WEBVTT

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Hello, my name is Franky.
I work also with

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an organization called The Zeitgeist
Movement as you already know.

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I would like to
welcome everybody

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from far and wide; everybody did come.
Thank you very much.

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I would like to take this
opportunity to especially thank

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the teams of The
Zeitgeist Movement.

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Teams meaning the Linguistic Team,
the Web Team, the Technology Team,

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the Activism Team and also
the Project Team that

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coordinated this project.

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The whole German chapter
did a great job

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with establishing this
event within a month.

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I would like to thank
everybody personally.

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Good to see you here.

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I think Peter Joseph doesn't
need any introduction.

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I think everybody
here knows who he is.

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So, short and
precise: thank you.

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I hand the microphone
over to Peter.

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[Sustained Applause]

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You can turn this mic off since
I'm not going to use it.

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Ah, so it's the other mic.

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How's everybody doing? [Audience in unison]
- Good!

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I really appreciate
you all being here.

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I want to thank Franky
and the Berlin team

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for moving so fast;
it's really phenomenal.

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Having put on many events myself over
the years, it's not an easy task.

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I'm always reminded when
I travel these days,

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that The Zeitgeist Movement is truly a
global phenomenon at this stage, right?

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No matter where any of
us end up on the planet,

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you don't have to go very far to find
friends who share similar values

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in this pursuit of
a better world.

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The title of this talk
is "Economic Calculation

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in a Natural Law/Resource-Based
Economy (NLRBE)."

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For the past five years or so

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The Zeitgeist Movement has put out
quite a bit of educational media

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with respect to its advocation,

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and the learning curve
has been rather intense.

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There's been a
tendency to generalize

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with respect to how things
actually work technically.

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This is the contents
of this presentation.

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In Part I and two
I'm going to refine

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the inherent flaws of the
current market model

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regarding why we need to change

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along with relaying
the vast prospects

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we now have to solve
vast problems,

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improve efficiency, and
generate a form of abundance

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that could meet all human needs.

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The active term which has gained
popularity in the last couple years

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is called "post-scarcity,"

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even though that word is a little
misleading semantically as I'll explain.

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In Part III, I'll work to
show how this new society

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generally works in its structure
and basic calculation.

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I think most people on the planet
know that there is something

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very wrong with the current
socioeconomic tradition.

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They just don't know how to
think about the solution,

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or more accurately, how to
arrive at such solutions.

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Until that is addressed, we're
not going to get very far.

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On that note, in a number of
months, a rather substantial text

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is going to be put into
circulation, available for free

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and also in print
form or download form

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at cost (it's a
non-profit expression).

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This will be finished hopefully
by the first of the year

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and will be the definitive
expression (in the condensed form)

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of the Movement, something
that's been long overdue.

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It's called "The Zeitgeist Movement
Defined" and it will serve as both

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an orientation and
a reference guide.

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It will have probably over a
thousand footnotes and sources.

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Once finished, an educational
video series will be put out

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in about 20 parts to produce the
material along with a workbook

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to help people who want to learn how
to talk about these ideas because

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we basically need more people
on an international level

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to be able to communicate,
as I try to do.

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It's a very important thing, and I
think the future of the Movement

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rests in part on our capacity
to create a well-oiled

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international educational machine
with consistent language

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coupled with real design projects
and their interworkings.

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Part I: Why are we even here?

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Is this type of
large-scale change-

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what the Movement
advocates- really needed?

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Can't we just work to fix
and improve the current

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economic model, keeping the
general framework of money,

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trade, profit, power,
property and the like?

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The short answer is
a definitive "No,"

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as I'm going to explain.

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If there's any real interest
to solve the growing

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public health and
environmental crises at hand

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this system needs to go.

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Market capitalism, no matter
how you wish to regulate it

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or not regulate it, depending
on who you speak with,

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contains severe structural flaws

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which will always, to
one degree or another,

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perpetuate environmental
abuse and destabilization,

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and human disregard and
caustic inequality.

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Put another way, environmental
and social imbalance

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and a basic lack of sustainability
both environmentally and culturally

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is inherent to the market economy,
and it always has been.

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The difference between capitalism
today and say, the 16th century

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is that our technological
ability to rapidly accelerate

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and amplify this market process

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has brought to the surface consequences
which simply couldn't be understood

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or even recognized during
those early primitive times.

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In other words, the basic
principles of market economics

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have always been
intrinsically flawed.

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It has taken just this long for
the severity of those flaws

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to come to fruition.
Let me explain a little bit.

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From an environmental
standpoint,

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market perception simply
cannot view the Earth

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as anything but an inventory
for exploitation.

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Why? Because the entire
existence of the market economy

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has to do with keeping
money in circulation

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at a rate which can keep as many
people employed as possible.

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In other words, the world economy
is powered by constant consumption.

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If consumption levels drop,
so does labor demand,

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and so does the available purchasing
power of the general population

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and hence, so does demand for goods
as money isn't there to buy them.

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This cyclical consumption
is the lifeblood

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of our economic existence.

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The very idea of being
conservative or truly efficient

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with the Earth's finite
resources in any way

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is structurally
counterproductive

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to this needed driving
force of consuming.

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If you don't believe
that, ask yourself why

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virtually every life support system
on this planet is in decline.

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We have an ongoing loss of topsoil,
ever-depleting fresh water,

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atmospheric and climate
destabilization,

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a loss of oxygen-producing
plankton in the ocean

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(which is critical to marine
and atmosphere ecology),

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the ongoing depletion
of fish populations,

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the reduction of rain
forests, and so forth.

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In other words, an overall general
loss of critical biodiversity

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is occurring and increasing.

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For those not familiar with the
critical relevance of biodiversity,

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billions of years of evolution

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has created a vastly interdependent
biosphere of planetary systems.

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Disturbing one system always
has an effect on many others.

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This, of course, is
no new observation.

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In 2002, 192 countries in
association with the United Nations

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got together around something called "The
Convention on Biological Diversity."

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They made a public commitment to
significantly reduce this loss by 2010.

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And what changed eight years later?
Nothing.

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In their official 2010
publication, they state:

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"None of the 21 sub-targets
accompanying the overall target

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of significantly reducing the
rate of biodiversity loss by 2010

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can be said definitively to
have been achieved globally."

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"Actions to promote biodiversity
receive a tiny fraction of funding

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compared to infrastructure and
industrial developments."

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(Hmm, I wonder why?)

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"Moreover, biodiversity
considerations are often ignored

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when such developments
are designed.

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Most future scenarios project
continuing high levels of extinctions

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and loss of habitats
throughout this century."

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In a 2011 study published
which was in part

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a response to an general call to
isolate and protect certain regions

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to insure some security
of this biodiversity,

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found that, even with millions of
square kilometers of land and ocean

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currently under legal protection,
it has done very little

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to slow the trend of decline.

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They also made the following
highly troubling conclusion

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combining this trend with the state
of our resource consumption:

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"The excess use of the Earth's
resources or overshoot is possible

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because resources can be harvested
faster than they can be replaced.

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The cumulative overshoot
from the mid-1980's to 2002

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resulted in an 'ecological debt'

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that would require 2.5
planet Earths to pay.

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In a business-as-usual scenario,
our demands on planet Earth

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could mount to the productivity
of 27 planets by 2050."

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And there's no shortage of other
corroborating studies that confirm,

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to one degree or another, we are
indeed greatly overshooting

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the annual production
capacity of the Earth,

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coupled with pollution and
collateral destruction

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caused by industrial
and consumer patterns.

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Again, this kind of research has
been published for many decades now.

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Why is it that with all
this mounting data

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we can't seem to curb
life support depletion

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and our overshooting
consumption trends?

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Is it because there are too
many people on the planet?

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Is it because we're just
utterly incompetent

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and have no conscious
control over our actions?

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No. The problem is that we have a global
economic tradition still in place

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rooted in 16th century pre-industrial
handicraft-oriented thought

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that places the
act of consuming,

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buying and selling as the core
driver of all social unfolding.

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The best analogy I can think of is
to consider the gas pedal on a car:

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the more consumption of
fuel, the faster it goes,

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and buying things in
our world is the fuel.

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If you slow down consumption,
economic growth slows,

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people lose jobs,
purchasing power declines

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and things become
destabilized and so forth.

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So I hope it is clear that the system
simply does not reward or even support

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environmental sustainability
in the form of conservation.

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In fact, it doesn't even reward
sustainability in the form

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of any kind of earthly
or physical efficiency

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as I will talk more at
length of in a moment.

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Instead, it rewards servicing,
turnover and waste:

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the more problems and
inefficiencies we have,

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not to mention the more
insecure, materialistic

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and needy the population becomes,
the better it is for industry,

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the better it is for GDP, the
better it is for employment,

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regardless of the fact
that we may literally

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be killing ourselves
in the process.

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My friend John McMurtry, a philosopher
in Canada, refers to this state

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as the "Cancer Stage
of Capitalism,"

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a system which is now destroying
its host, us and the Earth,

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almost unknowingly because very
few today really understand

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how unsustainable the core driving
principles of the market really are.

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The second structurally inherent
consequence I want to mention

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is the fact that market
capitalism is indeed

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empirically socially
destabilizing.

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It creates unnecessary
and inhumane inequality,

00:12:14.087 --> 00:12:17.300
along with resulting
unnecessary human conflict.

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In fact, I would say
capitalism's most natural state

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is conflict and imbalance.

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I would categorize two forms
of conflict in the world:

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national and class.

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I'm not going to spend much time
on the causes of national warfare

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as it should be fairly obvious
to most of us at his point.

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Sovereign nations which are in
part protectionist institutions

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for the most powerful forces
of business have often engaged

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in the most primal act of
competition- systematic mass murder-

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in order to preserve the economic
integrity of their national economies

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and select business interests
which invariably comprise

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the political constituency
of any given country.

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All wars in history, while often
conveniently masked by various excuses,

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have predominately been about
land, natural resources,

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or geoeconomic strategy
on one level or another.

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The state institution
has always been driven

00:13:18.251 --> 00:13:22.168
by commercial and property interests,
existing as both a regulator

00:13:22.308 --> 00:13:25.557
of the basic day-to-day
internal economic operations

00:13:25.697 --> 00:13:29.508
in the form of legislation and as
a tool for power consolidation

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and competitive advantage by
the most dominant industries

00:13:33.598 --> 00:13:38.001
of the national or even, in fact
more importantly, global economy.

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There are many people in the world that
still look at this causality in reverse.

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In some economic views, state government
is deemed the central problem,

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as opposed to the self-interest and
competitive, advantage-seeking ethos

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inherent to market capitalism.

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As the argument goes "If state power
was removed or reduced dramatically,

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the market and society would be free
of most of its negative effects."

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The problem with this
argument is that it forgets

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that capitalism is just a
variation of a scarcity-driven

00:14:11.348 --> 00:14:14.860
specialization and
property-based exchange system,

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a system which actually goes back
millennia in one form or another.

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Early settlements naturally needed
to protect themselves as resource

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and land acquisition
moved forward over time.

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Armies were created to protect resources
from invading forces and the like.

00:14:31.714 --> 00:14:34.651
At the same time people
were working to engage

00:14:34.791 --> 00:14:36.826
agriculture and handicraft,

00:14:37.507 --> 00:14:42.975
and it revealed labor and exchange
value in a very primitive form.

00:14:43.658 --> 00:14:46.105
Hence property value, in the
midst of this scarcity,

00:14:46.245 --> 00:14:48.623
demanded regulation and laws,

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not only to protect property,
but to protect commerce

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and also avoid scams and
fraud in transactions.

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This is the seed of the state!

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The market is a game
and people can cheat.

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You need regulation.

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This is the basic problem.

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The market also allows-
and here's the punchline-

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that regulation to be
purchased by money.

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Therefore, there is no
guaranteed integrity.

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The state and the market
both battle each other

00:15:17.856 --> 00:15:19.786
and compliment each other.

00:15:19.926 --> 00:15:23.648
You will always have regulatory
power centers in a market economy.

00:15:23.788 --> 00:15:26.672
The state and the
market are inseparable;

00:15:26.812 --> 00:15:28.957
they go hand-in-hand.

00:15:30.158 --> 00:15:32.798
Now, as an aside, people
often challenge this reality

00:15:32.898 --> 00:15:35.571
with moral or ethical arguments,

00:15:35.751 --> 00:15:40.065
which, I'm sorry to say, are
entirely culturally subjective.

00:15:40.540 --> 00:15:42.859
In a world where
everything is for sale,

00:15:43.000 --> 00:15:46.659
where the reward reinforcement,
the operant condition,

00:15:46.800 --> 00:15:50.948
is directly tied to seeking
personal advantage and gain,

00:15:51.088 --> 00:15:55.184
who is to say where the lines
should be drawn in that process?

00:15:56.266 --> 00:16:00.833
This is why moral principles
without structural reinforcement

00:16:01.390 --> 00:16:03.385
are useless.

00:16:03.942 --> 00:16:07.581
In the end, the question isn't what
is morally right or morally wrong.

00:16:07.721 --> 00:16:09.721
The question is what
works and what doesn't.

00:16:09.821 --> 00:16:11.821
And sometimes it takes
a great deal of time

00:16:11.921 --> 00:16:14.794
for the truth of such
patterns to materialize.

00:16:15.303 --> 00:16:18.053
For example, most
people, rightly so, see

00:16:18.193 --> 00:16:22.070
abject human slavery historically
as a morally wrong condition,

00:16:22.210 --> 00:16:26.230
but let's dig deeper into the
characteristics and think more deeply.

00:16:26.370 --> 00:16:30.859
I think it is much more productive to
recognize that slavery didn't work

00:16:31.000 --> 00:16:34.860
in the sense that it was
culturally unsustainable.

00:16:35.000 --> 00:16:37.659
Bigotry in all forms
is not just ugly,

00:16:37.800 --> 00:16:41.700
it is culturally unsustainable
because it generates conflict.

00:16:42.970 --> 00:16:45.364
I'm not aware of any
slave-owning society

00:16:45.504 --> 00:16:48.392
that did not undergo
large slave rebellions.

00:16:48.532 --> 00:16:51.760
It's unstable and again,
therefore, unsustainable.

00:16:51.900 --> 00:16:54.559
Market capitalism is
on the same path.

00:16:54.700 --> 00:16:57.339
There are more slaves
in the world today,

00:16:57.479 --> 00:17:00.621
operating within the bounds
of the market economy,

00:17:00.761 --> 00:17:03.501
than anytime in human history.

00:17:04.163 --> 00:17:07.059
And I have little doubt that if we get
through this rough period of time

00:17:07.199 --> 00:17:09.665
without destroying
ourselves by war,

00:17:09.806 --> 00:17:12.260
uprisings or
ecological collapse,

00:17:12.400 --> 00:17:17.167
people in the future will look back at
our world today with the same disgust

00:17:17.308 --> 00:17:21.179
regarding our human-rights-violating
economic system

00:17:21.554 --> 00:17:26.548
as we today look back upon the
period of abject human slavery.

00:17:28.000 --> 00:17:29.714
Class Warfare.

00:17:30.151 --> 00:17:32.754
This leads as well into the
subject of class warfare

00:17:32.894 --> 00:17:35.584
and socioeconomic inequality.

00:17:36.541 --> 00:17:40.886
The long history of so-called "socialist"
outcry has largely been about

00:17:41.026 --> 00:17:44.743
this constant and inhumane
imbalance on one level or another.

00:17:44.883 --> 00:17:47.995
A great deal of time has been spent
by many critics of capitalism,

00:17:48.135 --> 00:17:51.820
describing how it is indeed
a system of exploitation,

00:17:52.045 --> 00:17:56.880
which inherently separates a society
into stratified economic layers

00:17:57.349 --> 00:18:01.447
with a higher class given dominance
over the lower, structurally.

00:18:01.547 --> 00:18:03.547
It's structurally
built right in.

00:18:03.691 --> 00:18:06.604
If you're one of those people that
doesn't agree with this reality,

00:18:06.744 --> 00:18:09.443
ask yourself why there has been
one labor strike after another

00:18:09.543 --> 00:18:13.519
in the past 300 years, why worker
unions even exist, why CEOs

00:18:13.619 --> 00:18:16.973
often tend to make hundreds of times
more money than the common worker,

00:18:17.094 --> 00:18:21.937
or why 46% of the world's
wealth is now owned by 1%,

00:18:22.237 --> 00:18:24.947
which are almost exclusively
of what we could call

00:18:25.047 --> 00:18:27.806
the capitalist ownership class.

00:18:28.613 --> 00:18:32.534
Inequality and class separation
is a direct mathematical result

00:18:32.674 --> 00:18:35.678
of the market's inherently
competitive orientation,

00:18:35.818 --> 00:18:38.247
which divides individuals
in small groups

00:18:38.387 --> 00:18:42.454
as they work to compete against each
other for survival and security.

00:18:42.594 --> 00:18:45.617
It is entirely
individualistically oriented,

00:18:45.757 --> 00:18:51.077
driven by a core incentive system based
around isolated self-preservation,

00:18:51.217 --> 00:18:55.481
assuming the need to constantly
reinforce one's security financially

00:18:55.621 --> 00:18:59.246
since the market climate (the environment)
gives no certainty whatsoever

00:18:59.386 --> 00:19:03.959
of well-being in and of
itself: fear and greed.

00:19:04.799 --> 00:19:06.991
The rich get richer because
the model favors them,

00:19:07.131 --> 00:19:08.631
and the poor basically
stay the same

00:19:08.731 --> 00:19:11.890
because the system works
against them by comparison.

00:19:12.000 --> 00:19:14.568
It is structurally classed.

00:19:14.708 --> 00:19:18.259
Those with more money have more options
and influence than those with less.

00:19:18.400 --> 00:19:20.735
You are only as
free, as they say,

00:19:20.875 --> 00:19:24.021
as your purchasing power
will allow you to be.

00:19:24.578 --> 00:19:27.232
The credit system is
a perfect example.

00:19:27.372 --> 00:19:30.207
Money is treated as nothing
more than a product

00:19:30.347 --> 00:19:32.259
in the credit/banking system.

00:19:32.400 --> 00:19:35.053
Money is sold by banks
via loans for profit

00:19:35.193 --> 00:19:37.193
which comes in the
form of interest.

00:19:37.330 --> 00:19:39.859
If you miss payments or
violate your contract,

00:19:40.000 --> 00:19:42.559
often the interest rate, does what?
It goes up

00:19:42.700 --> 00:19:45.999
because you are now considered
a higher risk consumer.

00:19:46.389 --> 00:19:48.929
If you fail to meet that
interest or future payments,

00:19:49.069 --> 00:19:51.247
you might default on the loan.

