Mike Ziaja presents a brief introduction to the Venus Project.
Born in Poland and raised in Weymouth Massachusetts,
he served 6 years in the US Army as a medic.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of South Florida
and currently works as a registered nurse at the VA.
He is also a Venus Project Point of Contact for Florida.
I want to thank you all for being here first of all.
So, imagine being stuck on an island with millions of dollars.
That sounds pretty good doesn’t it?
Well, unless you had the food, water, and material to build a shelter
you’d be destined for failure.
So the real question isn’t “do we have enough money?”
The real question is “do we have enough resources?”
Today, we know that money is used to create artificial scarcity.
An example of this would be with food.
In 1933 the US government passed the Agricultural Adjustment Act.
This law literally paid farmers
to destroy surplus crops and reduce production.
All during the Great Depression,
when Americans were struggling to put food on the table.
Similar practices continue today.
Humanity has struggled with scarcity since our humble beginnings.
We’ve always lived without enough.
So there’s always been a reason to steal
and there’s always been a reason for corruption.
The root cause of most problems today
is a lack of access to resources.
In the monetary system today,
abundance is the enemy, and scarcity is the goal.
That’s where we’re backward.
A fundamental goal of society
should be to create abundance and eliminate scarcity for everyone.
Money inevitably came into existence
as it became too difficult to determine what was a fair exchange.
(I’m sorry I’m gonna go back one.)
Money inevitably came into existence
as it became too difficult to determine what was a fair exchange.
So imagine:
How many chickens and how many tomatoes does this house cost?
And then you’d be walking up to the house with chickens and tomatoes -
you’d look pretty ridiculous, right? So...
Money is an extremely manipulative and destructive creation of man.
It is doing far more harm than good,
and it has been for quite some time.
Imagine every aspect of your life today without science and technology.
On a daily basis
we use cell phones, cars, planes,
the Internet, medications -
the list goes on and on.
Today, your cell phone has more processing power
than the computers used to send man to the moon. It’s pretty amazing.
It’s not lawyers, bankers,
politicians or Wall Street that make our lives better.
These people don’t know how to create environmentally friendly infrastructures.
They don’t know how to end world hunger.
It’s the scientists who find cures for diseases.
It’s the engineers who automate us out of these boring and repetitive jobs.
These are the people that make our lives better.
They always have been.
Now imagine living in a world
where science and technology were truly unleashed from monetary restraint.
How wonderful could that be?
A helicopter can be used to kill hundreds of people,
or it can be used to save them.
Nuclear energy can be used to power a city or to destroy it.
These tools are only as good or bad as the motive behind their use.
With the technological capabilities of today,
we have the capability to create a world of abundance
and eliminate scarcity altogether.
In a monetary system,
machines will be preferred because they’re cheaper.
They don’t need breaks, vacation, or sick time.
Plainly put, they’re far more productive,
and like it or not, automation is here to stay.
An example of this would be in manufacturing.
Many facilities are nearly or fully automated at this time.
This is what’s known as “lights out” manufacturing.
There’s no need to illuminate a building when there’s no people involved.
It’s even in the service sector now, automation.
Examples of this include online shopping,
I’m sure you’ve seen the self-checkout,
drone deliveries, and self-driving cars.
If you think taxi drivers don’t like Uber and Lyft,
imagine what they’re gonna do when automated taxis hit the streets.
They’ll be left out of a job - they’ll be unemployed.
So robots won’t want money.
They certainly won’t know what to do with it.
So how are we supposed to purchase all these wonderful automated goods?
Well, ironically, without money
we will be able to produce far more, in a far more efficient manner.
So if we have the automated factories
and we have the technology, and we have the resources,
couldn’t we look at phasing out money altogether?
This is a small example of how inefficient our current system is.
We still practice planned obsolescence,
better known as the conscious withdrawal of efficiency.
Today companies create products that break and wear down after a certain time.
They have to.
Think about it - otherwise they’d go out of business.
You gotta buy the next model.
You’ve got to meet that profit margin.
This of course is extremely wasteful, and inefficient.
So the Venus Project
and the concept of a resource-based economy
is the life’s work of a man named Jacque Fresco.
He resides in Venus Florida, with his associate Roxanne Meadows.
He's been working on these concepts for the last 85 years.
His inspiration for the Venus Project
was living through the Great Depression.
At a very young age,
he couldn't understand how goods and services were still available,
but people didn’t have the purchasing power to buy them.
He understood that the rules of the game we play by are obsolete.
This is an example of a Venus Project city within a resource-based economy.
