sjefWed, Oct 29, 2008 To comment on the Venus Project, all I've ever seen of it is that site, the 'Future by Design' documentary and the interview with Jaques Fresco that got turned into the second half of Zeitgeist Addendum. With relation to this specific problem, I think their solution of moving to a 'Resource Based Economy' is slightly too simplistic.
The idea is good in that we should move to a system in which goods are traded by their true worth, but simply swapping goods cannot make up a modern economic system, there needs to be what dimitridb termed a system for the abstraction of wealth.
The next economy should be energy based, as the true cost of any material good can be calculated in terms of the energy required to produce and distribute it. We also have the technology for there to be an abundance of available energy, more than enough to supply all inhabitants of the earth with a base allowance of energy 'credit' (if you will), which should be enough to provide them with the basic human needs for survival and a modest degree of comfort. Any extra credit could then be earned on a basis of merit/supply&demand.
The general idea is easy enough to map out, and for someone versed in economics I'm sure a detailed theory couldn't be too hard either, but I have yet to find anyone actually working on it.
Buckminster Fuller has a bit to say about it (as always), but because of his massive scope also doesn't really go into specifics. (At least not in anything I've read yet.)
So to parallel Megans question in the other thread, anyone have any ideas?
To comment on the Venus Project, all I've ever seen of it is that site, the 'Future by Design' documentary and the interview with Jaques Fresco that got turned into the second half of Zeitgeist Addendum. With relation to this specific problem, I think their solution of moving to a 'Resource Based Economy' is slightly too simplistic.
The idea is good in that we should move to a system in which goods are traded by their true worth, but simply swapping goods cannot make up a modern economic system, there needs to be what dimitridb termed a system for the abstraction of wealth.
The next economy should be energy based, as the true cost of any material good can be calculated in terms of the energy required to produce and distribute it. We also have the technology for there to be an abundance of available energy, more than enough to supply all inhabitants of the earth with a base allowance of energy 'credit' (if you will), which should be enough to provide them with the basic human needs for survival and a modest degree of comfort. Any extra credit could then be earned on a basis of merit/supply&demand.
The general idea is easy enough to map out, and for someone versed in economics I'm sure a detailed theory couldn't be too hard either, but I have yet to find anyone actually working on it.
Buckminster Fuller has a bit to say about it (as always), but because of his massive scope also doesn't really go into specifics. (At least not in anything I've read yet.)
So to parallel Megans question in the other thread, anyone have any ideas?