The End of Ownership - VPRO documentary - 2015 

This is beautiful. It's wonderful we have people like this asking the right questions, doing the right things. We need change and we need it fast.

It's extremely important to change the way economy works ! NO MORE infinite growth ! Which is not possible anyway

The most thought provoking documentary I've ever watched. I was somewhat skeptical at first but I came round eventually. That's rarely the case.

Systems theory thinking put into practice. Mister Thomas after watching this video turned out to be an inspiring figure, i must admit.

Phenomenal ideas! What a great man is Thomas Rau, grappling with nature and human organization and looking for better ways to use materials and living better. I totally agree that materials should have rights, and we may also look at it this way - that within everything around us, the atoms may have beings on them much like us, and that the way we treat materials affects the world of these beings. We cannot know if this is true or not, that there are beings within atoms, but our planet and solar system for all we know, could also be particles in other atomic structures much bigger than us. We look up and see infinite space and celestial bodies above. Could our planet be a particle in some other giant world? Could that pattern go as much into smaller systems as they do into the cosmos? I agree that we have to overhaul our thinking regarding ownership and that is a great though! The best we can hope to be are stewards or custodians of nature, which includes materials because they come from nature (and on another note, we'll have to dump the policies that require killing people, that definitely has to go too. We cannot be our own predators and make it government policy but it's a good time to consider dumping government too, more on that later) Products could be assembled in a modular fashion so that only the worn components can be change, not the whole product. I have a fly-screen door that is perfectly good but the little roller on the top that runs allows the door to run smoothly on the tracks has lost its spring and the door doesn't work because of this. The designers were not forward-thinking, because of a little spring, the whole door is made inoperable. But to get to the spring requires destruction of the door as it's not easy to get to and hasn't been thought about. Apart from the waste this kind of thinking generates, the frustration with using the door poorly is never acknowledged in the price or the manufacturing. I would like Thomas Rau to go even further. We need to take the profit motive right out of the economy. When we do things because we want to make a profit, it dulls our human spirit and makes us think or our own self-interest above every other interest. We should make an economy that supports our ideals as human beings. Currently we need to sequester carbon dioxide. So what we can do is base our money on carbon sequestering principles. We could price products by their CO2 footprint (I would like to add the water footprint too) We could do this by pegging the dollar (or any denomination) on a volume of CO2, for example, barrels of CO2 that are either sequestered or used. The product would be priced say, with the number before the decimal point, for it's CO2 emissions used from "cradle to grave" because we must add when you buy a product, you pay more for products that were made of new resources, plus all the emissions that it took to manufacture, distribute and sell (eg: emissions from transportation mode used) right up to the waste or composting of that product, (the time it takes it to breakdown into the earth) And the number after the decimal point would denote the amount of water used to make that product. Every year citizens would be allocated a very generous allocation of CO2 emissions and water which would "carry forward" every year so that the "credits" would accumulate over time if the citizen kept a lower footprint. These "credits" could be exchanged on a kind of stock exchange. Everything would be priced this way. It would then make sense to derive income by using renewable energy, growing plants (particularly hemp). Hemp would then become very lucrative to grow and manufacture, which makes sense because hemp has many amazing qualities. I'd also like to see the hourly rate be the uniform for every job. Make it generous like $100 per hour to make accounting simple. This would support our ideal that everyone is equal and everyone's time is equal to everyone else's - a profound statement that everyone has equal value. The crux of the matter is that the economy is not something we need to be bound by as it is. It is purely a man made concept and therefore infinitely changeable. With computers now, we can do whatever our hearts desire. We should be thinking of new ways of exchange since this economy, based on greed, will take us all out. We need to design an economy that teaches us the right behavior because an economy is also a motivational system. While we're at it, we could do away with politicians and make all our decisions ourselves by online discussions and experts and others so that we can be fully educated, (not just educated by sound bites) and enable every human to vote (online) directly on the issue, not on a person, (who as we know, rarely manages to live up to expectations) Thank you Thomas Rau for a delightful excursion into the future!