00:19:52.518 --> 00:19:56.354
Your punishment is the ruining of
your credit rating or reputation

00:19:56.494 --> 00:19:57.994
in the financial circles.

00:19:58.154 --> 00:20:01.706
Once that happens, your financial
flexibility is even more stifled

00:20:01.846 --> 00:20:04.512
as your economic
access is limited.

00:20:06.289 --> 00:20:07.789
People see this as just
"the way things are"

00:20:07.935 --> 00:20:09.935
but they don't realize
how insidious this is.

00:20:10.071 --> 00:20:13.150
This pounds the lower
classes to stay low

00:20:13.290 --> 00:20:16.621
for reasons and forces of coercion
that are built into the structure

00:20:16.761 --> 00:20:20.060
that are beyond their control!
I could give many other examples.

00:20:20.200 --> 00:20:23.259
Everything in this system works
against you if you're not affluent

00:20:23.400 --> 00:20:25.859
in this society. And guess what?

00:20:26.000 --> 00:20:28.926
These financial policies
were created by ...

00:20:30.548 --> 00:20:34.537
self-interest-oriented
market logic,

00:20:34.677 --> 00:20:37.621
not some politician
or some government.

00:20:38.487 --> 00:20:41.112
I won't even go into the fact
that the interest charged

00:20:41.252 --> 00:20:45.460
for the sale of money today doesn't
even exist in the money supply itself,

00:20:45.600 --> 00:20:49.297
which creates a kind of
system-based social coercion

00:20:49.437 --> 00:20:53.345
forcing in the inevitability
of credit default over time,

00:20:53.695 --> 00:20:56.202
along with acts of economic
desperation such as

00:20:56.342 --> 00:21:00.621
selling property you rather would
not, to meet your basic needs

00:21:01.000 --> 00:21:04.085
or taking labor positions
that you do not appreciate.

00:21:04.225 --> 00:21:08.033
The market generates desperation
as its method of coercion.

00:21:08.652 --> 00:21:13.130
This leads into another very
common "free market" confusion

00:21:13.270 --> 00:21:16.488
I often see in the very popular
laissez-faire community.

00:21:16.628 --> 00:21:21.687
They talk about free trade as
trade that is entirely voluntary

00:21:21.827 --> 00:21:25.613
as though such a thing could ever
exist in an empirical sense.

00:21:25.753 --> 00:21:29.916
All decisions to trade come
from influences and pressures.

00:21:30.648 --> 00:21:34.314
Only perhaps the super rich,
who literally have no need

00:21:34.454 --> 00:21:37.568
to worry about basic
survival due to their wealth

00:21:37.708 --> 00:21:42.300
could possibly be said to engage in
the act of voluntary free trade.

00:21:42.826 --> 00:21:46.682
For 99% of the world, we either
trade or we don't survive,

00:21:46.922 --> 00:21:50.027
and that pressure is
empirically coercive.

00:21:50.167 --> 00:21:52.559
And no, it doesn't
have to be that way,

00:21:52.700 --> 00:21:56.008
which is the whole point
of this new social model.

00:21:57.000 --> 00:21:59.944
So with all that aside, and
with this understanding

00:22:00.084 --> 00:22:03.682
that wealth inequality is
inherent to capitalism itself

00:22:03.922 --> 00:22:05.859
- you can't regulate it out -

00:22:06.000 --> 00:22:08.462
the main issue I want to address
here has to do with what

00:22:08.602 --> 00:22:12.574
class separation and social
inequality does to us

00:22:12.714 --> 00:22:15.219
in the context of public health.

00:22:15.651 --> 00:22:18.525
It isn't just a simple issue of
some having more than others,

00:22:18.665 --> 00:22:22.149
and others suffering the
mere material inconvenience,

00:22:22.289 --> 00:22:25.859
or pressure to engage in labor or
trade they'd rather not have to.

00:22:26.000 --> 00:22:27.860
It goes way beyond that.

00:22:28.000 --> 00:22:31.159
Socioeconomic
inequality is a poison,

00:22:31.575 --> 00:22:34.159
a form of destabilizing
pollution

00:22:34.652 --> 00:22:39.259
that affects people's psychological and
physiological health in profound ways,

00:22:39.702 --> 00:22:44.059
while also very often accumulating
anger towards other groups,

00:22:44.423 --> 00:22:48.315
and hence, that generation
of social instability.

00:22:48.790 --> 00:22:53.426
The best term I know of that embodies
this issue is "structural violence."

00:22:54.000 --> 00:22:56.096
If I put a gun to
someone's head,

00:22:56.236 --> 00:23:00.084
say a 30-year-old healthy male,
pull the trigger and kill him,

00:23:00.224 --> 00:23:03.159
assuming an average life
expectancy of say 84,

00:23:03.300 --> 00:23:06.375
you can argue that
possibly 54 years of life

00:23:06.515 --> 00:23:10.014
was stolen from that person
in a direct act of violence.

00:23:10.433 --> 00:23:12.959
However, if a person
is born into poverty

00:23:13.099 --> 00:23:15.416
in the midst of an
abundant society

00:23:15.556 --> 00:23:18.721
where it is statistically proven
that it would hurt no one

00:23:18.861 --> 00:23:21.784
to facilitate meeting the
basic needs of that person,

00:23:21.924 --> 00:23:24.878
and yet they die at the age
of 30 due to heart disease

00:23:25.018 --> 00:23:28.614
which has been found to statistically
relate to those who endure

00:23:28.754 --> 00:23:32.517
the stress and effects of
low socioeconomic status –

00:23:33.574 --> 00:23:39.317
is that death, the removal of those
54 years again, an act of violence?

00:23:40.075 --> 00:23:42.311
The answer is "yes, it is."

00:23:42.451 --> 00:23:44.765
Our legal system has
conditioned us to think

00:23:44.905 --> 00:23:47.493
that violence is a
direct behavioral act.

00:23:47.633 --> 00:23:49.907
The truth is that
violence is a process,

00:23:50.047 --> 00:23:53.159
not an act, and it
can take many forms.

00:23:53.300 --> 00:23:58.500
You cannot separate any outcome from
the system by which it is oriented.

00:23:59.110 --> 00:24:02.540
This is virtually absent
from the way people think

00:24:02.680 --> 00:24:06.164
about cause-and-effect in
a socioeconomic system.

00:24:07.115 --> 00:24:09.868
The effects of market
capitalism cannot be reduced-

00:24:10.008 --> 00:24:13.009
or I should say cannot
be deduced- logically

00:24:13.149 --> 00:24:16.536
from local or
reductionist examination.

00:24:16.676 --> 00:24:19.060
[It's] like things are
working like a clock:

00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.759
the market is a synergistic system,
the economy is a synergistic system,

00:24:22.900 --> 00:24:27.059
and the behavior of the whole, meaning
large-scale social consequences

00:24:27.200 --> 00:24:30.466
such as the perpetuation
of inequality or violence,

00:24:30.606 --> 00:24:34.565
can only be assessed in
relationship to that whole.

00:24:34.705 --> 00:24:38.044
This is why there has been
one big dichotomy between

00:24:38.184 --> 00:24:41.158
what market theorists think is
supposed to happen in their world

00:24:41.298 --> 00:24:43.698
and what is actually happening.

00:24:43.838 --> 00:24:48.079
For example, there is no doubt
that poverty and social inequity

00:24:48.219 --> 00:24:52.892
is and has been causing a vast
spectrum of public health problems,

00:24:53.117 --> 00:24:56.051
both in the context of absolute
deprivation, which means not having

00:24:56.151 --> 00:24:59.772
the money to simply meet up with
basic needs such as nutrition,

00:25:00.052 --> 00:25:02.923
and in the context of
relative deprivation,

00:25:03.063 --> 00:25:07.148
which is a psychological
phenomenon related to the stress-

00:25:07.288 --> 00:25:10.157
the psychosocial stress-
of simply living

00:25:10.297 --> 00:25:12.822
in a highly-stratified society.

00:25:14.258 --> 00:25:17.787
One of the greatest predictors
of reduced public health

00:25:17.927 --> 00:25:21.258
is now to be found
as social inequity,

00:25:21.814 --> 00:25:23.376
social inequality.

00:25:23.516 --> 00:25:27.564
If you compare developed nations
by the level of wealth inequality

00:25:27.984 --> 00:25:32.096
you will find that those more equal
nations have much better health

00:25:32.236 --> 00:25:34.682
than those with less equality.

00:25:34.822 --> 00:25:37.244
This includes physical
health, mental health,

00:25:37.384 --> 00:25:41.033
drug abuse, educational levels,
imprisonment, obesity,

00:25:41.173 --> 00:25:46.213
social mobility, trust or social
capital, community life, violence,

00:25:46.575 --> 00:25:49.279
teen pregnancies, and child
well-being on average.

00:25:49.419 --> 00:25:51.788
These outcomes are
significantly worse

00:25:51.928 --> 00:25:54.856
in more unequal rich countries.

00:25:56.048 --> 00:25:59.934
Yet, if you tried to reduce
and analyze a single person

00:26:00.074 --> 00:26:02.981
for any of these noted
public health factors,

00:26:03.121 --> 00:26:06.708
you could never know for sure if
that person is actually a victim

00:26:06.848 --> 00:26:12.369
of the psycho-stress or the absolute
or relative violence condition itself.

00:26:12.509 --> 00:26:14.657
The causality can
only be understood

00:26:14.797 --> 00:26:17.189
on the large scale,
probabilistically,

00:26:17.329 --> 00:26:21.059
which is the importance
of statistical analysis.

00:26:21.247 --> 00:26:24.371
So again, the market
can only be perceived

00:26:24.511 --> 00:26:28.086
as a whole to gauge the
truth of its effects.

00:26:28.226 --> 00:26:32.100
This is why our legal system
is so base and primitive.

00:26:34.167 --> 00:26:38.569
That aside, I would like to detail a few
more examples of structural violence,

00:26:38.709 --> 00:26:41.360
as it obviously takes
many more forms.

00:26:41.500 --> 00:26:46.304
When we see 1.5 million children die
each year from diarrheal diseases-

00:26:46.444 --> 00:26:49.306
an utterly preventable
problem that isn't resolved

00:26:49.446 --> 00:26:52.345
due to a financial
limitation across the world,

00:26:52.485 --> 00:26:55.759
we are seeing the murder of 1.5
[million] children by a system

00:26:55.900 --> 00:26:58.999
that is so inefficient in
its process it cannot make

00:26:59.139 --> 00:27:02.453
the proper resources available
in certain regions,

00:27:02.593 --> 00:27:04.768
even though that they are there.

00:27:04.908 --> 00:27:07.334
Drug addiction, which
has become a plague

00:27:07.474 --> 00:27:11.266
of modern society across the
world, not only causing death,

00:27:11.406 --> 00:27:16.189
but also a spectrum of suffering, has
been found to have roots in stress.

00:27:16.329 --> 00:27:18.920
It has to do with a lack
of support which creates

00:27:19.060 --> 00:27:21.952
a psychological chain
reaction that leads to

00:27:22.340 --> 00:27:25.786
fill your feelings of pain
with self-medication.

00:27:25.926 --> 00:27:28.451
You will rarely find a study
on addiction patterns

00:27:28.591 --> 00:27:30.653
that does not see a
direct correlation

00:27:30.793 --> 00:27:33.866
to unstable life
conditions and stress.

00:27:34.949 --> 00:27:39.076
What is perhaps poverty's most
dominant psychological feature?

00:27:39.500 --> 00:27:42.646
Feelings of insecurity
and humility.

00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:46.847
Even the vast majority of
behavioral violence as we know it

00:27:46.987 --> 00:27:49.503
arises due to preconditions
which have been tied

00:27:49.643 --> 00:27:52.738
to poverty-induced
deprivation and abuse.

00:27:52.878 --> 00:27:57.124
Former head of the Study of Violence
at Harvard, Dr. James Gilligan,

00:27:57.264 --> 00:27:59.659
was a prison psychiatrist
for many decades

00:27:59.800 --> 00:28:03.103
analyzing the reasons for extreme
acts of murder and the like.

00:28:03.243 --> 00:28:07.165
In virtually all cases, high levels
of deprivation, neglect, and abuse

00:28:07.265 --> 00:28:11.492
occurred in the life history of the offenders.
And guess what?

00:28:11.772 --> 00:28:15.080
Poverty is the single
best predictor

00:28:15.220 --> 00:28:17.568
of child abuse and neglect.

00:28:17.708 --> 00:28:19.976
In a US study, children
who lived in families

00:28:20.116 --> 00:28:22.281
with an annual income
less than $15,000

00:28:22.421 --> 00:28:25.908
are 22 times more likely
to be abused or neglected

00:28:26.048 --> 00:28:30.858
than children living in families with
an annual income of $30,000 or more.

00:28:32.247 --> 00:28:37.584
Aristotle said "Poverty is the
parent of revolution and crime."

00:28:38.323 --> 00:28:41.508
Gandhi said "Poverty in the
worst form of violence."

00:28:42.152 --> 00:28:44.359
The interesting thing
about all this is

00:28:44.500 --> 00:28:47.812
is that we are all possible
victims of its effects,

00:28:47.952 --> 00:28:50.440
for every time you hear
about an act of theft,

00:28:50.580 --> 00:28:52.824
violence, murder, or the like,

00:28:52.964 --> 00:28:56.046
chances are the origins of
that behavior were born

00:28:56.186 --> 00:28:58.560
out of a preventable
form of deprivation.

00:28:58.700 --> 00:29:00.790
I say preventable because today

00:29:00.930 --> 00:29:03.953
there is absolutely no technical
reason for any human being

00:29:04.053 --> 00:29:07.442
to live in poverty and
resource deprivation.

00:29:07.622 --> 00:29:10.363
Solving social inequality is
not just a nice thing to do,

00:29:10.463 --> 00:29:12.827
it is a true public
health imperative.

00:29:13.107 --> 00:29:15.691
Just like making sure our
water isn't polluted,

00:29:15.831 --> 00:29:17.560
so we don't get diseases.

00:29:17.700 --> 00:29:21.536
And each of us have no idea when
we might be subjected to say,

00:29:21.676 --> 00:29:24.856
the violence bred by
this deprivation.

00:29:24.996 --> 00:29:27.460
It's a form of blowback.

00:29:27.600 --> 00:29:30.663
Just like how some social
theorists think about the reasons

00:29:30.803 --> 00:29:33.805
for modern terrorism
from abused countries.

00:29:33.945 --> 00:29:36.359
A country like the United
States bombs some town;

00:29:36.500 --> 00:29:39.763
the people in that town lose everything.
Certain people are deeply affected

00:29:39.903 --> 00:29:42.069
and find no other
emotional recourse

00:29:42.209 --> 00:29:45.146
but to act in the most violent
way that can in revenge.

00:29:45.286 --> 00:29:49.417
The next thing you know, a bomb
explodes at a coffee shop in your city,

00:29:49.557 --> 00:29:51.599
killing your sibling.

00:29:52.565 --> 00:29:56.682
In short, if you want to produce a
violent criminal or gang mentality,

00:29:56.822 --> 00:29:59.908
let them be raised in an environment
where they are reinforced

00:30:00.048 --> 00:30:03.455
with the sense that society
doesn't care about them.

00:30:03.595 --> 00:30:07.047
And hence they have no need
to care about society.

00:30:07.187 --> 00:30:08.902
This is the trademark,

00:30:09.042 --> 00:30:11.306
this is the core characteristic,

00:30:11.446 --> 00:30:14.024
of the capitalist social order.

00:30:15.191 --> 00:30:18.575
As a final aside before I move on,
I find it incredibly interesting

00:30:18.715 --> 00:30:22.188
that the vast majority of the
civil rights institutions today,

00:30:22.328 --> 00:30:24.741
or human rights
institutions today,

00:30:24.881 --> 00:30:30.159
which still demand more race, gender,
creed and political equality,

00:30:30.461 --> 00:30:34.939
tend to do very little to address
the roots of economic inequality.

00:30:35.608 --> 00:30:38.383
It's a very interesting contradiction.
I'm firmly convinced

00:30:38.483 --> 00:30:41.776
that as time moves forward,
economic equality will morph

00:30:41.876 --> 00:30:46.466
into the same role as
gender and race equality,

00:30:46.686 --> 00:30:50.215
where meeting human needs and
facilitating a high standard of living

00:30:50.355 --> 00:30:56.417
will be an issue of human
rights, not market expedience,

00:30:56.874 --> 00:30:59.400
and the social Darwinism
to which it is based.

00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:03.628
Part II: Post-Scarcity.

00:31:03.768 --> 00:31:05.918
I would like to spend
a moment clarifying

00:31:06.058 --> 00:31:08.859
what an "Abundance Focused
Society" actually means

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:12.359
and give some tangible,
statistical extrapolations

00:31:12.500 --> 00:31:14.800
to confirm this potential.

00:31:16.400 --> 00:31:20.491
A Natural Law/Resource-Based
Economy is not a utopia.

00:31:20.631 --> 00:31:25.527
The Zeitgeist Movement seeks a high,
relative, sustainable abundance

00:31:25.667 --> 00:31:29.054
relieving the most relevant
forms of scarcity.

00:31:29.629 --> 00:31:32.403
Many who hear such distinctions
immediately dismiss

00:31:32.543 --> 00:31:35.181
such qualifications
as mere opinion.

00:31:35.321 --> 00:31:38.391
The fact is, it's not opinion
when it comes to life support

00:31:38.531 --> 00:31:40.700
or empirical human needs.

00:31:41.678 --> 00:31:43.809
Relative sustainable abundance

00:31:43.949 --> 00:31:48.237
means seeking more than enough to
meet all human needs and beyond

00:31:48.377 --> 00:31:51.300
while keeping
ecological balance.

00:31:52.003 --> 00:31:55.663
The most relevant forms of
scarcity means we differentiate

00:31:55.803 --> 00:31:58.360
between scarcity as it
relates to human needs

00:31:58.500 --> 00:32:01.230
and scarcity as it
relates to human wants,

00:32:01.370 --> 00:32:03.292
as they are not the same.

00:32:03.432 --> 00:32:06.544
Unfortunately, market logic
pretends that they are.

00:32:06.684 --> 00:32:09.808
The market cannot separate
needs from wants.

00:32:09.948 --> 00:32:14.397
And this gets to the root of the
life-blind, value-system disorder

00:32:14.537 --> 00:32:17.320
which continues to
distort our culture.

