Nothing is ever what it seems
Imagining the world without hunger, war or energy dependance seems so impossible. People tend to believe that there’s enormous complexity in the way our human society is constructed. Most of them do not comprehend that the system we’re living in is merely a cage with defined borders. In fact, it needs to be in order to fulfill its function.
However, any system is driven by the amount of energy we put into it, hence the notion that we pace the cage. It’s supposed complexity, though, only exists within our perception and can be changed at any time.
In fact, all systems can be reduced easily. The underpinning lies within the misconception that what we experience inside the cage is a natural state when, actually, it’s not. It is a faked natural state that reaches out in branches, perpetuating the state of mind that's needed to power it. But in the end, all there really is is a house of cards. Pull the right cards, decrease the friction and the house collapses eventually.
In order to understand the consequences and range of pulling out the right cards, you need to face an ugly truth first: You are part of the system, so are your friends, your colleagues and all the other people pacing this very cage with their own energy.
No one escapes without alienating others and facing a storm meant to bring you down, forcing you to get back in line.
This is why you must first empty the glass filled with the ideas of the system in a painful process. By removing the layers of perception, you will make room for new ideas and find the necessary strength along the way despite all opposition.
The Problem is just so 'fossil'
One of the main branches of our system that’s not only incredibly harmful to ourselves and our planet is the way we deal with current energy creation, its extraction and accumulation. The extraction of fossil fuels is not only producing diminishing returns on investment but also needs the soil to do so, even when there actually is none. More so, whenever we run out of ‘promising’ places for gas, oil and increasingly oil derivatives, there’s a military-industrial complex waiting to literally rob the land needed. Armed robbery ends the life of many humans, that just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time for a cause that is highly unjust, immoral and unnecessary.
Unnecessary, because human creation and inventive talent have long produced alternatives that do not need a single bullet to be fired. As you might know, these alternatives have always been suppressed, because our system at its root was designed to enrich a few at the expense of the many. Being just a small cog in the works, means no comprehension of the whole machine, even though the machine is prone to fail, taking you down with it. ‘Hick-ups’ along the way are now happening more frequently and violently.
So, one card we need to pull and play is energy independence to regain freedom. Once we solve this problem, other layers of perception will be forced from the system like a magnet. Power monopoly is one of the strongest branches of the system’s tree, always has been.
J.P. Morgan presumably asked Nikola Tesla "Where can I put a meter? as the great inventor presented a completely different solution for supplying the world with electricity, for free. Unfortunately for us, the plan has always been to keep the status quo alive… no matter the price, resulting in more than a century of war and stagnation.
Swapping Money pits
Speaking of war, a couple of weeks ago it was again mentioned what an enormous money pit the U.S. military budget has become. Official data showed a whopping $773.5 billion for 2017, not even including the more or less unofficial resources poured into every single intelligence agency. In fact, this makes up for more than 50% of all federal spending per year!
In stark contrast, science and research get only a tiny portion of the budget, clinging on for dear life at about 3.5%. Now imagine we’d swap these budgets to boost science and create really meaningful, useful, life preserving things instead.
If you’re honest, even Tesla's electric solution has been invented some 150 fricking years ago, and its novelty simply has worn off. We are not talking about supposed environmentally friendly solar panel farms or fossil powered rockets that might shoot us to Mars, either.
Reflect the topic a couple minutes more and ask what all this paper and credit money could do for us, as long as we are still willing to believe in its value anyway. An educated person will come to the conclusion that such a gigantic budget at our disposal is best spent on the most precious commodity of all — Time!
Time can actually be ‘generated’ through advancements in science and by medical research. Think about it again. More than $773.5 billion a year to fight and ultimately prevail over humanities most serious diseases, thus put an end to all the suffering totally unacceptable with the opportunity and creativity we have as a species. Ten years from now — all the suffering could be a thing of the past.
Scientists could really concentrate on the most promising and beneficial things utilizing their very own talents instead of going where the corporate interest and money is.
Kickstarting the age of the common man would eradicate the killing machine itself.
Cultural Conquest
Many counter these arguments by saying there are just too many obstacles to overcome. And yes, there are lots of people unwilling to do the right thing, letting big conglomerates buying up the world instead, reducing us to sets of brands and forcing us into intellectual poverty. Finally, there is a network of controlled media working against all opposition, relentlessly.
This has to be expected as the system is just like any other organism that feeds off the energy it absorbs. As such, it tries to fight a crisis in an attempt to keep its form and function.
Our chance is the simple fact that the complexity of this seriously ill system depends on us. The machine is not cohesive and we can still pursue happiness in other things or stop participating altogether.
We truly can change people's behavior, albeit slowly, through cultural conquest by investing time and resources into meaningful projects showcasing a better world. These crowdfunded projects will help to spread the workload. It's as easy as emptying a glass of ideas so that we can finally attach to new ones, we just need the courage and start acting not neglecting.
