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  • Roxanne Meadows attended Moore College of Art

  • and graduated from Maryland Institute of Art.

  • For over 36 years she had her own company producing technical illustrations,

  • architectural designs, and model making.

  • She and Jacque are co-founders of The Venus Project.

  • [Applause]

  • So, we are living in a time

  • when science and technology are racing forward.

  • But our social systems are static.

  • We do see people protesting in the streets, against

  • the divide between the wealthy and the poor, racism, war,

  • and sometimes they're able to overthrow

  • the regimes that they're living under.

  • But only to put in another incompetent political government,

  • that work within the monetary system,

  • that cannot ultimately take care of the problems.

  • Jacque at a young age searched-… oh, excuse me!

  • But, what The Venus Project has to offer,

  • is a workable plan for social innovation,

  • using the methods of science and technology,

  • to enable everyone to enjoy the benefits of technology equally.

  • Jacque at an early age searched for such a system,

  • but he was unable to find one.

  • So he took on the job himself.

  • In order to accomplish this, he studied many different disciplines,

  • understanding that science applies to everything,

  • especially behavioral science, and I say that

  • because it’s the most neglected science in our culture,

  • yet, the most important to understand the need for The Venus Project

  • and the direction of The Venus Project.

  • I felt extremely lucky to have met Jacque when I was 27 years old.

  • I attended the lectures that he gave at his home in Coral Gables, Florida.

  • And, the very first lecture that I went to,

  • Jacque in hisFresconian” - his unique Fresconian manner,

  • proceeded to smash everything that I held dear and sacred.

  • You understand that, huh? (laughs)

  • But what was different about him is that he replaced it.

  • He didn’t just complain about society, but he replaced it

  • with a real viable alternative;

  • with a value system that appropriately accompanied it.

  • So many people, when they first are introduced to The Venus Project,

  • they can’t understand why this isn’t implemented NOW.

  • It seems so easy and it would help so many people.

  • I usually sayWell, this is where we are in social evolution.”

  • But where is that exactly?

  • The answer to that is quite complicated.

  • But the most relevant issue is that science

  • has very little relevance

  • to how we operate and organize society

  • and the way we live and think.

  • Science presents us with the best tools we have,

  • to acquire a testable body of knowledge.

  • It gives us a closer approximation to reality,

  • and shows us what works.

  • When we become more self-critical

  • about our ideas, and test them in the real world,

  • we become more scientific,

  • as opposed to wishful thinking and aspirations.

  • The scientific method, just like science itself,

  • is based on what was built before.

  • So, observation, testing and experimentation,

  • took a long time to get to where we are today.

  • And just very briefly, the scientific method is asking a question,

  • doing research in the field, trying to come up with a hypothesis,

  • and then doing controlled experimentation,

  • and reporting the results.

  • Invention is serially developed, over a long period of time.

  • For instance, a German engineer, Otto Lilienthal

  • was very interested, and admired, how birds fly.

  • So, he stuck his arms in large wings and jumped off a hill.

  • He wasn’t the first person to do this,

  • but he was the first successful person to do this.

  • And he flew over 2,500 flights,

  • until the last one, that ended in his death.

  • Others, after that,

  • experimented and added to the ability to fly, little by little.

  • Some found out what didn’t work, which was just as important -

  • they put in the effort.

  • We look at the early experimentation on videos, if youve seen them, of

  • people trying to fly with these contraptions that some people laugh at today.

  • But they didn’t understand that that was the genuine exploration

  • to find out what worked and what didn’t.

  • How else would they know?

  • The Wright brothers worked upon what was done before,

  • as I said is what science does.

  • And they actually used a book from Otto Lilienthal,

  • which he wrote in 1889 about aerodynamics.

  • He- … the Wright brothers based their aircraft

  • on his findings.

  • So the Wright brothers weren’t the father of flight.

  • They weren’t the father of anything,

  • because so many people went before them and died,

  • so they could get off the ground.

  • It’s a long serial progression: invention.

  • By the way ...

  • from the first small engine aircraft, in 1903,

  • to today sending probes to Mars and beyond,

  • all took place practically within Jacque’s lifetime.

  • So, when you think about it, the last hundred years,

  • in the advancements in science and technology,

  • were more than all the years that preceded it.

