A couple of weeks ago I was invited out to the Venus Project by a friend of E.O.S. and author of Tech Trends, Mark Ciotola; living in florida I have always wanted to see the Venus project but circumstances never allowed me to visit plus the chance to meet Mark in person was really extraordinary so I of course accepted! Since I was given the opportunity to invite someone along I went with my father on a clear and beautiful Saturday January 30,2016. Of Course it’s winter in Florida which means the temperature was 22c ( 7273f) and there was hardly a cloud in the sky, with a gentle breeze. Yes, Florida weather is perfect this time of year and I don’t blame you for being jealous! I am rubbing it in after all.
The Venus Project.
For those not readily familiar, the Venus Project is an organization dedicated to advancing the vision of Jacque Fresco[1], who is beyond doubt an incredible visionary of our times with a very long, and impressive resume. The vision of Venus is a better world, made so by applying disciplines of science and engineering to solve humanity’s various problems from creating a sustainable world to solving and preventing crime. The Venus project, while not the first of it’s kind is among the most influential and well known of our time. It rose to media stardom among sustainability minded groups with the Zeitgeist movement[2] circa 20112012. More information about the venus project can be found at their official website with a number of official documentaries, all of which are worth watching.
The State of the Venus project:
As you are probably aware, the Venus project is now really quite old, Jaque himself clearly shows his age these days. One thing became readily apparent to me on the tour, the buildings were in various states of disrepair with only the core residency and the studio being fully maintained, some buildings including the filming studio where in disuse and now mostly for the sake of tours. The various models are some of them broken but mostly sitting on shelves and tables for photos.
During the tour a segment where we where in the room of models, houses,planes and other things Jacque had imagined over the years ( including the famous city model.) Went a little awry when a comment was made about sports. A debate broke out about rejecting people’s freedom to do things they enjoy. The Stance Venus project replied with was “if you like sports you won’t want to live in this city.” Further pressing the matter, not just about sports mind you but about people who do things which the founders of the Venus project do not approve, the answer was again the same. This left me with a few,very distinct impressions.
- The vision Venus project has for society in it’s success scenario is overly
- The Venus Project lacks definite plans to accomplish its goals.
For it’s over specificity, jacque & Roxanne believe they can engineer social dynamics to a very specific state, an ideal society they envision. This has a number of problems most notably, I can think of no attempt ever made to design a specific social construct that was successful; despite a great many examples in history of the attempt. Despite these criticisms, there was a lot I took away from the experience. it was enlightening to better see Jacque’s theories on efficiency and supply chain, even as they are are not defined to my liking either in literature or in presentation.
[1] https://www.thevenusproject.com/[2] http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com/In Summary, The Venus project is an enduring inspiration, its art is inspiring, Jacque’s lectures are enlightening, and the idea of what Venus strived for has no doubt motivated many people across the world to think in terms of the world as it could be. Though they lack a solid execution plan and though they have voiced some troubling ideas about social engineering. The Venus project earns its place as a cultural icon for sustainable thinkers.
