Julio Herrera was born and raised in New York City.
Upon graduating high school he immediately enlisted and served the US Navy.
He attended US Naval propulsion engineering A schools
at US naval training centers in Great Lakes North Chicago.
He is presently working for the railroad industry as a mechanical engineer,
and here he is talking about the city systems of The Venus Project.
Greetings and welcome to the Centennial Celebration,
and happy birthday Jacque, again.
Let’s talk a little bit about TVP City Systems.
In many ways, these city systems take their cues from living organisms.
You can easily compare major components of these cities
with the central nervous system of the human body,
which relies on our senses for inputs,
and then transmits these inputs to our brains
where they are processed, and almost immediately,
a solution is arrived at,
that is sent out to the appropriate muscles,
organs and others systems as outputs.
Kind of a smart city that needs to feel itself so that it can make
the necessary adjustments and react intelligently
to a constantly changing environment,
so as to come alive and become alert, digitally of course.
It needs to know of the conditions that exist,
the conditions that surround it.
It needs to know as much information about the inside
and outside of the city as it can
so that it can arrive at the best optimal solution available
at that given moment, with minimal human intervention,
without causing any harm
to the environment,
or without causing any harm to our planet.
So when the day comes,
and the size of the population
of a city has been surveyed,
and its maximum function has been determined,
only 1/8 of the city will have to be built,
and the remainder of the circular city
will be designed to be duplicated,
with the assistance of robots and automation,
as we transition into a resource-based economy.
All available resources and technology will be constantly updated
and upgraded, and made accessible to all
the first inhabitants, which would consist of people
from many different relevant disciplines pertaining to the development
of the first Venus Project city system, and its systems.
The city will be of new construction,
and the old cities will be used as raw and recycled resources,
with some older cities left intact and preserved as museums.
Incidentally in a resource-based economy, while all of this is taking place,
in the central dome where all this massive data would be collected
and stored before any resources or materials are allocated,
a second use or a second purpose will have already been reallocated
and assigned, so as to keep waste at near to zero as possible.
So how does this all happen? you may be asking.
Well, in order for this kind of systems approach to work properly,
we must first understand that we really don’t need to invent
any newer technologies. We just need to realize
that we can rearrange the technology we already have
in existence today and apply it differently
in such a way that will elevate the quality of life
for all who inhabit the city.
But how?
Well, through the use of what is known as programmable logic control
and electronic environmental feedback sensors.
These are the same technologies already in use today in the railroad industry,
and amusement park industries,
and assembly lines in many automated factories.
These technologies and advanced sensing devices will encompass many capabilities
such as reading and/or monitoring, measuring, controlling, or limiting,
and will be able to interpret many bits of information
such as surface areas, depths, heights, levels, pressures,
temperatures, moisture, weight, vacuum, proximities, and much more.
These sensing devices will also play an important role in redundancy
in cases where primary systems may fail,
then backup systems will avoid any interruptions.
When positioned strategically,
these devices can extract accurate information that is relevant,
and not easily seen to the naked eye.
So when a sensor feels or senses,
it is referred to as an input, or a bit of information.
This bit of information is interpreted and converted
into an electronic signal - that will soon become wireless one day -
that is on its way to the Central Dome-
(I don't know if you can see a picture of the central dome up there)
where the Central Processing Unit
and the Programmable Logic Control are located.
The Central Dome, or the Theme Center,
houses all the cybernated systems and the necessary equipment
to collect, store, and share massive amounts of information.
Once all the inputs have entered the central processing unit,
it contains an internal program that tells the Programmable Logic Control
what to do with all that information that it now has.
It is here where the best solution or approach available today, is arrived at.
Once it has been calculated, and/or solved,
an electronic output is generated immediately,
and a decision is arrived at.
It is now on its way to the appropriate devices and/or components
throughout the city to make the vital adjustments necessary
to maintain a high quality of life for all to enjoy
at all times, without a price tag.
Whether it would be directed towards transportation or irrigation,
these automated outputs can energize or de-energize
a multitude of dictated functions in whatever sequence it has learned,
or has arrived at.
These adjustments resulting from outputs
can open or close flood gates or divert water ways,
increase or decrease moisture content in the agricultural belt,
or maybe indicate some impurity in the air or drinking water.
An early flood or earthquake warning.
Monitoring and maintaining a number of vital systems such as
water filtration systems, air purification systems,
as well as the most suitable and timely allocation of resources,
intelligently distributed amongst all, without a price tag.
(Now where have I heard that before?)
We can eliminate scarcities and overages
with a well-balanced and well-managed resource database
that will be made accessible to everyone,
constantly updated as to where exactly and when exactly
that resource is or will be available,
just like you track your packages today.
Since the realization of the Internet of things,
it is apparent that our gadgets are becoming more wireless
and our devices are becoming more digitized at home and at work.
Communicating any bit of information these days seems to be the thing to do.
We can practically imbed a sensor into anything these days and monitor it.
Yes, there are even nanoscale sensors capable of nanoscale tasks.
Nanosensors can be chemical or mechanical
and work basically the same,
except they can read miniscule and minute bits of information.
There is so much more other technologies out there
just waiting to be rearranged.
The truth of the matter is there are already companies doing these things,
and they are communicating with everything you can attach a sensor to.
Unfortunately, it is still motivated by money,
or money somehow seems to get in the way of its full potential.
The possibilities are endless as we transition, slowly,
into a resource-based economy;
we can enjoy abundance [and] become sustainable
by applying these technologies accordingly.
Yet we cannot stop there.
Each city is unique to its function
and its position on the planet is critical.
I wanted to mention a little bit about the correlation center that...
that isn't talked about much,
It's basically - I'm quoting right out of the 'Looking Forward' book that is
from the Venus Project website -
I'll just read it. CORCEN is the master computer
that correlates the interactions of all people and all automation globally.
It is housed at the central dome of every RBE city,
with each dome around the world fully integrated,
webbed into a global network.
The only way to throw off CORCEN
is to deny it the relevant facts that it needs.
Even then, it has the sensitive feel for the need to delay predictions
until more facts are available.
I myself feel, how else will we be able to better manage our resources,
if we don’t know how to survey and account for our common heritage?
which is our resources.
Thank you very much.
[Applause]