Starting with the central dome,
this would house a master computer
that would essentially function as the government of the city,
without vested interests.
Its primary responsibility
would be management and distribution of goods,
services and resources for residents.
Does it frighten you to imagine living in a city
where a machine has primary control over your well-being?
Well, it shouldn’t.
Have you ever been in an airplane
that's landed in severe weather or severe fog?
This was done by an automated setting of the aircraft.
Have you ever been to an intensive care unit of a hospital
where someone is literally being kept alive by machines?
We have to be careful not to project what Hollywood portrays into reality.
We have to be careful not to project our personal opinions or emotions into machines.
They will do exactly what they’re programmed to do - nothing more.
Now you take Jacque’s city design,
and you put it on a global scale.
Imagine: an integrated web of sensors all around the world
capable of detecting a natural disaster occurring in New Zealand.
Instead of international panels arguing about how to fund and how to act,
you have special contingency teams ready to act when necessary.
You have excess food and water stored in the north and south pole.
You have emergent floating hospitals strategically placed around the globe
ready for deployment whenever needed.
The goal of a resource-based economy
is to have what is needed, when it's needed,
where its needed, 100% of the time.
This may sound far-fetched, but it is possible.
Moving on to the smaller domes surrounding the central dome,
these will act as theme centers, where residents can go for music,
theatre, art, dancing and countless other activities.
Additionally, they would function as access centers,
which would be very much like a public library,
where residents can check out
a musical instrument or a bicycle for example,
for as long as they like, without a price tag.
You’ll notice a lot of lush greenery within the cities.
In the Venus Project, we understand that we are part of nature
and not separate from it.
The larger buildings in the photo
will be used for design and research,
tasked with solving global issues as well as local ones.
Homes will be built using prefabricated extrusions
and contour crafting.
These homes would generate their own energy,
recycle their own waste,
and require minimum maintenance.
Others may choose to live in skyscrapers or apartments.
These areas would have a very resident, community-like feel to them.
You could attend a local dining facility.
They would include child care centers,
health care centers, entertainment,
and organized groups for residents.
Energy and powering-... The powering of future cities
will be based on their location.
Options include solar, wind,
tidal and geothermal energy, among many others.
Without worrying about cost,
we could truly look at alternative energies and implement them.
The practice of polluting and pillaging the earth
for fossil fuels has long been obsolete.
Now we move on to the agricultural belt of the city.
Here, food would be grown hydroponically and aeroponically.
It would be organic.
It would be grown indoors and outdoors as well.
This would reduce the need to transport food between cities.
Today’s monetary system is so inefficient,
we actually transport food in from all around the world.
Imagine - potatoes from Poland if you live in Uruguay. It’s insane.
The circular belt of water surrounding the city
would be used for irrigation, drinking and filtration.
The outskirts of the city would house additional recreational areas
for golf, hiking, biking trails, running trails, etc.
Transportation between cities would be with maglev trains.
Within the cities, electronically operated transveyors
would transport residents both horizontally and vertically.
So the real question isn’t “do we have the money?”
the real question is “do we have enough resources?”
And the answer is yes,
if we manage it intelligently.
We all need the same things:
clean air, water, food,
shelter, and a relevant education to thrive.
This is what a resource-based economy offers.
(This is missing a slide, but that’s OK.)
We must eventually learn to declare the earth
and all its resources as the common heritage of all the earth's people.
Nations must learn to band together
and work cooperatively to make the world a better place.
There IS no other way.
We also must learn to operate within the carrying capacity of the earth.
If we exceed that, you’ll have the same list of problems you do today,
including war, poverty, and corruption.
Today most people work a full time job they despise just to make ends meet.
They’re so flattened out by the monetary economy
that robs them of their free time and their potential.
Today, we’re constantly bombarded by advertisements
that perpetuate consumerism
with no regard for the environmental impact.
This is an unsustainable practice, and it must be phased out.
(OK there’s another slide missing but that’s OK.)
So in the monetary system,
the goal is to acquire property, wealth and material.
In a resource-based economy,
the goal is to contribute to society
and make the world a better place for everyone.
Most problems today stem from
the poor management and distribution of resources.
In a resource-based economy,
everything would be upgradable, recyclable and durable whenever possible.
We need intelligent management and distribution of resources on a global scale.
This is what a resource-based economy provides.
A resource-based economy provides cooperation instead of competition,
abundance instead of scarcity,
equal access instead of profit,
and humanity instead of money.
Let’s allow scientists and engineers to solve the dire global issues.
Let’s allow them to create a world beyond politics, poverty, and war.
Thank you.
[Applause]