The entire money-structured and materialistic-oriented society
is a false society.
Our society will go down in history as the lowest development in man.
We have the brains, the know-how, the technology
and the feasibility to build an entirely new civilization.
(Jacque Fresco) it was living through the 1929 Great Depression
that helped shape my social conscience.
During this time, I realized the Earth was still the same place:
Manufacturing plants were still intact and resources were still there
but people didn't have the money to buy the products.
I felt that the rules of the game we play by
were obsolete and insufficient.
Misery, suffering and war provided the incentive for my life's work.
I was also motivated by the seeming incompetence of governments
the academic world, and the lack of solutions offered by scientists.
I realized that instead of working with individuals
a more effective method would be to redesign the culture.
This began a lifelong quest to finding solutions
to the many problems that we have today.
(Narrator) This presentation is a feasible plan for social change
that works toward a peaceful and sustainable global civilization
where human beings, technology and nature coexist.
It outlines an alternative to strive for
where human rights are not only paper proclamations
but a way of life.
It is called The Venus Project.
Its founder, Jacque Fresco
calls for a straightforward redesign of the culture in which war
poverty, hunger, debt and unnecessary human suffering
are viewed not only as avoidable but totally unacceptable.
It is becoming increasingly obvious that anything less
will simply result in a continuation of the same problems we face today.
The Venus Project's research center
constructed by Fresco and Roxanne Meadows
is located in Venus, Florida.
It addresses many of the root causes of our difficulties.
But what are the real origins of our problems?
At present, we are left with very few alternatives
since we are on a collision course of our own making.
Answers from yesterday are no longer relevant.
Considering the damage already done to the environment
we are rapidly approaching a point of no return
where nature will dictate the course.
Either we continue as we have
with outmoded social customs and habits of thought
thereby threatening our future
or, we apply a more appropriate set of values
relevant to a sustainable society
with more opportunity and freedoms.
Americans have been conditioned in their kind of society
to get a different kind of car next year
to buy a new television set, or a tape recorder.
We are radical as hell but our political and social institutions
have not changed and this is where we are stagnating:
Because we always equate any new idea with communism or regimentation
because we have been brought up to fear that which is new.
(Narrator) None of the world's economic systems:
Socialism, communism, fascism or the free enterprise system
have eliminated the problems of elitism, nationalism, racism
and most of all, scarcity.
These are all based primarily on economic disparity.
When money is used to regulate and distribute resources for profit
and people and nations are out for themselves
they will seek advantage at any cost.
They do this by maintaining a competitive edge
or through military intervention.
War represents the supreme failure of nations to resolve their differences.
From a strictly pragmatic standpoint
it is the most inefficient waste of lives and resources ever conceived.
Most wars are for the control of resources
and maintaining your position of differential advantage.
They're not based on the 'dignity of man.'
They're not based on elevating human beings.
It might elevate the human beings in the country that's the victor.
It might do that. But as far as the rest of the world goes
the price is enormous.
(Narrator) This crude and violent attempt to resolve international differences
takes on even more ominous overtones
with the advent of computerized nuclear delivery systems
and deadly biological and chemical weapons.
Yet it is a windfall, money-making opportunity
for those who profit by the military-industrial complex.
If the profit were taken out of wars
do you really believe we would have them?
(Jacque Fresco) if they draft you into the army to serve this country
(you put up your life for this country)
they should draft all the war industries:
Every cannon maker, machine gun maker
automobiles, jeeps, warships
all drafted, so they're on the same basis of pay as the army.
Then it's real. But if you make millions selling warships
and machine guns to the army, then it's corrupt.
I would (if I had my way), if we had millions of men in the army
I'd send them to school to become problem solvers
how to get along with other nations. That's what we have to do, not kill.
Soldiers are just killing machines; They're trained to kill.
I would train them to be able to go to Mexico and bridge the difference
and go to the Arab world and see if they can bridge the difference.
