The Venus Project - Resource Based Economy

[MelCat]

The Venus Project has just re-launched their website to include a much easier to navigate design and more ways to get involved.

I've been reluctant to make a post about TVP because I wasn't sure of a good way to see it become a reality. The more I think about it, the more I believe that the only way is through awareness. As it stands now, the current system is in shambles and it's only a matter of time before it collapses under it's own weight.

The value of currency is at an all time low while the debt and interest are at an all time high. Unemployment rates are only getting worse and there doesn't seem to be any viable fixes for this system. How many bailouts is it going to take?

I believe that our American forefathers had the right idea when they made the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. People have the right to be free and live the life they choose. Money has perverted the dream of our founding fathers. They came here to America to get away from absurd and ruthless political control. Slowly but surely our rights have been stripped from us and anyone who isn't wealthy is a slave to someone who is.

The monetary system has been a vital part of our human evolution but it is now corrupt and out-dated. It is time to evolve and move onto a Resource Based Economy. With this type of economy, the dream of our forefathers could become a true reality.

If you want to travel and experience other cultures, you should be able to do so. If you choose to continue your education, you should be able to get the best education available and it shouldn't cost a thing. In a RBE, I believe that we would see a lot more cures for things. In our current system, there isn't any money in curing disease... The real money is in the treatment. If you take money out of the equation and can get all interested parties working together, we could see a lot more happen at a much more rapid pace.

This world is what WE make it. If we come together and stand as ONE we can demand that these changes take place.

Everything about their system has been thought out and there's lots of room for variation. Once money becomes a non-issue, I believe that we'll start seeing a lot more cooperation. We'll no longer have the excuse "It's too expensive to solve that problem".

Instead of having political officials who are trained in lip service and military that is trained in murder, we can instead train them as social engineers who are truly capable of solving problems, instead of creating/adding to them.

The Venus Project is currently working on creating a full length motion picture that will show what life might be like if a system like this were to exist. Donations for the project can be made on the website.

Also on the website is a comprehensive FAQ. If you ask me any questions about this, please refer to their FAQ and Essay first to make sure it hasn't already been covered.

If you have a Facebook or Twitter account, please share their page with your friends and ask that they do the same. I feel that if we can get enough awareness about this we can make it a reality.

Thanks for your time reading this and for sharing!

 

[Hyperspace Fool]

As unfeasible as the Resource Based Economy sounds at first, it is clearly more logical than what we are doing now. I wish the Venus Project people the best of luck... they've been at this for quite some time now.

I guess there was some falling out between them and Peter Joseph (guy behind the Zeitgeist films), but the last one, Zeitgeist: Moving Forward makes some compelling arguments in favor of the Venus Project model. All 3 films can be seen for FREE here: ZEITGEIST FILM SERIES – by Peter Joseph

 

[MelCat]

Thanks for sharing that HF. This post sheds some light on the falling out. I kinda agree with Kartikay, that Jacque mainly wants to focus on the city model and not the social revolution part. I also believe there were some disagreements between Peter and Jacque about the motion picture. Peter didn't see the logic in putting so much money and resources into a full length film while Jacque believes that it's crucial for the next step in TVP evolution. I can see where both of them are coming from.

The first Zeitgeist films aren't really allowed because they use a lot of speculation and tend to fall under the No Conspiracy Theory rule. The latest one resonated a bit better around here because they kept to a pretty good "Just the facts" policy.

It's really hard to debate most of the points they bring up in the film.

The next film, Beyond the Pale is said to be released around Dec. 2012. I wonder if they are trying to align it's release with the Mayan Calendar?

 

[Purges]

I like the idea very much. I take all that Zeitgeisty type stuff with a very large pinch of salt though. We do need a massive shift in attitude towards money / life though, for sure. Living life in fear - which is often caused by money at the source - is no way to live.

 

[MelCat]

This is a 25min Conversation with Jacque Fresco that goes over some of the main principles of a Resourced Based Economy and The Venus Project.

Also, this is a video titled Welcome to the Future that shows more in-depth information. It's a little cheesy at times but enlightening for anyone who isn't aware with what The Venus Project is all about.

 

[Nitegazer]

Melodic,

Thank you for another connection to social change that I had never heard of before. I checked out the main webpage, but was a little disappointed at the lack of concrete writing on the Resource-Based economy (I prefer reading to video), in terms of structure and governance. Could you direct me to any papers on the governance concept for the movement? It seems to be a variant of communal decision making, but also seems highly centralized.

