[Solar-general] venus project...

[Marcos Germán Guglielmetti]

No sé si habían visto esto, es medio delirante... pero bueno...


http://thevenusproject.com/

The Venus Project is an organization that proposes a feasible plan of action 
for social change, one that works towards a peaceful and sustainable global 
civilization. It outlines an alternative to strive toward where human rights 
are no longer paper proclamations but a way of life.

We operate out of a 21.5-acre Research Center located in Venus, Florida.

When one considers the enormity of the challenges facing society today, we can 
safely conclude that the time is long overdue for us to reexamine our values, 
and to reflect upon and evaluate some of the underlying issues and 
assumptions we have as a society. This self-analysis calls into question the 
very nature of what it means to be human, what it means to be a member of 
a "civilization," and what choices we can make today to ensure a prosperous 
future for all the world's people.

At present we are left with very few alternatives. The answers of yesterday 
are no longer relevant. Either we continue as we have been with our outmoded 
social customs and habits of thought, in which case our future will be 
threatened, or we can apply a more appropriate set of values that are 
relevant to an emergent society.

Experience tells us that human behavior can be modified, either toward 
constructive or destructive activity. This is what The Venus Project is all 
about - directing our technology and resources toward the positive, for the 
maximum benefit of people and planet and seeking out new ways of thinking and 
living that emphasize and celebrate the vast potential of the human spirit. 
We have the tools at hand to design - and build - a future that is worthy of 
the human potential. The Venus Project presents a bold, new direction for 
humanity that entails nothing less than the total redesign of our culture. 
What follows is not an attempt to predict what will be done - only what could 
be done. The responsibility for our future is in our hands, and depends on 
the decisions that we make today. The greatest resource that is available 
today is our own ingenuity.

While social reformers and think tanks formulate strategies that treat only 
superficial symptoms, without touching the basic social operation, The Venus 
Project approaches these problems somewhat differently. We feel we cannot 
eliminate these problems within the framework of the present political and 
monetary establishment. It would take too many years to accomplish any 
significant change. Most likely they would be watered down and thinned out to 
such an extent that the changes would be indistinguishable

The Venus Project advocates an alternative vision for a sustainable new world 
civilization unlike any social system that has gone before. Although this 
description is highly condensed, it is based upon years of study and 
experimental research by many, many people from many scientific disciplines.

The Venus Project proposes a fresh approach--one that is dedicated to human 
and environmental concerns. It is an attainable vision of a bright and better 
future, one that is appropriate to the times in which we live, and both 
practical and feasible for a positive future for all the world's people.

The Venus Project calls for a straightforward approach to the redesign of a 
culture, in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt, 
environmental degradation and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only 
as avoidable, but totally unacceptable.

One of the basic premises of The Venus Project is that we work towards having 
all of the Earth's resources as the common heritage of all the world's 
people. Anything less will simply result in a continuation of the same 
catalog of problems inherent in the present system.

Throughout history, change has been slow. Successive groups of incompetent 
leaders have replaced those that preceded them, but the underlying social and 
economic problems remain because the basic value systems have gone unaltered. 
The problems we are faced with today cannot be solved politically or 
financially because they are highly technical in nature. There may not even 
be enough money available to pay for the required changes, but there are more 
than enough resources. This is why The Venus Project advocates the transition 
from a monetary-based society to the eventual realization of a resource-based 
global economy.

We realize to make the transition from our present culture, which is 
politically incompetent, scarcity-oriented and obsolete, to this new, more 
humane society will require a quantum leap in both thought and action.

An Obsolete Monetary System

The money-based system evolved centuries ago. All of the world's economic 
systems - socialism, communism, fascism, and even the vaunted free enterprise 
system - perpetuate social stratification, elitism, nationalism, and racism, 
primarily based on economic disparity. As long as a social system uses money 
or barter, people and nations will seek to maintain the economic competitive 
edge or, if they cannot do so by means of commerce they will by military 
intervention. We still utilize these same outmoded methods.

Our current monetary system is not capable of providing a high standard of 
living for everyone, nor can it ensure the protection of the environment 
because the major motive is profit. Strategies such as downsizing and toxic 
dumping increase the profit margin. With the advent of automation, 
cybernation, artificial intelligence and out sourcing, there will be an 
ever-increasing replacement of people by machines. As a result, fewer people 
will be able to purchase goods and services even though our capability to 
produce an abundance will continue to exist.

