Quite by accident I found TROM, it is a massive documentary divided into many smaller sections dealing with everything involving the human condition. In some ways it is like a very simplistic and basic reference book, a series of bullet point cards. It talks about the same ideas and concepts as seen in Zeitgeist Moving Forward, but if Zeitgeist is the glossy book for sale, TROM is the reference information behind the book. It is full of a wealth of facts and answers to why we humans are the way we are, and what we can do to change.
I’ll be honest some of the things they discuss I would be sceptical about, and I think they can be seen as too radical, but many of the ideas and concepts make good sense.
The doc is worth watching if you like Zeitgeist, but be warned it is very basic and obviously done on a very cheap budget. There is even quite a few spelling mistakes which made me wonder but then they do recognise that fact on the website and apologise, it seems like this is draft version one.
The basic premise revolves around the adage “money is the root of all evil”, which I believe is a misquotation but apt here. And that we need to rid ourselves of the monetary system to survive.
The parts I found particularly interesting was the section on education and the corruption of children, as well as best practices to help make children less subservient to the power of consumerism and more empowered to think for themselves. Jacque Fresco one of the main speakers and head of the Venus Project makes some interesting comments about raising his own children. He said to get his son to read, he would read to a point of the book which was exciting and interesting then stop. His son would plead to hear some more, but Jacque said no and left the book next to the child. His son instinctively picked up the book and read it himself eager know what happened next. He makes the point that the present school system is pointless and I agree with him there. I never learned anything of real value at school, it was boring and dull; strangely it wasn’t until I was nearing my 30’s that I started to enjoy the things I should have enjoyed at school.
Jacque does have some more radical ideas which I am not as sure about, his ideas about families and having children I found extreme, since the issues of overpopulation stem mainly from poverty and religion, and not an inherent desire to have children and a family. If we had no poverty in the third world countries or even the third world parts of China, and less disease and infant mortality. As well as a better understanding of contraception in those areas, then populations would not continue to rise. To say the concept of love will change and become less than what I would call love is foolish. Because many people don’t find happiness and feel obliged or forced into staying married having kids, is generally down to other factors like work, debt, lack of money, lack of freedom. Not all people want this sort of loving relationship, but many do, and to say it will be phased out is a little naive.
He dispels the notion of freedom also, saying you can never be free, but that depends on your definition of freedom. Of course you will never be literally free because that would send us back to the primitive times, but you can feel a sense of freedom in your heart and soul.
The ideas are similar to ones I have expressed myself many times, it has to start with children, bring children up without the desire to hurt or control, and not to think of things in terms of possession. Let them share and think for themselves and not covet or want. Make learning exciting the interesting and use the inherent desire to learn, to teach them correctly. How this will happen when so many children are mentally abused before they are even ten or eleven, I don’t know. There was two very disturbing parts of the documentary, around the mental abuses of some religions. It was disgraceful that this sort of thing is allowed to happen in this day and age. Then again so many dreadful things happen why should it surprise me, but it did.
On a positive note the 3D printers were an exciting invention, their potential is obviously massive, but how will that help or benefit the world or will the power corporations find a way to control them. Nanotechnology was also fascinating, as well as the many other scientific advances.
Some of Jacque Fresco’s comments later on about arts, sports, and the like and the fact they are distractions make him sound like he trying to create a world like the one in Equilibrium, he says people will grow beyond them comparing gladiator games and burning Christians at the stake as the same as football and other tribalist sports. Maybe he is right about the more violent ones but I doubt we will become bored of art or music, or anything cultural like that. We are not all going to want to be involved in scientific pursuits so in my mind he is totally wrong there.
I haven’t seen the last section called dilemma but I can imagine what it is about, how do we change the system and kill the evil corporate, profit driven, money desiring, beast. It’s a bit like any good monster movie, it seems impossible, but some way they find the answer. Now we need to.
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