00:32:18.145 --> 00:32:20.838
The logic goes like
this: If there exists

00:32:20.978 --> 00:32:23.859
any form of scarcity of
anything on any level,

00:32:24.000 --> 00:32:27.715
then we need money and the
competitive market to regulate it.

00:32:29.308 --> 00:32:31.315
Let me explain this
a little bit more.

00:32:31.455 --> 00:32:34.018
One of our international lecture
team members, Matt Berkowitz,

00:32:34.158 --> 00:32:38.478
did a radio interview with a very popular
Austrian economist a little while back,

00:32:38.618 --> 00:32:42.809
and when the subject of scarcity came
up this economist responded with

00:32:42.949 --> 00:32:46.576
"Not everyone can have a
fancy steak or a Ferrari!"

00:32:47.223 --> 00:32:50.630
This was his definitive view
of what scarcity means.

00:32:51.200 --> 00:32:54.250
Now that may be true.
Not every human being

00:32:54.390 --> 00:32:58.499
can have a 500-room mansion with
three jets parked in the front lawn,

00:32:58.639 --> 00:33:02.334
with half the continent of
Africa as his or her back yard.

00:33:03.131 --> 00:33:05.681
In theory, we could
conjure up anything

00:33:05.821 --> 00:33:09.146
and use such luxury-based
scarcity defenses

00:33:09.286 --> 00:33:12.439
to support the existence
of the competitive market.

00:33:13.059 --> 00:33:16.179
So what are human needs?
Are they subjective?

00:33:16.785 --> 00:33:19.059
Human needs have been created

00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:23.259
by the process of our physical
and psychological evolution.

00:33:23.400 --> 00:33:27.956
Not meeting these virtually empirical
needs results, as noted before,

00:33:28.096 --> 00:33:32.239
in a statistically predictable
destabilizing spectrum

00:33:32.379 --> 00:33:36.166
of physical, mental
and social disorders.

00:33:37.327 --> 00:33:41.294
Human wants, on the other hand,
are cultural manifestations

00:33:41.434 --> 00:33:45.615
which have undergone enormous subjective
change over the course of time,

00:33:45.755 --> 00:33:48.945
revealing in truth something
of an arbitrary nature.

00:33:49.085 --> 00:33:53.703
This isn't to say neurotic
attachments can't be made to wants,

00:33:53.843 --> 00:33:57.427
so much so that they start
to take the role of needs.

00:33:57.567 --> 00:34:01.859
That's a phenomenon that occurs readily
in our materialistic society, in fact.

00:34:02.000 --> 00:34:05.938
This is exactly why the previously
noted wealth-imbalance issues,

00:34:06.078 --> 00:34:08.496
namely the
psychosocial-stress response

00:34:08.637 --> 00:34:12.072
resulting from social
comparison, is what it is.

00:34:12.511 --> 00:34:15.905
It's a part of our evolutionary
psychology in many ways.

00:34:16.045 --> 00:34:18.755
But this is partly why more
unequal societies also

00:34:18.896 --> 00:34:22.800
are the more unhealthy societies,
because we perpetuate it.

00:34:23.545 --> 00:34:26.804
The Zeitgeist Movement is not promoting
an infinite universal abundance

00:34:26.944 --> 00:34:30.159
of all things, which is clearly
impossible on a finite planet.

00:34:30.300 --> 00:34:34.228
Rather, it promotes a "post-scarcity'"
or "abundance" worldview,

00:34:34.369 --> 00:34:37.956
with an active recognition of the
natural limits of consumption

00:34:38.097 --> 00:34:41.199
on the planet while
seeking equilibrium.

00:34:42.652 --> 00:34:45.652
And what separates the world
today from the world of the past

00:34:45.793 --> 00:34:48.405
is that our scientific and
technological capacity

00:34:48.545 --> 00:34:51.106
has reached an accelerating
point of efficiency

00:34:51.246 --> 00:34:54.795
where creating a high standard of
living for all the world's people

00:34:54.936 --> 00:34:57.514
based on current cultural
preferences, in fact,

00:34:57.654 --> 00:35:01.212
is now possible within these
sustainable boundaries

00:35:01.352 --> 00:35:05.422
without the destructive need to
compete through the market mechanism.

00:35:06.805 --> 00:35:10.490
This is made by what has been
called "ephemeralization,"

00:35:10.630 --> 00:35:14.237
a term coined by engineer R.
Buckminster Fuller,

00:35:14.377 --> 00:35:16.336
and the recognition
is very simple.

00:35:16.476 --> 00:35:20.260
The amount of resources and energy
needed to achieve any given task

00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:22.722
has constantly
decreased over time,

00:35:22.862 --> 00:35:27.180
while the efficiency of that task
has increased, paradoxically.

00:35:27.700 --> 00:35:30.159
An example is wireless
satellite communication

00:35:30.300 --> 00:35:32.659
which uses exponentially
less materials

00:35:32.799 --> 00:35:35.690
than traditional
large-gauge copper wire

00:35:35.830 --> 00:35:38.573
and is more versatile
and effective.

00:35:39.315 --> 00:35:42.630
In other words, we are doing
more with less continually,

00:35:42.770 --> 00:35:45.859
and this trend can be noticed in all
areas of industrial development

00:35:45.999 --> 00:35:48.276
from computer processing
or Moore's Law

00:35:48.416 --> 00:35:53.329
to the rapid acceleration of human
knowledge or information technology.

00:35:56.022 --> 00:35:57.859
And it isn't just
physical goods.

00:35:58.000 --> 00:36:00.534
It also applies to
processes or systems.

00:36:00.674 --> 00:36:03.059
For example, the labor system,
via automation today,

00:36:03.200 --> 00:36:05.111
shows the exact same pattern.

00:36:05.251 --> 00:36:09.534
Industry has become more
productive with less people,

00:36:09.897 --> 00:36:12.122
ever-increasing
machine performance,

00:36:12.262 --> 00:36:17.209
with ever-decreasing energy and
material needs over time per operation.

00:36:18.600 --> 00:36:21.281
As a brief tangent,
some might have noticed

00:36:21.421 --> 00:36:23.901
I keep saying this phrase

00:36:24.041 --> 00:36:26.524
"High Standard of Living.
" What does that mean?

00:36:26.664 --> 00:36:29.567
Who is to say what a high
standard of living should be?

00:36:29.707 --> 00:36:33.196
The answer to that question
is not "who," it is "what."

00:36:33.336 --> 00:36:36.455
And "what" determines
our standard of living

00:36:36.595 --> 00:36:39.234
is the current state of
technology in many ways,

00:36:39.374 --> 00:36:41.759
and what is required to keep

00:36:41.900 --> 00:36:45.554
social and environmental
sustainability on a finite planet.

00:36:45.694 --> 00:36:47.849
That's basically the equation.

00:36:48.938 --> 00:36:52.347
If we as a society wish to keep the
value of constant materialism,

00:36:52.487 --> 00:36:57.096
growth, and consumption, promoting
the virtue of having infinite wants

00:36:57.236 --> 00:37:00.031
then we might as well just
kill ourselves right now,

00:37:00.171 --> 00:37:02.964
as that is going to be the end
result if we continue to push past

00:37:03.104 --> 00:37:06.641
the limits of the physical world with
respect to our resource exploitation

00:37:06.781 --> 00:37:09.119
and the loss of biodiversity.

00:37:09.259 --> 00:37:12.063
So I want to make it very clear:
this new economic proposal

00:37:12.203 --> 00:37:15.193
isn't just about seeing how the
market is obsolete per se,

00:37:15.333 --> 00:37:19.140
given our new powerful awarenesses
of technical efficiency;

00:37:19.280 --> 00:37:22.372
it is also about the
fact that we need

00:37:22.512 --> 00:37:26.342
to get out of the market
paradigm as fast as we can

00:37:26.482 --> 00:37:29.200
before it causes
even more damage.

00:37:30.633 --> 00:37:32.564
OK, Post-Scarcity.

00:37:32.704 --> 00:37:35.344
The four categories I want to
cover in detail regarding this

00:37:35.484 --> 00:37:38.461
are food, water, energy,
and material goods.

00:37:38.601 --> 00:37:41.245
Please note that for
food, energy, and water

00:37:41.385 --> 00:37:44.630
this is actually a very
conservative assessment,

00:37:44.770 --> 00:37:47.643
using statistics and
measures based only

00:37:47.783 --> 00:37:51.240
on existing methods that have
been put into industrial use,

00:37:51.380 --> 00:37:54.621
not theoretical things that
people talk about all the time.

00:37:54.761 --> 00:37:57.028
And all I'm going to
do is scale this out,

00:37:57.168 --> 00:37:59.849
applying a systems
theory context.

00:38:00.218 --> 00:38:01.454
Food.

00:38:01.594 --> 00:38:04.207
According to the United Nations, one
out of every eight people on Earth-

00:38:04.307 --> 00:38:08.247
nearly one billion people- suffer
from chronic undernourishment.

00:38:10.639 --> 00:38:13.616
Yet it is admitted that there
is enough food produced today

00:38:13.756 --> 00:38:15.838
by traditional market
methods alone,

00:38:15.978 --> 00:38:20.759
to provide everyone in the world with
at least 2,720 kilocalories per day

00:38:20.900 --> 00:38:24.343
which is more then enough to
maintain basic health for most.

00:38:24.483 --> 00:38:26.914
Therefore, just in
principle right now,

00:38:27.054 --> 00:38:30.730
the existence of such a large-scale
number of chronically hungry people

00:38:30.870 --> 00:38:34.220
reveals at a minimum that there
is something fundamentally wrong

00:38:34.360 --> 00:38:37.707
with the global industrial
and economic process.

00:38:39.190 --> 00:38:42.761
According to the Institution
of Mechanical Engineers,

00:38:42.901 --> 00:38:46.411
"It is estimated that
30-50% of all food produced

00:38:46.551 --> 00:38:48.663
never reaches a human stomach

00:38:48.803 --> 00:38:51.286
and this figure does not reflect
the fact that large amounts

00:38:51.386 --> 00:38:54.618
of land, energy, fertilizers,
and water have also been lost

00:38:55.198 --> 00:38:59.145
in the production of foodstuffs
which simply end up as waste."

00:39:00.700 --> 00:39:03.302
While there is certainly an
imperative to consider the relevance

00:39:03.402 --> 00:39:06.292
of these waste patterns, it
appears that the most effective

00:39:06.472 --> 00:39:10.283
and practical means to overcome
this global deficiency entirely

00:39:10.423 --> 00:39:13.865
is to update the system
of food production itself

00:39:14.005 --> 00:39:16.956
with the most strategic
localization

00:39:17.096 --> 00:39:20.924
in order to reduce the waste
caused by inefficiencies

00:39:21.064 --> 00:39:23.619
in the current
global supply chain.

00:39:24.328 --> 00:39:27.097
Perhaps the most promising of these
arrangements is something called

00:39:27.237 --> 00:39:30.137
vertical farming which I
assume many are familiar with.

00:39:30.277 --> 00:39:32.606
Vertical farming has been put
to test in a number of regions

00:39:32.746 --> 00:39:36.439
with extremely promising results
regarding efficiency and conservation.

00:39:36.579 --> 00:39:39.032
This method of abundant food
production will not only

00:39:39.172 --> 00:39:43.040
use less resources per unit
output, causing less waste,

00:39:43.180 --> 00:39:45.259
have a reduced
ecological footprint,

00:39:45.400 --> 00:39:47.459
increase food quality
and the like,

00:39:47.600 --> 00:39:50.593
it will also use less
surface of the planet,

00:39:50.733 --> 00:39:53.663
uses less land area
than we're doing today.

00:39:53.803 --> 00:39:57.559
It can even be done offshore-
it's that versatile-

00:39:57.700 --> 00:40:00.402
enabling types of food as well,
that certain climates and regions

00:40:00.542 --> 00:40:03.029
simply couldn't produce
because it's enclosed.

00:40:03.861 --> 00:40:06.562
A vertical farm system in
Singapore, for example,

00:40:06.702 --> 00:40:08.759
custom built, a
transparent enclosure,

00:40:08.900 --> 00:40:11.359
uses a closed loop
automated hydraulic system

00:40:11.500 --> 00:40:14.617
to rotate the crops in
circles between sunlight

00:40:14.757 --> 00:40:16.620
and organic nutrient treatment,

00:40:16.760 --> 00:40:22.200
costing only about $3 a month in
electricity for each enclosure.

00:40:22.724 --> 00:40:26.041
This system also has
reported to have 10 times

00:40:26.181 --> 00:40:29.960
more productivity per square
foot than conventional farming,

00:40:30.100 --> 00:40:33.686
again, using much less water,
labor, and fertilizer.

00:40:34.300 --> 00:40:37.171
Students at Columbia
University in the US

00:40:37.311 --> 00:40:41.625
determined that in order to feed
50,000 people, a 30-story farm

00:40:41.765 --> 00:40:44.944
built on the size of a basic
city block would be needed,

00:40:45.084 --> 00:40:47.214
which is about 6.4 acres.

00:40:47.354 --> 00:40:50.901
If we extrapolate this in the context
of the city of Los Angeles, California

00:40:51.041 --> 00:40:54.620
(where I'm coming from) with a
population of about 4 million,

00:40:54.760 --> 00:40:58.430
with a total acreage
of about 318,000

00:40:58.570 --> 00:41:02.843
it would take roughly 78
structures to feed all residents.

00:41:03.469 --> 00:41:08.540
This amounts to about 0.1% of the
total land area of Los Angeles,

00:41:08.953 --> 00:41:11.180
to feed the entire population.

00:41:12.106 --> 00:41:14.112
If we apply this
extrapolation to the Earth

00:41:14.252 --> 00:41:17.994
and the human population of 7.2
billion, we end up needing about

00:41:18.134 --> 00:41:21.911
144,000 vertical farms
to feed the whole world.

00:41:22.051 --> 00:41:26.874
This amounts to about 921,000 acres
of land to place these farms

00:41:27.014 --> 00:41:30.034
which, given about 38%
of the Earth's land

00:41:30.174 --> 00:41:33.012
is currently being used for
traditional agriculture,

00:41:33.152 --> 00:41:36.499
we find that we only
need about 0.006%

00:41:36.639 --> 00:41:39.167
of the Earth's existing
agricultural land

00:41:39.307 --> 00:41:41.560
to meet production requirements.

00:41:41.700 --> 00:41:43.700
Let's be a little bit
more consistent.

00:41:43.870 --> 00:41:46.938
Within that 38% land-use
statistic for agriculture,

00:41:47.078 --> 00:41:49.972
much of that land is also used
for livestock cultivation,

00:41:50.112 --> 00:41:52.444
not just crop cultivation.

00:41:52.584 --> 00:41:54.914
So, if we were to
theoretically take

00:41:55.054 --> 00:41:58.660
only the crop production
land currently being used,

00:41:58.800 --> 00:42:03.021
which is about 4 billion acres,
replacing land-based cultivation

00:42:03.161 --> 00:42:08.300
by dropping these 30-story vertical
farms side-by-side in theory,

00:42:08.865 --> 00:42:12.798
the food output would be enough to
meet the nutritional needs to feed

00:42:12.938 --> 00:42:15.810
34.4 trillion people.

00:42:18.417 --> 00:42:22.619
Given that we only need to
feed about 9 billion by 2050,

00:42:22.759 --> 00:42:28.681
we only need to harness about 0.02%
of this theoretical capacity, which

00:42:28.832 --> 00:42:32.971
it could be argued, makes rather moot
any seemingly practical objections

00:42:33.111 --> 00:42:36.160
common to the aforementioned
extrapolation.

00:42:36.300 --> 00:42:40.487
In short, we have absolute
global food abundance potential.

00:42:42.007 --> 00:42:43.365
Water.

00:42:43.505 --> 00:42:46.514
According to the World Health
Organization about 2.6 billion people-

00:42:46.654 --> 00:42:49.468
half of the developing world-
lack proper sanitation

00:42:49.608 --> 00:42:52.396
and about 1.1 billion
people have no access

00:42:52.536 --> 00:42:54.723
to any type of clean
drinking sources.

00:42:54.863 --> 00:42:57.974
Due to ongoing
depletion, by 2025,

00:42:58.114 --> 00:43:01.046
it is estimated that
almost 2 billion people

00:43:01.186 --> 00:43:04.137
will live in areas plagued
by water scarcity

00:43:04.277 --> 00:43:07.461
with 2/3 of the entire
world population living

00:43:07.601 --> 00:43:10.041
in water-stressed areas.

00:43:11.180 --> 00:43:14.160
The cause?
Obviously waste and pollution.

00:43:14.300 --> 00:43:16.684
But I'm not going
to talk about that-

00:43:16.824 --> 00:43:19.359
the details, causes and prevention;
that's not the point of this.

00:43:19.500 --> 00:43:23.219
Rather, let's take again, a
technological capacity approach only,

00:43:23.359 --> 00:43:27.924
considering modern purification
and modern desalination systems

00:43:28.064 --> 00:43:30.373
on the macro-industrial scale.

00:43:31.400 --> 00:43:33.188
Purification.

00:43:33.328 --> 00:43:38.600
The average person today globally
uses about 1,385m³ of water per year.

00:43:38.740 --> 00:43:43.200
This factors in all industrial
activity as well, such as agriculture.

00:43:43.907 --> 00:43:46.920
For the sake of argument, let's
consider what it would take to purify

00:43:47.060 --> 00:43:52.917
all the fresh water currently being
used in the world on average annually.

00:43:53.411 --> 00:43:57.590
Given the global
average of 1,385m³

00:43:57.730 --> 00:44:00.080
and a population of 7.2 billion,

00:44:00.220 --> 00:44:03.902
we arrive at a total annual
use of about 10 trillion m³.

00:44:05.004 --> 00:44:10.560
Using a New York State USA
UV-disinfection plant as a base measure,

00:44:11.120 --> 00:44:15.123
which has an output capacity of roughly
3 billion cubic meters a year,

00:44:15.500 --> 00:44:18.945
taking up about 3.7
acres of land,

00:44:19.085 --> 00:44:22.030
we would need 3,327 plants

00:44:22.170 --> 00:44:27.109
to purify all the water used by
the entire global population,

00:44:27.249 --> 00:44:30.182
taking up about
12,000 acres of land.

00:44:30.884 --> 00:44:33.959
Needless to say, there are many
other factors that come into play,

00:44:34.099 --> 00:44:36.731
such as power needs, location, and the like.
That's fair enough.

00:44:36.871 --> 00:44:39.465
However, this is a
minor inconvenience.

00:44:39.605 --> 00:44:41.874
12,000 acres is
nothing compared to

00:44:42.014 --> 00:44:46.112
the 36 billion acres of
land on the planet Earth.