Talking 'bout a (r)evolution
In case you still don't know. We are talking about the future of humanity. Don't be fearful just because there is a change in progress. People wanting to live in false certainty give rise to the power hungry and warmongering individuals. But the absence of their rules might be the best thing of our collective lives. This kind of anarchy is not the absence of rules, it is just the absence of rulers!
At this point, we need an alternative and blessedly, there are many to choose from. Blessedly, because one of the most intriguing and promising projects is the true work of a lifetime. The late Jacque Fresco dedicated most of his 101 years to his Venus Project.
The Venus Project (TVP) is about utilizing the full potential of humans, offering a social design full of choices and possibilities:
Through the implementation of a global Resourced Based Economy, and a multitude of innovative and environmentally friendly technologies directly applied to the social system, The Venus Project proposals will dramatically reduce crime, poverty, hunger, homelessness, and many other pressing problems that are common throughout the world today.
One of the cornerstones of the organization’s findings is the fact that many of the dysfunctional behaviors of today’s society stem directly from the dehumanizing environment of a monetary system. In addition, automation has resulted in the technological replacement of human labor by machines and eventually most people will not have the purchasing power to buy the goods and services turned out.
Developing a new civilization
Attainability to counter ideology goes a long way, but cultural conquest isn't achieved overnight. The Venus Project's blueprint for a sustainable society and planet has been developed over decades, analyzing the system and direction we have to take.
Therefore, an experimental research city will be under construction, totally devoted to realizing the goals Jacque Fresco had in mind. Especially now and following his death, the research city is more than just another flagship initiative - it's a beacon project aimed at tackling a multitude of concerns and problems, such as:
- Reclaiming earth's resources for the people
- Replacing money-based nationalistic economies with a resource-based world economy.
- Reclaiming and restoring the natural environment to the best of our ability by developing and using clean renewable energy sources.
- Redesigning cities, transportation systems, agricultural industries, and industrial plants so that they are energy efficient, clean, and able to conveniently serve the needs of all people.
- Gradually outgrowing corporate entities and governments, (local, national, or supra-national) as means of social management.
After reading the complete roadmap, you'll see that the organization behind the project are fully aware of the paradigm shifting, transcending changes to the system and its people. It is of utmost importance to prepare the society for the emotional rollercoaster expected, as people seldom understand that a systemic change is always possible, even when it's long underway.
What The Venus Project considers is nothing less but a transcending experience, overcoming the boundaries between nations, people, and religion while encouraging the widest range of possibilities to grow as an individual.
This transformation shall be done through education and enhanced communication opening up horizons instead of limiting the view until a new global civilization is born.
Anyway, this is just so much more than the pipe-dream of a man, who even met Albert Einstein when he was a kid. The project's third phase of establishing a culture meant to conquer peacefully will surely not be perfect from the very start, but fine tuning will be done constantly in a concerted effort for the benefit of all.
The life envisioned and implemented by The Venus Project will be so much better than anything else we've experienced until now.
What the wise man said
The idea of eliminating the ongoing suggested need for elitism will be met with a level of criticism unparalleled at first, but in the end, it is a mere distraction. Another way to superimpose even more limitations or laws, thus keeping the people away from information.
On the contrary, the world will not stop turning once we find a common ground for a sustainable civilization. Products and goods will be made with the best intentions and highest quality, whereas necessities of life will be provided to all, creating room for true individuality.
There has always been a wonderful sense of urgency in Fresco's statements. He was famous for the caring lovely messages, easily understood by the willing and those who dare to seek a redesign for global thinking.
So, he reminded people constantly, that fighting for rights in an unjust system is futile. If you play by the rules of a few trying to force change, they will just change the rules, hence eliminating all opposition.
Psychological framing was, of course, a pervasive companion throughout Jacque Fresco's life, so his words became ever so meaningful and carried a weight totally absent from today's political leaders.
Obviously, most critics didn't comprehend that The Venus Project was about changing perspectives, rather than looking for conflict within a system as dead as the proverbial horse you don't need to flog.
The world will not suddenly become a Utopian place, nor will it turn into an even more aggressive Orwellian hotbed. Assumptions like this are what is really utopian because systemic change is a moving progress directed into the future.
Fresco just knew that impractical idealism inevitably leads to exhaustion of body and mind and that people need to face something familiar and applicable, but untainted by the ideologies left and right, weighing in on:
"Capitalism, Socialism, Fascism, Communism, the Free-Market .... What good are these approaches for? These attempts are made by men who are cerebral insufficient. I'm trying to give you back your brain, which they took away from you in schools and in your upbringing. I'm trying to show you how the world works. So if you want a better world, you have to get up off your ass and make it better"
It's not our Game of Democracy either because no one needs to tell you that you're free and once a feeling of unease is creeping in, the system shows its true persona.