 

[MelCat]

Hey Nitegazer, thanks for your interest.

There isn't really a lot of information on what the government systems would consist of because eventually government will be phased out. Our current governmental systems are too out-dated and slow to respond to the rapid changes our society is currently undergoing.

Here are a few entries taken from the FAQ and the Essay about governments and how they relate to TVP.

Isn't it just decent people that we need in government?
It is not enough to criticize, point out the shortcomings of society, or advocate that people of high moral character be elected into office; this would do little to advance civilization. What is needed is the intelligent management of the world's resources, and a comprehensive and workable arrangement of environmental and social affairs that are in strict accord with existing resources and the carrying capacity of our planet. Even with the election of men and women of impeccable character into government, without available resources and advanced technology, war, poverty, and corruption will prevail no matter how many new laws are passed or treaties signed. It is not democracy that elevated our standard of living, it is our resources, water, arable land, and new technology. Rhetoric and paper proclamations are irrelevant in the management of human and social affairs.

Will there be a government?
As to the need for government, only during the transition from a monetary based society to a cybernated high-technological resource based economy of common heritage would it be necessary to utilize the services of systems analysts, engineers, computer programmers, etc. They will not dictate the policies or have any more advantage than other people. Their job will be to carry out the restoration of the environment to near natural conditions as possible on land and in the sea. They will also economically layout the most efficient way to manage transportation, agriculture, city planning, and production. This too is always in the process of modification and updating to fit the needs of an ever-changing civilization. There are no final frontiers.

And a few entries from the Essay:

This new experimental city would be devoted to working towards the aims and goals of The Venus Project, which are:

1. Conserving all the world's resources as the common heritage of all of the Earth's people.

2. Transcending all of the artificial boundaries that separate people.

3. Evolving from a monetary-based economy to a resource-based world economy.

4. Reclaiming and restoring the natural environment to the best of our ability.

5. Redesigning our cities, transportation systems, and agricultural and industrial plants so that they are energy efficient, clean, and conveniently serve the needs of all people.

6. Evolving towards a cybernated society that can gradually outgrow the need for all political local, national, and supra-national governments as a means of social management.

7. Sharing and applying all of the new technologies for the benefit of all nations.

8. Using clean, renewable energy sources such as wind, solar, geothermal, and tidal power, etc.

9. Ultimately utilizing the highest quality products for the benefit of all the world's people.

10. Requiring environmental impact studies prior to construction of any mega-projects.

11. Encouraging the widest range of creativity and incentive toward constructive endeavor.

12. Assisting in stabilizing the world's population through education and voluntary birth-control to conform to the carrying capacity of the earth.

13. Outgrowing nationalism, bigotry and prejudice through education.

14. Eliminating any type of elitism, technical or otherwise.

15. Arriving at methodologies by careful research rather than random opinions.

16. Enhancing communication in the new schools so that our language and education is relevant to the physical conditions of the world around us.

17. Providing not only the necessities of life but also offering challenges that stimulate the mind, emphasizing individuality rather than uniformity.

18. Finally, preparing people intellectually and emotionally for the possible changes that lie ahead.
Like all other innovative social proposals, it starts out with a few devoted people that dedicate their time to informing others of the humane benefits of this new direction. People are invited to participate in whatever capacity they can to help carry out the initial design phases of this new experimental city. An interdisciplinary team of systems engineers, computer programmers, architects, city planners, sociologists, psychologists, educators and the like would also be needed. The design of The Venus Project does not regard environmental conditions as fixed or static. We must allow for adaptation and change within the system as a continuous process. This would avoid the tendency to perpetuate temporary arrangements beyond their period of usefulness.

The prime conditions that would really effect social change will come about when conditions have deteriorated to such an extent that governments, politicians, and social institutions no longer have the support and confidence of the people. What once worked is acknowledged to be no longer relevant. If the public were better informed, only then would it be possible to introduce a new and improved social arrangement.

We must emphasize here that this approach to global governance has nothing whatever in common with the present aims of a corporate elite to form a world government with themselves and large corporations in control, and the vast majority of the world's population subservient to them. Globalization in a resource-based economy empowers each and every person on the planet to be the very best they can be, not to live in abject subjugation to a corporate governing body.

