Threads 2.1

Threads 2.1 10/09/08

Threads Contents Editorial -A Note From My Desk Page One -The Venus Project Page Two -The Venus Project Cont’d -Heavy Metal Machines Page Three -Tell Me Lies Page Four -World’s tallest Lego Tower -In the News A NOTE FROM MY DESK:

A

fter a two week hiatus, Threads is back! I am for the most part moved into my new apartment and things are nice. I can finally relax and work at my own pace. I finally have a “desk” – technically two, so now this note really is coming from my desk. I do not have a couch or a TV for my living room though. Makes me wonder how I’m going to gather ideas now – thankfully I have the Internet to help in that regard. I need to start utilizing my resources and begin getting stories on my own. It may be a week or so before that happens. I hope my readers enjoy this issue, it is for you, you know!.

2.1

“Progress is a flame that burns within us all”

The Future; The Venus Project Could a society without money be in our midst? "Imagine there's no countries, it isn't hard to do. Nothing to live or die for, and no religion too. Imagine all the people Living life in peace." Perhaps to John Lennon's satisfaction, these words may become true if a group, known as the Venus Project, get their way. The Venus Project is an educational think tank that operates out of a research center in Venus Florida. Lead by Jacque Fresco, the group desires to redesign and cure all the ailments of human culture, including transforming the global economy from a monetary based economy to a resource based economy.

Above: a future home by Jacque Fresco, Below: a MagLev train that could reach speeds of 4000mph

The Venus Project has developed an essential blueprint for a future free of money, government, war and religion. The belief is that the ills of society have direct roots in the monetary system. Fresco believes discarding the monetary-istic ideal in the current society that has a focus on profit and a dependency on money that doesn't exist will free all people from an enslavement of debt and move into a world of creation and global sustainability. "All the limitations imposed upon us by our present-day monetary system could be surpassed by adopting a global consensus for a worldwide resource-based economy, in which all the planetary resources are viewed and treated as the common heritage of all the earth’s inhabitants. In this manner, the earth and our technological procedures could provide us with a limitless supply of material goods and services without the creation of debt or taxation whatsoever." states Fresco in his essay on the Venus Project's website. [emphasis his] In the two hour movie put out by the Venus Project entitled "Zeitgeist; Addendum", the group illustrates and examines the current global stock market crisis that is taking place. With the DOW falling below 10,000 on Monday, for the first time since October 2004, and other markets falling throughout the world, including the Asian and European markets, and other nations such as Canada heading towards a recession, Iceland facing bankruptcy and Brazil and Argentina

~CALIFORNIA KARM@~

Threads 2.1 10/09/08 abandoning the US dollar as a medium of exchange, interest rates being cut worldwide, the Venus Project sets out to provide an answer and a solution: abandon the monetary system. The money system is a system of debt, as stated by Marriner Eccles, the Governor of the Federal Reserve just after the years of the United States [first?] depression. "If there were no debt in our money system, there wouldn't be any money." Of all the currency in the United States, only three percent of it is actual tangible money, the other 97% is money that doesn’t truly exist - only in computers. When the government needs more money (such as for the current bailout) they add that to the 97% of the money that truly doesn't exist - except for in a computer database. This "new" money causes inflation and is the reason why a 1913 dollar has the modern equivalent of $21.60 (as of 2007). In the same way, when a bank gives out a loan - such as a mortgage or student loan, the money given out is arbitrary and really doesn't tangibly exist. As the Modern Money Mechanics manual explains; "of course [the banks] do not really pay out loans from the money they receive as deposits. If they did this, no additional money would be created. What they do when they make loans is to accept promissory notes in exchange for credits [money] to the borrowers transaction accounts." So we live in an culture of debt and the constant seeking of profit. Profits are gained not through an abundance of a resource, but rather a scarcity of a resource, this can be seen within the oil industry. Large quantities of oil would not secure these companies large profits, however a lowered supply will. According to the Venus Project, the reason we have not made the switch over to available, low-cost (if not free) renewable energies such as solar, wind, tidal, wave and geothermal is not due to the lack of technology, but instead the power of the energy companies and their refusal to give up their amassing profits.