Abrazos desde Islas Canarias. Paz, fuerza y alegría para todxs

Along with BBC, VPRO produces some of the finest factual programs around

Aaaahhh such an inspiring documentary, when you know there are more people who think like you, freaking common sense, I wish everyone would use it!!!! I couldn't agree more on everything... Reuse things, make them durable, let it work on the basis of renting (like using a bus for example too), ... THE SYSTEM WE ARE USED TO made people believe that we have to posses stuff to have value. But it's all just a big advertisement that sells a feeling :P I mean, if you really need to keep buying things to feel better in the society, your brain just goes to waste, same like all that stuff you bought.

Thomas Rau is not only an architect, he is an excellent presenter. His wisdom deserve him to also be called a philosopher. Thanks Thomas. GBU. Thanks to vpro for great documentary. You rock!!

excellent documentary as always vpro. Thank you

A real challenge for mastering sustainability

Well, I'm off to plant some oak trees for my great-great-great-great-great-grandchildren to do something cool with

I live watching g documentaries thanks to the internet!

Speechless... A glimpse in the future that actually shows how business's interests and motivations can be aligned to provide high quality and recyclable products for a more sustainable environment... Shouldn't this be what our world leaders should be thinking about!? How to make it so companies can have their interests in line with helping the environment instead of generating half regulations that no one ever follows... What are we waiting for

It's funny: one minute into the documentary and my mind is already blown. The end of "planned" or economic obsolescence!

And here 7 years on when I stumbled upon this, I haven't heard or read a single sentence about it anywhere. Is it time for a follow-up?

The future.

Geniaal!

Wow. I needed to hear this. There's hope after all.

super fascinating and brilliant perspective. it's the future!

This, much like other radical innovations of the past, will start off great. It would be a better deal than what we were doing in the past but slowly it will actually become worse than what we had before. The end of ownership will eventually widen the wealth gap even more. Only 1% will own anything. Cars, when they were invented were actually marketed as a cheaper alternative to horses and now cars are well in the thousands annually for maintance costs, insurance, licence fees, registration fees and ticket. That guy who was renting a fridge, if that service was to catch on and we all lost the ability to own fridges, then they would raise the price of the subscription to astronomic highs because we would have no choice. We've given up our power and placed it in the hands of people who are insatiably greedy. The loss of ownership would be much more detrimental to society than what we would gain.

vpro documentary what a great documentary this one was. This brings us a new perspective and alternative solution to this society of consumerism. Have you heard of Jacque Fresco from the Venus Project? He has had similar ideas to Thomas Rau concerning ownership. He has worked on a new global alternative where ownership would no longer be necessary, neither would a price system be necessary because we could reach a level of production so high that it would make it impossible to sell anything (the same way the average person doesn't need to pay for oxygen consumption today). His system strives to declare all the Earth's Resources Common Heritage of all the Earth's People and intelligently manage those resources. The society he has been working on for over 75 years now, could bring us long lasting peace on Earth and end most of today's problems like pollution, radical climate change, corruption, human suffering, war, aberrant human behaviour etc etc. His work deals with many aspects of today's society and not just a handful of issues. I was wondering if you ever came across him?

replace corporations with socialised capital, like cooperatives or local governments, then implement this kind of leasing system, and then maybe we can talk about an economic system worth having. I worry that if corporations implement this structure, it will screw everyone into a very tightly controlled poverty which gives corporations the ultimate power over people. Corporations are already consolidating their capital, fewer and fewer companies control production. If they had power over who can rent their products, they have an unelected power over who is able to survive in the economy. Corporate totalitarianism.

the thing is that business (as a physical identity) can develop by renting, borrowing etc rather than actually buying things because the business doesn't fear that it will sleep on the street, but for individuals actually not having anything and renting everything is very different. People can only expect to get old and afford less loans because they can't pay for them. While business can run forever we don't. We decay. My grandparent's house is 150 years old passed two world wars and the communist regime. Think how much rent there would have been to pay for that and if someone along the line would have lost interest in paying the rent i wouldn't have enjoyed it today as an inheritance. I don't want to be an animal in a stall with multinationals administering my life. The idea is seductive but... as with all socialist stuff it's difficult to work He doesn't say though that the market is invaded by chinese merchandise that doesn't get quality tested before entering rotterdam and eu. What if I say to you a chinese company comes and does the same thing as phillips instead they change the bulb everytime you call them it's broken never actually repair the things and charge less than phillips... What about that?!