00:44:47.183 --> 00:44:50.471
To give this a more practical
example, the US military

00:44:50.611 --> 00:44:54.788
alone has about 845,000
military bases

00:44:55.800 --> 00:44:58.109
and buildings, I
should say, as well.

00:44:58.249 --> 00:45:02.939
This has been reported to take up about
30 million acres of land globally.

00:45:03.954 --> 00:45:08.327
Only 0.04% of that
land would be needed

00:45:08.467 --> 00:45:12.360
to disinfect the total fresh
water use of the entire world

00:45:12.500 --> 00:45:15.839
if that were even needed,
which of course it is not.

00:45:16.975 --> 00:45:18.545
Desalination.

00:45:18.946 --> 00:45:22.378
Let's run the same theoretical
extrapolation on desalination.

00:45:22.518 --> 00:45:26.044
The most common method of desalination
used today is called reverse osmosis,

00:45:26.184 --> 00:45:29.459
and according the International
Desalination Association,

00:45:29.600 --> 00:45:33.500
it accounts for 60% of the
installed capacity globally.

00:45:33.640 --> 00:45:36.719
There are a lot of other methods
that are emerging quite rapidly

00:45:36.859 --> 00:45:40.285
with high levels of efficiency [which]
can move water much more quickly.

00:45:40.385 --> 00:45:42.385
But I'm not going to talk about that.
I want to stay only

00:45:42.485 --> 00:45:44.485
within the common
methods applied today.

00:45:44.585 --> 00:45:46.585
But keep in mind that
everything I'm speaking of

00:45:46.685 --> 00:45:49.235
has dramatic improvements
coming very soon.

00:45:49.358 --> 00:45:51.358
There's an advanced
reversed osmosis

00:45:51.469 --> 00:45:53.935
seawater desalinization
plant in Australia

00:45:54.075 --> 00:45:57.710
that can produce about 150
million m³ of fresh water a year

00:45:57.850 --> 00:46:00.318
while occupying about 50 acres.

00:46:00.458 --> 00:46:03.809
Given the total annual water
use of the world today,

00:46:03.949 --> 00:46:06.629
- it's about 10 trillion
cubic meters again -

00:46:06.769 --> 00:46:09.147
it would take about
60,000 plants to produce

00:46:09.287 --> 00:46:11.691
current global water
usage in total.

00:46:11.831 --> 00:46:14.660
Using the dimensions of that
plant, which is quite large,

00:46:14.800 --> 00:46:18.322
such a feat would take about
18,000 miles of coast land,

00:46:18.462 --> 00:46:21.839
or about 8.5% of the
world's coast land.

00:46:22.408 --> 00:46:25.501
Obviously, that's not really ideal,
that's a lot of coast land,

00:46:25.641 --> 00:46:27.788
but this exercise is
about proportion.

00:46:27.928 --> 00:46:31.140
Clearly, we do not need to
desalinate all water used,

00:46:31.280 --> 00:46:34.440
nor would we bypass the use
of purification processes

00:46:34.580 --> 00:46:39.476
or ignore the vast reforms needed to
preserve efficiency and fresh water

00:46:39.616 --> 00:46:43.559
or, equally as important, the reuse
schemes that are coming to fruition

00:46:43.700 --> 00:46:46.567
where buildings are able to
use water in multiple ways

00:46:46.707 --> 00:46:49.914
by recycling water that comes
from a sink into toilets,

00:46:50.054 --> 00:46:54.107
and other mechanisms that unfortunately
go unused for the vast majority.

00:46:55.159 --> 00:46:58.208
Let's do a slightly more practical
real life extrapolation,

00:46:58.348 --> 00:47:00.916
combining only purification
and desalination

00:47:01.056 --> 00:47:03.980
with actual regional
scarcity statistics.

00:47:04.299 --> 00:47:07.591
On the continent of Africa,
roughly 345 million people

00:47:07.731 --> 00:47:09.743
lack access to freshwater.

00:47:09.883 --> 00:47:12.613
If we apply the noted global
average consumption rate

00:47:12.753 --> 00:47:15.860
again of 1,385m³ a year,

00:47:16.135 --> 00:47:20.400
seeking to provide each of those
345 million people that amount,

00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:24.800
we would need about 480 billion
cubic meters produced annually.

00:47:25.400 --> 00:47:29.261
If we divided this number in half
and use purification systems

00:47:29.401 --> 00:47:32.281
for one section and
desalination for the other,

00:47:32.421 --> 00:47:35.582
the desalination process
would need about 1.9%

00:47:35.722 --> 00:47:40.083
or 494 miles of coastline for
desalination facilities,

00:47:40.808 --> 00:47:45.758
and only about 296 acres of land
for purification facilities,

00:47:45.898 --> 00:47:49.185
which is a minuscule fraction
of Africa's total land mass

00:47:49.325 --> 00:47:51.343
of about 7 billion acres.

00:47:51.483 --> 00:47:54.489
So, this is highly doable
even in this crude example.

00:47:54.629 --> 00:47:59.823
In all cases, we would strategically
maximize purification processes

00:47:59.963 --> 00:48:02.134
since it is clearly
more efficient

00:48:02.274 --> 00:48:06.069
while using desalination
for the remaining demand.

00:48:06.663 --> 00:48:08.938
In short, it's absurd for
anyone on this planet

00:48:09.078 --> 00:48:12.376
to be going without freshwater,
not to mention, as an aside,

00:48:12.516 --> 00:48:16.458
70% of all freshwater used today

00:48:16.598 --> 00:48:22.127
is used in agriculture in our grossly
wasteful agricultural methods. 70%!

00:48:22.921 --> 00:48:25.810
If we, for example, apply
again vertical farm systems

00:48:25.950 --> 00:48:30.438
which have been noted to reduce water
by upwards of 80% in comparison,

00:48:30.678 --> 00:48:32.295
we would see an
enormous freeing up

00:48:32.435 --> 00:48:36.147
of this unnecessarily
scarce resource as well.

00:48:36.487 --> 00:48:38.280
Moving on to Energy.

00:48:38.420 --> 00:48:42.800
We live in one massive perpetual
motion machine known as the Universe.

00:48:43.229 --> 00:48:46.660
The fact that we still use polluting
fossil fuel stores in the Earth

00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:49.590
or the incredibly unstable
nuclear phenomenon

00:48:49.730 --> 00:48:52.760
which gives very little
room for human fallibility

00:48:52.900 --> 00:48:54.976
is truly frightening.

00:48:55.640 --> 00:48:58.861
There are four main
large capacity

00:48:59.001 --> 00:49:02.345
"base-load," as they would
say, renewable energy means

00:49:02.485 --> 00:49:04.708
which are currently most ideal

00:49:04.848 --> 00:49:08.057
as per our current state of
technological application.

00:49:08.197 --> 00:49:11.111
These are geothermal
plants, wind farms,

00:49:11.251 --> 00:49:14.060
solar fields, and
water-based power.

00:49:14.200 --> 00:49:16.766
Due to time I'm not going to
explain what these mediums are

00:49:16.906 --> 00:49:19.242
as I assume most know.
I'm just going to run through

00:49:19.382 --> 00:49:21.367
the abundance comparison.

00:49:21.507 --> 00:49:22.685
Geothermal.

00:49:22.825 --> 00:49:25.610
A 2006 MIT report on
geothermal found that

00:49:25.750 --> 00:49:29.326
13,000 zettajoules of power are
currently available in the Earth

00:49:29.466 --> 00:49:32.690
with the possibility of 2000
zettajoules being harvestable

00:49:32.830 --> 00:49:35.180
with improved technology.

00:49:35.452 --> 00:49:38.255
The total energy consumption of
all the countries on the planet

00:49:38.395 --> 00:49:41.337
is only about half a
zettajoule a year.

00:49:41.477 --> 00:49:44.230
This means literally thousands
of years of planetary power

00:49:44.370 --> 00:49:47.033
could be harnessed in
this medium alone.

00:49:47.173 --> 00:49:51.870
Geothermal energy also uses much
less land than other energy sources.

00:49:52.592 --> 00:49:55.523
Over 30 years, a period of
time commonly used to compare

00:49:55.663 --> 00:49:59.562
the life cycle impacts from
different power sources,

00:49:59.984 --> 00:50:03.385
it was found that a
geothermal facility

00:50:03.525 --> 00:50:08.860
uses 404 m² of land
per gigawatt hour

00:50:09.000 --> 00:50:10.838
while a coal facility

00:50:10.978 --> 00:50:15.968
uses 3,632 m² per gigawatt hour.

00:50:16.688 --> 00:50:19.859
If we were to do a basic
comparison of geothermal to coal

00:50:20.000 --> 00:50:22.897
given this ratio of m² to GWh

00:50:23.037 --> 00:50:25.343
we find that we could fit
about 9 geothermal plants

00:50:25.483 --> 00:50:27.674
in the space of one coal plant.

00:50:27.814 --> 00:50:30.892
And that isn't accounting
for the vast amount of land

00:50:31.032 --> 00:50:33.032
that is currently used
for coal extraction-

00:50:33.165 --> 00:50:36.360
you know, those huge holes
that we see in the earth.

00:50:36.500 --> 00:50:39.048
By the way, the beauty of
geothermal, and in fact,

00:50:39.188 --> 00:50:43.240
all of the renewables I'm going
to speak of, is that extraction

00:50:43.380 --> 00:50:47.303
or the harnessing location is
almost always the exact same place

00:50:47.443 --> 00:50:50.933
as processing for the power
distribution as well.

00:50:51.073 --> 00:50:54.960
All hydrocarbon sources on the
other hand require both extraction

00:50:55.100 --> 00:50:58.675
and power production facilities
almost always in separate locations,

00:50:58.815 --> 00:51:02.122
sometimes refineries as well,
in separate locations.

00:51:02.769 --> 00:51:06.627
In 2013, it was announced that
a 1,000 megawatt power station

00:51:06.767 --> 00:51:08.948
was to begin construction
in Ethiopia.

00:51:09.088 --> 00:51:13.000
We're going to use this as a base,
theoretical for extrapolation.

00:51:13.769 --> 00:51:18.300
If a 1000-megawatt geothermal power
station operated at full capacity

00:51:18.730 --> 00:51:21.265
24 hours a day, 365 days a year,

00:51:21.405 --> 00:51:25.700
it would produce 8.7
million MWh a year.

00:51:26.261 --> 00:51:29.458
The world's current annual
energy usage is about

00:51:29.598 --> 00:51:34.642
153 billion MWh a year, which would
mean it would take in abstraction

00:51:34.782 --> 00:51:38.831
about 17,000 geothermal
plants to match global use.

00:51:40.160 --> 00:51:44.997
There are over 2,300 coal power
plants in operation worldwide today.

00:51:45.137 --> 00:51:48.701
Using the aforementioned
plant-sized capacity comparison

00:51:48.841 --> 00:51:52.667
of about nine geothermal plants
fitting into one coal plant,

00:51:52.807 --> 00:51:57.084
the space of 1,940 coal plants
would be needed in theory

00:51:57.224 --> 00:52:00.625
to contain the 17,000
geothermal plants

00:52:00.765 --> 00:52:04.403
or 84% of the total
in existence.

00:52:04.870 --> 00:52:07.669
Also, given that coal
accounts for only 41%

00:52:07.809 --> 00:52:09.860
of today's current
energy production,

00:52:10.000 --> 00:52:12.684
this theoretical
extrapolation also shows

00:52:12.824 --> 00:52:17.420
how in 84% of the current
space used by coal plants,

00:52:17.560 --> 00:52:24.011
geothermal could supply 100%
of total global power supply.

00:52:25.646 --> 00:52:27.508
Wind Farms.

00:52:27.648 --> 00:52:30.762
It's been calculated that today
with existing turbine technology,

00:52:30.902 --> 00:52:33.108
which is improving rapidly,
that Earth could produce

00:52:33.248 --> 00:52:36.040
hundreds of trillions of watts
of power, many more times

00:52:36.180 --> 00:52:38.871
than what the world
consumes, overall.

00:52:39.011 --> 00:52:41.649
However, breaking this
down, using the 9,000 acre

00:52:41.789 --> 00:52:45.034
Alta Wind Center in California
as a theoretical basis,

00:52:45.174 --> 00:52:50.509
which has an active capacity
of 1,320 MW of power,

00:52:50.649 --> 00:52:54.986
a theoretical annual output of
11 million MWh is possible.

00:52:55.536 --> 00:52:58.780
This means 13,000

00:52:59.209 --> 00:53:02.422
9,000-acre wind farms
would be needed to meet

00:53:02.562 --> 00:53:06.800
total global demand
of 153 billion MWh.

00:53:07.487 --> 00:53:11.029
This requires about 119
million acres of land

00:53:11.169 --> 00:53:15.500
or 0.3% of the Earth's surface

00:53:15.790 --> 00:53:18.618
to power the world
in abstraction.

00:53:18.758 --> 00:53:21.796
However as some may
know, offshore wind

00:53:21.936 --> 00:53:24.636
is typically much more
powerful than land-based.

00:53:24.776 --> 00:53:27.190
According to the Assessment

00:53:27.916 --> 00:53:31.980
of Offshore Wind Energy Resources
for the United States, a report:

00:53:32.120 --> 00:53:36.715
4,150 gigawatts of potential
wind turbine technology-

00:53:36.855 --> 00:53:39.615
turbine capacity- from
offshore wind resources

00:53:39.755 --> 00:53:43.060
are available in the
United States alone.

00:53:43.200 --> 00:53:46.778
Assuming this power capacity was
consistent for a whole year,

00:53:46.918 --> 00:53:51.658
we end up with an energy conversion
of 36 billion MWh a year.

00:53:52.171 --> 00:53:54.697
Given the United States in 2010

00:53:54.837 --> 00:53:57.860
used 25.7 billion MWh,

00:53:58.216 --> 00:54:01.073
we find that offshore
wind harvesting alone

00:54:01.213 --> 00:54:03.535
could exceed the national use

00:54:03.675 --> 00:54:08.000
by about 10.6
billion MWh or 41%.

00:54:08.706 --> 00:54:11.653
And axiomatically,
extrapolating this national

00:54:11.793 --> 00:54:15.181
level of capacity to the rest
of the world's coast lines,

00:54:16.035 --> 00:54:20.302
also taking into account the
aforementioned land-based statistics,

00:54:20.890 --> 00:54:24.818
it is clear that we can power
the world many, many times over

00:54:24.958 --> 00:54:27.438
with wind, and
quite practically.

00:54:28.924 --> 00:54:30.739
Solar Fields.

00:54:31.633 --> 00:54:35.498
If humanity could capture 0.1% of the
solar energy striking the Earth,

00:54:35.638 --> 00:54:37.991
we would have access to
six times as much energy

00:54:38.131 --> 00:54:40.589
we consume in all forms today.

00:54:40.729 --> 00:54:43.214
The ability to harness this
power depends on technology

00:54:43.354 --> 00:54:46.999
and how high the percentage
of radiation conversion is.

00:54:47.662 --> 00:54:51.142
The Ivanpah Solar Electric
System in California:

00:54:51.282 --> 00:54:53.601
it's a 3,500-acre field

00:54:53.741 --> 00:54:57.314
with an annual stated generation
of about one million MWh.

00:54:57.454 --> 00:55:01.250
If we were to extrapolate using
this as a theoretical basis,

00:55:02.476 --> 00:55:07.520
it would take about 142,000 fields
or about 500 million acres of land

00:55:07.660 --> 00:55:10.654
to theoretically meet
current global energy use.

00:55:10.794 --> 00:55:14.368
That's about 1.5% of
total land on Earth.

00:55:15.228 --> 00:55:20.040
Deserts cover about 1/3 of the
world or about 12 billion acres,

00:55:20.180 --> 00:55:23.146
and they tend to be fairly
conducive to solar fields,

00:55:23.286 --> 00:55:26.746
while often less conducive
to life support for people.

00:55:26.886 --> 00:55:30.640
Given the roughly
500 million acres

00:55:30.780 --> 00:55:33.372
theoretically needed to
power the world as noted,

00:55:33.512 --> 00:55:37.038
only 4.1% of the world's
deserts would be needed

00:55:37.178 --> 00:55:39.360
to contain these fields,

00:55:39.500 --> 00:55:42.446
land that pretty much just
otherwise sits there.

00:55:44.122 --> 00:55:45.794
Water-Based Power.

00:55:45.934 --> 00:55:49.774
There are five dominant types of
water-based power: wave, tidal,

00:55:49.914 --> 00:55:51.950
ocean current, osmotic,

00:55:52.090 --> 00:55:54.726
ocean thermal, and water course.

00:55:54.866 --> 00:55:58.195
Overall, the technology for
harnessing ocean in general

00:55:58.335 --> 00:56:01.284
is in its infancy, but
the potential is vast.

00:56:01.424 --> 00:56:04.008
And based on
traditional estimates

00:56:04.148 --> 00:56:07.303
here is what the accepted
global potentials

00:56:07.443 --> 00:56:10.823
have been estimated at
using existing methods;

00:56:10.963 --> 00:56:15.243
we're not applying advanced technology
that's not in application yet.

00:56:16.084 --> 00:56:20.596
This all figures up to be
about 150,000 TWh/year

00:56:20.736 --> 00:56:23.587
or 96% of current global use

00:56:24.094 --> 00:56:26.360
of the half of a zettajoule,

00:56:26.500 --> 00:56:30.911
pretty much enough to power the world
in one medium alone if applied.

00:56:31.451 --> 00:56:34.025
However to give a sense of
growing technological potential

00:56:34.165 --> 00:56:37.108
(because I think this is important
considering how technology

00:56:37.248 --> 00:56:40.969
and water-oriented power
is deeply in its infancy)

00:56:41.109 --> 00:56:44.453
recent developments in 'ocean
current' harnessing technology

00:56:44.593 --> 00:56:46.668
(the currents that go
underneath the ocean)

00:56:46.808 --> 00:56:49.760
which can embrace much lower
speeds now than they used to,

00:56:49.900 --> 00:56:53.035
it has estimated that ocean
current alone could now

00:56:53.175 --> 00:56:57.000
theoretically power the entire
world if applied correctly.

00:56:58.779 --> 00:57:00.346
So, let's recap.

00:57:00.810 --> 00:57:03.713
Wind, solar, water and
geothermal have shown,

00:57:03.853 --> 00:57:06.800
as large scale, base-load
renewable energy mediums,

00:57:06.940 --> 00:57:11.216
that they are capable, individually,
of meeting or vastly exceeding

00:57:11.356 --> 00:57:14.678
current annual global energy
consumption at this time.