HEAVY METAL MACHINES There may be a solution to the hazardous waste we humans produce "super-worms", as dubbed by National Geographic, are earthworms that were found to be eating dangerous human byproducts. These earthworms have been discovered in England and Wales to be devouring hazardous heavy metals such as lead, zinc, arsenic and copper.

Fresco and the Venus Project believe what is holding society back from great advancements in medicine and technology is that large corporations don't measure research and development by how much good it will do for the people, but instead by how much profit the company will acquire from the project.

Jacque Fresco

"In today's culture of profit, we do not produce goods based on a human need. We do not build houses based on population needs. We do not grow food to feed people. Industry's major motivation is profit," states Fresco. In a resource based economy, this issue of doing something for profit rather than the good of the people will be removed. The new culture will encourage focusing technology do help other people. Although the Venus Project may sound rather Utopian or Orwellian, Fresco insists this is not the case, but rather the next step in human development. He feels that the collapse of the monetary system is at hand and people will begin to lose their faith in it and insist on moving towards a new society. The group insists that the strongest barrier between progress and cultural stagnation is money. The people with money direct the rest of culture generally in the pursuit of more money while the people without money are towed along and crushed in the monetary systems underbelly. The message that the Venus Project would like to get out is that money is not a necessity in society, as Fresco says; "it appears that the real wealth of any nation is in its natural resources and its people who are working toward a more humane life-style through the elimination of scarcity."

Lead researcher Mark Hodson of the University of Reading in England has been studying these heavy metal tolerant worms, and to put it lightly, these aren't your average earthworms. The worms according to Hodson, produce a special protein that "wraps up" the metal they happen to be eating, making it safe for the metal to pass through the worm. Once passed through the worms, the metal excrement is then easier for plants to

use. The average earthworm would die in the conditions these superworms thrive. This discovery may make it easier to clean up land that has been contaminated by heavy mining. The worms could be beneficial in clean up processes but are still less efficient than the modern industrial clean up processes, however they will be important in diagnosing the metal concentrations in contaminated lands.

Threads 2.1 10/09/08 OPINION

“Tell me lies, tell me lies, (tell me sweet little lies.)” By: Chadwick Heller "If it weren't for lies, what would we have to talk about?" said a customer to another as they pondered what pre-paid phone card would work best for their cell phones. I obviously missed the context of this statement but it did make me think of Harry Frankfurts book On Bullshit and how lying and all of its variations such as bullshit are so tightly woven into the human condition that many people can't sustain a relationship without them. "Bullshit is unavoidable whenever circumstances require someone to talk without knowing what he is talking about." says Frankfurt. When we stop to consider how many topics a person could claim to know about, we quickly discover the truth of Frankfurt's statement. Lying or bullshit is so prevalent, we expect it from our politicians, our lawyers, our leaders and suspect it from the people who provide us with goods and services. We live in a culture of deception where people intentionally deceive one another, and this deception is often done out of one of two main reasons for lying, defensive lying or malicious lying. What I consider "defensive lying" is the type of lying that generally is not harmful to others and is done for the liars own self preservation. The types of defensive lying can be broken down into six categories or reasons. 1.

Fear of harm - this is a lie committed in order to avoid the consequences of telling the truth, such as physical or mental harm.

2.

Fear of conflict - this type of lie is committed in order to avoid confrontation if the truth were to be stated instead.

3.

Fear of punishment - this reason for lying is perhaps one of the first ways a person learns to lie as a child.

4.

Fear of rejection - a person’s insecurities plays into this reason, people want to belong and will say what they can to do so.

5.

Fear of Loss – people don’t want to lose something on behalf of the truth.

6.

Altruistic reasons - flattery is a form of defensive lying done in order to avoid the negative impact that the truth may carry with it.

