Zeitgeist: Moving Forward 15th of January 2011 Belgium Premiere Q&A

"Zeitgeist: Moving Forward" Belgian Première Saturday 25th of January 2011, Sphinx Cinema, Ghent. What can I say. Wow. We're now moving onto the Q&A session, so I would like to ask Kris, Jorgi, and Joris to join us. So we're going to take some questions from you. 2 people with microphones will go around in the public, I can't see it very well myself, but they'll be keeping an eye out and come to you in order of receipt. So, if the first person is ready with a question. Yes! Thank you for this evening. I have a question for Kris, Are you still in favour of stabilizing the economy? Yes, I personally do, but with that I don't represent the opinion of The Zeitgeist Movement. I still believe that Zeitgeist is very important to create awareness. To actually get people out of their lethargy. We believe that the system should be as it is because of genetic reasons, for example. But how we get out of the system, I personally believe that we can, within the current system, with policy makers, find solutions. And I believe, for example, in those levers, which we often discussed. Namely, qualitative easing, so really invest in alternatives, allowing the people to choose to get out of the monetary system and work less, gradually. Raising their children themselves. Take care of their own parents. To put something in a community and also get something in return from it. Encourage volunteer work, reduce the laws concerning intellectual property, change democratic principles into intercratic-or participation-democracy. I still believe that this is a possibility and I also believe in the meetings we have. That policy makers do want to listen. Next question. It maybe is a stupid question, but are you the chapter coordinators? or not? Well, I'm currently the coordinator for the Belgian chapter. Today we have one coordinator and two backup coordinators, these are, Joris and Arne. They are the backup coordinators for Belgium. In case I would drop-out or be on vacation, you never know. A second question, how big is the movement in Belgium, because I have visited the website, but I've only known about it for a week and it would be easier if you could just tell me. Well, we are pretty young, just reached one year in Belgium, and today we count 300 members, these are registered users on our website, of course these aren't all active people who help to grow the movement. The people who register are aware that in order to help us they only have to talk about it with friends and family, it isn't so that we want to build out a certain system. Currently we want to create awareness and I don't want to say wake people up, but let them come to see certain things which they didn't before. Yes, for Kris, who just talked about economy, this film, and I'm all for the notion, don't get me wrong, but this film is about anarchism, how can you improve the world within this political system? You can't. In my personal opinion of course. I think that there is a hidden danger, and I'll say again this is my personal opinion, in just standing by and watch how the system gets clogged or keeps getting worse. I wonder that when we get to that point, if there are still means to go to a "Resource Based" society, for example. At that point, will there be enough people to support this direction or will people be preoccupied by surviving? I strongly believe in the conversations that we are having. With economists, psychologists, sociologists, where we don't talk about Zeitgeist, but we bring certain basic principles and another view on the economy, and we found that they do want to listen, I can only repeat that. For example, today they put through quantitative easing I don't know how much money in the economy, but they could also use that money to build infrastructures like, renewable energy, local infrastructures where you can participate and those people we talk to, do have ears for it. There will probably be a start up of a workgroup to debate and discuss these things. So, we notice that there is a good response, those people also see that there are problems. Other question? Next question. Hi, I have a question about energy. Technology and energy take an important place within the Zeitgeist Movement let's say, but, in this film it is repeatedly said that the technology today is ready for an "Resourced Based" society. But, renewable resources aren't that at all in my eyes. You still have big problems with windmills, for instance aluminum production is very polluting. You have noise disturbance in the ocean, shadow, etc. For example, solar cell technology is totally not mature, the building and dismantlement of solar cells are, the energy necessary for that is almost equal to the amount which it can produce at this moment, etc. How do you deal with that? What do you expect in that area? I think today, as the world works as it is, not everything is bad, we are making progress in different areas, but humanely, for the human race there is a decline. We get detached, more and more we occupy ourselves with jobs that aren't really relevant. Marketing, advertising, you name it, but not all is bad and if you ask this question then I think, okay, what if we get rid of all the mechanisms that hold back certain progress and it will only get better, faster. Then I think of, examples of battery technology, patents that are in the hands of petrol companies. But aren't there also limitations which are inherent? Physical limitations that we just can't get over? Nature that limits us in our possibilities. But what you want to say, is that today, Maybe an extra question, imagine you have your perfect "Resourced Based" society, what kind of world population are you