Jacque Fresco is a controversial figure in the world of modern science.
Someone perceives him as a person obsessed with the ideas of improving the world, someone considers the American designer and futurist a genius of our time. His views are extraordinary, sometimes utopian. Extraordinary ideas and intellect made Jacques Fresco one of the greatest scientists of our time.
Scientific views and interests of Fresco
Fresco was interested in issues of holistic design, social engineering, developed the problem of rational management of natural resources.
Biography of a scientist
Jacque Fresco was born in Brooklyn in the spring of 1916. The boy attended a comprehensive school. His interests and views differed from those of his peers. Young Jacques refused to swear allegiance to the flag of America, explaining that the achievements of scientific progress cannot be attributed to American scientists. This is a merit of the world scientific community. It would be wiser to be grateful to the population of the entire planet. After this incident, Fresco began to study on an individual program. After the death of the director of the school, the boy left her. Starting at the age of 14, he began to hitchhike.
The meeting in 1931 with A. Einstein turned out to be very important in the life of the scientist. From the age of 18, he became seriously interested in designing.
In 1940, Fresco returned from Fr. Tuamotu, where he communicated with the local population. After living with the natives for a year, the scientist came to the conclusion that by distributing resources it is possible to build a society without wars, violence, aggression. This trip became decisive in the views of the scientist.
During the Great Depression, Fresco wondered why a huge number of people are forced to starve when factories and factories are full of raw materials and resources. Money, according to Fresco, paralyzes society, makes it manageable and helpless at the same time. He expressed his views in the author’s project “Venus”.
The dream of developing in the field of aviation has come true. While serving in the US Army, Jacques managed to participate in the development and improvement of wings, anti-freeze equipment for them, as well as the development of a security system. However, the design ideas were rejected.
In 1942, Fresco’s work was rewarded. He received a patent for his own design – a model of “radical variable deflection wing” for pilots.
Fresco participated in the Manhattan Project. He established himself as a brilliant constructor and designer, working on the projects of the “trend house” and “House-sandwich”. It was assumed that housing should be built of glass and aluminum. To improve the quality of life of mankind, according to Fresco, possibly abandoning the idea of enrichment and becoming closer to nature. The ideas of budget houses were also not taken seriously, the request for support was rejected.
Scientific works and achievements
From the late 1940s, Fresco headed a research laboratory, where he lectured, designed, and acted as a scientific consultant. Since 1955 he moved to California, then to Miami, Florida. Here he participated in the design project of Alcoa and Major Realty.
Fresco outlined his extraordinary scientific views on the cybernetic community in the book Looking Forward, which made him popular. Jacques Fresco dealt with issues of sociocybernetics, later creating a corporation with the same name.
Jacque Fresco and the Venus Project
Jacques Fresco is also one of the founders of the non-profit international non-governmental organization «The Venus Project».
History
It all started in 1975 with the Sociocyber Engineering project, on the basis of which the Venus Project was founded in 1994.
The ideas of the project are popularized in books, from screens (several documentaries, films, interviews have been shot). Many different materials are available on the organization’s website, including for download, so that anyone can understand the concepts of the project. As for specific developments, in particular technology drawings, they have not yet been made public.
There are local branches practically all over the world, including in the CIS (the Future Design movement). Volunteers, in particular translators, also help.
Basics
Goals of the project
The founders and activists of the organization believe that the task is feasible if:
- Recognize globally that the Earth’s resources belong to everyone;
- Cancel borders between states;
- Abandon money, corporations and governments;
- Stabilize the world’s population (voluntary birth control);
- Restore environment;
- Make all existing material objects environmentally friendly;
- Share technology for the benefit of all;
- Introduce renewable energy sources;
- Produce only high quality products;
- Study major construction projects carefully to prevent undesirable environmental impacts;
- To improve education for all, encourage creativity and nurture individuality;
- Create a new language of communication based on the proximity of people to the outside world;
- Prepare the people of the Earth (intellectually and emotionally) for change.
Action plan
The transition is expected to occur in an evolutionary way. As the automation of production increases, purchasing power will decrease. Money will gradually become obsolete.
First stage
The task of the stage is informing. This has already been partially implemented. In addition to the published materials (in more than 25 languages), distance learning is offered. The research center (American city of Venus, Florida) invites visitors to look at the layouts, find out their questions.
Second stage
In 2016, the documentary film “The Choice is Ours” was released. Funds are being raised for a feature film that will show the society of the future that implements the proposed ideas.
Third stage
Testing all ideas in an experimental research city.
Fourth stage
Creation of a theme park, whose task is not only to entertain, but also to tell about different types of behavior and how the environment reacts to it.
Relationship to Zeitgeist
The project owes its fame to the films Zeitgeist: Appendix and Zeitgeist: The Next Step. But for several years now, the organization has been talking about its independence from this movement, explaining that it did not reflect the ideas of the project.
Criticism
Despite the assertions of the project’s supporters that the concept has a scientific basis, it has many critics. No one has heard of independent research. There is no answer to the questions of how this can be put into practice, as well as whether possible problems are taken into account in the transition to a new type of economic system. Some even call the “Venus Project” a utopia.
Best quotes by Jacque Fresco
- “We will either learn to live together or die alone”
- “If we make a film about modern culture and show it to the people of the future, it will be a horror film”
- “The consumer society is a society of lonely people who have everything except what they really need”
- “The problem is not that we cannot provide for the poor, but that we cannot satisfy the needs of the rich”
- “If you think the world can’t be changed, it just means you’re not the one to change it”
- “Earthlings don’t have the money to deliver water to the arid regions of the Earth, but they have the money to look for water on Mars. After that, it is worth asking the question: is there a mind on Earth?”
- “The main danger is to sit back”