The wise man, instead, reminds you that with great freedom - not power - comes great responsibility and that stereotyped thinking is just a waste of energy.
What we leave behind
First and foremost, we are obliged to cherish his legacy and also need to build upon his achievements the way his longtime girlfriend-collaborator Roxanne Meadows so committedly does. The Venus Project has always been more than an idea, it is an opportunity and invitation to participate. The deeper understanding of human behavior, bare any simulated complexity is where the project really excels.
Jacque Fresco reiterated time and time again that the world's misery, war and war-profiteering, the incompetence of the so-called over-specialized and a common misunderstanding of social problems ignited his fire.
This social fire needs to keep on burning and has nothing to do with Communism as many falsely believe or others want you to believe:
“Communism being similar to a resource-based economy or the Venus Project is an erroneous concept. Communism has money, banks, armies, police, prisons, charismatic personalities, social stratification, and is managed by appointed leaders. The Venus Project’s aim is to surpass the need for the use of money. Police, prisons and the military would no longer be necessary when goods, services, healthcare, and education are available to all people.”
Of course, it shows characteristics of Socialism, but The Venus Project likes to point out, that humanity should always look at the tools readily available and just go from there. What we will be able to leave behind not only for ourselves but for the generations to come doesn't depend on old transition tools and outdated designs like Socialism.
The alternative is a rethinking process, that relies on the best use of the knowledge we already inherited and finally accepting a responsibility for us and a planet one can fall so dearly in love with. This is, what Jacque meant by calling it a deeper comprehension of humanity’s relationship to natural processes of evolution.
This evolution is knocking on our doors anyway, offering us new ways of automatisation, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Mr. Fresco always envisioned a place met by technology, where a centralized computer runs the distribution of his resource based economy, instead of decision maker fueled by emotion and susceptible to corruption.
So, our own legacy will be decided by how we approach the social engineering aspects accompanied by the technological changes in the future and how we (re-) act toward one another.
Before you jump to false conclusion, the lack of governmental decisions or politics doesn't mean that we surrender our freedom to a dystopian computer network secretly waiting to wipe out humanity. We mustn't fear what we don't know but embrace the possibilities. The machines will not only rid us from monotonous labor, they will also eliminate any remaining thoughts of working for a living. Work to earn has been synonymous for the system humans have to endure for far too long.
In fact, the computer algorithm will be able to redistribute resources in real-time, without a debate delaying the then best solution. This way, we can be sure that special needs will not become the pressing issues our current system is manufacturing, hence absorbing even more resources.
The Venus Project illustrated this notion manifold by referring to areas like agricultural development. Through sensor-controlled measurements, constantly checking where to water the soil and apply nutrition the best possible outcome will be realized.
In general, all the information provided by such a network leads to fundamental changes in structural hierarchy. Large processing power will help us defining appropriate ways to manage our environment and human affairs, essentially replacing the function of a government.
Using computers that can handle trillions of bits of information per second, far beyond the human capacity for processing information, balanced and sustainable decisions about the extraction, development and distribution of resources can finally be made.
When computers and artificial intelligence serve as catalysts for change, scientific standards will manage performance. Finally, the installation of AI will help us achieve the ultimate goal of leaving behind our world in recovery mode.
Enlightenment
As for Fresco, he liked to finish a tour through his Research Center in beautiful south-central Florida by showing and reinforcing confidence in his computer-governed city and referring to our free will as the ultimate difference-maker.
Yes, there is something we call human nature and this nature can be manipulated, nurtured and trained to fit a certain system. It can also be trained to encourage the use of free will, something the Germans called Aufklärung.
Besides, research on this subject shows that social environment and framing is shaping habits and crowd behavior in any given system.
So, there is no such thing as human nature in a conventional sense with a number of predefined, preprogrammed attitudes, values and behavior to which all people are predisposed. It can be changed, it has been changed multiple times before and we have to challenge the reasons affecting human behavior.
When values become habits, behavioral problems repeat until they are mere by-products of any culture.
The Venus project suggests an environment that brings out the best in every individual, pacing the change, not a cage, bringing enlightenment to civilization once again.
Fresco, in his later years, became increasingly clear about the direction our world is headed, saying that he believes a revolution will clear the way for the Venus Project to be built.
However, we can try to help others change their behavior on their way to enlightenment pulling more and more cards that built the house.
The more people are beginning to withdraw their energy from the system, the sooner we will be in need of meaningful and worthwhile alternatives.
Support TVP to support yourself
It all starts with us and in order to push an agenda that helps our civilization getting back on track, you can power the cultural conquest via a donation and visit the official TVP website to dig even deeper into the subject.
Please share this article with as many friends as possible in order to spread the word.
To reach an even wider audience, we'll give you permission to republish the whole story under a Creative Commons license as long as you credit pionic.
Last but not least - here are some great concept images of how a future city could look like and the full "The Choice Is Ours" Movie for further inspiration.