targeting? How many people will be able to live on earth? More or less. We don't know that, maybe there is a carrying capacity for 20, 30 billion people. We don't know, anyway, contraception is one of the parameters that we can control. We see that when cultures become educated that there is a better control compared to where there is no control of the birthrates where cultures aren't that well developed concerning education, hygiene, health, prevention. So why wouldn't it be more controllable? During the twentieth century, there was a psychological development of the 'self'. How do we decouple ownership from that? Because today with individualism you are what you have rather than what you can do and are. How will we decouple the psychosocial from that, that's my question. Well, anyway it's about awareness. You have to show the world that as long you keep having the materialistic mindset, you will constantly keep this negative connotation. And it's all in your head, so this property principle, as long you have access to all your needs, do you really need it then? That is the real question. And the moment you realize that, that you actually have no need to posses things from which you are actually a slave of, because you have to maintain it, you have to protect it. The moment you can distance yourself from that, then I think we've come a long way. [Applause] Yes, indeed, but at the end of the movie we kind of end in pure anarchy, that the complete structure needs to fall. Which is a difference from anarchism, it is actually a totally other concept, just saying, but in the next image we immediately see how everything is supposed to be. But for that there is no answer, mainly because the time frame in which it should all happen is very short. I think that the most important today is awareness. People need to know that there are alternatives. What the solutions are. If it's the things we work on with policy makers, starting workgroups. Or it is a big reversal, a sudden reversal, we don't know. What you need to know, in this film, the ending, I don't think it is was meant to give the idea that it could actually happen like this. I don't find it realistic at all that at a certain time there are enough people that will turn over their money. So I don't believe in the anarchistic option. But the important thing is that it has to start with awareness. People ought to know that we live in a society, in a structure, that has grown organically on the basis of human behavior, step by step iteratively. But today, human behavior is much more dependent on those systems and those structures. So we kind of walked into a trap. And there is no one to blame. Those structures, who contributed a great deal, have also given us the technology, knowledge, insights, which we need today to change fundamental things. So that's not really the question, it's just a trap we walked into. And like may revolutions, evolutions that have happened, I think we are due for a new evolution. Maybe a radical one. I have another question. About the sector, in the future or near future, what is worth investing in? Nowadays it's still money and .. In the future, just energy. The relevant sectors today are, production, chemistry, I don't know, then not economy. Where can we contribute or other things? In which sectors or industries can we invest in? I think that energy is important, but today you have this counterforce, so profitable investments aren't necessarily the best or the most powerful ways to really change the energy sector. For example, now through legislation they have to put emphasis on the ecological, on energy, but that is actually conflicting with the current system. Today, we are still rewarded by being greedy and applying accumulation of wealth. So yes, if today you start as an investor or entrepreneur it is hard to do something in this spirit, you still have to think about profit. So, I think that synergies are possible. I myself am involved as a shareholder in a company that invests in, for example, technology supporting the elderly, I support that. I support it in the way that the system allows it. But I still have to try to create profit. That remains a concern for myself, my wife, my children. So I don't think that we need to look at each other and say, give the good example, no, I think that we need to be realistic. And that is why I believe that awareness is the first step. We all have to understand this. I'm not prepared to be the first to throw my money there if I don't have the assurance that everyone will follow me, that's just herd mentality. I have a statement of someone and then we end. Real quick, I'm sorry if I say this in English because my Dutch level isn't good enough. We heard some nice applause at the end of the movie, but I think we should applaud these guys and all the people who made this happen. Because make no mistake, all the people in the movement are really trying to help. So I think it's really important to say to say to those guys, congratulations and thank you. [Applause] There, I also want to thank our panel members Jorgi, Kris and Joris for answering the questions as good as possible. After this, we will be present at the Sphinx café, where we can have further discussion, I am certain that many people still have questions. Also don't forget, with these forms you can also ask a question then by e-mail we'll try to answer your question as good as possible. So, there. As last I would like to thank you all for your attendance, and I hope that you enjoyed it as much as we did. And I want to close with a quote from Carl Sagan, a famous American astrophysicist, I will try to say it in his way, "We are one planet." We are one planet. Thank you. [Applause] 174 visitors.