So bring them all together, all the nations.
(Narrator) War is not the only form of violence imposed upon people.
There is also hunger, poverty
homelessness and unemployment.
The acceptance of these conditions as expressive of 'human nature' is a myth
used to keep things as they are.
Genetics has nothing to do with greed, business, race prejudice.
All of the operant systems in any society are part of your education
the books you read, the role models you follow and the people you admire.
The genes have nothing to do...
except with the color of your eyes, the shape of your nose
perhaps inherited features.
The genes do not control values.
Even if you're born with a much better brain than another person
meaning better receptors, the quality of the tissue is better
I would say that if you have a better brain
and you live in a fascist country you become a fascist faster.
The brain has no mechanism of discrimination.
The brain can't tell you what is relevant or less relevant
except experience.
(Narrator) We are not born with greed, envy, hatred, or bigotry.
Our behavior and values are reflective of the culture we are exposed to.
If you were raised by the headhunters of the Amazon
you'd be a headhunter.
If I said to you "Doesn't it bother you to have 5 shrunken heads?"
you'd say "Yes, my brother has 20."
Is he nuts? No, that's normal to his culture.
Social and environmental problems will remain insurmountable
as long as few nations control most of the Earth's resources
and the bottom line is profit over the well-being of people.
Putting profit first results in unnecessary suffering
and aberrant behavior prevalent today.
Many people feel that we need the rule of law to eliminate our problems.
We have many laws, thousands upon thousands of them
but they are constantly being broken.
Paper proclamations and treaties do not alter the facts of scarcity
deprivation, and insecurity.
You can predict the shape of the future and the values if you know
the trends of events in the ocean pollution, the scarcity of arable land...
if you watch that degrading system grow
I can predict the riots and killing and assassination.
Human behavior is really generated by the surrounding environment.
If there's a scarcity, say of water, it is prized and its price is high.
Let's discuss scarcity as a system.
Suppose it rained gold for about 3 days, gold dust.
People would go out and shovel it in, fill their cellars
the attic, every drawer in the house. They'd throw out their clothing.
If the rain kept up for a year so that gold was all over the place
people would sweep it out of the house, take their rings off, throw them away
and so human behavior undergoes change to that condition.
There's only a policeman in front of something that people have need for
and don't have access to, so you put a guard there.
But if lemon trees or orange trees and apple trees
grew all over the place, you couldn't sell it.
If you landed on an island that was so abundant with resources
you had 10 people, there were 1000 fish for every person if you wanted it,
there were 10 times the amount of breadfruit and bananas
money would not come into existence.
Private property would not come into existence.
If the island was big enough: there were 10 people, there were 8000 acres
no one would give a damn about staking out this particular area.
There are patterns of behavior that promote survival.
There are social conditions that change our values and outlook.
No one can write a constitution of required behavior
without consulting the environment.
So, we'd better take care of the environment
we'd better take care of one another and we'd better educate people
to the highest possible levels of our ability
in order to have a society.
(Narrator) Even a peace treaty cannot prevent another war
if the underlying causes are not dealt with.
Maybe what are needed are ethical people in government
who will work toward everyone's well-being.
But even if the most ethical people were elected to high positions
and we ran out of resources, there would still be lying
cheating, stealing and corruption.
It's not ethical people that are needed but rather
a way of intelligently managing the Earth's resources for everyone's well-being.
Let's examine our social arrangements further.
To maintain our economy, products must continuously be sold.
To assure this, they are deliberately designed to wear out and break down.
Maybe you've noticed this usually happens
right after the warranty expires.
This corrupt practice is referred to as 'planned obsolescence'
which is the conscious withdrawal of efficiency.
Innovators go through the finest schools and then are required
to design things that wear out and break down right on schedule.
This results in a tremendous waste of resources and energy.
We are plundering the planet for profits.
If you think about it, it isn't a job people want
but access to what their paycheck will bring.
