By Patrick Bridgeman
Imagine a world where war is outdated, there is no shortage of resources, and every human being enjoys a high standard of living.
Jacque Fresco has.
He is considered by many to be a modern-day Da Vinci. Peer to Einstein and Buckminster Fuller, Jacque is a self-taught futurist who describes himself most often as a “generalist” or multi-disciplinarian – a student of many inter-related fields. He is a prolific inventor, having spent his entire life conceiving of and devising inventions on various scales, using innovative technology to provide win-win solutions for the planet and its inhabitants.
Jacque (now in his mid-90’s) has been redesigning our entire culture for most of his life, and he doesn’t just want to talk about what today will be like tomorrow, he has a plan to build an entire new world from the ground up. “I was always interested in the future; as far back as I can remember. I drew airplanes and cities of the future, and underwater cities and floating cities.”
His organization, The Venus Project, works to provide a global vision of hope for the future of humankind in our technological age. The project also seeks certain global aims and goals. These include: realising the planet’s resources as the common heritage of all people; transcending the artificial boundaries that are currently separating us, outgrowing nationalism, bigotry and prejudice; replacing money-based economies with a resource-based world economy; redesigning transport systems and industries so that they are green and clean; gradually outgrowing corporate entities and governments as a means of social management; sharing new technologies for the benefit of all nations and enhancing education so that future generations are intellectually and emotionally prepared for the changes and challenges that lie ahead.
To put his ideals into practice, Jacque is building the first ever experimental research city – a 25-acre complex in south-central Florida. Construction has already begun and fundraising efforts are underway to support it.
Aside from utilising the very best in green technology – wind, solar and heat concentrating systems, hydroponic farm facilities and lush landscaping – the city is designed to serve the needs of every member of society and allow occupants to choose their most fulfilling lifestyle.
It reminds me of a very good question I came across many years ago. “If money were no object, what would you do with your time?” Would you still be working at the same job? Would you work at all? How would you like to spend your free time? Would you play games like when we were children? Where would you like to go and who would you bring with you? What would you like to create? If everybody’s basic needs were met all over the world, what would be left to do? Whatever you like. Whatever makes your heart sing, your mind tingle and your face smile. Art, Science, Philosophy, Sport, Space Exploration, you name it, you can spend your whole life doing it if you so desire.
It will take some amount of work to get from where we are to where we can be, and a lot of people will have to take a long hard look at their lives and decide what‘s really the right path for them to travel along in this lifetime, but I believe we can do it.
So, let’s imagine how our life and our society will change when money is no longer needed because the resources of the world are freely available for all to share equally. Robotic technology will look after the production and distribution processes required to fulfil our basic needs. People won’t have to work to buy food, shelter or clothing. Profit will not longer be a driving force in business, so cutting corners and producing poor quality products will no longer make sense. Sweat shops, child labour, and cheap, toxic additives causing harmful side effects will be things of the unenlightened past.
If people do want to produce goods, they will have access to the very best quality of resources, so they’ll have no reason to create something that is anything other than top quality. Clothing and technological products will be built to last for years, not for months.
Only medicines free from negative side effects will be prescribed, along with natural remedies and safe procedures. The worlds of quantum, spiritual and energetic healing will be fully embraced and their amazing results shared with the world.
The health of the planet will be as important as the health of its inhabitants. All packaging will be biodegradable and recyclable. We will find ways to reduce, reuse and recycle the waste that has already been dumped in landfills. We will instead fill the land with love, and work with nature in an effort to replenish all of its wondrous flora and fauna.
People will not only eat what’s best for their body, but what’s best for the planet. Every meal can be 5-star quality. Families and friends can dine together in celebration of the food Mother Earth has provided, which can be cooked from scratch as there will be no need to rush back to work after some fast food.
People will spend their time following their heart’s desires and all of the right people will find their way into all of the right pursuits in order to continue our spiritual and scientific evolution.
With resources available to all, and everyone’s basic needs met, there will be relatively little reason to go to war. And with all that free time to get to know yourself and your relationship with Life and God, people will feel a lot happier and more understanding, so bigotry and prejudice will also eventually disappear.
People will look to spiritual teachers and scientists, instead of military leaders and politicians, for direction. Although, their own internal compass will be their strongest source of guidance. We won’t need someone else to make our decisions for us. We will all instinctively know what’s best for us, personally and as a society, and we will naturally move toward those things.
Festivals will spring up all over the earth, big and small, organised and impromptu gatherings. Music will be as much a communal expression as it is an individual one. Fun will be free-roaming, not restricted to certain allotted times and places. Art can be spontaneous and temporary or a life’s work created to last forever. Dancing and movement will happen on a whim, in harmony with your body’s natural impulses. So too with emotions. Crying and laughing out loud will be respected as healthy expressions of being human. We will like ourselves and respect each other more.
Cities will have more of a community ethos to them, so that everyone feels included and is taken care of, both physically and emotionally. That will go a long way towards helping to alleviate any mental health issues that arise.
Clocks will no longer govern our waking and sleeping periods, our eating and working habits, or our emotional state. We may rise with the sun and get to know the seasons. Meetings with people will happen intuitively. We may even go so far as to get rid of mobile phones in favour of our gut instinct and telepathic capabilities.
Of course, we are where we are now, which I like to think is on our way to the world I’ve just described. It requires a commitment to authentic communication with your mind, body and emotions, as well as to the other people in your life. The best first step we can take is to work on ourselves, to embrace the qualities of honesty, integrity, intelligence, compassion and freedom of expression. It’s up to you to decide what substances to fill your body, mind, heart and home with. It’s up to you to ask for help when you need it, and to follow through with whatever healing work suits you best.
People like Jacque Fresco can shine a light for the rest of us to follow, but I believe we all have a light worth shining, and I’d love to see yours.
For more info on The Venus Project, visit www.thevenusproject.com
Jacque Fresco will be presenting a Lecture on August 14th in The Button Factory, Temple Bar, Dublin. For more info, contact HeatherOdom@thevenusproject.com
To order a copy of Future by Design, an award-winning documentary which tells Jacque Fresco’s life-story and explores his vision, visit www.futurebydesignthemovie.com