00:57:14.818 --> 00:57:19.341
And obviously a systems approach,
harmonizing an optimized fraction

00:57:19.481 --> 00:57:22.340
of each of those renewables
strategically is the key

00:57:22.480 --> 00:57:26.173
to achieving a global,
total energy abundance.

00:57:26.929 --> 00:57:29.277
For example, it's not
inconceivable to imagine

00:57:29.417 --> 00:57:32.010
a series of man-made
floating islands

00:57:32.150 --> 00:57:35.872
off select coastlines which are
designed to harness, at once,

00:57:36.012 --> 00:57:40.860
wind, solar, thermal difference,
wave, tidal and currents,

00:57:41.000 --> 00:57:43.630
all at the same time and
in the same general area.

00:57:43.770 --> 00:57:47.586
Such energy islands would then
pipe their harvest back to land

00:57:47.726 --> 00:57:49.836
for storage and distribution.

00:57:49.976 --> 00:57:54.279
It is only up to our design ingenuity
to figure things like this out.

00:57:55.712 --> 00:57:58.027
Localization and Reuse.

00:57:58.167 --> 00:58:00.395
The final energy factor
I want to mention,

00:58:00.535 --> 00:58:03.591
which builds upon this
systems-thinking explicitly,

00:58:03.731 --> 00:58:07.500
has to do with localization
and re-use schemes.

00:58:08.416 --> 00:58:11.323
Localized energy harnessing
isn't given a fraction

00:58:11.463 --> 00:58:13.588
of the attention it needs today.

00:58:13.728 --> 00:58:16.449
Smaller scale renewable methods
which are conducive to

00:58:16.590 --> 00:58:18.894
single structures or small areas

00:58:19.034 --> 00:58:22.430
find the same systems logic,
regarding combination.

00:58:22.943 --> 00:58:26.411
These local systems could also, if
need be, connect back into the larger

00:58:26.551 --> 00:58:30.812
base-load systems, creating a total,
mixed medium, integrated network

00:58:30.952 --> 00:58:33.981
which happens sometimes
today with solar.

00:58:34.121 --> 00:58:37.009
There are many localized systems
out there which can draw energy

00:58:37.150 --> 00:58:40.379
from the immediate environment:
there's solar power arrays,

00:58:40.519 --> 00:58:42.909
there's small wind
harvesting systems,

00:58:43.050 --> 00:58:45.234
localized geothermal
heating and cooling

00:58:45.374 --> 00:58:48.404
and even architectural design
that just simply makes

00:58:48.544 --> 00:58:51.388
natural light and heat/cool
preservation more efficient.

00:58:51.528 --> 00:58:53.579
Buckminster Fuller was great
with his dome structures

00:58:53.720 --> 00:58:57.361
and how they actually contained
energy quite well. Same idea.

00:58:57.501 --> 00:58:59.952
Extending outwards to
city infrastructure

00:59:00.092 --> 00:59:04.033
we see the same wasted possible
efficiency almost everywhere.

00:59:04.173 --> 00:59:06.883
A simple technology
called piezoelectric

00:59:07.023 --> 00:59:11.315
is able to convert pressure and mechanical
energy directly into electricity.

00:59:11.455 --> 00:59:15.357
It's an excellent example of an energy
reuse method with great potential.

00:59:15.497 --> 00:59:17.892
Existing applications have
included power generation

00:59:18.032 --> 00:59:21.757
by people simply walking on these
engineered floors and sidewalks,

00:59:21.897 --> 00:59:25.079
streets which can generate power
as automobiles cross over them,

00:59:25.220 --> 00:59:28.009
and train rail systems which
can also capture energy

00:59:28.150 --> 00:59:31.006
from passing train
cars through pressure.

00:59:31.146 --> 00:59:34.650
It has been suggested by
people who have studied this

00:59:34.790 --> 00:59:38.240
that a stretch of road
less than one mile long,

00:59:38.380 --> 00:59:40.543
four lanes wide, a highway,

00:59:40.683 --> 00:59:43.422
and trafficked by about
1,000 vehicles per hour

00:59:43.562 --> 00:59:46.249
can create about 0.4
Megawatt of power,

00:59:46.390 --> 00:59:49.182
which is enough to
power 600 homes.

00:59:49.322 --> 00:59:52.491
Now extrapolate that out to the bulk
of all the highways in the world;

00:59:52.631 --> 00:59:56.071
you have a very, very powerful
regenerative energy source.

00:59:57.751 --> 01:00:01.098
Overall, if we think about the
enormous mechanical energy wasted

01:00:01.238 --> 01:00:04.758
by vehicle transport modes and
high-traffic walking centers alone,

01:00:04.898 --> 01:00:07.980
the potential of that possible
regenerated energy is quite substantial.

01:00:08.120 --> 01:00:10.686
It's this systems-thinking
once again that is needed

01:00:10.826 --> 01:00:13.169
in order to maintain
sustainability,

01:00:13.310 --> 01:00:17.819
while also pursuing this
global energy abundance.

01:00:18.651 --> 01:00:21.637
The final more complex
subject, energy aside,

01:00:21.777 --> 01:00:24.703
will be the subject
of material abundance

01:00:24.843 --> 01:00:26.890
and creating
life-supporting goods.

01:00:28.363 --> 01:00:32.621
Unlike the prior, more simple
post-scarcity categories of food,

01:00:32.761 --> 01:00:37.270
water and energy, the creation
of a broad material abundance

01:00:37.410 --> 01:00:41.460
of all basic goods, which comprise
the current average, you could say,

01:00:41.600 --> 01:00:45.029
of what is culturally considered a
'high standard of living' today

01:00:45.169 --> 01:00:47.481
is substantially more
radical in its need

01:00:47.621 --> 01:00:50.481
for industrial
revision and change.

01:00:51.075 --> 01:00:54.889
As expressed before, the current
highly inefficient methods

01:00:55.029 --> 01:00:59.342
we use in industrial design, production,
distribution and regeneration

01:00:59.482 --> 01:01:01.949
is one of the main reasons
we are in a constant state

01:01:02.090 --> 01:01:04.336
of global resource overshoot

01:01:04.476 --> 01:01:07.680
and destabilizing
biodiversity loss.

01:01:08.515 --> 01:01:11.749
Also as noted prior, there
is no market incentive

01:01:11.889 --> 01:01:13.889
for advanced states
of efficiency,

01:01:14.026 --> 01:01:16.889
as efficiency always reduces
the amount of labor,

01:01:17.029 --> 01:01:20.374
resources and service
needed for a given purpose;

01:01:20.514 --> 01:01:23.231
and hence, reduces
monetary circulation.

01:01:23.371 --> 01:01:25.503
I can't reinforce that enough.

01:01:25.643 --> 01:01:29.420
Therefore, a new synergistic
systems-view of industry

01:01:29.560 --> 01:01:33.415
focused explicitly on material
and labor efficiency,

01:01:33.555 --> 01:01:37.647
along with an optimized strategy
for sustainability, is in order.

01:01:38.179 --> 01:01:43.012
For the sake of time and as a lead-in
to the final section on calculation,

01:01:43.152 --> 01:01:45.644
I'm going to focus on a few
principles or protocols

01:01:45.784 --> 01:01:48.883
and how each protocol
assists efficiency

01:01:49.023 --> 01:01:51.761
towards this
post-scarcity abundance.

01:01:51.901 --> 01:01:54.503
Otherwise it would take an
enormous amount of time;

01:01:54.633 --> 01:01:56.633
it's not as simple as the
prior extrapolations.

01:01:56.737 --> 01:01:59.026
However, in this book that I mentioned
there will be a whole chapter

01:01:59.166 --> 01:02:02.451
dedicated to this issue
in great detail.

01:02:06.790 --> 01:02:08.826
(1) Access, not property.

01:02:09.633 --> 01:02:13.218
A property-based society
incentivizes the preference to own

01:02:13.900 --> 01:02:16.420
a given product,
rather than rent,

01:02:17.266 --> 01:02:19.489
or gain access to as needed.

01:02:19.629 --> 01:02:22.939
I'm a filmmaker and while I do
rent some things occasionally,

01:02:23.080 --> 01:02:26.382
it's much more cost-effective
and smart to buy things

01:02:26.522 --> 01:02:28.907
because they have resale value.

01:02:29.047 --> 01:02:32.045
This incentive of universal
ownership is incredibly wasteful

01:02:32.185 --> 01:02:35.883
when we examine actual use
time of a given good.

01:02:36.740 --> 01:02:40.698
Facilitating a means of access where
things can be literally shared

01:02:40.838 --> 01:02:44.573
will allow many more to gain use
of goods they otherwise could not,

01:02:44.713 --> 01:02:48.496
along with there being less production
of those goods in proportion.

01:02:48.609 --> 01:02:50.609
In a Natural Law/Resource
Based Economy

01:02:50.720 --> 01:02:55.264
we seek to create an access
abundance, not a property abundance

01:02:55.404 --> 01:02:57.729
which is inherently wasteful.

01:02:57.869 --> 01:03:01.616
As an aside, it's also important
to note that property

01:03:01.756 --> 01:03:03.979
is not an empirical concept.

01:03:04.119 --> 01:03:06.899
Only access is
empirically valid.

01:03:07.102 --> 01:03:09.843
Property is a protectionist
contrivance.

01:03:10.021 --> 01:03:13.153
Access is the reality of the
social and human condition.

01:03:13.293 --> 01:03:16.005
In order for you to truly
say "own" a computer,

01:03:16.145 --> 01:03:18.193
you have to have had alone

01:03:18.333 --> 01:03:22.096
come up with the entire technological
process that made that thing

01:03:22.236 --> 01:03:24.449
along with the ideas
that comprise the tools

01:03:24.589 --> 01:03:26.618
you might have used to
make that computer.

01:03:26.758 --> 01:03:29.116
This is literally impossible

01:03:29.256 --> 01:03:32.928
and is what destroys the
early labor theory of value

01:03:33.068 --> 01:03:36.421
(property is stuff that's put
forward by classical economists).

01:03:36.561 --> 01:03:39.790
There's no such thing as property.
There is only access and sharing,

01:03:39.930 --> 01:03:42.926
no matter what social
system you employ.

01:03:44.274 --> 01:03:46.518
(2) Designed-in Recycling

01:03:46.658 --> 01:03:49.532
Contrary to our intuition, there
is no such thing as waste

01:03:49.672 --> 01:03:51.277
in the natural world.

01:03:51.417 --> 01:03:54.050
Not only from the standpoint
of the biosphere which reuses

01:03:54.190 --> 01:03:55.893
everything in its process,

01:03:56.033 --> 01:04:00.968
the 92 main naturally occurring
elements in the periodic table

01:04:01.108 --> 01:04:04.724
that comprise all matter
cannot be exhausted.

01:04:05.251 --> 01:04:08.174
Humanity has given very little
consideration to the role

01:04:08.314 --> 01:04:11.842
of material regeneration, and
how all of our design practices

01:04:11.982 --> 01:04:14.836
must account for this recycling.

01:04:15.479 --> 01:04:18.342
In fact, as some may know, the
highest state of this recycling

01:04:18.482 --> 01:04:21.016
will eventually come in the
form of nanotechnology.

01:04:21.156 --> 01:04:23.894
Nanotechnology will eventually
be able to create goods

01:04:24.034 --> 01:04:28.195
from the atomic level up and
disassemble them right back down

01:04:28.335 --> 01:04:30.855
to the almost virtual
starting point.

01:04:30.995 --> 01:04:34.777
It is the ultimate form of recycling.
By the way, I'm not suggesting this.

01:04:34.917 --> 01:04:38.409
I'm not suggesting that nanotechnology
is even needed at this time,

01:04:38.550 --> 01:04:40.608
as though that that's what
we're doing right now.

01:04:40.748 --> 01:04:43.620
It's just [that] this is a
great principle to reference

01:04:43.760 --> 01:04:46.795
as far as regenerative
importance.

01:04:48.465 --> 01:04:51.714
Today, industry has little sense
of synergy in this context.

01:04:51.854 --> 01:04:54.680
Recycling is an afterthought.
Companies continue to do things

01:04:54.820 --> 01:04:58.169
such as blindly coat materials with
chemical paints, and the like,

01:04:58.310 --> 01:05:00.660
that distort the properties
of those materials,

01:05:00.800 --> 01:05:02.929
making the materials
less salvageable,

01:05:03.070 --> 01:05:06.349
or maybe completely unsalvageable,
to current recycling methods.

01:05:06.490 --> 01:05:09.129
It happens all the time.
So long story short,

01:05:09.269 --> 01:05:11.809
strategic recycling
just might be

01:05:11.949 --> 01:05:15.144
the most core seed of a
continued abundance.

01:05:15.601 --> 01:05:19.151
Every landfill on earth is
just a waste of potential.

01:05:20.262 --> 01:05:23.788
Number 3: Strategic
conformation of good design

01:05:23.928 --> 01:05:26.000
to the most conducive

01:05:26.140 --> 01:05:29.016
and abundant materials known.

01:05:30.005 --> 01:05:33.494
You will notice this efficiency
qualification in what I just said:

01:05:33.634 --> 01:05:36.224
conducive and abundant.

01:05:36.364 --> 01:05:40.997
Conducive means most appropriate
based on the material properties.

01:05:41.300 --> 01:05:44.539
Abundant means you weigh
the value of conduciveness

01:05:44.680 --> 01:05:48.958
against the value of how accessible
and low-impact the material is,

01:05:49.098 --> 01:05:53.681
compared to other materials which
may be more or less conducive.

01:05:54.345 --> 01:05:57.381
This is a synergistic
efficiency comparison.

01:05:57.521 --> 01:06:00.244
(I'm sorry if the language sounds
a little bit complicated.)

01:06:00.384 --> 01:06:04.735
Probably the best example of this
is home or domicile construction.

01:06:04.875 --> 01:06:08.061
The common use of wood, bricks,
screws and the vast array of parts

01:06:08.201 --> 01:06:12.954
that is typical of a common house is
comparatively, vastly inefficient

01:06:13.094 --> 01:06:18.105
to more modern, simplified
pre-fabrication or moldable materials.

01:06:18.648 --> 01:06:21.450
A traditional 2000 square-foot
home requires about

01:06:21.590 --> 01:06:24.109
40 to 50 trees, about an acre.

01:06:24.249 --> 01:06:27.779
Compare that with houses that can be
created in prefabrication processes

01:06:27.919 --> 01:06:30.664
with simple,
earth-friendly polymers,

01:06:30.804 --> 01:06:34.705
concrete, or other
easily formable methods.

01:06:34.845 --> 01:06:37.888
3D printing, for
example, is on pace.

01:06:38.761 --> 01:06:43.640
These new approaches have a very
small footprint as compared to

01:06:43.780 --> 01:06:47.058
our destruction of global forests
which continue, for wood.

01:06:47.198 --> 01:06:50.138
Home construction today is one
of the most resource intensive

01:06:50.278 --> 01:06:53.484
and wasteful industrial
mediums in the world,

01:06:53.624 --> 01:06:57.044
with about 40% of all materials
collected for construction

01:06:57.184 --> 01:06:59.438
ended up as waste in the end.

01:07:01.202 --> 01:07:04.779
Number 4: Design conduciveness
for labor automation.

01:07:04.920 --> 01:07:07.587
Now this is very
foreign to many.

01:07:07.727 --> 01:07:10.418
The more we conform
to the current state

01:07:10.558 --> 01:07:13.703
of rapid, efficient
production processes,

01:07:13.843 --> 01:07:16.464
obviously, the more
abundance we can create.

01:07:16.604 --> 01:07:19.832
If you read texts on
manufacturing processes,

01:07:19.972 --> 01:07:22.732
they typically divide labor
into three categories.

01:07:22.872 --> 01:07:26.749
There's human assembly, there's
mechanization and there's automation.

01:07:26.889 --> 01:07:28.955
Human assembly means handmade,

01:07:29.095 --> 01:07:32.189
mechanization means machines
assist the laborer,

01:07:32.329 --> 01:07:34.948
and automation means
no human action.

01:07:36.681 --> 01:07:40.064
Imagine if you needed a chair
and there were three designs.

01:07:40.204 --> 01:07:44.100
The first is elaborate and complex,
and could only be done by hand.

01:07:44.240 --> 01:07:46.983
The second is more streamlined
where its parts could be made

01:07:47.123 --> 01:07:50.068
mostly by machines, but would
need to be assembled by hand.

01:07:50.208 --> 01:07:56.691
The third chair is produced by
one process, fully automated.

01:07:58.088 --> 01:08:01.367
The latter chair design
would be the design goal

01:08:01.507 --> 01:08:04.290
in theory of this new approach.

01:08:05.110 --> 01:08:08.356
What this would do is reduce the
complexity of the automation process

01:08:08.496 --> 01:08:10.300
with little to no human labor.

01:08:10.440 --> 01:08:13.986
Imagine a production plant
that not only produces cars,

01:08:14.126 --> 01:08:16.974
it can produce virtually any
kind of industrial product

01:08:17.113 --> 01:08:20.078
comprised of the same
basic shared materials.

01:08:20.219 --> 01:08:22.004
This is very feasible.

01:08:22.144 --> 01:08:24.725
This would increase
output substantially.

01:08:24.866 --> 01:08:28.569
In other words, we are optimizing
the means of production.

01:08:29.198 --> 01:08:32.129
And as an aside, many
who see stuff like this

01:08:32.270 --> 01:08:35.232
think that this means there's not going
to be any variety in the future,

01:08:35.372 --> 01:08:39.279
that it's just going to be cold and
uniform and everyone gets the same thing.

01:08:39.420 --> 01:08:42.654
No. I'm just using this as an example
to make an efficiency point.

01:08:42.795 --> 01:08:45.997
Being conducive to automation does
not mean universal uniformity

01:08:46.136 --> 01:08:49.417
of design because the incredible
amount of variance possible

01:08:49.559 --> 01:08:53.223
in our current automation technology
is amazing and accelerating.

01:08:53.363 --> 01:08:57.514
Modular robotics, there's many
different self-changing machines

01:08:57.654 --> 01:08:59.911
that can create a great
amount of variance.

01:09:00.051 --> 01:09:03.038
All this means is the existing
processes in their current state

01:09:03.180 --> 01:09:05.551
should be respected
to ease production.

01:09:05.692 --> 01:09:08.959
Don't confuse this with the idea that
everyone just gets the same everything.

01:09:09.100 --> 01:09:11.707
What they get is the same basic
sustainability principles,

01:09:11.848 --> 01:09:15.055
which come in many different forms,
if you can understand that.

