The key ideas

Designing the Future

Jacque Fresco, 2007

Imagine being asked to redesign civilization, with one condition: enough resources for everyone. Jacque Fresco proposes treating war, poverty, and accidents as design failures rather than fate. A short Venus Project manifesto about a moneyless world, sensor-managed cities, and why his ideas remain controversial.

Who it is for

For anyone debating society’s future, interested in technology and cities, or simply wanting to test whether the world’s familiar arrangements really are inevitable.

The future does not happen by itself. Apart from natural events such as earthquakes, it is created through human effort.

What the book is about

Imagine being asked to redesign all earthly civilization. No restrictions based on “that’s how it’s done.” The aim: a world without war, hunger, or poverty, better for every inhabitant for as long as possible. One condition is planetary carrying capacity: resources must suffice for everyone.

Now the question the author takes seriously from the start. Would you want a larger house and a more luxurious car? On what grounds could you decide you deserve them while others do not?

This opens Designing the Future by Venus Project founder Jacque Fresco. A short 2007 text, it is a manifesto and learning assignment rather than a scientific monograph. Fresco proposes looking at society as an engineer examines a failed design. What follows is his logic, vivid images, and serious objections.

Idea 1. Who is to blame for an accident?

Two cars collide at an intersection. Should we blame drivers, fate, or traffic design if it permits such collisions at all?

Fresco compares roads with elevators. Elevators carry millions daily, yet two colliding is almost unimaginable. He believes this is about design rather than elevator passengers being more careful than drivers.

His image is stronger than reality: elevators fail too, and absolutely safe systems do not exist. But the question works: before seeking blame, ask what in the system made the mistake possible.

Office workers repeatedly confuse two similarly named folders. You can reprimand them each time or rename the folders.

When different people repeat the same mistake, the cause may lie in the situation’s design as well as the people.

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About the author

Jacque Fresco (1916–2017) was an American industrial designer and futurist. With Roxanne Meadows, he founded the Venus Project, a Florida nonprofit promoting a resource-based economy.

All books by this author: Jacque Fresco

Terms from the book

  • Resource-based economy
  • General semantics
  • Economic calculation problem
  • Planetary carrying capacity: The limit on how many people and how much consumption Earth can sustain without exhausting resources. Fresco makes it the main condition of any social design.
  • Scientific method: Gaining knowledge through testing: hypotheses are examined experimentally and results replicated by others. Fresco proposes applying it to society’s organization.

All terms

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