Money does not represent anything real
and there's no gold, silver or resource to back it up.
You can't eat money or build a house of it.
It is not even related to our real capacity
to produce goods and services on this planet.
The monetary system has been handed down from centuries ago
and we continue to use it without questions.
This system will keep installing more and more automation
cutting down on the purchasing power of the majority of people.
There will come a time (it's called the Gaussian curve )
where employment is that, production is this
and purchasing power is that. The system stops.
Banks fail and nothing works anymore.
We're moving in that direction very rapidly.
- We have finally gotten to a place in 2011
where it's becoming obvious that the machine has beaten the man.
- We are incredibly productive with far fewer people.
- We are more productive as an economy than ever before.
- An iPad app can do more than four people.
- It's just that there are fewer jobs. The jobs that do exist now
can have lower wages because of obvious reasons:
A lot of people are looking for a small number of jobs.
The wages go down, that has huge impacts on the middle class
and ripples out from there.
We're moving towards social collapse.
I think this is going to happen all over the world, not just here.
It doesn't require the overthrow of the government.
It just requires that you let it alone; It will overthrow itself.
If you control the media, you can calm people down.
But if the majority keeps getting laid off, they don't have purchasing power
the system collapses. It doesn't work anymore; they invade.
It's already happening, this country is already insoluble.
They're going to have difficulty with national security, paying pension people:
They've spent far beyond what they already have.
All they can do now is create debt, borrow more and more money from banks.
- We also want to show you a rather grim sign of our times
it's not far from here in Midtown Manhattan.
The national debt has grown too large for the National Debt Clock.
It went up back in 1989
when the nation's debt was less than 3 trillion dollars.
The debt has been piling up so fast lately they had to drop the dollar sign
to make room for an extra digit as the number turned over
to more than ten trillion dollars now and counting every second.
A whole new clock with two extra spaces will go up next year.
The federal government is not allowed to print money.
It's not allowed to lend money or get in the banking business.
That is a privilege for bankers only.
So what the government has to do if they want to build an air force
say of 2000 planes a month
they have to borrow money from a private lending institution
sign the dotted line, and if the war is lost or failed
the burden falls on the public to pay off that debt.
(Narrator) We find ourselves and our social constructs
in a transitional state, a matter of social evolution.
If we want to make it through these turbulent times
we must be able to adapt to change.
All things change, including our social systems.
Albert Einstein stated:
Earth is still abundant with resources.
Our practice of rationing resources through monetary control
is no longer relevant and is actually counterproductive to our very survival.
Today we have highly advanced technologies
but our social and economic system has not kept up with our technological capabilities
which could otherwise easily create a world of abundance for all
free of servitude and debt.
How can this be possible?
There is not enough money to feed or house all people on this planet
let alone accomplish these more ambitious ends.
But Earth has more than enough resources to meet the needs of all people
but only if managed intelligently.
(Narrator) Jacque Fresco envisions a solution that he calls
a Resource-Based Economy.
It is a socio-economic system in which all goods and services
are available to everyone without the use of money
barter, credit, debt or servitude of any kind.
It is unlike any social system that has gone before.
Fresco arrived at this direction through 75 years of study
and experimental research.
A Resource-Based Economy operates on the basis of available resources
and makes those resources available to every human being on earth
free of charge, without a price tag.
We have today more than enough resources
to build a far more advanced society.
I'm not talking about limited handouts so that people just get by.
I'm talking about a very advanced civilization.
We have the resources, we have the technology, all we have to do is apply it.
(Roxanne Meadows) One of the main aspects of The Venus Project
is to eliminate scarcity; this is where the technology comes into play.
Because if we set up a Resource-Based Economy
and some things are scarce, it won't work.
If you set up a Resource-Based Economy
in a society that has no resources, it won't work.
Today with our technology we can make things available.
We can eliminate scarcity, we can create an abundance.
