The seemingly absurd phenomena and social injustice mentioned in the first half of the movie are hard to refute. It can be seen from the speeches of American and world social elites he quoted that these facts are more or less recognized by the mainstream of society. But the real question is, why has such a human society full of greed, profiteering, and unfair distribution exist for so long? It seems that from the beginning of human civilization, this is the eternal face of society. The only difference is that paper money has replaced gold coins, bankers have replaced usurers, and terrorists have replaced infidels.
The reason why human society has existed in this face for so long is not because this profit-monetary social system is perfect, but because it is the most realistic. At least for now, no such wise person can give a more perfect and feasible social structure. Utopian utopian socialism, anarchism, and the Venus Project we saw in the film are undoubtedly unrealistic, in short, absurd. As a self-styled social engineer, Jacque Fresco's analysis of the current social situation in the film is still in place, but the promotion of the Venus Project is clumsy. Although I am convinced that human society is such a complex system, it is far from being able to carry out the most basic calculations, let alone design, with the ability of a social engineer alone. But the utopian nature of the Venus Project he later mentioned greatly exceeded my expectations, and I even began to consider his true motives from egoism.
1. Regarding resources and human needs. In all stages of human social development, global resources can often meet the total needs of human species as a whole. In primitive society, the number of humans is still very small, but there are many wild animals and plants. In theory, everyone can share many wild animals as food and eat large pieces of meat for a lifetime. So it can be seen that human beings can enter the state of the Venus Project at that time. Of course, this same reasoning is absurd.
2. About energy. In theory, solar energy is the source of many energy sources in the world, and fossil fuels are nothing more than the carrier of storing solar energy in the past. It is meaningless to compare solar energy and human energy demand in terms of total amount, because it must involve efficiency issues. Industries such as automobiles and thermal power generation have been developed for nearly a hundred years, but the energy conversion efficiency is still less than 50%. However, solar energy is more dispersed and more widely distributed, the unit heat energy is lower, and the infrastructure investment needs more. Therefore, the main reason why new energy sources such as solar energy have not been promoted is uneconomical, not the obstacles of the current energy giants. Because Toneng can compare with fossil fuel energy just like cars and bicycles. No matter how powerful bicycle manufacturers are, they will not be able to hinder the popularization of cars.
3. About maglev transportation. I always think that theoretically discussing such a giant system as human society cannot be confined to various technical details. This is because there are too many details that can be involved in comparison with the way of social operation that governs everything. Since the Venus plan considers the use of magnetic levitation to replace the current traffic, let us look at its feasibility. As a new mode of transportation, magnetic levitation naturally has advantages over traditional modes of transportation, and even according to the view of the Venus Plan-it can consume no fossil energy at all. However, the first problem is that such an extremely advanced project will have no investors. The discussions of the advocates of the Venus Project are based on the fact that the world runs through a fully enclosed magnetic levitation track and station. And considering the cost of highways and subways, it can be said that the cost of establishing this transportation system is currently unaffordable in any country. Second, consider demand. It is an eternal dream to replace inefficient and wasteful private transportation with efficient public transportation. Buses and subways full of passengers are far more energy-efficient than private cars that only carry one or two people. But why this idea is always a dream, because human needs are different. Magnetic levitation may be able to get me from Beijing to New York in 2 hours, but he can't let me go to an unknown restaurant nearby for a meal after I wake up naturally. This is why Chinese people who have suffered from the Spring Festival travel so envy Americans with four wheels.
4. Regarding government and religion. Jacque Fresco believes that it is technology, not politics and religion, that make human society better. This theory is of course absurd. It's like treating money purely as a slave contract. Many assumptions of economics are wrong, but I think it is correct about the relative scarcity of resources. Compared with human beings' endless needs and desires and the eagerness to be superior to others, resources are of course scarce. Then the more important role of money is the means of allocating resources. Money as a means of allocating resources is fair. Today our society is well organized. Everyone has his own place. Everyone gets the resources needed to survive. It is the invisible hand of money that works. If the currency is cancelled, society will soon fall into unprecedented chaos. As for the government and the law, it manages and distributes social resources through contracts. How the government obtains this power, whether it is reasonable or not, will not be mentioned for the time being, but his existence will at least avoid endless discussions on how to allocate and use public resources. The wisdom of scientists and engineers ultimately promotes the improvement of human living standards, but first, a proper social resource allocation system is needed to ensure their survival, as well as to have the necessary tools and opportunities to exert their ingenuity. There are so many people in the world who call themselves scientists and engineers. There are almost unlimited fields worth exploring. How to rank them and choose the best people to do the most suitable work to solve the most important problems is what the government is expected to solve. The Venus Plan mentioned the budget issues of counter-terrorism and coronary heart disease, but the actual problem is that in the case of the limited budget of the US government (resources are scarce), counter-terrorism is easier to cure than coronary heart disease. (If there is no concept of money, how to make a budget?)
5. Social designers from ancient times to the present are often unreasonable people. Maybe they are completely rational, maybe they look down on human society from God's eyes. The same goes for the designers of the Venus Project. In their view, since the overall resources are sufficient, all uneconomic social factors-currency, government, enterprises, and religion can be eliminated. This is fundamentally contrary to the development of human society. Being able to eat, be able to have clothes to wear, and be able to go where you want to go, these are just things that humans need recently. They ignore the higher requirements of the human spirit, their thinking about culture, their affirmation of self-struggle, their curiosity about the future, and their attempts at uncertain risks and returns.
6. Mechanization. It is a good attempt to replace humans with machines. If human needs are never going forward, then it is even feasible. But I am inclined to Marx's view that labor is a need for people. If we don't work, what can we use to prove the value of our own existence, or to further prove that we are superior to others? The Venus Project, like all such plans in the past, only focused on the most basic survival of mankind. If people don’t work and don’t starve to death, or can enjoy a similar life at present, then everything will be fine. But the fact is that people not only want to eat, but they also want to dress decently, they want to travel farther, they want to hire others to serve themselves, and they want more people to take their orders. If you can achieve these through your own struggle and appropriate speculation, life is perfect. Under the conditions of general automation, these pleasures have been overlooked inadvertently.
7. The law. I think the description of the law is the most absurd in this film. Rather than saying "the road is slippery on rainy days and driving carefully, it is better to fix a sand belt so that it will not skid on rainy days." Instead of saying "drunk driving is prohibited, it is better to use a small pendulum to measure. If he swings back and forth, pull the car to On the other side"...This statement shows Joseph Presco's ignorance of laws and resources. The meaning of the existence of law is not to prevent economic crimes, but to arbitrate contradictions among members of society. Even if there is no currency concept, people will always have differences in their views on things. Then who will be the arbitrator to finally resolve these differences? As for the plan of sand belt and small pendulum, it does not consider the cost at all. And if there is no law, who has the right to take a drink-driving vehicle aside? Although in the eyes of many people, driving under the influence of alcohol interferes with public safety and has nothing to do with financial incentives.
8. Pursuit and education. Joseph Fresco directly replaced more than half of industrial products with daily necessities. In fact, in theory, all products are necessities of life. If people are not really needed, then what is the use of producing these things? If the necessities of life are readily available, it is a communist society. But the result must be that everyone can sustain their lives, but they can no longer choose their favorite brands and styles. Moreover, people who are satisfied with their survival needs will be strictly controlled for new needs, because the necessities of life are currently met, but what if people want to travel to Jupiter by space shuttle if they are full? It is better for them to look up at the stars and paint for self-entertainment.
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