Venus Project

[sandinista]

Anyone heard of this? Not sure about it in it's entirety, sort of just came across this on the web. Guys pretty interesting though, spot on with analysis on so-called "democracy" and "human nature".


http://www.thevenusproject.com/

[.Morticia.]

Seems like a growth based economy and unlimited resources type theory.

Also hasn't taken into account the impact of Global Climate Change.

And barter? Am I getting that right?






http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacque_Fresco

TheoryJacque Fresco

Jacque Fresco (right) with Roxanne Meadows
Born March 13, 1916 (1916-03-13) (age 95)
Residence Venus, Florida
Nationality American
Occupation Industrial Designer, Social Engineer, Inventor, Author, Lecturer, Futurist
Website
The Venus Project

According to Fresco, poverty, crime, corruption and war are the result of scarcity created by the present world's profit-based economic system. He theorizes that the profit motive also stifles the progress of socially beneficial technology. Fresco claims that the progression of technology, if it were carried on independently of its profitability, would make more resources available to more people by producing an abundance of products and materials. This new-found abundance of resources would, according to Fresco, reduce the human tendency toward individualism, corruption, and greed, and instead rely on people helping each other.[9][non-primary source needed] Fresco believes it is now possible to achieve a society in which people would live "longer, healthier, and more meaningful lives." [12] Fresco believes the monetary system and the processes associated with it, such as labour and competition, damages society and holds people back from their true potentials. He states his ideas would maximally benefit the greatest number of people. He claims some of his ideas stem from his formative years during the Great Depression.[4] Fresco believes the current global economic system will have to see a major crisis before people start to lose the confidence in the monetary system and start looking for other directions.[13] Fundamental to the project is what Fresco calls a "Resource Based Economy". A Resource Based Economy utilizes existing resources - rather than money - to provide an equitable method of distribution in the most humane and efficient manner. It is a system in which all goods and services are available to everyone without the use of money, credits, barter, or any other form of debt or servitude.[14]

[edit] Resource Based Economy
Circular CityA major theme of Fresco's is the concept of a Resource Based Economy (or RBE) that replaces the need for the current monetary economy, which is "scarcity-oriented" or "scarcity-based". Fresco argues that the world is rich in natural resources and energy and that — with modern technology and judicious efficiency — the needs of the global population can be met with abundance, while at the same time removing the current limitations of what is deemed possible due to notions of economic viability.

Fresco provides an example of this confusion in the following quote:

"At the beginning of World War II the U.S. had a mere 600 or so first-class fighting aircraft. We rapidly overcame this short supply by turning out more than 90,000 planes a year. The question at the start of World War II was: Do we have enough funds to produce the required implements of war? The answer was No, we did not have enough money, nor did we have enough gold; but we did have more than enough resources. It was the available resources that enabled the US to achieve the high production and efficiency required to win the war. Unfortunately this is only considered in times of war."[15]
Fresco states that for this to work, all of the Earth's resources must be held as the common heritage of all people and not just a select few; and the practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter-productive to the survival of human civilization.

One of the key points in Fresco’s solution is that without the conditions created in a monetary system, vast amounts of resources would not be wasted unproductively [16]. Instead Fresco’s contention is that without the waste of resources on ends that would become irrelevant there would be no scarcity of necessary products such as food and education (environmentalism) [16].

Apart from The Venus Project, other projects have later started up with the intent of promoting a resource based economy or similar. These include the so-called Resource Based Economy Foundation[17], The New Z-Land Project[18], and The Atlas Initiative Group[19]. Neither of these seem to be affiliated with The Venus Project or Jacque Fresco.

[Svartalf]

IIRC, I read stuff on that thing last year, back on RDF

What it boiled down is that the thing is utopian in the basic sense of the word : nowhere, not gonna happen.

The "resource based economy" predicates that the society have access to said resources in the first place... now you tell me how they are going to take over management of the world from every government out there that will go to war to protect its sovereignty, especially since VP's plan doesn't seem to include any provisions for military power (which of course diverts huge amounts of resources that would be better used elsewhere).

What bothers me more is the concept of some "perfect democracy" where everybody would do what they do best and want to do, but with no details as to who would be in charge and how they would get there... If I do the math from what I saw at the time, either power goes to those who want it, and we all know how well that works, or it's implied that the people on top of the project would get to be head, and decide on their collaborators and successors, and they know best what's best for everybody who therefore should be happy with whatever fate they get in the new society...