As long as we can create that abundance, that will eliminate greed
and selfishness, and a lot of crime and a lot of aberrant behavior.
(Narrator) A social system can be designed
so that all can live fully and constructively
if the powers of science and technology are directed toward human and environmental concern
and overcoming the artificial scarcities of our debt-based monetary systems.
All people, regardless of political philosophy, social customs
or religious differences ultimately depend upon the same resources:
Clean air and water
arable land
medical care and a relevant education.
I think if you pledge allegiance to the Earth and everyone on it
that'd be the way to go for the future.
(Narrator) The human species is a single family and the world is home to everyone.
Neither nations nor people can co-exist separately any longer.
No more separate nations, so that anyone can go anywhere.
Before the states joined together, they used to stake out their territory.
They used to fight, they had militias. They would fight:
"This is our territory!" "Oh no you're intruding!"
When all the states joined together, the government
worked out the lines of the states and they agreed.
That was the end of territorial disputes.
If you want the end of war, you must declare the Earth common heritage.
This has nothing to do with those who want to form an elite world order
with themselves and large corporations in control
and the rest of the world subservient to them.
On the contrary, a global Resource-Based Economy
enables all people to reach their highest potential
where they can thrive and grow in a society that works in their behalf
a society that protects and preserves the environment as well.
One that understands that we are part of nature, not separate from it.
(Narrator) Some question what would happen to incentive if needs were met
without our having to work to attain them.
The question assumes humans have no desires beyond basic needs.
If that were true, there would be no inventors
writers or teachers.
People work with passion on the things that interest and challenge them.
Let's enable all people to have the opportunity
to partake in the greatest challenge one can have:
Improving our world for everyone.
Individuality will be emphasized rather than uniformity.
This social arrangement will generate a new incentive system
that values the protection of the environment and social concern
rather than the shallow self-centered goals
of wealth, property and power.
It does not call for uniformity. It absolutely calls for diversity:
The more diverse people are, the more individuality.
So we emphasize individuality, creativity, innovativeness.
This is the essentials of the design.
It is not a group of scientists telling people what to do
how to live, where to go, what to follow.
(Narrator) Motivation and incentive exist when people have meaningful tasks.
True growth and development occur when people are involved in creative
challenging and constructive endeavors.
However, motivation and incentive die in the daily grind
of boring and repetitive jobs required to earn a paycheck.
If you hand out things to people
if you fed them, clothed them and housed them for free
they're not going to work in the morning because they don't need it.
They've got their housing, clothing, motion pictures and entertainment.
Why go to work? Work is painful, it's monotonous, it's boring.
In the future, if people have access to all their needs
but they don't have any challenges, this is where it goes to pot.
So people constantly [will be] challenged by new things.
In our schools we challenge them with many things that are not solved
and [there are] many unresolved problems.
If you are well fed and well clothed, that doesn't stop your brain from working.
That would mean that every millionaire does nothing, it's turned off
because you've got all the means. That's not true.
There are many millionaires that work 18 hours a day
and don't have enough time. It has to do with your background
and your education. The more you know about oceanography, astronomy, etc.
The more interested, the more alive you are.
If you're just given food, clothing and shelter, now you can go to work.
You don't have to worry about making a living
and your incentive would be boosted considerably.
I call that a new and innovative incentive system:
It's not monetary oriented, it's problem-solving oriented.
You get your kicks out of seeing the world become a better place.
(Narrator) How can we use our technology wisely
so that there is more than enough for everyone?
To achieve this, it's mandatory that the planning for it
be based on the carrying capacity of the planet's resources.
Our entire infrastructure must be redesigned
and operated as coherent, integrated, total systems.
This means we must consider our entire global community as one unit
that includes everyone and plan accordingly.
Only in this way can we use our technology to overcome resource shortages
provide universal abundance and protect the environment.
Therefore, a global survey is first needed to assess exactly what we have.
This would inventory our physical resources, personnel
production centers and the needs of people.
