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  • Hey guys, and welcome to the 4th episode of Take The Venus Project Challenge.

  • If you're new to The Venus Project or to my Challenge, please watch my introduction video.

  • For the people who are becoming more informed on how The Venus Project is actually technologically

  • and economically possible, the most common objection I've found is what I call The Bad

  • Egg theory. This is probably the most frustrating objection, because these are actually people

  • who agree with the idea of a Resource Based Economy, but they're so bruised by our societal

  • flaws that they're afraid to even give humanity a chance...

  • Let me give you an example with this comment.

  • QUOTE: Personally, I think the Venus Project is a great but an ultimately unachievable goal.

  • Humanity itself would have to be revamped in order for this to happen.

  • (Hence, TVP is redesign of our culture and not just a redesign of our cities.)

  • QUOTE: So, I wouldn't worry too much about it one way or the other. Whether you're for it or against it...

  • I don't think that it's possible for anything like it to even come close to happening.

  • It's a great idea... but humanity's greed and selfishness gets in the way of it working out well for everyone

  • and turns it into a dictatorship, where just one bad egg takes control of everyone else's

  • kindness and generosity. All you need is one human who doesn't agree with what the

  • Venus Project says and bam, you're screwed because you've got no army to fight back against

  • them with... and you've got no laws to keep him at bay with. It's a faulty idea that's

  • too idealistic, and not realistic enough for me to agree with. END QUOTE

  • BRANDY: Okay, now let's think about this for a minute. If a Resource-Based Economy is too idealistic

  • because everyone might not agree then what do you call a 'monetary system'

  • that's primarily 'based' on competition but then proclaims 'on paper' that everyone

  • should behave and obey the law? I'd call 'that' idealistic. If a Resource-Based Economy...

  • a technologically advanced system of abundance in which everyone on the planet has access

  • to what they need is a faulty idea... then what do you call the current system that trumpets

  • equal opportunity for everyone "if you work real hard," while knowing in advance that

  • there's not enough money to go around... and knowing that if there were enough to go around

  • the system itself would collapse. I'd call 'that' faulty. It's a game that's rigged

  • before you even get a chance to play. Here we are in a defective chicken coop

  • raising "bad egg" all over the place, and now that there's even a glimmer of hope that we can

  • get passed our "greed" by finally living in abundance, we quit on the idea because supposedly

  • "one bad egg takes control of everyone else's kindness and generosity." As if "one bad egg"

  • in an evolving social system that's finally doing something about all this, is somehow

  • worse than 63,531,202 bad eggs in a society that 'can't' do anything about it.

  • Because the old-fashioned idea that if someone gets outta line we can "fight back" with our current "army"

  • and that "written laws" keep people at bay, is ridiculous at this point.

  • Where were the written laws when those 63 million crimes were committed?

  • Somewhere in a file cabinet I guess.

  • So what it comes down to is that people are somehow, for some crazy reason...

  • more confident and 'comfortable' in our current so-called security systems, than they are

  • in implementing a new value system that dramatically reduces and eventually eliminates

  • the need for security. Let's put it this way... I'm pretty sure that if all the victims of war crimes,

  • and hate crimes, desperate crimes, or any other kind of violence or suffering

  • had their chance to do it over, they'd realize that 'genuine security' comes from addressing

  • the root causes of social problems... because obviously the patchwork didn't work out too

  • well for them... We're still here, so we have the chance to redesign our society...

  • instead of worrying that somehow if we all work together to implement a sustainable system

  • that's designed specifically based on our symbiotic nature, to meet every single human

  • beings biological and social needs... and to evolve to continue to meet everybody's needs

  • on a global scale... that we'll somehow end up worse off... because somehow, someday,

  • somewhere down the line... "someone might not agree."

  • Might not agree with what? That we need food, clean air, clean water, shelter, and a relevant

  • education to sustain those resources on our planet? Might not agree that we found ways

  • to harness energy and manage our resources properly, so that there's plenty to go around?

  • Might not agree that we're developing the technology to ensure the survival and healthy

  • development for everyone, so that they, themselves, can be completely independent, and learn to

  • pursue their life's true goals without financial constraint? And they might not agree

  • with people offering, not forcing, but offering, the technology to them, and to the rest of the world,

  • so they can take care of themselves. Call me crazy, but I say it's worth a try,

  • even if someone "might not agree" or someone "might be too greedy."

