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posted by cmn32480 on Tuesday December 26 2017, @05:49AM   Printer-friendly
from the ideas-merit-discussion dept.

Submitted via IRC for AndyTheAbsurd

Jacque Fresco spent decades building a life-sized model of his ideal city. The central idea? If we want the Western world to overcome war, avarice, and poverty, all we need to do is redesign the culture.

[...] This civilization would be created through "sociocyberneering," a radical form of social engineering where automation and technology would bring about "a way of life worthy of man." 171391-02-223

Throughout the interview, Fresco brandished full-color sketches of the future: white domes perched on the surface of the ocean and arranged in concentric circles so as to resemble the structure of an atom. Serving as the city's nucleus was a central computer, which would monitor the ecology of the region—measuring crop yields in farmland, controlling irrigation, and overseeing hydroelectric power grids. Expanding outward were civic centers, museums, and universities, all of which would operate like public libraries in that any cultural artifact would be available for temporary loan. The next largest ring of the city consisted of a residential area, where denizens would dwell amid opulent gardens and manicured parks, in built-to-suit developments. These elliptical abodes would contain every amenity imaginable (at one point, Fresco predicts the invention of entertainment software that sounds breathtakingly similar to Netflix). The city's enclosure—the crust of the circle—would house a massive recycling center to which all trash would be ferried via underground conveyor belts. Once there, automated machines would sort the refuse for proper salvaging.

Fresco was gruff and humorless throughout the interview, wholly immune to King's attempts at playful banter. At one point, he pronounced, "Sociocyberneering is an organization that is probably the boldest organization ever conceived of, and we're undertaking the most ambitious project in the history of mankind."

Source: https://psmag.com/magazine/waiting-for-fresco-social-engineering-technology


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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @04:34PM (4 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday December 26 2017, @04:34PM (#614343)

    A lot of the problems being solved are things human beings are perfectly capable of. The current "problem" is allowing unlimited amounts of wealth to be sequestered in VERY small pockets of humanity. Fix that and humanity is pretty good at making successful communities.

    Oh, it just occurred to me, we DO live in an engineered society. Corporations have ad-hoc engineered the shit out of society, and it is horrifying. Los Angeles had excellent public transit, it is now a hell hole of traffic THANKS FORD/GM! Many communities wanted to improve their internet options, but corporate lobbying ruined that. We should never have grown so much corn / dairy but corporate lobbying purchased government handouts. Car companies wanted to sell vehicles with bad mileage (great for gas consumption) so we got massive tax breaks on SUVs cause they're "trucks" and tax breaks would help "real businesses create jobs!" lawl. Hmmm, what other examples pop into mind? NESTLE! Those fuckers have been ruining water rights around the world! Third world countries are turned into polluted shitholes because the local "governments" are so easily bought off with a little cash. City planning flew out the window, real estate is too valuable to waste on a money sucking project like a park!!

    /wall_o_text

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  • (Score: 2) by meustrus on Wednesday December 27 2017, @01:09AM (2 children)

    by meustrus (4961) on Wednesday December 27 2017, @01:09AM (#614529)

    Car companies wanted to sell vehicles with bad mileage (great for gas consumption)

    No, that one is because big vehicles sell for 2x as much as small ones, but are only marginally more expensive to produce. Trucks and SUVs therefore are more profitable. All the expensive stuff is in the drivetrain, the interior, the regulatory gear...basically all the stuff that is either exactly the same or scaled up for only higher material costs.

    --
    If there isn't at least one reference or primary source, it's not +1 Informative. Maybe the underused +1 Interesting?
    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 27 2017, @12:14PM (1 child)

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 27 2017, @12:14PM (#614700) Journal
      Big vehicles can carry a lot more high profit options than small ones. Your Prius isn't going to be able to run the same level of gear that your monster SUV is, and still retain the fuel economy advantages that are its selling points. So heated seats, power-everything, power sucking huge entertainment/sound systems, etc just aren't as viable.
      • (Score: 2) by VLM on Thursday December 28 2017, @07:15PM

        by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Thursday December 28 2017, @07:15PM (#615216)

        Your Prius isn't going to be able to run the same level of gear

        You might be surprised at my wife's Prius, then. It didn't have heated seats, or a sunroof, but certainly had everything else. Per Google, those two are options.

        I wonder if you can still buy a car in the USA with manual non-power brakes and steering, or crank handle windows. That wasn't an option for my cheap little commuter Yaris.

        I seem to remember my dad having a commuter hatchback non-power steering Plymouth Horizon (aka Dodge Omni) in the early 80s. Everything is power everything today, much like its not easy to buy a new car with a carburetor or a front mounted starting crank.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday December 27 2017, @12:25PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday December 27 2017, @12:25PM (#614705) Journal

    Los Angeles had excellent public transit, it is now a hell hole of traffic THANKS FORD/GM!

    The replacement road system was superior to the public transit systems of the time. It wasn't FORD/GM, it was economics. And let's not forget population. LA county [laalmanac.com] went from 4 million people in 1950 to 10 million people today. Much has changed since the days of the dying mass transit systems. Road transportation has run hard into traffic load problems that weren't as big in the past.