Paradise or Oblivion

We may not like to hear it, but, as Jacque Fresco points out in this stunning documentary, our materialistic society will some day be viewed as the lowest point in history. This documentary reveals a way out of the societal ills we face today: war, poverty, pollution, environmental degradation. What will happen to people in a future society that does not depend on debt and servitude, or credit and barter, to organize our way of life? This documentary explains how, by thinking differently, we can build a new sustainable and equitable lifestyle for all humans, and it provides hope and a plan to move our world-wide society from a money-based, profit-driven, planet-damaging way of life to a "resource based", humanity-driven, planet-preserving way of life.

The whole business with the Venus Project is funny; it may be admirable in its goals but it envisions a ridiculously unrealistic future. Yes, today humanity faces many problems, and the Zeitgeist movement does identify a lot of them. Apart from that, it fails to identify actual causes, quotes no actual research and completely ignores human nature. Better societies are built incrementally; social engineering feats like those envisioned by the Venus Project are doomed to disaster, and history has plenty of examples. This short film is mildly interesting as science fiction, and a little more interesting as moral philosophical musings. But it cannot be taken seriously as anything remotely possible to happen.

To all the people who give there opinion from watching a few videos or articles on the venus project and think they know . It is very easy for a person to say it wont work-its a utopia-human nature is real-and i know everything i need to know about the venus project. This man has been working on this his whole life and i have been learning about this for 4 years and still need to know more. Before you say IT WONT WORK try learning a little more about it . IGNORANT COMMENTS DO NOTHING BUT SPREAD LIES AND PROPAGANDA THAT PEOPLE WILL BELIEVE. The venus project is about educating people so people who don't like this are the ones that are less educated and want you to remain as ignorant as they are.

It's all a question of perspective. After listening John Lennon's "Imagine", some may call him hippie, others like me, strongly believe humanity will either come to our senses or disappear altogether. I suggest watching diverse documentaries, read articles and books about science, technology, history, organized religion, philosophy, economy, politics, environment, and so on. Do some research, and ask questions, then ask more questions and Google, Google, and Google more for answers. YouTube some Ralph Nader, Bill Maher(Real Time), or Noam Chomsky for a change.

I guess, people will learn the hard way. Native North American proverb: "Only when the last tree has died, and the last river has been poisoned, and the last fish has been caught, will we realize that we can't eat money."

Everything you see is run by corporate owners, even your government, all in pursue of better ROI. Government is corporate tool for population control, therefore non stop TV propaganda (see some Dan Rather's speech on how it's done). Corporate owners are reclaiming resources around the world and government and military is there to protect corporate interest. We are treated by corporate owners as a resource as well (how disgraceful) and there are plenty of us, so you figure how important you are in current setting. Population growth is our largest problem. Lack of resources is our second biggest problem. Pollution is third.

Oil and other precious resources reserve estimates are exaggerated. Moreover, demand has risen during the last decade rapidly. Extraction cost and damage to environment is growing. Be sure, you will see $10 per gallon before the end of current decade if $ valuation at all counts few years from now. Natural gas extraction poisons our soil and government is doing nothing to regulate this industry for reasons I already mentioned above. Amounts of other precious materials needed for advanced technology devices you are replacing every year are rapidly decreasing and some can't be replaced. It will be interesting to see expression on Apple executive faces when Chinese simple can't deliver any more, regardless of price… although that's bad example as Apple will most likely not be much regarded few years from now.

The point of Venus Project, Zeitgeist and alike, the way I see it is similar to Star Trek effect. Many commonly used devices today (e.g. smart phones or 3D printers) started when current engineers watched the show as kids. As for tools needed for all to share and donate their knowledge and experience to contribute to Venus or similar projects are available to all. Internet, collaboration, and cloud technologies makes such projects possible. Keep your eyes and ears open and get involved... or start one. Work on developing fall back solutions (say hi to Elon from me), which is way better then sitting on sofa (or pew) waiting for riots.

To my mind this is pure science fiction without a plot or characters. Lots of nice computer graphics and narration, but completely visionary futurist projection with no practical application presented. In other words, there is no plan offered as to how to get there from here, which is the absolutely crucial part.

The narrator keeps saying "this will" happen and "that will" happen, but how? Where does the funding come from? How do you get people to all agree on the details? The reason we are approaching oblivion as a species is that, for some strange reason, we can't agree on things. Go figure.

And besides, I believe our problem as a civilization is that we believe technology is the answer when in reality it is the main reason we are in trouble. Our only hope is to downsize and simplify.