- As we talk about uprisings and rebellion
and wars that have been going on in the world
as we see peace deals fail, diplomacy falls short
some are calling not to work within this framework
but for a total overhaul of society and of culture.
The Venus Project is one of those.
They're pushing for a sustainable new world civilization
unlike any other before (that's their claim).
Roxanne Meadows from the Venus Project is here to talk about it.
Hi Roxanne, thanks for being here. The Venus Project wants a world
where war, poverty, hunger, debt, human suffering are not only avoidable
but completely unacceptable. Sounds great. How could that possibly work?
- Yes, we are calling for that, but it can't be done
within the confines of the free enterprise system, under socialism
communism, or any social stratification or social system
that has gone before. What we are introducing is a new method
of organizing and running society based on the methods of
science and technology applied to the social system.
I'm not talking about scientists because they've been conditioned
in this system just like anybody else.
They can be used to make weapons and bombs and abused in this way.
We are talking about what we call a Resource-Based Economy.
Jacque Fresco has worked on this for over 75 years to arrive at this direction
and if you look at our website: www. TheVenusProject.com
you will see technology, you will see a new social design
you will see the explanation of a Resource-Based Economy.
We don't use money... - Sorry, I don't want to interrupt you
I just wanted to say that our viewers are seeing images from your website.
You argue that this is feasible.
What exactly though are you offering?
- We're talking about a new way of organizing society.
Today our technology is racing forward
but our social designs are thousands of years old
and they are not keeping up with our ability to produce abundance
with the intelligent management of our resources and our technology.
You can't do that within the monetary system.
There is just too much corruption.
The system breeds by promoting scarcity.
We're talking about promoting abundance and we can still do that.
We still have the resources to do that.
We're talking about a system where you don't need money.
You don't need barter, credit or servitude of any kind.
We can organize society, organize our resources on a global scale.
It has to be global. As long as a few nations control most of the Earth's resources
you are going to have insurmountable problems.
It really has to take care of the needs of everyone
and as I'm saying, we can do that. We have the technology.
We maybe couldn't have done it a hundred years ago
but today we can do something like that.
We can update our social system to fit in with our technological ability.
- OK, I want to get a little bit more into that if we have time, but I do want to ask
aside from money and capital, which you argue you would not use
we are in the US under a 2-party political system
and we're gearing up for presidential campaigns now.
Aside from the money portion, which is a total overhaul
what are you offering that isn't already part of a liberal
or conservative agenda?
- It has nothing to do with that. We look at this as one agenda.
Based on those who have the ability to persuade, to bribe
through monetary means to lobby for their own interests
this system is really not run by the bottom, by the people up.
It's really run by the top-down, and those people who have money
can influence people for their own ends.
That's how laws are made.
We're talking about a system, not based on politics
but based on scientific methods to take care of our problems.
We have lots of problems; we're not addressing them.
Politicians, when you think about it, what do they bring you?
What can they do? Do they clean the air? Just go and ask them.
Can they make you cleaner, safer transportation?
Can they make clean energy systems?
I don't know anything that a politician has brought us.
It's really science that has elevated society
but not the way we are using science today...
- Sorry, I'm breaking it up a bit, I didn't mean to interrupt you.
Who runs things then in your world?
- It's not a matter of 'who' runs things.
It's how we organize society and how we meet the needs of people.
What we do first is take a survey of the Earth's resources:
find out what we have. That's what we based our societies on:
Find out where the resources are, find out where the technical personnel are
find out where the diseases are
and that determines how many hospitals you build.
Find out what the needs of the people are.
Today our society is not based on the needs of the people.
That's quite obvious
when there's so many people that are starving and don't have food
while other people have too much.
It's not based on opinion. It's not based on differential advantage.
It's based on the needs of the people, and that's very different
as I mentioned then today, because today,
society is based on wealth, property and power.
- It sounds like science but it also sounds like kind of a utopic vision of things
without any kind of leadership at the top-down.
Why are you at odds (from what I understand) with other people
who are calling for sustainable societies like the Zeitgeist Movement?
That doesn't seem very utopian.
First, there's no such thing as utopia.
That notion is a fixed thing that we're trying to strive for.
There are no final frontiers. There are no utopias. -OK
We are not at odds with the Zeitgeist Movement
but I will say, that all of the solutions
that the Zeitgeist Movement speaks about concerning the future
originated from the works of the Venus Project.
We had no say in the runnings and the direction of the Zeitgeist Movement
while they are using our name and our materials
which we agreed to in the beginning.
- Roxanne, I'm so sorry. Unfortunately we are out of time.
I do appreciate you explaining that and coming on to tell us
about the Venus Project. That was Roxanne Meadows.