This enables us to determine the amount of goods and services needed.
For instance, where is the arable land to grow crops?
How many people are in various locations
and what is the state of their health?
This would determine where hospitals are built and how many.
If you try to do that today
(ask for a global resource survey of all nations), they'd wonder
"What are you trying to do that for? To find if we've got enough resources
to fight you in armaments and other things?"
They would be skeptical, hesitant, to give that information.
So I would say it wouldn't work in today's culture.
But after the ideas are put forth and the reason for it
and the advantages gained by all the nations...
it would have to be specific advantages
that they can understand in their terms.
If they agree, then the survey would be conducted.
It's not my opinion or the opinion of anyone else that would be used.
It's the size of the population, the availability of resources
the carrying capacity of the Earth, that determines
what is done and how fast things move.
Today it's done on a totally different basis
but in the future it will all be based on
a form of dynamic equilibrium.
That means operating everything at the highest potential
without environmental neglect.
(Narrator) The key to achieving abundance and a high standard of living for all
is to automate as much as possible in the shortest period of time.
But during the transition, we have to bring together
the technological capabilities of people working with computers
and working with technology
and building and designing methods of delivering these resources
and the necessary industrial plants to process the resources.
(Narrator) Our problems and their solutions are technical, not political.
Most problems can be solved when technology and the methods of science
are used to serve all people, not just a select few.
What is it that you want? You have to ask yourself.
I want to live in a world where I don't have to fear
that my children will go into another war
where there will be deprivation, problems or disease.
"Do you know how to build that kind of world?" "No I don't!"
How do you go about building? You call upon the various divisions of science
bring them together and say "These are the problems we'd like to solve."
A scientific government doesn't mean that scientists rule or control people.
It means they have better means for building transportation systems
better means for cleaning the air, they have the best means
for restoring the oceans that we know of to this day.
(Narrator) Computers can serve the needs of everyone
when cybernation is ultimately integrated into all aspects
of this new and dynamic culture.
One can think of this as an electronic nervous system
extending into all areas of the social complex.
Their function would be to coordinate a balance between production and distribution
assuring there are no shortages or overruns.
(Roxanne Meadows) In this highly technical society
decisions are based on direct environmental
human and industrial feedback.
You can think of this as electrical sensors
throughout the entire environment
from cities, factories, warehouses
distribution centers, transportation networks
all over the globe gathering data for more appropriate decisions.
The decisions are based on the needs of society
rather than corporate or private interests.
(Narrator) it is not automated technology or machines we should be wary of
but the abuse and misuse of technology by selfish interests.
Remember, it is people who decide what ends the machines will serve.
If technology does not liberate all people
for the pursuit of higher aspirations in human achievement
then all its technological potential will be meaningless.
You always do a positive and negative study
before you engage in the actual reconstruction of an environment.
(Narrator) it's all just talk unless there is a technical plan
to organize and use resources to accomplish abundance.
What follows are some of the many approaches The Venus Project provides
for the entire social spectrum.
Today more than half our population lives in cities that are polluted
dangerous and waste energy.
What we have to do is design a city as a living system
as an organism, as a university:
That all the cities of the future will be university cities
that grow, that continue to exchange ideas.
The city will have a built-in transportation system so there are no accidents
and no unthought out areas of technology.
Medicine, botany, agriculture, the total system: one planning system.
(Narrator) it is actually better to build newer cities from the ground up
than to restore and maintain old ones.
Fresco uses a systems approach to designing new cities.
They're desirable and pleasant places to live.
The notion that intelligent overall planning implies mass uniformity is absurd.
Cities would be uniform only to the degree that they would require far less materials
save time and energy
and be flexible enough to allow for innovative changes
while preserving the local ecology.
If we design our cities to meet human needs
you don't have most of the problems that are prevalent today.
In the central dome you have childcare
schools, dental care, medical care.