Amazing.

Thats a big hope for a new revolucionary world that starts in all of our minds. Don´t get out of this! I want to collaborate, so i am working in a translation of this documental to the Spanish language. Im going to upload this translation to RU-vid. GET INVOLVED, we are going to make the difference and change the world as a result.

The End of Ownership - VPRO documentary - 2015... Connect the dots... In 2016, James R. Crotty told Institute for New Economic Thinking that Keynes has been misrepresented stating, "When Keynes ended the General Theory with a call for "a more or less comprehensive socialization of investment" and the "euthanasia of the rentier," it wasn’t a tossed-off provocation, but a summary of a serious political program developed over decades."[3] ... James R. Crotty is an American Post-Keynesian macroeconomist whose research in theory and policy attempts to integrate the complementary analytical strengths of the Marxian and Keynesian traditions. He has made contributions to the social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory; the implications of radical uncertainty for macro theory and theories of financial markets.

Brilliant

everyone should watch this documentary

Jacques Fresco

I need this now. Earth needs this now!

Excellent concept. All other living creatures follow the laws of nature for their survival except humans. We should also look at resource-based models for our economy that aligns with nature instead of man-made predatory capitalism that feeds on others for a wealthy few. Great video!

21:05 "we somehow have to start trying to act as if there is going to be a future" - Brian Eno

This is amazing model.He was right , I even realized it that It's in every product that we BUY. Spiritually our body is also rented.Only fear is all people may not maintain things as expected however the product is good enough, same with our body.Companies should be prepared to accept that fact.This idea can be implemented for most of the products.:) I love this Idea.:) Also people should be prepared for getting a recycled product which may fail at crucial hours, well in that case service Industries play a key role :) .Wish this idea need not be applied to bionic arms and legs or even organs in future...if you don't pay the rent..well you know the consequences or it may be applied efficiently that it works for ever and for all :) This idea reduces waste....that is really amazing :)Also the companies should not charge hefty prices to rent new items , performance oriented items and low prices for recycled , old items...we should carefully take care of that ...!! otherwise it will create the same chain..In a different way. :) EMI's kind of rent...if you know what I'm saying :) Every product should be upgraded at the same time which is practically impossible..but can be done in parts which should take less than quarter or half the product time to recycle :)

This isn't a new idea. It is the same system that was used during the Feudal era where the rich owned everything and the serfs would live in the landowner's village or provided homes and work for the landowner or other wealthy persons.. Reminds me of Henry Ford. When he started, his workers had to live in Ford owned homes and shop in Ford owned stores. Ford is one of the reasons the negative term 'company store' came about. Mining companies operated in the same way... Privatized communism.., instead of the state owning everything, now it will be a corporation owns everything... The rich get richer and the poor get poorer...

The topic of the limits of our resource based economy, is not new. However, no one has brought forth a solution, until now. Especially that we are moving to a service based economy this fits the bill.

You know how detached people are from reality ? How dependent they are on the system for everything ? How sick and twister their bodies are after decades of depending on services due to comfort and ease ? LOL let's just double down on that and have the entire economy service based ! So smart ! 10/10 zombie award !

Awesome! RU-vid seem to

wow.. hope to see a follow up to this. whats the progress?

Where is the cool intro sounds when "backlight" comes on?