01:09:15.196 --> 01:09:19.145
These four parameters set in motion,
along with the basic intent

01:09:19.285 --> 01:09:23.037
to assist the trend of
ephemeralization on all levels,

01:09:23.176 --> 01:09:25.845
there is little doubt
that every human being

01:09:25.986 --> 01:09:28.272
could have a very high
standard of living.

01:09:28.412 --> 01:09:32.327
It is simply about converting
all of the inefficiency we have

01:09:32.466 --> 01:09:36.099
straight into productivity,
strategically.

01:09:37.965 --> 01:09:41.504
I will conclude this section by noting that R.
Buckminster Fuller

01:09:41.644 --> 01:09:44.649
is probably the only human
being that has ever attempted

01:09:44.790 --> 01:09:48.341
to account and quantify the state
of resources and their potential

01:09:48.482 --> 01:09:51.410
within the past hundred
years and, while primitive,

01:09:51.550 --> 01:09:55.569
he was able to arrive at the
following conclusion in 1969:

01:09:56.906 --> 01:10:00.762
"Man developed such intense
mechanization in World War I

01:10:00.902 --> 01:10:05.561
that the percentage of total world
population that were industrial 'haves'

01:10:05.701 --> 01:10:08.593
rose by 1919 to
the figure of 6%.

01:10:08.713 --> 01:10:10.713
This was an abrupt
change in history.

01:10:10.833 --> 01:10:13.986
By the time of World War
II, 20% of all humanity

01:10:14.126 --> 01:10:16.429
had become industrial 'haves.'

01:10:16.570 --> 01:10:20.665
At the present moment the proportion
of 'haves' is at 40% of humanity.

01:10:20.805 --> 01:10:24.300
If we up the performances of
resources from the present level

01:10:24.440 --> 01:10:28.781
to a highly feasible overall
efficiency of 12% more

01:10:28.921 --> 01:10:31.963
(increasing by 12%, our use,
holistically, on average)

01:10:32.103 --> 01:10:34.941
all humanity can
be provided for."

01:10:35.380 --> 01:10:39.907
The exponential increase in
information technology since 1969,

01:10:40.047 --> 01:10:42.122
along with the applied
technology and advanced

01:10:42.362 --> 01:10:45.838
synergetic understandings
we have today,

01:10:45.978 --> 01:10:48.162
I suspect, now far exceeds-...

01:10:48.302 --> 01:10:52.769
we are way beyond the 12% efficiency
increase that he saw as needed.

01:10:52.910 --> 01:10:58.152
The problem now is conforming to
industrial conduciveness appropriately

01:10:58.590 --> 01:11:00.964
which is currently not done.

01:11:01.871 --> 01:11:06.277
This leads us to Part III: Economic
Organization and Calculation.

01:11:07.876 --> 01:11:09.981
If you're wondering why
I spent so much time

01:11:10.121 --> 01:11:12.263
on the prior points
of post-scarcity

01:11:12.403 --> 01:11:15.010
and those two core problems
inherent to market capitalism-

01:11:15.150 --> 01:11:18.098
social imbalance and
environmental imbalance-

01:11:18.238 --> 01:11:21.327
it's because you cannot understand
the logic of the economic factors

01:11:21.467 --> 01:11:25.108
involved in this model without
those prior awarenesses.

01:11:26.703 --> 01:11:30.174
A Natural Law/Resource Based Economy
is not just a progressive outgrowth

01:11:30.314 --> 01:11:33.635
of our increased capacity to
be productive as a species,

01:11:33.775 --> 01:11:36.531
as though we would just gradually
evolve out of the market system

01:11:36.671 --> 01:11:39.159
step-by-step into this approach.

01:11:39.299 --> 01:11:42.534
No. The dire need for
this system's removal

01:11:42.674 --> 01:11:44.936
needs to be realized once again.

01:11:45.076 --> 01:11:47.172
It has to become
a part, in fact,

01:11:47.312 --> 01:11:49.981
of the incentive structure
of the new model:

01:11:50.121 --> 01:11:53.506
the historical understanding that
if we do not adjust in this way

01:11:53.646 --> 01:11:56.621
we will revert right back into
this highly unstable period

01:11:56.761 --> 01:11:58.795
we are in right now.

01:12:00.061 --> 01:12:03.265
An economic model is a
theoretical construct

01:12:03.405 --> 01:12:07.787
representing component processes by
a set of variables or functions,

01:12:07.927 --> 01:12:10.916
describing the logical
relationships between them.

01:12:11.056 --> 01:12:12.556
Basic definition.

01:12:12.658 --> 01:12:15.989
If anyone has studied traditional
or market-based economic modeling,

01:12:16.130 --> 01:12:19.459
a great deal of time is often spent
on things such as price trends,

01:12:19.600 --> 01:12:22.559
behavioral patterns,
utilitarianistic functions,

01:12:22.699 --> 01:12:25.952
inflation, currency
fluctuations and so forth.

01:12:26.453 --> 01:12:30.916
Rarely, if ever, is anything said
about public or ecological health.

01:12:31.385 --> 01:12:34.979
Why? Because the market
is, again, life-blind

01:12:35.120 --> 01:12:38.937
and decoupled from the science of
life support and sustainability.

01:12:39.077 --> 01:12:41.727
It is simply a proxy system.

01:12:43.643 --> 01:12:47.902
The best way to think about this economy
is not in the traditional terms,

01:12:48.042 --> 01:12:50.491
but rather as an
advanced production,

01:12:50.631 --> 01:12:55.338
distribution and management system
which is democratically engaged

01:12:55.478 --> 01:12:59.174
by the public through a kind
of participatory economics

01:13:00.169 --> 01:13:03.953
that facilitates input processes,
such as design proposals

01:13:04.093 --> 01:13:07.845
and demand assessment, while
filtering all actions

01:13:07.985 --> 01:13:13.014
through what we will call sustainability
and efficiency protocols.

01:13:13.449 --> 01:13:17.167
These are the basic rules
of industrial action

01:13:17.307 --> 01:13:20.808
set by natural law,
not human opinion.

01:13:20.948 --> 01:13:25.000
As noted prior, neither of these
interests are structurally inherent

01:13:25.140 --> 01:13:28.771
in the capitalist model, and it is
clear that humanity needs a model

01:13:28.911 --> 01:13:33.164
that has this type of stuff built
right into it for consideration.

01:13:34.053 --> 01:13:36.521
Structural System Goals.

01:13:37.490 --> 01:13:39.985
All economic systems
have structural goals

01:13:40.125 --> 01:13:42.542
which may not be
readily apparent.

01:13:42.682 --> 01:13:46.013
Market capitalism's structural
goal, as described, is growth

01:13:46.153 --> 01:13:50.058
and maintaining rates of consumption
high enough to keep people employed

01:13:50.198 --> 01:13:55.079
at any given time, and employment
requires also a culture of real

01:13:55.219 --> 01:14:00.180
or perceived inefficiency, and that
essentially means the preservation

01:14:00.320 --> 01:14:05.411
of scarcity in one form or another.
That is its structural goal.

01:14:05.543 --> 01:14:09.884
And good luck getting a market
economist to admit to that.

01:14:11.237 --> 01:14:15.408
This model [NLRBE] goal is to
optimize technical efficiency

01:14:15.548 --> 01:14:18.940
and create the highest level
of abundance we possibly can

01:14:19.080 --> 01:14:22.272
within the bounds of
earthly sustainability,

01:14:22.412 --> 01:14:25.415
seeking to meet human
needs directly.

01:14:27.879 --> 01:14:29.917
System Overview.

01:14:30.057 --> 01:14:33.890
One of the great myths of this model
is that it's centrally planned;

01:14:34.030 --> 01:14:36.273
I'm sure many of us
have heard this.

01:14:36.413 --> 01:14:39.818
What this means based on historical
precedent is that it is assumed

01:14:39.958 --> 01:14:43.736
that an elite group of people basically
will make the economic decisions

01:14:43.876 --> 01:14:46.118
for a society.

01:14:46.258 --> 01:14:52.258
No. This model is a collaborative
design system: CDS.

01:14:52.474 --> 01:14:54.053
Not centrally planned.

01:14:54.193 --> 01:14:57.000
It is based entirely
upon public interaction

01:14:57.440 --> 01:15:00.641
facilitated by programmed,
open-source systems

01:15:00.781 --> 01:15:03.769
that enable a constant
dynamic feedback flow

01:15:03.909 --> 01:15:06.958
that can literally allow the
input of the public on any

01:15:07.098 --> 01:15:10.814
given industrial matter
whether personal or social.

01:15:11.733 --> 01:15:14.169
Now a common question, when
you bring that up they say

01:15:14.309 --> 01:15:16.425
"Well, who programs
this system?"

01:15:16.565 --> 01:15:18.837
The answer is:
Everyone and no one.

01:15:18.977 --> 01:15:21.640
The tangible rules of the
laws of nature as they apply

01:15:21.780 --> 01:15:25.708
to environmental sustainability
and engineering efficiency

01:15:25.848 --> 01:15:29.164
is a completely objective
frame of reference.

01:15:29.304 --> 01:15:32.110
The nuances may change to
some degree over time,

01:15:32.250 --> 01:15:34.621
but the general
principles remain.

01:15:35.804 --> 01:15:39.139
Over time, the logic of such an
approach will also become more rigid

01:15:39.279 --> 01:15:42.035
because we learn more as we
perfect our understandings,

01:15:42.175 --> 01:15:44.266
and hence, less room
for subjectivity

01:15:44.406 --> 01:15:46.852
in certain areas that
might have had it prior.

01:15:46.992 --> 01:15:49.970
Again I'll be describing
this more so in a moment.

01:15:50.110 --> 01:15:53.899
Also the programs themselves will be
available in an open source platform

01:15:54.039 --> 01:15:57.016
for public input and review,
absolutely transparent.

01:15:57.156 --> 01:15:59.323
And if someone noticed a problem

01:15:59.463 --> 01:16:02.783
or unapplied optimization strategy,
which will probably be the case,

01:16:02.923 --> 01:16:05.550
it is evaluated and
tested by the community

01:16:05.690 --> 01:16:08.588
kind of like a Wikipedia
for calculation,

01:16:08.728 --> 01:16:12.122
except much less
subjective than Wikipedia,

01:16:12.262 --> 01:16:14.761
without the moody
administrators.

01:16:16.216 --> 01:16:19.012
Another traditional confusion
surrounds the concept

01:16:19.152 --> 01:16:22.179
which has become to many
the defining difference

01:16:22.319 --> 01:16:25.124
between capitalism
and everything else.

01:16:25.264 --> 01:16:28.435
And it has to do with whether
the means of production

01:16:28.575 --> 01:16:30.549
is privately owned or not.

01:16:30.689 --> 01:16:33.891
This is replete throughout
tons of traditional

01:16:34.830 --> 01:16:37.939
literary treatments on
capitalism when they describe

01:16:38.079 --> 01:16:41.887
how it's the ultimate manifestation
of human behavior, of society.

01:16:42.027 --> 01:16:44.527
If you don't know what this
means, the means of production

01:16:44.627 --> 01:16:48.677
refers to the non-human assets that
create goods such as machines,

01:16:48.890 --> 01:16:51.981
tools, factories,
offices and the like.

01:16:52.121 --> 01:16:54.465
In capitalism, the means
of production is owned

01:16:54.605 --> 01:16:59.017
by the capitalist by historical
definition, hence the origin of the term.

01:16:59.157 --> 01:17:02.759
I bring this up because there's been
an ongoing argument for a century

01:17:02.899 --> 01:17:05.748
that any system which does not
have its means of production owned

01:17:05.888 --> 01:17:10.576
as a form of private property is just not
going to be as economically efficient

01:17:10.716 --> 01:17:13.677
as one that has or maybe
not even efficient at all.

01:17:13.817 --> 01:17:18.027
This, as the argument goes, is
because of the need for price:

01:17:18.167 --> 01:17:20.310
the price mechanism.

01:17:20.450 --> 01:17:23.931
Price, which has a fluid ability

01:17:24.071 --> 01:17:26.967
to exchange value amongst
virtually any type of good

01:17:27.107 --> 01:17:31.598
due to its indivisibility of value,
creates indeed a feedback mechanism

01:17:31.738 --> 01:17:35.423
that connects the entire market
system in a certain narrow way.

01:17:35.563 --> 01:17:40.071
Price is a way to allocate scarce
resources amongst competing interests.

01:17:40.211 --> 01:17:44.166
Price, property and money
translate, in short,

01:17:44.266 --> 01:17:48.370
subjective demand preferences into
semi-objective exchange values.

01:17:48.795 --> 01:17:53.754
I say "semi" because it is a
culturally relative measure only,

01:17:54.398 --> 01:17:58.229
absent most every factor that gives
true technical consideration

01:17:58.370 --> 01:18:00.299
to a given material or good.

01:18:00.439 --> 01:18:03.098
It has nothing to do with what
the materials or goods are;

01:18:03.238 --> 01:18:05.692
it's just a mechanism.

01:18:05.832 --> 01:18:08.777
Perhaps the only real
technical data, in fact,

01:18:08.917 --> 01:18:11.049
that price embraces very crudely

01:18:11.189 --> 01:18:14.620
relates to resource
scarcity and labor energy.

01:18:14.760 --> 01:18:16.684
Resource scarcity
and labor energy.

01:18:16.824 --> 01:18:19.838
You can basically
find that in price.

01:18:19.978 --> 01:18:22.599
So in this context the
question becomes:

01:18:22.740 --> 01:18:25.133
Is it possible to create
a system that can

01:18:25.273 --> 01:18:27.736
equally, if not
more efficiently,

01:18:27.876 --> 01:18:32.014
facilitate feedback with respect
to consumer preference, demand,

01:18:32.154 --> 01:18:35.505
labor value and resource
or component scarcity

01:18:35.645 --> 01:18:40.538
without the price system, subjective
property values or exchange?

01:18:41.684 --> 01:18:43.490
And, of course, there is.

01:18:43.630 --> 01:18:46.920
The trick is to completely
eliminate exchange

01:18:47.060 --> 01:18:50.475
and create a direct
control and feedback link

01:18:50.615 --> 01:18:54.244
between the consumer and the
means of production itself.

01:18:54.384 --> 01:18:57.241
The consumer becomes part
of the means of production

01:18:57.381 --> 01:19:01.498
and the "industrial complex"
becomes nothing more than a tool

01:19:01.638 --> 01:19:05.454
that is accessed by the
public to generate goods.

01:19:06.430 --> 01:19:09.842
In fact as alluded to
prior, the same system

01:19:09.982 --> 01:19:13.158
can be used for just about
any societal calculation,

01:19:13.298 --> 01:19:16.084
virtually eliminating the
state government, in fact,

01:19:16.224 --> 01:19:18.077
and politics as we know it.

01:19:18.217 --> 01:19:21.659
It is a participatory
decision-making process.

01:19:22.597 --> 01:19:26.624
As an aside, as far as the fact
that there will indeed always

01:19:26.764 --> 01:19:29.087
be scarcity of something
in the world,

01:19:29.227 --> 01:19:32.974
which is the very basis of existence
of price, market and money,

01:19:33.114 --> 01:19:36.500
human beings can again either
understand the dire need

01:19:36.640 --> 01:19:39.679
to exist in a steady-state
relationship with nature

01:19:39.819 --> 01:19:42.588
and the global human
species for cultural

01:19:42.728 --> 01:19:45.914
and environmental
sustainability, or not.

01:19:46.054 --> 01:19:48.689
We can either continue down
the same path we are now

01:19:48.829 --> 01:19:54.112
or become more aware, responsible
to the world and to each other,

01:19:54.252 --> 01:19:57.739
seeking post-scarcity and using
natural law rules of sustainability

01:19:57.879 --> 01:20:03.444
and efficiency to decide how to best
allocate our raw materials, or not.

01:20:03.584 --> 01:20:06.979
But I think the former is
the most intelligent path.

01:20:07.892 --> 01:20:10.438
I state that because again,
this resource argument

01:20:10.578 --> 01:20:15.561
always comes down to the abstractions ...
of scarcity.

01:20:15.717 --> 01:20:19.796
It never qualifies what scarcity
is in certain contexts.

01:20:19.928 --> 01:20:22.950
It doesn't separate scarcity
and that's its fatal flaw,

01:20:23.090 --> 01:20:25.458
between human needs
and human wants.

01:20:25.598 --> 01:20:29.578
Also, I want to point
out another fallacy,

01:20:29.718 --> 01:20:32.470
which of this private ownership
of the means of production,

01:20:32.610 --> 01:20:35.249
a fallacy of this broad
concept is its culture lag!

01:20:35.755 --> 01:20:39.340
Today we are seeing a
merger of capital goods,

01:20:39.480 --> 01:20:41.846
consumer goods and labor power.

01:20:41.986 --> 01:20:44.537
Machines are taking
over human labor power,

01:20:44.677 --> 01:20:48.930
becoming capital goods,
while also reducing in size

01:20:49.070 --> 01:20:51.091
to become consumer goods.

01:20:52.042 --> 01:20:55.697
I'm sure almost everyone in this
room has a home paper printer.

01:20:55.837 --> 01:20:58.129
When you send a file to
print from your computer,

01:20:58.269 --> 01:21:02.476
you are in control of a mini-version
of a means of production.

01:21:03.271 --> 01:21:04.959
What about 3D printers?

01:21:05.099 --> 01:21:07.475
In some cities today there
are now 3D printing labs

01:21:07.615 --> 01:21:12.513
which people can send their design
to print, in physical form.

01:21:12.653 --> 01:21:15.703
The model I'm going to
describe is a similar idea.

01:21:15.843 --> 01:21:18.092
The next step is the creation

01:21:18.232 --> 01:21:20.871
of a strategically automated
industrial complex

01:21:21.011 --> 01:21:23.266
localized as much as possible

01:21:23.406 --> 01:21:26.199
which is designed to produce,
through automated means,

01:21:26.339 --> 01:21:30.541
the average of everything any given
region has found demand for.

01:21:31.271 --> 01:21:34.493
Think about it: on-demand
production on a mass scale.

01:21:34.988 --> 01:21:37.218
Consider for a moment
how much storage space,

01:21:37.358 --> 01:21:39.449
transport energy
and overrun waste

01:21:39.589 --> 01:21:42.271
is immediately eliminated
by this approach.

01:21:42.411 --> 01:21:45.543
I think the days of large,
wasteful mass producing economies

01:21:45.683 --> 01:21:50.820
of scale are coming to an end,
well, if we want them to.