  • The bottom line is, "people are already greedy" and the only way we can change that,

  • is if we move forward, and if we stop just assuming what other people will do. You know, the funny

  • thing is, I've never actually heard anyone say "If I got everything I wanted in The Venus Project,

  • 'I' would become greedy!" or "If I got everything I needed from the Venus Project,

  • 'I' would become lazy!" So far, every single person has said, 'People' might be greedy

  • and 'People' will be lazy, which is just a faceless accusation. So if we all just stop

  • pointing the finger at other people, and be responsible for ourselves, that's one less

  • we all have to worry about! You'd be surprised how many "bad eggs" we can get rid of if people

  • stop adding imaginary ones to the bunch.

  • THERAMINTREES: We can be self-defeating in our conformity. Say we have a group of people

  • holding opinion X. Unbeknownst to the group, half of them secretly disagree. But due to

  • the social penalties they've seen dished out to a few individuals who 'have' disagreed,

  • they keep quiet. By conforming, we add to the statistics of groups we don't actually

  • belong to, and perpetuate the idea of majorities who may not actually exist. Imagine if none

  • of us conformed in that way, how that would change the social landscape. Question the

  • group, and let's risk being more fully ourselves.

  • BRANDY: Everyone's so worried, "but what about that ONE person, there's always that one person?"

  • What about 'em?! Why should we let "them," a hypothetical person, or group of people,

  • stop "us" from finally uniting to pursue a better future? If just the 'thought' of tyranny

  • has you too afraid to improve the world you're living in, then the tyrants have already won.

  • We need to stop being afraid of the potential chaos that, frankly, ALREADY EXISTS, and focus

  • on becoming more widely aware of the corruption, and the environmental abuse that's going on

  • in the world, so we can move on and do the one and only thing we CAN DO, which is work

  • together to build a better foundation and start preventing it. Period. That's the only way.

  • What we're doing now isn't working! In case you haven't noticed!

  • We can't just live in fear and never change anything.

  • And changing presidents does as much good for the country as changing your clothes.

  • We have to change our system. We have to change our environment. We have to change ourselves.

  • DR. SAPOLSKY: It completely transformed the atmosphere of the troop, and when new adolescent

  • males would join the troop, they'd come in just as jerky as any adolescent males elsewhere

  • on this planet, and it would take 'em about 6 months to learn "We're not like that in

  • this troop. We don't do stuff like that, we're not that aggressive. We spend more time grooming

  • each other, males are calmer with each other. You do not dump on a female if you're in a bad mood,

  • and it takes these new guys about 6 months, and they assimilate this style,

  • and you have baboon culture, and this particular troop has a culture of very low levels of aggression,

  • and high levels of social affiliation, and they're doing that 20 years later.

  • HOWARD ZINN: Inevitably, in any discussion on war, at a certain point in the discussion,

  • somebody would say, "oh well, it's human nature." And, well first of all from my own experience...

  • and I still have to tell this to people because there are still people who

  • talk about the desire of young men to go to war, the thrill it is for young men to be

  • in war to shoot their guns, to kill... and I thought about my own experience in the Air

  • Force and it was very clear to me, looking around at all these guys around me who were dropping

  • bombs, and who were killing people... that did not come from inside. It did not come

  • from ''oh God, how good it would be to kill some people today.'' [laugh] You know?

  • There was no 'urge' to kill, even though... "they were the enemy." No. What it came from,

  • was simply we had been 'trained' and also we had been told it's a good war.

  • We'd been told "we're the good guys, they're the bad guys. It'll be bad if they won,

  • it'll be good if we win. We've gotta drop the bombs, so we'll do it,

  • and we'll do it as well as we can, but there was no spontaneous urge to kill."

  • BRANDY: "Bad eggs" aren't born. They're made. We can't let this "Bad Egg Theory" hold us

  • all back from pursuing a better system, and a better future, for everyone.

  • That concludes this episode of Take The Venus Project Challenge, welcoming your intelligent

  • questions, comments, and feedback. Remember to Read the FAQ's, Get your facts straight,

  • Keep it relevant, and Rise to the challenge. You can also send an email to

  • TVPChallenge@gmail.com. Thanks for participating!

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