R.I.P. Jacque Fresco – The Mind Behind The Venus Project
B.J. Murphy
“If you think we can’t change the world, it just means you’re not one of those who will.”
– Jacque Fresco
In the early morning of May 18, Jacque Fresco – the visionary futurist behind The Venus Project – had passed away at the age of 101 after years of battling Parkinson’s. Although the U.S. Transhumanist Party and Mr. Fresco had somewhat differing views on how to incorporate a future transformed by advanced science and technology, his passing is a true loss for the movement as a whole.
Mr. Fresco had envisioned a future where poverty was eliminated, war was no longer heard of, religion no longer shackled the mind, and the monetary system no longer had a grip over our socio-economic foundation. Instead, this future society would be solely based on the collective management of resources with the help of automation, robotics, and artificial intelligence – what he called a “Resource-Based Economy” (RBE). This vision would later be known as The Venus Project, whereby a Research Center was constructed in Venus, Florida to serve as a case-by-example in accordance to that vision.
We should consider ourselves extremely grateful that Mr. Fresco dedicated so much time, money, and effort on this vision of his. Not only did he help build a global community devoted to the materialization of his vision, but he had also inspired countless numbers of people within the Transhumanist movement to begin thinking about how to build a better and more peaceful future.
Jacque Fresco was a pioneer, one of the last great futurists of the 20th century. To the Transhumanist movement, Mr. Fresco was a giant, as we all equally stand on his shoulders. He may have passed away, but his vision for the future will always live on.
Rest in peace, our friend. You will truly be missed by millions.
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B.J. Murphy is the Director of Social Media of the U.S. Transhumanist Party.
4 thoughts on “R.I.P. Jacque Fresco – The Mind Behind The Venus Project”
Bye, great Jaques Fresco.
Although Jacque Fresco lived longer than most humans today, his death was, unfortunately, a reminder that the visionaries who try to conceive of a better future are still tragically subject to the same perils – death and disease – that ravage our present. It is a shame that Jacque Fresco will not see the unfolding of a future of technological abundance similar in some key ways (though likely not identical) to the one he envisioned – but it is imperative that we strive toward implementing such a future, taking into consideration the ideas of those who came before us and seeing which of them could be adapted (with modifications as we learn from experience and pragmatically pursue the best path forward in a given set of circumstances) in order to achieve beneficial results. Thank you, B.J. Murphy, for this tribute to Mr. Fresco. May we continue to learn from his work and thought.
Sincerely,
Gennady Stolyarov II,
Chairman, United States Transhumanist Party
very sad news
however like jaque said my sadness is just a feeling of depression from my self image placed in his work and the dependency from the feeling happiness that it gave.
jaque may not have seen his vision come to fruition but he definitely saw large amounts of the human self destruction which he described as a result of the monetary system.
it was through jaque that i learned of s.i hiyakawa, stuart chase and alfred korzybski this alone has added so much value to my life no “words” can describe it.
jaque alone has impacted my life so greatly i hate to “think” how trapped my mind would still be in world of gobbledygook and meaningless words
goodbye jaque
Fresco and his ideas and his experiences helped shape my way of thinking today.
A true visionary whose ideas are one of the best things the human family could ever inherit.
Now let’s strive towards implementing them and change the right people and make them understand the benefits of a Resource Based Economy.