Defensive lying is typically done for self-preservation, malicious lying is done to cause harm. Malicious lying is not always committed by a person, it is also committed by large corporations and governments. Malicious lying can be done through coercion, propaganda and other deceptive practices, there is always a desired outcome by the party doing the

lying. They are often trying to get something out of the person or persons. "…Coercion really is, after all: convincing a person to lie to himself by any means necessary." says Douglas Rushkoff in his book Coercion. In order for a person, company or government to successfully gain their targets support they must pitch a seemingly sound argument. This can be done in multiple ways, the most effective however is propaganda. It is easier to get one person to believe a lie if that person believes that many people believe what is being said, and those other people are not only OK with it, they are happy too. A small example: the GAP wants to sell Khakis, but they know Khakis aren't too popular, so they launch an advertising campaign in which very happy people are enjoying their life in Khakis that were purchased at the GAP. The GAP sold its lie that "everyone loves Khaki jeans" even when their research indicated otherwise. In a few weeks of these advertisements, Khakis indeed become popular. In 1928 Edward Bernays wrote essentially the manual on propaganda entitled, simply enough "Propaganda". His manual outlines how propaganda works, especially in the psyche of a population of people. [It is important to note this manual was written before WWII.] Bernays recognizes the power of lying through public perception and even in the late twenties noticed how the government and business' used propaganda to essentially sell their lies to the unsuspecting public. "The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society. Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country. We are governed, our minds molded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of." Perhaps being coerced into buying Khakis isn't what some people would consider bad, however if the message were changed to "they are out to harm you, if you listen and do as we say, we will protect you," then suddenly it becomes easier to indentify how a deceptive lie can turn into something harmful. Much of propaganda and coercion is the establishing of an "us vs. them" mentality, a solution is often given in solving the problem of the perceived enemy - an enemy that was also "created" by perpetrators of the lie to begin with. Admittedly though, I myself lie as well, most profoundly at work to customers. Working in the electronics department I find myself often bullshitting my way through sales or coercing customers to make up their minds on the TV they want to buy. I have developed a way to make a TV sale last no longer than 15 minutes - mainly for the customers who like to play 20 questions. The reality is, whether the lie is big or small, defensive or malicious, the reason it is done so often is simple; it's easy. Lying has the ability of getting the liar what they want, whether it be to avoid a fight, convince a crowd they need paint-on sunglasses or help a tired associate make a quick TV sale, lying typical gets the liars intended results.

Threads 2.1 10/09/08

Worlds Tallest Lego Tower Every child dreams (to the dismay of their parents) to build the world’s largest Lego Tower, but this dream is generally squished when your parents catch you with that sledge hammer in the attempt to put a hole in the ceiling. But for 3,000 children in Vienna, this dream became a reality. Standing at 96.73 feet, using 460,000 Lego bricks, this multi-colored tower shatters the old world record by a mere .60 feet, which was set last May in Legoland Windsor, England. The tower was built over the course of four days and is supported using cables. In order to erect the tower, engineers were forced to use a crane.

In The News • • • • • • •

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• The tower was created to celebrate the four day festival, 100 Years of Friends of Children. The tower was dismantled soon after the record was confirmed by Guinness World Record judge, Carlos Martinez.

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French novelist Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio wins Nobel for literature. Study finds chaos in Afghanistan The National Debt clock in Times Square is running out of spaces. First double-arm transplant a success in Munich Germany Google to launch "Google Underwater" in addition to Google Earth Google launches Mail Goggles to help in prevention of drunken emails. Google launches 2001 version of its search engine in honor of their 10th anniversary. Husband of Cambodian couple literally cuts house in half due to separation. One founder of Apple, Steve Wozniak says iPod and iPhone are on their way out. Young men prefer Internet over Television Women fake calls and texting more to avoid social situations WiFi could be sent through lightbulbs Cell phones on your finger? New ringcell phones have been developed in China. Thrift stores see an increase in middleclass shoppers There is a worldwide financial crisis. TODAY, John Lennons birthday TOMORROW

www.thezeitgeistmovement.com to launch

Suggestions? Critiques? Submissions? Send them to: [email protected] Thank you.