For the first time, we have the capability,
the technology, and the knowledge
to achieve a global society of abundance for all.
The question is:
What kind of world do we want to live in?
If we continue as we are,
the consequences will surely be dire.
We are presently depleting natural resources
50% faster than the planet can renew.
Are we incapable of anticipating and planning for our future?
Are politicians competent to manage the world around us?
Are we innately flawed in ways we can't change?
We often hear our worst qualities are inborn.
Only human nature!
The culture doesn't know any better.
They don't know what forces are involved in shaping human behavior.
Therefore they say "That's human nature."
That's where they're wrong.
The Determinants of Behavior
So the science of behavior needs to be applied
like the sciences of physics, chemistry, and biology have been.
That's the one missing ingredient in our culture.
And that's the toughest one because it opposes
the way that most people think about themselves.
If the surroundings that establish our values remain unaltered,
the same behaviors will persist.
If you made a movie of the present day culture,
in the future, it would be a horror film.
Savage? - Savage!
- Saving the planet? They want their money!
Every institution that we live in is corrupted by money.
It's a fiat system that we operate under and
it's actually someone punching numbers on a computer somewhere.
That is how we manufacture money today.
You have what is effectively a criminal enterprise
based on the manipulation of people's attention, resources, and time
in order to extract value from them.
They're stealing money from us that way.
They're stealing the results of our efforts and our labor.
The media's morphed into just peddling the corporate interests of
the money masters that control the political establishment.
Those interests are going to be served first
and everything is going to be secondary.
And that's the sad reality of it.
Up to 40 to 50 percent of the people
in our criminal justice system are black men.
And black men make up roughly five percent of the nation's population.
And I think people can discuss and debate the causes for that,
and this goes for everything from institutional racism,
policing practices, and that; but I think at the end of the day
it all boils down to class, as I think that the reason racial minorities
are disproportionally incarcerated
is because they're also disproportionally poor.
What are the Real Costs?
The current energy infrastructure,
which has been going on for a long time,
has resulted in the accumulation of greenhouse gasses and particles
that cause warming of the earth's climate.
And the earth's climate is warming at a rate faster than any time
since deglaciation from the last Ice Age.
We're seeing this environmental damage
on the earth, created by humans,
but we see it from a cosmic perspective,
means that it's just not something that we can ignore.
The planet is responding to the presence of humanity.
If you were to integrate the cost of war, the cost of pollution,
the cost of environmental disruption, a gallon of gasoline
would cost between 15 and 20 dollars a gallon.
We have to realize our planet does have a certain amount of
regenerative power. There is a limiting carrying capacity though.
There's no end to the possibilities of the civilized world.
It hasn't even begun yet.
There's no limit to the possibilities of science
and technology in the near future.
We have to reclaim the environment,
and human beings as well.
That's what The Venus Project is about.
The Choice is Ours
Documentary film by Roxanne Meadows and Joel Holt
Original Score by Kat Epple katepple.com
2015 The Venus Project