  • Religious leaders tried to explain the world around them,

  • before a more comprehensive understanding of science

  • and its technology occurred, before a more comprehensive

  • understanding of the scientific method occurred as well.

  • It was a primitive way to try and give meaning to living processes.

  • It proclaimed a set of rules of right and wrong, and good and bad,

  • that we are still inculcated with today.

  • It had these rules or dogma to try and govern human conduct,

  • without even understanding human need,

  • or the effects of environment on human behavior.

  • What they didn’t understand, they attributed to the gods.

  • So, it really is a method of trying to control behavior

  • based on fear, ignorance, and superstition.

  • It is only through the methods of science that will enable us

  • to get out of poverty, hunger, and scarcity.

  • Predictability comes from the use of science.

  • For instance, scientists today can predict when the next

  • total solar eclipse of the sun will occur,

  • where in all the world to stand to see it,

  • how long its duration will be, and exactly what time to view it.

  • Sorry, but soothsayers, metaphysicians,

  • religious prophets, or philosophers

  • cannot come close to the accuracy that science gives us.

  • No questions are out of bounds,

  • no matter how controversial they are.

  • There are no sacred truths in science.

  • Just like there are no bad words.

  • You know, who are these people to tell us,

  • this is a good word, and this is a bad word?

  • This word you can use and this you can’t.

  • It's like a woman driving her car into a repair shop,

  • and the mechanic saysIt’s the differential housing,”

  • orthe ball between the two wheels.”

  • And the woman gets (hah!) all embarrassed and says

  • Don’t talk about that part of the car, put some panties on it!”

  • [Laughter]

  • For every concept thatwe cannot discuss,

  • or every word we cannot utter,

  • determines just how backwards we remain.

  • Without scientific scrutiny and critical thinking,

  • we would have a world of suckers,

  • pacified by the dominant values of the time,

  • to keep things as they are.

  • Clean coal.”

  • Global warming is a hoax.”

  • "Smart" weapons.

  • Therell always be wars and rumors of wars.”

  • We all have free will.”

  • Can’t change human nature.”

  • And the list of misconceptions

  • that help perpetuate old ways of thinking prevail.

  • We don’t put the same critical thinking

  • in examining our social system and our values,

  • as we do say even making a product.

  • But this isn’t to cast blame on the individual,

  • because we can only think with the tools that we are given.

  • We can’t exceed them.

  • What we have to think with,

  • does not come from the inside out, but we totally

  • reflect our surroundings.

  • If we could critically view

  • our movies, TV, Internet, books, magazines,

  • and what they pass off on us as entertainment,

  • we could easily see

  • that what theyre trying to teach our children and ourselves

  • is arrogance, cruelty, racism,

  • bigotry, violence, war,

  • chauvinism, murder, and endless commercialism.

  • And they sure as hell are succeeding, without any concern whatsoever,

  • other than if it makes a profit.

  • Science enables us to electrify our homes,

  • travel from place to place,

  • talk to anybody, anywhere within the world,

  • and even see them at the same time.

  • It even gives us the gift of life itself through the accomplishments of medicine.

  • Yet, it’s also a scapegoat for the plethora of problems that we have today.

  • Because, it is ...

  • misused and abused by people who are conditioned in a sick

  • and primitive culture,

  • where half the scientists in the world

  • work for the military, at least part time,

  • and many others work for industries that pollute,

  • poison, and destroy the environment.

  • These are not scientists.

  • These are prostitutes, or obedient opportunists.

  • [Applause]

  • Things are set up where very few of us understand science and technology.

  • Yet, our future depends on the progression of relevant information,

  • and how we apply it.

  • The less knowledge we have of the real world,

  • the more pseudoscience and superstition and fear

  • creep in to fill the void.

  • And we become easy prey

  • for bigotry, prejudice,

  • fanaticism, and misinformation.

  • This is a volatile mix, for a devastating future.

  • Because technology is excelling exponentially.

  • Who is this ignorance serving anyway?

  • Today, those in positions of advantage

  • seek to perpetuate the system that put them there,

  • often at any cost.

  • And laws are written by large corporations

  • to benefit themselves.

  • And the military is there to protect them both.

