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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) 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.