The Venus Project, Jacques Fresco and the Resource Based Economy

This post will be of interest to all of my Economics Students and Readers.

Thanks to Netflix streaming, I recently watched a documentary entitled Future By Design, which largely told the story of Jacques Fresco.  Jacques Fresco is a futurist.  He grew up in New York in the early 20th Century and has studied a large number of subjects, becoming an expert in architecture, sociology, medicine, energy, and even economics.  He is considered a modern-era Leonardo DaVinci.  Like DaVinci or any competent reference librarian, Mr. Fresco is a generalist--someone who has expertise in multiple academic and practical disciplines.  He is also a prolific inventor.  As a teenager he had conversations with Albert Einstein and Buckminster Fuller.

While I do not necessarily agree with all of his philosophy, I find his ideas would give anyone with some intelligence pause for thought.  The economic ideas he has come up with are very radical on some levels.  Yet on other levels, they are somewhat similar to Gene Roddenberry's ideas from Star Trek with regards to the human condition and the economy.

The Resource Based Economy


Not entirely command, not entirely capitalist, nor socialist, but another approach to the economy based upon the views of technology and land resources and our relationsthip to them.  In some ways this system resembles barter, but at the same time is not entirely barter either.

From The Venus Project's Website:

The term and meaning of a Resource Based Economy was originated by Jacque Fresco. It is a holisticsocio-economic system in which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, barter or any other system of debt or servitude. All resources become the common heritage of all of the inhabitants, not just a select few. The premise upon which this system is based is that the Earth is abundant with plentiful resource; our practice of rationing resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter productive to our survival.

Modern society has access to highly advanced technology and can make available food, clothing, housing and medical care; update our educational system; and develop a limitless supply of renewable, non-contaminating energy. By supplying an efficiently designed economy, everyone can enjoy a very high standard of living with all of the amenities of a high technological society.

A resource-based economy would utilize existing resources from the land and sea, physical equipment, industrial plants, etc. to enhance the lives of the total population. In an economy based on resources rather than money, we could easily produce all of the necessities of life and provide a high standard of living for all.

Consider the following examples: At the beginning of World War II the US 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.

In a resource-based economy all of the world's resources are held as the common heritage of all of Earth's people, thus eventually outgrowing the need for the artificial boundaries that separate people. This is the unifying imperative.

We must emphasize that this approach to global governance has nothing whatever in common with the present aims of an elite to form a world government with themselves and large corporations at the helm, and the vast majority of the world's population subservient to them. Our vision of globalization empowers each and every person on the planet to be the best they can be, not to live in abject subjugation to a corporate governing body.

Our proposals would not only add to the well being of people, but they would also provide the necessary information that would enable them to participate in any area of their competence. The measure of success would be based on the fulfilment of one's individual pursuits rather than the acquisition of wealth, property and power.

At present, we have enough material resources to provide a very high standard of living for all of Earth's inhabitants. Only when population exceeds the carrying capacity of the land do many problems such as greed, crime and violence emerge. By overcoming scarcity, most of the crimes and even the prisons of today's society would no longer be necessary.

A resource-based economy would make it possible to use technology to overcome scarce resources by applying renewable sources of energy, computerizing and automating manufacturing and inventory, designing safe energy-efficient cities and advanced transportation systems, providing universal health care and more relevant education, and most of all by generating a new incentive system based on human and environmental concern.

Many people believe that there is too much technology in the world today, and that technology is the major cause of our environmental pollution. This is not the case. It is the abuse and misuse of technology that should be our major concern. In a more humane civilization, instead of machines displacing people they would shorten the workday, increase the availability of goods and services, and lengthen vacation time. If we utilize new technology to raise the standard of living for all people, then the infusion of machine technology would no longer be a threat.

A resource-based world economy would also involve all-out efforts to develop new, clean, and renewable sources of energy: geothermal; controlled fusion; solar; photovoltaic; wind, wave, and tidal power; and even fuel from the oceans. We would eventually be able to have energy in unlimited quantity that could propel civilization for thousands of years. A resource-based economy must also be committed to the redesign of our cities, transportation systems, and industrial plants, allowing them to be energy efficient, clean, and conveniently serve the needs of all people.

What else would a resource-based economy mean? Technology intelligently and efficiently applied, conserves energy, reduces waste, and provides more leisure time. With automated inventory on a global scale, we can maintain a balance between production and distribution. Only nutritious and healthy food would be available and planned obsolescence would be unnecessary and non-existent in a resource-based economy.

Future By Design

 

In my opinion, The Venus Project has noble goals and has great potential.  However, some of it is a bit idealistic in nature.  For example, we are dealing with several realities in place:

1.  Certain non-renewable resources are running out and there is a huge imperative and incentive to replace their use, but alternatives are not being developed quickly.

2.  Human nature tends to be rationally self interested--the desires of the individual outweigh the needs of society for much of us, though many of us make an effort to think beyond our own desires and wants.

3.  Our current markets and systems provide incentives to those who waste, though thanks to the Sustainability movement we are seeing many of these incentives shift to those who conserve, don't pollute and work for the greater good of society.

4.  Our system of money and debt, or barter/trade beyond this is heavily embedded in society and this would require a major paradigm shift that might cause global chaos for a time.   That chaos may be very destructive, and preventing it is of concern.  I ask how can this be done?

5.  The population of homo sapiens has passed 7 billion and is not declining.  In order to manage the scarce and limited resources of the Earth, we must get the birth and mortality rates in balance, and then perhaps we must allow the birth rate to drop below the mortality rate for a number of decades in order to reach a sustainable population for the planet.  How can this be done without violating proper moral codes we all recognize across religious and cultural boundaries?  How can this be accomplished without mass use of birth control on a large scale (as in surgical sterilization of mass numbers of men and women after they have a single child)?  This produces a very difficult moral and ethical quandary, just as having too many children produces a similar quandary as well.

I recommend viewing this movie and reading the information on the website for the sake of stretching your thought and considering several ideas about a Resource Based Economy and what it could accomplish for humanity, as well as how it might be abused.

As always, I welcome thoughtful comments and discussion.

Prof. Hank Lewis