Futurist Jacque Fresco developed The Venus Project which proposes to radically deviate from the current social structure through redesign, and automated cities are part of it. In short, the vision is to create a world without money, politics, and war, where people live free and can pursue what they wish without being hindered by lack of finance. Everyone will be provided the basic necessities of life –
- clean air
- healthy nutritious food
- arable land
- a relevant education
- Open borders with the freedom to live wherever and however you want with the luxury of having whatever you want without the burden of owning anything.
Fresco received money offers to sell his plan, but he didn’t want to let others profit off The Venus Project. However, the ultra rich have what appears to be copycat technology and are essentially creating the automated cities, but geared toward their visions which is concerning. There are multi-billion-dollar cities being built that are supposed to be completely run by machines. Saudi Arabia’s Neom, an estimated $500 billion dollar city, is expected to be controlled by machines with face reading, robot dinosaurs, and more. So it looks like it will be more of a digital tyranny – face scan, controlled knowledge, no independent means of transportation or technology, monitoring and tracking of people, and more entertainment to distract the mind.
Smart cities are being built by the worker bee humans who were encouraged to study computer science and engineering. They tirelessly worked to help the silicone men of Silicon Valley create the tech centered world we live in much like how early European immigrants broke their backs working at factories and mines for the industrialists. Cheap tech workers from India and China helped make the tech billionaire empires what they are today. However, even they are outsourcing to Sri Lanka and Korea for cheap labor.
While Fresco’s intentions may have been pure, his Venus Project is unfolding before our eyes, but not the way he originally intended.
No Jobs, Machines Doing all Labor
Physical labor ain’t fun and no one wants to do it, and billion dollar corporations like Amazon, are striving to replace human employees with robots. In Japan, there are already restaurants fully run by robots. In Dubai, they already have self driving cars delivering coffee. This technology will eventually replace a significant amount of people in the workforce, giving more centralized control to corporations.
No Money
Universal income via electronic money (Bitcoin) is what “they” want to monitor all transactions. With COVID‘s damage on the economy and the robot revolution, many people will be jobless. It will be a world without money but it’s a disguised system of control. And since the population cannot amass great wealth, they won’t pose any threat to the establishment.
No Police, Military, or Prisons
The Venus Project’s future doesn’t have police, and criminals would be given help rather than thrown in jail. Fresco wanted to solve social issues via improving the environment, fulfilling basic needs, and eliminating the incentive for crime by abolishing the monetary economy. However, corrupt bureaucrats are using social engineering to sway the masses into believing and thinking how they want them to. Criminals are getting off easy for theft, drug smuggling, and even murder as seen with illegal immigrant who killed Kate Steinle. Crime is increasing as government can’t afford taking care of prisoners and doesn’t care about its people by releasing them free to weaken their morale.
Living Cities
Robots can 3-D print houses, tools, more machines, and eventually everything else. “Smart Cities” are being built by billionaires for profit, to gain more power and control over the masses. Independent gas powered cars will be replaced with self driving cars thus controlling mobility. If people voluntarily choose to live in these cities, they won’t be able to challenge the owners when they have no money, no ownership, and weapons.
No Ownership
Minimalism has increased where more people are renting rather than purchasing. Ownership of homes, land, and even cars are decreasing in favor of shared accommodations, passiveness, and public transport. So people are owning less, and the rich are owning more.
Cities Built for Billionaires, by Billionaires, and of Billionaires
Smart Cities are coming, and they will probably be advertised as a safe COVID-free bubble nestled away from danger. Those who wish to reside will need to be vaccinated, chipped, and scanned by the city’s artificial intelligence. It’s unlikely they’re going to be for the betterment of mankind, but rather to make ultra rich richer and the poor poorer, weak, and at the mercy of the elites. People need to be aware and not mesmerized by the perks offered, because once they become citizens of these new smart cities, they will be owned by it.
Signing up to live in such a society is akin to signing your life away to the military. The owners of the high tech city will own you, and their machines will be watching your every move.
This is hybrid technocracy, not what Fresco wanted. Watching his presentation will give a clearer understanding of what an ideal situation would look like and its values. The more people get educated, the chances are less that they’ll be seduced by the false promises of living in smart cities.
Times are changing and the system will collapse, so people need to be made aware of alternatives and not fall victim to the false promise of smart cities.