Our present, outmoded political and economic systems are unable to apply the 
real benefits of today's innovative technology to achieve the greatest good 
for all people, and to overcome the inequities imposed upon so many. Our 
technology is racing forward yet our social designs have remained relatively 
static. In other words cultural change has not kept pace with technological 
change. We now have the means to produce goods and services in abundance for 
everyone.

Unfortunately, today science and technology have been diverted from achieving 
the greatest good for reasons of self-interest and monetary gain through 
planned obsolescence sometimes referred to as the conscious withdrawal of 
efficiency. For example, the U. S. Department of Agriculture, whose function 
is presumed to be conducting research into ways of achieving higher crop 
yields per acre, actually pays farmers not to produce at full-capacity. The 
monetary system tends to hold back the application of these methods that we 
know would best serve the interests of people and the environment.

In a monetary system purchasing power is not related to our capacity to 
produce goods and services. For example, during a depression, there are 
computers and DVD's on store shelves and automobiles in car lots, but most 
people do not have the purchasing power to buy them. The earth is still the 
same place; it is just the rules of the game that are obsolete and create 
strife, deprivation and unnecessary human suffering.

A monetary system developed years ago as a device to control human behavior in 
an environment with limited resources. Today money is used to regulate the 
economy not for the benefit of the general populace, but for those who 
control the financial wealth of nations.

Resource Based Economy

All social systems, regardless of political philosophy, religious beliefs, or 
social customs, ultimately depend upon natural resources, i.e. clean air and 
water, arable land and the necessary technology and personnel to maintain a 
high standard of living.

Simply stated, a resource-based economy utilizes existing resources rather 
than money and provides an equitable method of distributing these resources 
in the most efficient manner for the entire population. It is a system in 
which all goods and services are available without the use of money, credits, 
barter, or any other form of debt or servitude

.
Earth is abundant with plentiful resources; today our practice of rationing 
resources through monetary methods is irrelevant and counter productive to 
our survival. Modern society has access to highly advanced technologies and 
can make available food, clothing, housing, medical care, a relevant 
educational system, and develop a limitless supply of renewable, 
non-contaminating energy such as geothermal, solar, wind, tidal, etc. It is 
now possible to have everyone enjoy a very high standard of living with all 
of the amenities that a prosperous civilization can provide. This can be 
accomplished through the intelligent and humane application of science and 
technology.

To better understand the meaning of a resource-based economy consider this: if 
all the money in the world were destroyed, as long as topsoil, factories, and 
other resources were left intact, we could build anything we choose to build 
and fulfill any human need. It is not money that people need; rather, it is 
free access to the necessities of life. In a resource-based economy , money 
would be irrelevant. All that would be required are the resources and the 
manufacturing and distribution of the products.

When education and resources are made available to all people without a price 
tag, there would be no limit to the human potential. Although this is 
difficult to imagine, even the wealthiest person today would be far better 
off in a resource based society as proposed by The Venus Project. Today the 
middle classes live better than kings of times past. In a resource based 
economy everyone would live better than the wealthiest of today.

In such a society, the measure of success would be based on the fulfillment of 
one's individual pursuits rather than the acquisition of wealth, property and 
power.

The Choice Is Ours To Make

Human behavior is subject to the same laws as any other natural phenomenon. 
Our customs, behaviors, and values are byproducts of our culture. No one is 
born with greed, prejudice, bigotry, patriotism and hatred; these are all 
learned behavior patterns. If the environment is unaltered, similar behavior 
will reoccur.

Today, much of the technology needed to bring about a global Resource-Based 
Economy exists. If we choose to conform to the limitations of our present 
monetary-based economy, then it is likely that we will continue to live with 
its inevitable results: war, poverty, hunger, deprivation, crime, ignorance, 
stress, fear, and inequity. On the other hand, if we embrace the concept of a 
global resource-based economy , learn more about it, and share our 
understanding with our friends, this will help humanity evolve out of its 
present state.

-- 
                   Marcos Guglielmetti
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