01:21:51.866 --> 01:21:55.383
This type of thinking:
true economic calculation,

01:21:55.927 --> 01:21:59.880
by the most technical sense of the
term, I can't reiterate that enough.

01:22:00.020 --> 01:22:02.657
We are calculating to be as technically
efficient and conservative

01:22:02.757 --> 01:22:07.455
as possible which again, almost
paradoxically, is what will facilitate

01:22:07.635 --> 01:22:12.703
a global access abundance to
meet all human needs and beyond.

01:22:13.473 --> 01:22:15.704
Structure and Processes.

01:22:15.844 --> 01:22:18.635
I'm going to walk through
the following 3 processes:

01:22:18.775 --> 01:22:21.789
(1) the collaborative design
interface and industrial schematic,

01:22:21.929 --> 01:22:24.263
(2) resource management,
feedback and value

01:22:24.403 --> 01:22:28.567
and (3) general principles of
sustainability and the macro-calculation.

01:22:30.209 --> 01:22:33.940
The collaborative design interface
is essentially the new market;

01:22:34.080 --> 01:22:36.060
it's a market of ideas.

01:22:36.200 --> 01:22:39.152
This system is the first step
in any production interest.

01:22:39.292 --> 01:22:43.358
It can be engaged by a single
person; it can be engaged by a team

01:22:43.498 --> 01:22:45.897
if you have friends and you want
to put it together, sort of like

01:22:46.037 --> 01:22:48.506
how businesses think; it can
be engaged by everyone.

01:22:48.646 --> 01:22:50.799
It is open source
and open access,

01:22:50.940 --> 01:22:54.641
and your concept is open to
input from anyone interested

01:22:54.781 --> 01:22:58.977
in that good genre or anyone that's
online that cares to contribute.

01:22:59.797 --> 01:23:02.291
Obviously it comes in the form
of a website, as I stated;

01:23:02.431 --> 01:23:05.354
and likewise, whatever
exists as a final decision,

01:23:05.494 --> 01:23:07.694
whatever is put into production,
even though in theory

01:23:07.799 --> 01:23:09.812
everything will be under
modification at all times,

01:23:09.952 --> 01:23:13.554
but what has been approved, if
you will, is digitally stored

01:23:13.694 --> 01:23:17.053
in a database which makes that
good available to everyone.

01:23:17.193 --> 01:23:19.184
Sort of like a goods catalog,

01:23:19.324 --> 01:23:22.799
except it contains all of
the information digitally

01:23:22.939 --> 01:23:25.261
that is required
to produce them.

01:23:25.401 --> 01:23:27.828
This is how demand is assessed.

01:23:27.968 --> 01:23:30.234
It's feedback and
it's immediate.

01:23:30.374 --> 01:23:33.188
Instead, of course,
of advertising

01:23:33.328 --> 01:23:37.778
and the unidirectional consumer
good proposal system, which it is,

01:23:37.918 --> 01:23:41.538
that we have today where corporations
basically tell you what you should buy

01:23:41.678 --> 01:23:44.234
with the public generally
going with the flow,

01:23:44.374 --> 01:23:47.761
favoring one good component
or feature, using price,

01:23:47.901 --> 01:23:51.021
if they don't like something then
clearly they won't produce it anymore

01:23:51.161 --> 01:23:53.186
to weed out supply and demand.

01:23:53.326 --> 01:23:55.211
This system works
the opposite way.

01:23:55.351 --> 01:23:57.571
The entire community has the
option of presenting ideas

01:23:57.711 --> 01:24:00.728
for everyone to see and
weigh in on and build upon.

01:24:00.868 --> 01:24:04.349
Whatever isn't of interest simply
won't be executed to begin with.

01:24:04.490 --> 01:24:07.097
There's no testing here such as
you would see with marketing,

01:24:07.237 --> 01:24:10.222
which is incredibly wasteful.
It's as simple as that.

01:24:11.160 --> 01:24:13.181
The actual mechanism of proposal

01:24:13.321 --> 01:24:16.545
will come in the form of an
interactive design interface

01:24:16.685 --> 01:24:20.927
such as we see with computer-aided
design, or CAD as it's called,

01:24:21.067 --> 01:24:24.149
or more specifically
computer-aided engineering

01:24:24.289 --> 01:24:27.494
which is a more complicated
synergistic process.

01:24:28.280 --> 01:24:32.359
As an aside, some see computer-aided
design programs as they exist

01:24:32.499 --> 01:24:35.215
as having an enormous
learning curve, and they do.

01:24:35.355 --> 01:24:37.260
But just as the first computers

01:24:37.400 --> 01:24:40.269
were very difficult
code-based interfaces

01:24:40.876 --> 01:24:43.404
which were later replaced
by small little programs

01:24:43.544 --> 01:24:46.286
in the form of graphic icons
that we're all so familiar with

01:24:46.426 --> 01:24:50.903
the future CAD-type programs could
be oriented in the exact same way

01:24:51.043 --> 01:24:53.423
to make them more user-friendly.

01:24:53.563 --> 01:24:57.127
Obviously, not everyone
has to engage in design.

01:24:57.267 --> 01:25:01.208
Some people, like most people today,
appreciate what's been created prior.

01:25:01.348 --> 01:25:04.201
They absorb and they use what
other people have come up with.

01:25:04.341 --> 01:25:07.363
So there's a diminishing law of returns
in a lot of ways, if you will.

01:25:07.503 --> 01:25:10.892
Not everyone has to get in there
and has some role to do this.

01:25:11.032 --> 01:25:13.698
But many will and many
will enjoy the process.

01:25:14.966 --> 01:25:18.289
And you can customize things as
you go which is a great point.

01:25:18.430 --> 01:25:21.185
There's minor things that can happen
with a product that someone doesn't know

01:25:21.285 --> 01:25:23.785
anything about, but maybe they just
want to change the color and that's it.

01:25:23.899 --> 01:25:26.399
Obviously, that doesn't
take a lot of education.

01:25:27.075 --> 01:25:29.929
More importantly,
technically speaking,

01:25:30.070 --> 01:25:33.582
the beauty of these design and
engineering programs today

01:25:33.722 --> 01:25:36.556
is that they incorporate
advanced physics

01:25:36.696 --> 01:25:39.773
and other real-world,
natural-law properties.

01:25:39.913 --> 01:25:43.519
So a good isn't just viewable
in a static 3D model.

01:25:43.660 --> 01:25:46.410
It can be tested, right
there, digitally.

01:25:46.550 --> 01:25:49.050
And while some testing capacity
might be limited today,

01:25:49.156 --> 01:25:52.929
it's simply a matter of focus
to perfect such digital means.

01:25:53.069 --> 01:25:56.601
For example, in the automotive industry,
long before new ideas are built,

01:25:56.741 --> 01:25:59.593
they run them through similar
digital testing processes,

01:25:59.733 --> 01:26:01.595
and there's no reason to believe

01:26:01.735 --> 01:26:04.818
that we will not eventually be
able to digitally represent

01:26:04.958 --> 01:26:10.944
and imitate and set in motion virtually
all known laws of nature in time,

01:26:11.084 --> 01:26:14.131
and being able to apply
them to different contexts.

01:26:15.138 --> 01:26:17.565
Similarly, and this is critical,

01:26:18.235 --> 01:26:22.249
this design that's proposed
in this system is filtered

01:26:22.706 --> 01:26:26.811
through a series of sustainability
and efficiency protocols

01:26:26.951 --> 01:26:30.597
which relate to not only the
state of the natural world

01:26:30.737 --> 01:26:33.485
but also the total
industrial system,

01:26:33.625 --> 01:26:35.598
in as far as what is compatible.

01:26:35.738 --> 01:26:39.875
Processes of evaluation and suggestion
would include the following:

01:26:40.431 --> 01:26:43.461
strategically
maximized durability,

01:26:43.601 --> 01:26:45.231
adaptability,

01:26:45.371 --> 01:26:48.246
standardization of
genre components,

01:26:48.386 --> 01:26:52.656
strategically integrated recycling
conduciveness, as I mentioned before,

01:26:52.796 --> 01:26:55.642
and strategically conducive
designs themselves,

01:26:55.782 --> 01:26:58.808
making them conducive
for labor automation.

01:26:59.607 --> 01:27:01.669
I'm going to go through
these, each quickly.

01:27:01.809 --> 01:27:05.631
Durability just means to make the good as
strong and as long-lasting as relevant,

01:27:05.771 --> 01:27:09.924
the materials utilized comparatively
assuming possible substitutions

01:27:10.064 --> 01:27:12.210
due to levels of scarcity
or other factors

01:27:12.350 --> 01:27:14.377
would be dynamically calculated

01:27:14.517 --> 01:27:17.702
likely automatically, in
fact, by the design system

01:27:17.842 --> 01:27:21.920
to be most conducive to an
optimized durability standard.

01:27:22.672 --> 01:27:24.177
Adaptability.

01:27:24.317 --> 01:27:26.752
This means that the highest
state of flexibility

01:27:26.892 --> 01:27:29.517
for replacing component
parts is made.

01:27:29.657 --> 01:27:32.747
Has anyone seen this thing
called "phonebloks?"

01:27:33.999 --> 01:27:35.261
Brilliant.

01:27:35.401 --> 01:27:38.570
In the event a component part
of this good becomes defective

01:27:38.670 --> 01:27:41.967
or out-of-date, whenever
possible the design facilitates

01:27:42.097 --> 01:27:44.395
that such components
are easily replaced

01:27:44.535 --> 01:27:47.486
to maximize full
product life span.

01:27:48.226 --> 01:27:51.585
Standardization of
genre components.

01:27:52.098 --> 01:27:56.245
All new designs either conform to
or replace, if they're updated,

01:27:56.385 --> 01:27:59.889
existing components which are
either already in existence

01:28:00.029 --> 01:28:03.662
or outdated due to a comparative
lack of efficiency.

01:28:04.463 --> 01:28:08.472
Many don't know this, but a
man named Eli Whitney in 1801

01:28:08.612 --> 01:28:11.664
was the first to really apply
standardization in production.

01:28:11.804 --> 01:28:14.379
He made muskets and back
then they were handmade,

01:28:14.520 --> 01:28:16.819
and they were not interchangeable,
so the musket parts,

01:28:16.959 --> 01:28:20.008
if anything broke, you couldn't
take a part from something else.

01:28:20.148 --> 01:28:22.491
He was the first to actually
make the tools to do this,

01:28:22.631 --> 01:28:26.013
and he basically started the
entire process of standardization,

01:28:26.153 --> 01:28:29.497
and the US military was now able
to buy huge things of muskets

01:28:29.637 --> 01:28:32.449
and interchanged them and,
much more sustainable,

01:28:32.589 --> 01:28:34.982
even though they
were killing people.

01:28:35.850 --> 01:28:38.350
Which is interesting for the military
because if you think about it,

01:28:38.450 --> 01:28:41.551
the military is one of the most
efficient systems on the planet

01:28:41.690 --> 01:28:43.816
because it's absent
the market economy.

01:28:43.956 --> 01:28:46.889
If you really want to look to where
industrial efficiency was born,

01:28:47.029 --> 01:28:50.629
as much as I dislike it, the
military is where it becomes,

01:28:51.186 --> 01:28:53.560
where it's been harnessed
the most, excuse me.

01:28:53.700 --> 01:28:57.431
Anyway, this logic not only
applies to a given product,

01:28:57.571 --> 01:29:01.021
it's applied to the entire
good genre: standardization.

01:29:01.836 --> 01:29:05.377
By the way, this efficiency will
never happen in a market economy

01:29:05.517 --> 01:29:08.969
with its basis in competition,
as proprietary technology

01:29:09.109 --> 01:29:12.528
removes all such collaborative efficiency.
No one wants that.

01:29:12.668 --> 01:29:14.668
No one wants to share
everything like that.

01:29:14.800 --> 01:29:17.966
Otherwise, people wouldn't have a
need to go back to the root company

01:29:18.069 --> 01:29:20.206
and buy the part; they
would go somewhere else

01:29:20.346 --> 01:29:23.189
where they'd have access
to it through other means.

01:29:23.650 --> 01:29:25.555
Recycling conduciveness.

01:29:25.695 --> 01:29:28.206
As noted before, this means
every design must conform

01:29:28.346 --> 01:29:31.253
to the current state of
regenerative possibility.

01:29:31.393 --> 01:29:34.372
The breakdown of any
good must be anticipated

01:29:34.512 --> 01:29:37.563
and allowed for in the
most optimized way,

01:29:39.126 --> 01:29:42.660
and made conducive for
labor automation.

01:29:43.111 --> 01:29:45.889
This means that the current
state of optimized

01:29:46.029 --> 01:29:49.487
automated production is
directly taken into account

01:29:49.627 --> 01:29:52.165
seeking to refine the process-

01:29:52.305 --> 01:29:55.081
excuse me- seeking to refine
the design that's submitted

01:29:55.221 --> 01:29:57.946
to be most conducive to the
current state of production

01:29:58.086 --> 01:30:01.762
with the least amount of
human labor or monitoring.

01:30:01.902 --> 01:30:07.261
We seek to simplify the way materials
and production means are used

01:30:07.361 --> 01:30:09.861
so that the maximum number
of goods can be produced

01:30:10.000 --> 01:30:13.728
with the least variation of
materials and production equipment.

01:30:13.868 --> 01:30:15.960
It's a very important point.

01:30:16.100 --> 01:30:18.559
These five factors will be
what we can call in total

01:30:18.700 --> 01:30:23.254
the optimized design-efficiency
function, if you want to be technical.

01:30:23.394 --> 01:30:26.293
Keep this in mind as I'm going to
return to all of this in a moment.

01:30:27.643 --> 01:30:30.658
Moving on to the industrial
complex, the layout.

01:30:30.798 --> 01:30:34.152
This means that the network of
facilities, which are directly connected

01:30:34.292 --> 01:30:37.432
to the design and the database
system I have just described.

01:30:37.573 --> 01:30:41.445
Servers, production, distribution,
recycling is basically it.

01:30:41.870 --> 01:30:45.828
Also, we'd need to relate the
current state of resources,

01:30:45.968 --> 01:30:50.702
critically important, as per the
global resource management network,

01:30:50.842 --> 01:30:54.936
another tier, which I'm going
to also describe in a moment.

01:30:55.843 --> 01:30:59.607
Production- this means of
course actual manufacturing-

01:30:59.747 --> 01:31:03.993
would evolve, as expressed
before, as automated factories

01:31:04.500 --> 01:31:07.021
which are increasingly
able to produce more

01:31:07.161 --> 01:31:11.050
with less material inputs and
less machines: ephemeralization.

01:31:11.190 --> 01:31:15.424
If we were to consciously design out
unnecessary levels of complexity,

01:31:15.564 --> 01:31:17.822
we can further this
efficiency trend greatly

01:31:17.962 --> 01:31:21.398
with an ever-lower environmental
impact and resource use

01:31:21.538 --> 01:31:25.206
while maximizing, again, our
abundance-producing potential.

01:31:25.750 --> 01:31:27.833
The number of
production facilities,

01:31:27.973 --> 01:31:30.755
whether homogeneous or heterogeneous,
as they would be called,

01:31:30.895 --> 01:31:33.537
would be strategically
distributed topographically

01:31:33.677 --> 01:31:36.420
based around population
statistics, very simple stuff.

01:31:36.560 --> 01:31:38.731
It's no different than how
grocery stores work today

01:31:38.871 --> 01:31:41.102
where they try to average
distances as best they can

01:31:41.242 --> 01:31:43.496
between pockets of people
and neighborhoods.

01:31:43.636 --> 01:31:45.966
You could call this the
'Proximity Strategy'

01:31:46.106 --> 01:31:48.630
which I'll mention
again in a moment.

01:31:48.770 --> 01:31:50.050
Distribution.

01:31:50.190 --> 01:31:53.076
This can either be directly
from the production facility

01:31:53.216 --> 01:31:56.793
as in the case of on-demand
custom one-off production,

01:31:56.933 --> 01:31:59.665
or it can be sent to a
distribution library

01:31:59.805 --> 01:32:02.372
for public access en masse,

01:32:02.512 --> 01:32:05.249
based on demand interest
in that region.

01:32:05.389 --> 01:32:08.678
The library system is where
goods can be obtained.

01:32:09.416 --> 01:32:12.023
Some goods can be
conducive to low demand

01:32:12.163 --> 01:32:14.588
and custom production
and some will not be.

01:32:14.728 --> 01:32:17.717
Food is an easy example of a
mass production necessity,

01:32:17.857 --> 01:32:19.952
while a personal tailored
piece of furniture

01:32:20.092 --> 01:32:23.550
would come directly from the
manufacturing facility once created.

01:32:24.604 --> 01:32:26.817
I suspect that this
on-demand process,

01:32:26.957 --> 01:32:31.629
which will likely become equally
as utilized as mass production,

01:32:31.769 --> 01:32:33.904
will be an enormous advantage.

01:32:34.044 --> 01:32:36.556
As noted, on-demand
production is more efficient

01:32:36.696 --> 01:32:40.359
since the resources are going to be
utilized for the exact-use demand,

01:32:40.500 --> 01:32:43.783
as opposed to the block
things that we do today.

01:32:46.800 --> 01:32:50.000
Distribution Library.

01:32:50.436 --> 01:32:53.505
Inventory is accessed in a
dynamic direct feedback link

01:32:53.645 --> 01:32:56.706
between production,
distribution and demand.

01:32:56.846 --> 01:32:59.259
If that doesn't make sense to you,
all you have to think about is

01:32:59.400 --> 01:33:01.701
how inventory accounting
and tracking works

01:33:01.841 --> 01:33:04.808
in any major commercial
distribution center today

01:33:04.948 --> 01:33:07.059
with, of course, a few
adjustments made in this model.

01:33:07.200 --> 01:33:09.660
We're already doing this
type of stuff already.

01:33:09.800 --> 01:33:12.559
Regardless of where the
good is classified to go,

01:33:12.699 --> 01:33:16.090
whether it's custom or not,
libraries or to the direct user,

01:33:16.230 --> 01:33:18.355
this is still an access system.

01:33:18.495 --> 01:33:21.684
In other words, at any time
the user of the custom good

01:33:21.824 --> 01:33:24.190
can return the item
for reprocessing,

01:33:24.330 --> 01:33:28.400
just as the person who obtained something
from the library can, as well.

01:33:28.838 --> 01:33:31.133
Since, as noted, the good
has been pre-optimized

01:33:31.273 --> 01:33:33.473
(all goods are pre-optimized
for conducive recycling)

01:33:33.627 --> 01:33:36.956
odds are the recycling facility
is actually built directly in

01:33:37.096 --> 01:33:40.382
to the production facility or the
genre of production facility,

01:33:40.522 --> 01:33:43.741
depending on how many facilities you
need to create the variety of demand.

