The Venus Project

[Nicholas]

Here is some info on TVP taken from the FAQ's on their website. I have bolded the parts that I feel to be the most notable.

Question 14: How do we get from here to there?

Answer: The Venus Project is in the process of introducing a set of values and procedures that may enable us to achieve social nucleation. Our project will provide the designs and blueprints for a prototype community to test the validity of our proposals; we will strive to achieve a relevant orientation by which people may adapt intellectually and emotionally to our new technological age. We feel that anything short of overall social design would be inappropriate and ineffective.
Since we begin in a monetary-based society, the means for raising funds to construct this experimental community can be accomplished in several different ways. One is through the production of a major motion picture depicting the advantages of this new social system for all of the world's people. Another possibility is the building of a theme park where visitors would actually experience some of the many benefits of The Venus Project's proposals. Books, videos, blueprints, models, a movie script, and the 21-acre research and development center have already been completed.
Any funds raised by these proposed projects, along with contributions, publications, videos, seminars, lectures, and grants, will be used to help initiate and construct the first experimental city.
Our proposals are submitted to the general public and to all educational institutions. We invite your participation. If enough people find the proposals acceptable and join with us in this new advocacy, we could form the nucleus of an organization to more forcefully implement the aims of The Venus Project.
During the great depression of 1929 when banks failed and people were laid off, things seemed hopeless. Those conditions brought about new organizations to address the many problems--everything from Mankind United, Socialism, Communism, Technocracy, and The World Federalist. They produced social awareness on a large scale. These conditions are sometimes referred to as bio-social pressures or the march of events.
At present, people are not well enough informed to devise a relevant and workable social system through rational methods. The Venus Project will not be installed by today's political leaders who are not appointed to change things but to keep things as they are. It is only through the failure of existing social institutions and political incompetence that people will seek other possible social alternatives. They are mainly motivated by severe conditions that threaten their safety and existence.
No nation today is about to give up its sovereignty for a social arrangement that has never been tried. Therefore it will take a social breakdown to stimulate the search for alternative social designs. This has been the case throughout human history.
The Breakdown
The Venus Project can not be put into practice on a global scale until the economic systems of the world fail to provide for the needs of people.
What will bring about the collapse of the world's monetary systems is the infusion of automation and the outsourcing of jobs. This includes not only assembly line workers but also doctors, engineers, architects, and the like. As workers and professionals lose their purchasing power, the industries that depend on them can no longer function. This will bring an end to the monetary system. It is not a question of owners giving up their industries so much as the fact that people will not have the purchasing power to sustain this system. Even the motion picture industry is generating computerized people who will replace many TV announcers and personalities. This breakdown is already well underway on a global scale.
While these drastic conditions will help produce the motivation for social change, no individual or organization has laid out what changes are necessary and how to bring them about. Our current system is not working. Unless people are aware of, or knowledgeable about what is needed, they will continue to repeat the same mistakes--war, recession, boom and bust, hunger, poverty, and much unnecessary human suffering.
The aims of The Venus Project cannot be achieved until people become aware of its proposals and aims. To introduce to the world this new social direction, the best vehicle is a major motion picture. It will present simply and understandably the advantages to all nations of participating in a resource-based economy. This film will be both entertaining and educational. It would present the limitless possibilities of an evolving society which surpasses politics, poverty, money, and war.
A major film could reach the largest number of people the world over in the shortest possible time. We feel it is necessary to produce this motion picture in advance of the social breakdown to help prepare people for this transition and present them with a direction to work toward. There is a lot of work to be done. We hope enough people will become aware of the proposals of The Venus Project before social collapse, so that this new social design may be implemented.
Therefore, our main objective is education through the media. If enough people learn about this direction, accept these proposals, and wish to organize to bring it about, we will then work toward the building of a first experimental city. The Venus Project has designs and blueprints for a prototype community.
To further clarify:
Experimental City
The Venus Project proposes the building of a new experimental city whose purpose is two-fold:
(1) To test the workability of The Venus Project's designs and proposals, and to provide the information necessary to enable people to adjust intellectually and emotionally to social transition.
(2) To establish a permanent planning center that will be used for future long and short-term planning of global projects to help implement a resource-based economy and overcome scarcity, hunger, poverty, and other social ills.
This would not be a private enterprise venture for a select few but would be an open city for the public to visit. The proposed circular configuration of these new cities is not just stylized architectural conceptualizations; they are the result of years of research into providing an environment that can best serve the needs of the inhabitants and yet conserve resources. Without extensive knowledge of the symbiotic relationship between humanity and its environment, it would be extremely difficult to develop workable solutions to our many problems. The Venus Project has taken this and many other factors into careful consideration.
The decisions of a transitional government in this environment would be based upon what is needed to reach the goals of a humane, environmentally sound, and technically sustainable society.
Like all other innovative social projects, it starts out with a few devoted people who dedicate their time to informing others about the humane benefits of this new direction. People are invited to help in whatever capacity they can during the initial phases of the new experimental city. An interdisciplinary team of systems engineers, computer programmers, architects, city planners, sociologists, educators, etc would also be needed.
The design of The Venus Project does not regard environmental conditions as fixed or static. We must allow for adaptation within the system as a continuous process. This will avoid perpetuating temporary arrangements beyond their period of usefulness.
This circular design could be the prototype for a series of new cities to be constructed in various places throughout the world. The rate of progression will depend upon the availability of funds raised and how many people identify with, participate in, and support this direction.
As these new communities develop and become more widely accepted, they may very well form the basis of a new society, preferably through the process of evolution rather than revolution.
The Venus Project does not advocate dissolving the existing free-enterprise system--we believe it will come to an end of its own accord as a part of social evolution. We encourage you to become better informed about the proposals of this project through our books and videos, and invite you to join with us in working toward the realization of a new civilization that could provide a better life for everyone.
In Conclusion
Many people want to know what to do immediately to help bring about global unification. If you identify with the proposals of The Venus Project, you can help bring it about by learning more about us through our books and DVD's. You can help promote this direction in any way you are able. Speaking to others about these ideas, fund raising, grant writing, helping with publicity, promoting lecture tours, or helping to produce promotional materials will all help. If you are in a position to initiate the motion picture this would be very important. There is a lot to do and we need the help of many people in bringing these ideas to the public.
Our findings and design proposals will be submitted to the general public and all educational institutions. If enough people find the proposals acceptable and choose to join with us in this new advocacy, they will help form the nucleus of an organization to carry out our aims.
The future is our responsibility; if we fail to accept this responsibility, others will do our thinking for us.

Here is a Ra quote that shows just how central the monetary system is to our long standing social ills.

23.15 Questioner: I was really questioning more about the more basic cause of the disease rather than the mechanism of its transmission. I was going back to the root or thought which created the possibility of this disease. Could you shortly tell me if I am correct in assuming that the general reduction of thought over the long time on planet Earth with respect to an understanding of the Law of One created a condition in which this— what we call disease could develop? Is this correct?

Ra: I am Ra. This is correct and perceptive. You, as questioner, begin now to penetrate the outer teachings.

The root cause in this particular society was not so much a bellicose action although there were, shall we say, tendencies, but rather the formation of a money system and a very active trading and development of those tendencies towards greed and power; thus, the enslaving of entitiesby other entities and the misapprehension of the Creator within each entity.

It's an incredibly well thought out alternative system and the FAQ's offer some comprehensive info regarding the vision and attitude of Jacque Fresco and TVP.