  • What would happen in a world without law and order?

  • There would be chaos, there’d be murder.

  • People would be killing each other and stealing from each other -

  • just like it is today!

  • So, something’s needed, but it’s not law and order.

  • Instead, it’s environmental conditions

  • that don’t generate the need for human hostility.

  • Science applied to the social system means that we have to generate,

  • we have to organize, and design an environment,

  • that surpasses the need for poverty, hunger, war,

  • and aberrant behavior.

  • As a way out of our dilemma,

  • The Venus Project proposes using the methods of science,

  • applied to the social system, as a tool to elevate everyone.

  • This can be achieved by a global resource-based economy;

  • a systems approach,

  • where all the interacting variables are working efficiently,

  • as one entire process. It includes, well-...

  • new, well-designed cities that think, working symbiotically,

  • as a living, breathing system.

  • These cities would incorporate clean sources of energy,

  • efficient transportation,

  • automated production and distribution plants,

  • enabling-... freely making available

  • all the goods and services that a highly technological society can produce.

  • Industrial plants would be turning out products that are long lasting,

  • and can be recycled.

  • Resource surveys would be made,

  • in order to find out the parameters that we have to work within.

  • And before any large projects would be taken on,

  • we would be doing a negative and positive study.

  • In other words,

  • we would work within the carrying capacity of Earth’s resources,

  • where all the resources would become the common heritage

  • of all people.

  • This, in turn, along with a new orientation,

  • would enable people to update their values,

  • and change their behavior.

  • When goods and services are made available to everyone,

  • there is no need to steal,

  • when anyone can get whatever they need at the access center.

  • Behaviors such as underselling your competitor

  • to knock them out of business, would become obsolete.

  • What we consider a wise and shrewd business person of today,

  • would be looked upon as vulgar and twisted in a saner society.

  • (Yeah.)

  • People would not be looked upon as prey for a sale.

  • People of the future would be concerned about bettering one another,

  • rather than beating them.

  • In medicine, for instance, people doing surgery

  • would not do it to get a higher salary, or acclaim, or rewards,

  • but because they get their fulfillment out of making people well.

  • We have to build an environment

  • that generates a viewpoint that is

  • cooperative, rather than competitive.

  • The more intelligent we become, the less we want to beat anyone.

  • And whatever is being designed in the culture,

  • goes right back into society, for everyone’s benefit and security.

  • This way people are more amiable towards one another.

  • But they're not more friendly towards one another

  • because were superimposing a moral code, or an ethical code,

  • or teaching them empathy,

  • but because their actions genuinely

  • enhance the standard of living for everyone.

  • We call this "functional" morality.

  • In a saner society,

  • people would probably feel sorry for those

  • who still need ostentatious waste, a bigger home,

  • or a fancier car, or more expensive jewelry.

  • They would understand that these people are so insecure,

  • that they need to impress others in this way,

  • to acquire their own sense of self-worth.

  • But if all the homes and all the amenities were of equal high quality,

  • no one would envy anyone over possessions,

  • when anyone can get whatever anyone else has.

  • If you are envious, say of somebody who can draw better than you,

  • it’s only because somebody got to you,

  • and said "YOU have to be the best.

  • We would be proud of you."

  • But those types of values wouldn’t be used in the future.

  • And shame - if you had shame, it would be-...

  • it IS because somebody convinced YOU

  • that you are not where THEY think you ought to be.

  • These would be obsolete values in the future,

  • because the environment would enable everybody to be comfortable,

  • no matter where they were.

  • In conclusion, science applies to everything.

  • But it’s practically non-existent when it comes to applying it

  • to the way we organize society.

  • The Venus Project applies the methods of science

  • to the way we operate society,

  • to generate constructive and co-operative behaviors.

  • This is the most needed scientific experiment of our times.

  • And it is the most taboo to even consider, or talk about.

  • What we have now is a failed experiment.

  • It does not meet the needs and it does not enrich the lives of everyone.

  • What we ultimately do will depend

  • on if we have a future or not.

  • So we invite you to join us,

  • in what could be the most exciting and rewarding social experiment

  • that we could possibly take on.

  • Thank you.

  • [Applause]

Roxanne Meadows attended Moore College of Art

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