The Venus Project…

Past weekend I had a chance to meet with 2 very interesting people, Jacque Fresco and Roxanne Meadows from The Venus project. In the words of the founders, Venus Project is a veritable blue-print for the genesis of a new world civilization, one that is based on human concern and environmental reclamation. The project is looking at the entire human presence on the planet today, examines the root causes of our current challenges (e.g. scarcity and monetary system) and presents an integral alternative for our future. Please find more information here.

I had a chance to listen to lecture at the London City University as well as listen to few interviews with both Jacque and Roxanne. Here are some key ideas that I noted…

• Venus project determines as a source of majority of our current problems (unequal division of wealth, poverty, crime, environmental degradation, etc.) the mentality of scarcity that is fully supported and perpetuated by the current money system. The design of this system results among others in accumulation of wealth by few, skewed resource allocation and majority of population having to ‘work’ every day and do things they have no connection/personal passion in. Everything in the system is designed to perpetuate it.

  Jacque sees the solution in replacing the current system by resource based economy where all Earth’s resources are common heritage of humanity. For example, we are not far away from having the technology to have abundance of energy for everyone in the world (geothermal and other sources of energy). Due to the present money system it is too expensive to make this happen; if the new system allocates resources in a different way, we could have energy for everyone.

  I love Jacque’s example of human body where all its parts need to work together to make it work. How silly it would be if our internal organs would be in competition with each other and for example human heart would refuse to pump the blood cells with oxygen to the brain. All parts of the system need each other to make it, when one breaks down it damages the entire system. Yet our current economic/social system is strongly based on scarcity/disconnectedness of all its parts…

• The future society would be designed using social engineering, many of our current social problems would be prevented by different education, incentives and different social/economic system. For example the education system would trully stimulate children as a possibility for our common evolution by providing them with self-directed learning support systems instead of an education system that is designed to perpetuate status quo of the society. Jacque says, children can learn anything and the smarter the kids are, the better off we all are…
• By constantly evolving our technology we will be able to prevent most of currently known challenges and problems at its root cause level rather then treating its effects ex-post (e.g. building fire-resistant building instead of needing firemen, etc.) Technology will be in service of humanity yet organized in a way that it can not be misused by people with narrow-minded and short-term interests. It will allow us to have higher awareness of causes and consequences of our actions on environment for example.

As monetary system and scarcity mindset would eventually transform into abundance of basic resources (healthcare, education, energy, housing, food, etc.) majority of ‘jobs’ existing today would not exist anymore. If you think of it, most of the jobs people do today are somehow connected to making money, either to survive or to save/accumulate. With all necessary needs covered and people knowing scarcity is never coming back, there would be no reason to keep saving or being afraid of what will come… People could be free to explore what they feel called to do, what are the ventures that will further support evolution of themselves and contribute to the whole of humanity… The system would bring out the best in every human being…

These are just some examples of what Venus projects outlines. If you look on the website, you can find more information on sustainable cities (land and sea), sustainable transport, construction, housing, etc. I want to leave you explore all Jacque’s thoughts yourself as it is impossible to write all of these into a blog post. Trust me, it’s an interesting reading… Jacque himself also mentions, nothing of this is final, this is just what I/we can see as of now… We will always evolve further…

Is this the answer for our future? How exactly could this work? How will the transiton happen? Has Jacque thought of everything? Will there be a place for me in a society like this? What would people/I actually do every day? Where will it take us, and what will be beyond?

I personally find the Venus project fascinating. I do not know whether this is the blueprint of our future or not. Jacque himself says, this is what I see but if this will happen no one can say. Jacque and Roxanne are currently looking to educate the world about what they researched, created and tested. They are seeking funding to make a popular movie to spread the ideas to a worldwide audience as well as potentially build a prototype of a ‘future’ city.

Learning about the Venus project gave me many answers and even more questions… I feel our way of seeing the world would need to fundamentally shift in order for us to be able grasp and make happen what Jacque sees possible. At the same time, I am wondering whether this is the full picture or whether something is missing… In any way, I am humbled by the novelty, entirety, boldness and intention of this initiative…

What do you think? What do you like about the Venus project? What do you find challenging?

I will look forward to your thoughts… And if you find this interesting, please do spread it in your networks…