I first heard of the concept of a resource based economy in the film Zeitgeist: Moving Forward, which I will share next. It is a term coined by Jacque Fresco, an American designer, architect, futurist and philosopher, who is founder of the Venus Project, which aims to make the resource based economy a workable reality. It’s described as a holistic socio-economic system in which all goods and services are allocated freely as needed without the use of money, debt, credit, barter or servitude. The earth still has plentiful resources to support us all, the problem is the way those resources are controlled and allocated and the gross inequalities that have arisen.
The resource based economy, as devised by Fresco (although he is by no means the only pioneer in this field) is a high-technology society in which success is determined not by money or power but by the utilisation and fulfilment of one’s individual talents and abilities. What about greed and criminality? Well, those are actually byproducts of our current society which emphasises scarcity and a god-eat-dog culture in which everyone is out for themselves. I’ve written before about how these dysfunctions are not an innate part of human nature — they are a distortion of it, brought about by our profoundly sick society.
Fresco’s proposals include redesigning cities to be energy-efficient, clean and powered by renewable energy with far less waste. There will be greater emphasis on education and teaching children how to relate to each other and the world in a more meaningful way. The entire philosophy behind this system, which is presented in immense detail in the Zeitgeist film, is how aligned it is with the principles of the Tao Te Ching. It’s all about balance, harmony with nature, efficiency and equality. Yes it’s extremely futuristic and may seem very idealistic. Yes, it seems unworkable when you consider just how contrary it is to our current greed-based, money-worshipping culture. But it is a truly inspired idea…and everything begins as an idea.
Fresco’s designs and illustrations alone are worth checking out! For more information, check out The Venus Project website.
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