To better understand the meaning of a resource-based economy consider this: If all the money in the world were to suddenly disappear, as long as topsoil, factories, and other resources were left intact, we could build anything we chose to build and fulfill any human need. It is not money that people need, but rather it is freedom of access to most of their necessities without ever having to appeal to a government bureaucracy or any other agency. In a resource-based economy money would become irrelevant. All that would be required are the resources, manufacturing, and distribution of the products.

There are a few other entries in the Essay relating to government but I believe I included the most relevant and important information here.

Jacque has a book available called The Best That Money Can't Buy available on their store. There might be a copy available for download but I haven't looked. There should also be some more information in this PDF, Designing The Future.

I hope this helps to answer what you are looking for.

As it stands in our current government, we have a bunch of politicians which are glorified talking heads as far as I'm concerned. They haven't been trained on how to deal with the social and economic problems we're faced with. They are trained in lip service and how to make the people believe that they know what they are talking about. In reality, they don't.

Take for example Hurricane Katrina and what it did to New Orleans. They flew the President out there and he said "Yup, we've got a big mess out here" and that was pretty much it. He wasn't trained on how to deal with those types of problems.

Who did solve the problems? Engineers did.

This is the basis of government in the future.

Instead of allowing a bunch of ignorant bastards who have no idea how to solve problems to fake it and make matters even worse... We figure out who is properly trained on how to deal with the issue at hand and we arrive at decisions based on facts and data, the scientific method and by proper testing techniques to ensure we really are heading in the desired direction. We will seek out the most qualified people and have them go to the drawing board and decide the best course of action.

As it stands now, we put far too much value in people's opinions instead of really looking at the hard facts. Opinions in the future won't hold much water just like they don't hold much water here on the Nexus. We will start asking "Why is this the best way?" instead of just blindly following political puppets who obviously don't give a damn about "The People".

 

[majesticnature]

I am behind you 100% melodic. I have been aware of jaque fresco for a while now and I'll tell you that he's got the basic idea of what we should be headed towards. Aestheticaly speaking I think his designs look a little retro but he is 89 years old.

Anyway he's got the basic idea and we need to get into action with this stuff, its not enough to talk about it. We need a major dissolution of world governments and to declare ourselfs as one people for the good of all people.

The idea is to build the first city. This is what jaque wants to do. If we create an example of a self providing world people will be more then inclined to jump on board because the life will be far more luxurious and exciting then the mundane state life that exist now. People will working out of passion as opposed to obigation. Who wouldnt want to live in a world where everything is free considering that we all learn, apply what we learn, and work doing jobs that we are passionate about?

Could you imagine a world where after you get out of working for the day anything you could ever want is freely available?

could you imagine a world where we simply learn together and apply what we learn as leverage to create more abundance?

I truly believe this is possible through a change in the human condition on a worldwide scale by becoming an effecient and team work driven society as opposed to a wasteful and competition based society.

There will be only one food vendor. There will be only one electronics vendor. One of everything. One.

If we learn to be an effecient non wasteful society there is enough of everything for everybody.

 

[daedaloops]

Bumping this thread because I think it needs more exposure, and also they put out a new video.

This is like absolutely the kind of society I would want to live in, from the aesthetics to the economy to the freedom of innovation and consciousness. I have imagined so many times walking around the city area with all the trees and lakes and technology and happy stress-free people. Perfect serenity. It's like my home that I'm never able to reach, but it's enough to know that future generations have atleast a chance to achieve that, no matter how small it is.


[YOUTUBE]

 

[a1pha]

Gotta admit, I've been rolling my eyes at this project for years. Needed a movie to watch last night and what does the venerable Netflix offer me? Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

While the project has some holes, this movie was very well made and well thought out - even to a skeptic like me. If you have an hour or two to kill I highly recommend a sitting.

 

[MelCat]

Gotta admit, I've been rolling my eyes at this project for years. Needed a movie to watch last night and what does the venerable Netflix offer me? Zeitgeist: Moving Forward

While the project has some holes, this movie was very well made and well thought out - even to a skeptic like me. If you have an hour or two to kill I highly recommend a sitting.

Yeah, it's a shame how many people shrug The Venus Project off without taking the time to really learn about what it really stands for. It's more than just cool buildings. It's a new way of thinking altogether.

I highly recommend reading their essay and faq, both are linked in previous posts of this thread.