Is Thomas Rau a descendant or more distantly related to Fritz Rau? Horst Lippmann and Fritz Rau were the German businessmen whose foresight and backing presented American blues musicians to European audiences with The American Folk Blues Festival starting in 1962. If not for them, the world would be a lot poorer and less well-educated. Link to discography of the American Folk Blues Festival: www.wirz.de/music/afbf.htm (at Stefan Wirz's Illustrated American Blues Discography).

This path IS EVIL.

Very interesting concept ! lets speak of bauxite and copper as materials vitally needed to make any kind of bulb - Mined in Australia, China, Brazil, India, Guinea, Jamaica, Russia, Venezuela, Suriname and Kazakhstan - Thousands of miners toil in the worst conditions to dig - many hundreds die every year - Many cannot even afford or dream of such wow technology - Thomas Rau could address that issue as well ...

Interesting, I like some of the ideas, but I think the model only works if the service provider is the manufacturer. If the service provider is a third party, they get screwed by the manufacturer and in turn, they screw the consumer by charging enough to not care about how much they are being screwed over themselves. If however, the service provider is the manufacturer, then the benefits described are valid.

The idea that I would want to rent, and thus be dependent on the companies providing life-sustaining goods, seems odd to me. Why would i not want to be independent of these large corporations, buying durable goods when i cannot make them myself, learning to repair them and extend their useful lives, installing and operating my own solar panels and obviating the need to rent entirely...?

I hope this one is alright. There was a hugely false dichotomy presented between the 'private sector' and 'public sector' in "The Smart state" documentary, sadly..

It would make companies use the cheapest energy sources. Like coal or something. I think the idea is a bit simplistic. I think legislation is needed. You can't bribe companies this way. You can simply force them. In my country companies are forced to recycle their electronics problems. You can simply make such laws. Don't have to be soft with companies.

Such an elegant solution to a profound problem. Works perfectly in the case in the case of a fridge. In the case of a washing machine it may be that In some cases the most efficient service would be a collection, laundry and delivery service, in which case peoples attitudes will need changing. Very interesting and thought provoking. Another great doc from vpro.

This is what the great reset aims to be. Not sure if I like it, but it seems to be where the UN is headed.

So we went from a hot water heater that lasted decades and cost 5.00 beer month to one that lasts only 12-15 years and now costs 120.00/3 months! and you rent it for a lifetime!

Sometimes i think of going to the past in some sort of time travel and spreading the gospel. " Stop it with the oil; stop it with the plastic; stop it with the consumption of meat. "

Wow that's great

These all are totally naive propositions and ideas! (i.e. to say at least!) Perhaps the author should start with reading the following article and then, again, think really deeply and thoroughly about the subject and all possible implications, factual issues and consequences: articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/10/23/near-infrared-led-lighting.aspx This comment of mine would only be a small part of much broader contrarian view of Thomas Rau's ideas above. However and without a doubt those are yet excellent to impose even more totalitarian but very subtle control and influence upon people and ordinary society, besides also making them (or let's say us) ever dumber ...

This is mad. So what happens if you break it? Who's responsibility is that - who pays for that? And what happens when you over use your bulb - who pays for that, do Philips just ration when and how you can use it. And to his argument, yes you don't buy a plane to fly to New York but then you don't rent a tooth brush either. Some products work better as consumables and others don't (it's about pricing). Then there are all the perverse incentives. When you buy something you're not typically tied into their ecosystem but Philips might make that a condition of using their bulbs. And if they can keep the same single item going for longer why innovate to produce better ones?

Feudalism and serfdom 2.0

So what is the update? To what extent are these motions being put into place?

I missed the little VPRO jingle at the start!

After watching Avatar, you would've arrived at the same conclusion.

Documentary for the Green Party to view. PM Trudeau needs to get ideas from this video so we can meet our commitments to reducing greenhouse gasses.

You can teach it to China.

What will all,of this renting add up to every month though. You did hear him say it would be more profitable right.....that means we pay more

Post-scarcity will render this concept obsolete before it can be implemented.

Typical airy fairy architectural thinking! Who wants to have 100 standing orders for all the gadgets in their house? Buy something in a single transaction and look after it!