In the production and design of the cities
we work out 1 /8th of the city system and then we reproduce it
instead of having architects design each building and each structure
which is a tremendous waste of energy and talent.
(Narrator) When working on solving the housing problem for all the world's people
construction techniques would be vastly different from those employed today.
Extruded and self-erecting structures could revolutionize
and speed up construction processes.
These lightweight, durable apartments could be produced as continuous extrusions
and then separated and positioned in place by the mega-machines.
The outer shells of these efficient structures serve as photovoltaic generators
and heat concentrators.
You don't own anything in this society.
Really, people don't want money;
They want access to things when they want it.
People in a society of abundance, having access to things
will really no longer begin to store and accumulate things.
We recycle it, update it, make it better.
Take the same materials of an old car
[they] weigh just as much as a new car, so there are no old cars.
Old cars mean danger.
If you drive a very expensive car and somebody else drives a beat-up old car
if their brakes fail, you may die.
We don't want any old cars on the highway.
We don't want anything that breaks down.
We don't want anything that takes looking after.
(Narrator) In a Resource-Based Economy, people may access whatever products they need
without the burden of having to purchase, maintain or insure their possessions.
In this way, there is much more to go around for everyone
and products are always available when needed.
Anything people may need is available in these outside access domes:
Sculpturing materials, musical instruments,
somewhat like a public library.
They can go down and access a camera, a bicycle or a wristwatch.
Anything they need is available without a price tag.
That would mean we must achieve a level of production that's so high
that scarcity no longer exists.
That will prevent almost all crime.
There is no way of segmenting or making this system just or equitable.
We have to make a system that assures human rights.
When everybody has free access to goods and services
you don't have to fight for women's rights, or black rights.
It's an automatic in a society that is set up that way.
You don't have to make laws [like] 'Don't steal'; it would bypass that behavior.
(Jacque Fresco) Surrounding the central dome, you have the research centers
centers that do work that's relevant
to the sustainability of the entire community.
As we move away from the research centers
we come to the recreational area
which has tennis courts and all of the games that people require.
As we move away from that we come to the residential district.
There are streams, waterfalls, lakes throughout the area.
(Narrator) We could provide a wide range of unique homes and apartments
that can be relatively maintenance free, fireproof
and virtually impervious to adverse weather conditions.
As we move to the next sector, we come to apartments.
The reason some people want to live in apartments
is because you have drama groups, you have gymnasiums
medical care, dental care; Everything is built-in to the central towers.
I feel that in the future, people will move away from individual houses
and live in larger complexes.
As we move outward we come to the indoor agriculture
or hydroponic farms.
Then there is also outdoor agriculture.
(Narrator) The city would use the best of clean technology
in harmony with nature, such as wind, solar, geothermal
heat concentrators, piezoelectric, wave, temperature differentials
ocean thermal vents and much more.
A major development for generating energy in the future
could be the construction of a land bridge or tunnel across the Bering Strait.
These underwater structures convert a portion of the ocean currents
through turbines to generate clean sources of power.
By using these sources of energy we could power the earth on clean energy
and enable all people to enjoy a very high standard of living
for thousands of years to come.
There is no need for the use of polluting hydrocarbons any longer.
Pollution will be a thing of the past.
All transportation will be integrated into a worldwide transportation system.
Transportation within cities will be by transveyors.
City-to-city travel will be by monorail.
Maglev trains are utilized for long distance travel.
To enhance efficiency, this high-speed maglev train
is equipped with removable sections
which can be disengaged while the train is in motion.
Aircraft will display a wide range of configurations.
These VTOL aircraft (or Vertical Takeoff and Landing)
are used to transport passengers and freight.
The priority is safety rather than saving money
or dealing with the lowest bidder.
This modular freighter consists of detachable sections
that can be rapidly loaded or unloaded.
The number of sections varies depending on the amount of freight to be delivered.
When all the sections are connected they can be propelled as a single unit.