01:33:44.954 --> 01:33:47.257
So again, there's no trash
here: whether it's a phone,

01:33:47.397 --> 01:33:49.481
a couch, a computer,
a jacket, a book,

01:33:49.621 --> 01:33:53.046
everything goes back to where it came
back from, for direct reprocessing.

01:33:53.186 --> 01:33:56.319
Ideally this is a
zero-waste economy.

01:33:57.906 --> 01:34:00.913
Resource Management,
Feedback and Value.

01:34:01.053 --> 01:34:04.540
The computer-aided and
engineering design process

01:34:04.680 --> 01:34:06.771
obviously does not
exist in a vacuum.

01:34:06.911 --> 01:34:12.439
Processing demands input from the
natural resources that we have.

01:34:13.496 --> 01:34:17.442
So connected to this design
process, literally built into the

01:34:17.582 --> 01:34:20.695
optimized design-efficiency
function noted prior,

01:34:20.835 --> 01:34:24.070
is dynamic feedback from an
Earth-wide accounting system

01:34:24.210 --> 01:34:26.855
which gives data about
all relevant resources

01:34:26.995 --> 01:34:29.274
which pertain to
all productions.

01:34:29.414 --> 01:34:32.465
Today, most major industries
keep periodic data

01:34:32.605 --> 01:34:35.124
of their genre materials as
far as how much they have,

01:34:35.264 --> 01:34:37.264
but clearly it's
difficult to ascertain

01:34:37.380 --> 01:34:40.470
due to the nature of corporate
secrets and the like.

01:34:41.238 --> 01:34:43.075
But it's still done.

01:34:43.215 --> 01:34:47.589
To whatever degree ...
technically possible this is,

01:34:47.948 --> 01:34:50.272
all resources are
tracked and monitored,

01:34:50.412 --> 01:34:52.756
and in as close to real
time ideally as possible.

01:34:52.896 --> 01:34:56.331
Why? Mainly because we need
to maintain equilibrium

01:34:56.471 --> 01:34:59.308
with the Earth's regenerative
processes at all times

01:34:59.448 --> 01:35:02.781
while also, as noted before,
work to strategically maximize

01:35:02.921 --> 01:35:05.559
our use of the most
abundant materials

01:35:05.700 --> 01:35:08.715
while minimizing anything
with emerging scarcity.

01:35:10.160 --> 01:35:11.565
Value.

01:35:11.705 --> 01:35:14.780
As far as value, the
two dominant measures,

01:35:14.920 --> 01:35:17.539
which will undergo constant
dynamic recalculation

01:35:17.679 --> 01:35:20.039
through feedback as
industry unfolds,

01:35:20.179 --> 01:35:23.166
[are] scarcity and
labor complexity.

01:35:24.104 --> 01:35:26.507
Scarcity value without
a market system

01:35:26.647 --> 01:35:30.473
could be assigned a numerical
value, say one to 100.

01:35:30.613 --> 01:35:32.731
One would denote the
most severe scarcity

01:35:32.871 --> 01:35:36.298
with respect to the current rate
of use, and 100 the least severe.

01:35:36.438 --> 01:35:39.346
50 would mark the
steady-state dividing line.

01:35:39.486 --> 01:35:42.085
For example, if the use
of wood lumber passes

01:35:42.225 --> 01:35:44.654
below the steady
state level of 50,

01:35:44.794 --> 01:35:47.209
which would mean consumption is
currently surpassing the Earth's

01:35:47.349 --> 01:35:49.811
natural regeneration
rate, this would trigger

01:35:49.951 --> 01:35:52.026
a counter-move of some kind,

01:35:52.166 --> 01:35:55.970
such as the process of
material substitution,

01:35:56.110 --> 01:35:59.805
hence the replacement for wood
in any given future productions,

01:35:59.945 --> 01:36:02.069
finding alternatives.

01:36:02.482 --> 01:36:05.146
And of course, if you are a free
market mindset listening to this,

01:36:05.286 --> 01:36:08.493
you are likely going to object at
this point by saying "Without price,

01:36:08.633 --> 01:36:12.247
how can you compare value of one
material to another or many materials?"

01:36:12.387 --> 01:36:19.302
Simple: you organize genres or
groups of similar-use materials

01:36:19.442 --> 01:36:23.255
and quantify, as best you can,
their related properties

01:36:23.395 --> 01:36:27.020
and degree of efficiency
for a given purpose,

01:36:27.160 --> 01:36:29.660
and then you apply a general
numerical value spectrum

01:36:29.774 --> 01:36:31.968
to those relationships, as well.

01:36:32.869 --> 01:36:35.512
For example, there are
a spectrum of metals

01:36:35.652 --> 01:36:39.150
which have different efficiencies
for electrical conductivity.

01:36:39.591 --> 01:36:41.591
These efficiencies
can be quantified,

01:36:41.710 --> 01:36:44.292
and if they can be quantified,
they can be compared.

01:36:44.432 --> 01:36:49.923
So if copper goes below the 50
median value regarding its scarcity,

01:36:50.063 --> 01:36:52.869
calculations are triggered
by the management program

01:36:53.010 --> 01:36:57.033
to compare the state of other
conducive materials in its database,

01:36:57.173 --> 01:36:59.878
compare their scarcity level
and their efficiency,

01:37:00.018 --> 01:37:02.401
preparing for substitution,
and that kind of information

01:37:02.541 --> 01:37:04.865
goes right back to the designer.

01:37:05.848 --> 01:37:09.279
Naturally, this type of reasoning might
indeed get extremely complicated

01:37:09.379 --> 01:37:13.395
as again: numerous resources and
numerous efficiencies and purposes

01:37:13.575 --> 01:37:16.819
which is exactly why it is
calculated by a machine, not people.

01:37:16.959 --> 01:37:19.839
And it's also why it completely blows
the price system out of the water

01:37:19.979 --> 01:37:24.508
when it comes to true resource
awareness and intelligent management.

01:37:25.829 --> 01:37:27.917
Labor Complexity.

01:37:28.057 --> 01:37:32.200
This simply means estimating the
complexity of a given production.

01:37:32.825 --> 01:37:36.502
Complexity, in the context of
an automated-oriented industry,

01:37:36.642 --> 01:37:39.810
can be quantified by
defining and comparing

01:37:39.950 --> 01:37:42.901
the number of process
stages, if you will.

01:37:43.680 --> 01:37:46.355
Any given good production
can be foreshadowed

01:37:46.495 --> 01:37:50.136
as to how many of these stages
of production it will take.

01:37:50.276 --> 01:37:52.827
It can then be compared to
other good productions,

01:37:52.967 --> 01:37:56.728
ideally in the same genre, for
a quantifiable assessment.

01:37:56.868 --> 01:37:59.820
The units of measurement are
the stages, in other words.

01:37:59.960 --> 01:38:02.420
For example, a chair that can
be molded in three minutes

01:38:02.560 --> 01:38:05.101
from simple polymers in one
process will have a lower

01:38:05.241 --> 01:38:09.032
labor complexity value than a chair
which requires automated assembly

01:38:09.172 --> 01:38:13.098
down a more tedious production
chain with mixed materials.

01:38:13.961 --> 01:38:16.893
In the event a given process
value is too complex

01:38:17.033 --> 01:38:20.497
or inefficient in terms of what is
currently possible in production,

01:38:20.637 --> 01:38:24.351
or too inefficient by comparison
to an already existing design

01:38:24.491 --> 01:38:28.205
of a similar nature as well, the
design, along with other parameters,

01:38:28.345 --> 01:38:31.565
would be flagged and
would be re-evaluated.

01:38:31.705 --> 01:38:35.088
And again, all of this comes from
feedback from the design interface;

01:38:35.228 --> 01:38:38.188
and there's no reason to assume
that with ongoing advancement

01:38:38.328 --> 01:38:40.631
in AI (artificial intelligence),

01:38:40.771 --> 01:38:44.112
we wouldn't be able to feedback not
only the highlight of the problem

01:38:44.252 --> 01:38:46.962
but would also create
suggestions or substitutions

01:38:47.102 --> 01:38:49.955
for you to understand
in the interface.

01:38:51.661 --> 01:38:53.888
[Macro]-Calculation.

01:38:54.282 --> 01:38:56.743
Let's put some of this
reasoning together.

01:38:56.883 --> 01:38:59.477
I hope everyone
can bear with me.

01:38:59.617 --> 01:39:01.800
If we were to look
at good design

01:39:01.940 --> 01:39:05.272
in the broadest possible way with
respect to industrial unfolding,

01:39:05.412 --> 01:39:08.500
we would end up with about
four functions or processes

01:39:08.640 --> 01:39:12.371
each relating to the four dominant,
linear stages of design,

01:39:12.511 --> 01:39:14.896
production, distribution
and recycling.

01:39:15.036 --> 01:39:19.212
The following propositions should be
obvious enough as a rule structure.

01:39:19.352 --> 01:39:22.806
All product designs must adapt
to optimized design efficiency.

01:39:22.946 --> 01:39:26.308
They must all adapt to optimized
production efficiency.

01:39:26.448 --> 01:39:29.089
They must adapt to optimized
distribution efficiency,

01:39:29.230 --> 01:39:31.969
and they must adapt to optimized
recycling efficiency.

01:39:32.109 --> 01:39:35.366
Seems redundant, but this is
how we have to think about it.

01:39:35.506 --> 01:39:39.350
Here is a linear block schematic and
the symbolic logic representation

01:39:39.490 --> 01:39:42.217
which embodies the
subprocesses or functions

01:39:42.357 --> 01:39:44.490
I'm now going to very
generally break down.

01:39:46.453 --> 01:39:48.985
Process 1: The Design.

01:39:49.125 --> 01:39:51.172
Optimized Design Efficiency.

01:39:51.312 --> 01:39:55.631
A product design must meet
or adapt to criteria set

01:39:55.771 --> 01:39:59.516
by what we have called the
current efficiency standards.

01:39:59.656 --> 01:40:04.176
This efficiency process has
five evaluative subprocesses,

01:40:04.750 --> 01:40:07.114
as noted before earlier
in the presentation:

01:40:07.254 --> 01:40:10.555
durability, adaptability,
standardization,

01:40:10.695 --> 01:40:14.134
recycling conduciveness, maximized
automation conduciveness.

01:40:16.580 --> 01:40:19.448
Further breakdown of these
variables and logical associations

01:40:19.588 --> 01:40:21.848
can be figuratively made
as well, of course,

01:40:21.988 --> 01:40:24.999
which I don't think is conducive
for this type of presentation

01:40:25.139 --> 01:40:28.723
because we're going to get lost
in ever- reductionist minutia.

01:40:29.192 --> 01:40:33.055
But for more detail this stuff will
be developed much more and be put

01:40:33.195 --> 01:40:36.290
into this text as I've just described
which will be available for free.

01:40:36.430 --> 01:40:40.439
I'm going to try to do my best to give
the general efficiency process here.

01:40:40.983 --> 01:40:43.650
In the end, when it comes to this
Design Efficiency process set,

01:40:43.790 --> 01:40:47.641
we end up with this design
function at the top.

01:40:48.881 --> 01:40:52.550
Just to see it, I'll list all of
the function meanings at the end.

01:40:54.339 --> 01:40:58.501
We move on to process 2:
Production Efficiency.

01:40:58.641 --> 01:41:01.348
In short, this is
the digital filter

01:41:01.488 --> 01:41:05.747
that moves design to one of two
production facility types.

01:41:06.383 --> 01:41:08.577
One for high demand
or mass goods

01:41:08.717 --> 01:41:11.361
and one for low demand
or custom goods.

01:41:11.501 --> 01:41:14.049
The first uses fixed automation,

01:41:14.189 --> 01:41:18.017
meaning unvaried production
ideal for high demand,

01:41:18.157 --> 01:41:20.556
and the second:
flexible automation

01:41:20.696 --> 01:41:23.864
which can do a variety of things,
but usually in shorter runs.

01:41:24.004 --> 01:41:26.004
This is a distinction
that's commonly made

01:41:26.107 --> 01:41:28.223
in traditional
manufacturing terms.

01:41:28.663 --> 01:41:32.111
This structure assumes only
two types of facilities.

01:41:32.251 --> 01:41:35.698
Obviously there could be more,
based on the production factors.

01:41:35.838 --> 01:41:39.101
But if the design rules in
the process are respected,

01:41:39.241 --> 01:41:41.746
as expressed before, there
shouldn't be much variety.

01:41:41.886 --> 01:41:44.967
Over time things get
simpler and simpler.

01:41:46.093 --> 01:41:48.423
So to state this, I'm just going
to run through it for those that

01:41:48.563 --> 01:41:50.619
like to hear things
spelled out like this.

01:41:50.759 --> 01:41:52.802
All product designs
are filtered by a

01:41:52.942 --> 01:41:56.360
demand class
determination: process D;

01:41:56.500 --> 01:41:59.160
the demand class determination
process filters

01:41:59.400 --> 01:42:04.385
based on the standards set for
low demand or high demand.

01:42:04.907 --> 01:42:07.174
All low consumer
demand product designs

01:42:07.284 --> 01:42:09.405
are to be manufactured by the
flexible automation process,

01:42:09.535 --> 01:42:11.535
all high consumer
demand product designs

01:42:11.645 --> 01:42:13.645
are manufactured by the
fixed automation process.

01:42:13.778 --> 01:42:15.843
Also both the manufacturing
of low consumer demand

01:42:15.943 --> 01:42:17.943
and high consumer
demand product designs

01:42:18.043 --> 01:42:22.420
will be regionally allocated
as per the proximity strategy

01:42:22.548 --> 01:42:25.794
of the manufacturing facility.
This simply means

01:42:25.934 --> 01:42:28.999
you keep things as close to you as
possible, as close to the average

01:42:29.139 --> 01:42:32.217
of any given demand as far as what
type of facility you're using.

01:42:32.357 --> 01:42:34.957
And this will change over
time as populations change,

01:42:35.097 --> 01:42:37.188
so you keep updating.

01:42:37.328 --> 01:42:38.820
Process 3.

01:42:38.960 --> 01:42:43.430
Once process 2 is finished, the
product design is now a product

01:42:43.570 --> 01:42:47.106
and it moves towards optimized
distribution efficiency.

01:42:47.820 --> 01:42:51.674
In short, all products are
allocated based on the prior

01:42:51.814 --> 01:42:54.577
demand class determination
as noted before,

01:42:54.717 --> 01:42:58.700
so low consumer demand products
follow a direct distribution process,

01:42:58.840 --> 01:43:02.275
high consumer demands follow
the mass distribution process

01:43:02.415 --> 01:43:04.415
which would likely be the
libraries in that case.

01:43:04.546 --> 01:43:08.508
Both low consumer demand and high
consumer demand products will be

01:43:08.648 --> 01:43:12.857
regionally allocated per the
proximity strategy, as noted before.

01:43:13.488 --> 01:43:17.497
And process 4, very simple, the
product undergoes its life span.

01:43:17.637 --> 01:43:20.921
Ideally it's been updated and
adapted; ideally it's been used

01:43:21.061 --> 01:43:24.537
to the highest degree and made as advanced
as it could within its life cycle.

01:43:24.677 --> 01:43:27.936
Once it's done it becomes void
and moves on to process 4

01:43:28.076 --> 01:43:30.725
which is simply optimized
recycling efficiency.

01:43:30.865 --> 01:43:33.956
All voided products will
follow a regenerative protocol

01:43:34.096 --> 01:43:36.782
which is a subprocess that
clearly I'm not going to go into

01:43:36.922 --> 01:43:38.905
because it's deeply complicated

01:43:39.045 --> 01:43:41.436
and is the role of engineers
to develop over time.

01:43:41.576 --> 01:43:44.419
This is just a simple
macro representation;

01:43:44.559 --> 01:43:49.249
again these subvariables or subprocesses
go on to quite a large degree.

01:43:50.550 --> 01:43:53.919
Keeping all of this in mind, again,
a lot of this will be in the text

01:43:54.060 --> 01:43:56.257
and hopefully others, I
think, can see this stuff,

01:43:56.397 --> 01:43:58.592
that are fluent with this
type of thinking, and hone in

01:43:58.732 --> 01:44:00.760
and perfect these equations
and relationships.

01:44:00.900 --> 01:44:03.733
What I tried to do here
is to give a broad sense

01:44:03.873 --> 01:44:06.392
of how this type
of thing unfolds.

01:44:06.532 --> 01:44:08.764
As a concluding statement,
more or less, the way

01:44:08.904 --> 01:44:11.504
this extrapolation of
sustainability and efficiency-

01:44:11.644 --> 01:44:13.958
it's really quite a
simple logical thing.

01:44:14.098 --> 01:44:16.980
You don't have to be a rocket scientist
to see how things work on this level.

01:44:17.120 --> 01:44:20.297
Creating a real program
that can factor in

01:44:20.437 --> 01:44:24.150
what are hundreds if not thousands
of subprocesses in algorithmic form,

01:44:24.290 --> 01:44:27.548
as they pertain to such an
economic complex is indeed

01:44:27.688 --> 01:44:31.231
a massive project in and of itself,
but it's more of a tedious project.

01:44:31.371 --> 01:44:33.714
You don't need to be a genius
to figure this stuff out.

01:44:33.854 --> 01:44:36.545
I think this is an excellent
think-tank program

01:44:36.645 --> 01:44:38.645
for anyone out there that's
interested in projects.

01:44:38.745 --> 01:44:41.102
I have a number of little projects
that I'm trying to get going

01:44:41.275 --> 01:44:43.724
when I have time; one is simply
called The Global Redesign Institute,

01:44:43.864 --> 01:44:46.085
which is a macroeconomic
approach to redesign

01:44:46.225 --> 01:44:48.579
the entire surface of
the planet, basically.

01:44:48.719 --> 01:44:51.624
And in this other programming concept,
we create an open-source platform

01:44:51.764 --> 01:44:53.899
where people can begin to
engineer this very program

01:44:54.039 --> 01:44:55.627
that I'm describing.

01:44:56.467 --> 01:44:58.578
That's it. I was going to make
a conclusion to this talk

01:44:58.718 --> 01:45:00.484
but it was already way too long.

01:45:00.624 --> 01:45:02.959
So I just hope this gives a deeper
understanding of the model,

01:45:03.100 --> 01:45:05.100
how it could work and
thank you for listening.

01:45:05.277 --> 01:45:08.677
[Applause]