they’ve never been part of a disaster, as the collective support after 9-11 shows how disaster can inspire goodwill. That’s not entirely a positive prospect, as it may just be the case that the world system needs to collapse in order for us to start over with a better blank slate. The environment might go to war with us before we go to war with each other as a form of self-protection. Either way, we seem to be headed in that direction, and troubling as it may be, how else do you reform a world of 8 billion people that needs instant reforming? I suppose everyone could take Ayahuasca at once, and blow everyone’s heads open, but somehow I don’t see that happening.
Whatever the case, Zeitgeist and the Venus Project are literal manifestations of my novel and the soundtrack so I’ve been glued to finding out new information about these two developments – “The New City is my home and I love all I know.” Cool to me too that the filmmaker writes and records his own music.
More: Who is Peter Joseph?
February 19th, 2010 at 10:22 am
[...] with the tax system altogether. Though it would be great to have a Venus Project style Utopia ala Zeitgeist, it’s less feasible than reforming our current system (even if a reformed system is [...]