Paradise or Oblivion

Fernando

From YouTube:

This video presentation advocates a new socio-economic system, which is updated to present-day knowledge, featuring the life-long work of Social Engineer, Futurist, Inventor and Industrial Designer Jacque Fresco, which he calls a Resource-Based Economy. This documentary details the root causes of the systemic value disorders and detrimental symptoms caused by our current established system. The film details the need to outgrow the dated and inefficient methods of politics, law, business, or any other "establishment" notions of human affairs, and use the methods of science, combined with high technology, to provide for the needs of all the world's people. It is not based on the opinions of the political and financial elite or on illusionary so-called democracies, but on maintaining a dynamic equilibrium with the planet that could ultimately provide abundance for all people.??

Paradise or Oblivion, by The Venus Project, introduces the viewer to a more appropriate value system that would be required to enable this caring and holistic approach to benefit human civilization. This alternative surpasses the need for a monetary-based, controlled, and scarcity-oriented environment, which we find ourselves in today.

Fernando

The Venus Project - 450,000 views - 48 minutes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KphWsnhZ4Ag

losthobbit

Thanks for sharing :)

Not everyone will realize that we need to move towards a resource based economy, but I think as time goes on and technology progresses at an exponential rate and more jobs are automated it will become increasingly obvious.

I wrote a novel based on similar ideas to Jacque Fresco's. It also mentions a sneaky relationship with a Jehovah's Witness.

Download "The Mischievous Nerd's Guide to World Domination" on my site if you're interested:

http://losthobbit.net/download.php

apostatethunder

Fernando, to me this sounds a bit like what the WT preaches, an utopia. Some of the technology aspect will probably become true in the future. But the social part of it, is not realistic.

People like to be paid for their job, it’s a question of personal satisfaction, they also like to own their things, even animals want to own their territory.

Science is as good as the men using it, and men are as good as their values. Not all countries are developed to the same level, the same as not all individuals are. Not all individuals have honourable motives. Some just want to take advantage of others. We have a long way to go before we can have a global government that will be good to all. History teach us that governments that have no opposition become tyrannies. Imagine what a global tyranny would be like. What would happen to dissidents? It doesn’t convince me.

designs

The Anasazi were thought to inhabit the Mesa Verde around 400AD and survived till around 1300AD. Fascinating dwellings and farming history. When Kit Carson came through the region the Navajo were farming Peach Trees among other crops.

A sustainable planet is something we are learning about.

losthobbit

Apostate Thunder wrote

People like to be paid for their job, it’s a question of personal satisfaction, they also like to own their things, even animals want to own their territory.

I know it might be difficult to understand the social aspects of the Venus Project / Resource Based Economy. It takes a fair amount of research, understanding and thinking to get the full picture.

Peter Joseph's lecture entitled "Where are we going" is a good place to start: http://vimeo.com/7857584 and "the story of stuff" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLBE5QAYXp8 and "money as debt" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlxKtDOkEj4 ... but I'll try and explain some things here...

What one needs to understand is just how much we're affected by our culture, and what the differences are between "human nature" and what we become based on our environment. I once heard of a girl who was brought up living with dogs. She crawled on all fours, and barked instead of speaking... you have got to read this: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/3653890/Cry-of-an-enfant-sauvage.html#

The idea that people like to be "paid for their work" is a cultural one. Money has not even existed throughout human history. The concept of ownership also has not always existed. If we don't change to an RBE, and technology progresses, you will find that robots will be doing most of the work, while the only people who actually earn decent money will be the ones who have made the right investments or inherited them. The rest of us will be working our butts off (if we can get work) and earning as little as the wealthy investors are willing to pay us. You should probably do some research into open source projects and find out why people are willing to work in their spare time on projects that have no financial benefit. Personally I would much rather work on something that mattered and have my needs taken care of than have to work on something I don't care about simply to earn money.

There is really so much that needs to be understood that I'll stop there. Plenty of information is available on thevenusproject.com and thezeitgeistmovement.com websites... and don't get me wrong... it's not just them that's making this information available. The Zeitgeist Movement in London has frequent screenings of documentaries made by people who are not affiliated in order to learn more about things like human nature, economics, cultures, corporations, how things are made, etc.

Both groups are also big supporters of the scientific method (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_method).

glenster

http://www.thevenusproject.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacque_Fresco
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Venus_Project

apostatethunder

Losthobbit, I really wish that a more just type of world were possible, I am still reading through all the links.

I also prefer to work in something that matters than just working for the money but I recognize not everybody thinks like that. The biggest obstacle I see for a better world to be possible is that not everybody wants it, some are quite content as it is, and others want it, but their concept of justice is not necessarily what others consider just.

I will post again when I have gone through all the material. Thanks for the links.

Fernando

Hey losthobbit!

Thank you for the link.

It downloaded a document called "The" which I renamed and added the pdf extension to. It then worked fine.

I'm using Firefox and did a right-click open-in-new-tab.

If you're able to share the code for download.php I'd love to have a copy to achieve the same thing (force a pdf download instead of open in browser).

losthobbit

Hi Fernando

Sorry I haven't replied to this in a while, but here's the source code. I better send you an IM too, just in case:

<?php
$infile="NIUNWQY3.2.pdf";
$outfile="The Mischievous Nerd's Guide to World Domination (3.2).pdf";
header('Content-Description: File Transfer');
header('Content-Type: application/pdf');
header('Content-Length: ' . filesize($infile));
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename=' . $outfile);
readfile($infile);
?>

Just a couple more thoughts on this topic:

- I think of The Venus Project as an experiment. Like when Thomas Edison invented his light bulb, he made hundreds that didn't work before he got the final working version. Basically, we need to have social system experiments to find better ways of doing things. Here's an example of a funded project to do social system experimentation: http://www.seasteading.org/

- In a resource based economy there would be far less required work. For example, there would be no bankers, no lawyers, few (if any) police or military, no sales people, no insurance companies, no advertisers, etc... The main jobs would be things that matter, e.g. farming, doctors, builders, inventors, etc. Therefore if we only did 25% of the work we currently do, I would imagine that the inhabitants of such a system would still be well off.

Paradise or Oblivion

Share this