Ships can be floating manufacturing plants
that produce products while en route to their destinations.
They can also serve as education centers
where children and adults travel worldwide obtaining innovative education
not through vicarious study, but through experiencing
and interacting with the 'real-world' environment.
A national transportation system would include a network of waterways
canals and irrigation systems.
They could serve to minimize the threat of floods and droughts
while allowing for the migration of fish, provide natural firebreaks
emergency water sources, fish farms and recreation areas.
When we unleash science and technology
directly into the social system
without the restrictions of the market place, finances or patents
we could achieve a very high standard of living
within a very short period of time.
This society would continuously improve
changing rapidly through new technologies, inventions and ideas.
It would be an emergent society
rather than an established one like we have today.
(Narrator) imagine living in an extraordinary oceanic city
helping to restore the ocean environment
while eliminating land-based population pressures.
These cities in the sea may serve as universities and research centers
where students study marine sciences.
They could be used for ocean farming, mariculture and mining
while maintaining a dynamic balance in the oceanographic environment.
Self-sufficient cities in the sea vary in design
depending on their location and function.
This undersea observation station permits people
to view marine life in its natural habitat.
These mariculture and sea-farming systems
cultivate and raise fish along with other forms of marine life
to help meet the nutritional needs of the world's people.
These structures would permit the free flow of water throughout.
Using technology in this way would make it possible for a global society
to achieve social advancement and worldwide reconstruction
in the shortest time possible.
Utopia, if it's ever established, will die, will stagnate.
Whereas what I'm talking about is an evolving culture
or an emergent culture.
I have no notions of a perfect society. I don't know what that means.
I know we can do much better than what we've got.
I'm no Utopian. I'm not... a humanist
that would like to see everybody living in warmth and harmony.
[But] I know that if we don't live that way, we'll kill each other and destroy the Earth.
(Narrator) This new lifestyle, while providing leisure and recreation
would also enhance knowledge and creativity for everyone.
The measure of success would be the fulfillment of one's personal interests
rather than the acquisition of wealth and self-centered goals.
A Resource-Based Economy would not only change our environment
to make it clean, efficient and enjoyable
but it would introduce a new value system
appropriate to the direction and aims of the new innovative approach.
With education and resources made available
there would be no limit to the human potential.
Everyone will have the freedom to pursue
whatever constructive field of endeavor he or she chooses
without the economic limitations that we face today.
We are now at a time when decisions must be made
if we wish to evolve from our present culture of scarcity
waste and environmental destruction
to a sustainable society of ecological concern and abundance.
A nation without a vision of what the future can be
is bound to repeat past errors
over and over again.
We say dishonestly
that man is the highest form of evolution which [is what] you get in schools.
Man destroys the oceans, the fish, the atmosphere and one another.
Man flies over a city, presses a button
and burns everybody in the city with nuclear weapons.
Is he the highest creation of nature? Not yet!
In my opinion. We've got a long way to go.
We could either develop paradise on Earth or oblivion;
Wipe ourselves out, only the future will tell.
It's what you do to make the future.
(Narrator) We can create a world where war and want are distant memories.
When all of science and technology are used
within a global resource-based economy
for the protection of the environment and the well-being of all
only then will we understand
what it means to be truly civilized.
Be a part of the growing community of people
working toward making the aims of The Venus Project a reality.
Join us in our efforts to bring this vision of a positive future
to a wider audience through the goal of a major motion picture.
All of these things can be built with what we know today.
It would take 10 years to change the surface of the Earth
to rebuild the world into a second Garden of Eden.
The choice lies with you. The stupidity of a nuclear arms race
the development of weapons, trying to solve your problems politically
by electing this political party or that political party...
ALL politics are immersed in corruption.
Let me say it again: Communism, Socialism
Fascism, the Democrats, the Liberals.
There are no Negro problems, Polish problems or Jewish problems
or Greek problems or women's problems.