Skeptic Project

I honestly don't understand Fresco's hatred for woo when so much of his shtick is reliant on things he cannot prove.

From your blog:

"Welcome to the club. Literally hundreds of people gave their blood, sweat and tears, since the 1960’s, to help make Fresco’s dream possible. Once these followers are parted with their money, their services are no longer required, and they are dumped, and he leaves town. Marxism (by any other name)cannot tolerate spiritual beliefs, because you need to break a few eggs to make an Omelette. Just ask Pol Pot or Fidel Castro. Ask Fresco where the money came from to purchase the Venus Property in the first place. And what happened to the investors who never got their money back. Fresco’s favorite line is “The Venus project IS NOT a DEMOCRACY”. It’s his way or the highway. Imagine if he was in a position of power where he could “really” do some damage! It’s great being an avowed Atheist, morality is “relative” regardless of who is hurt in the process. The rules of morality are made up as you go along. That being said, his reading list is still well worth looking at, artistic drawings have their limitations without foundational information."

Now that's interesting to me. Because I am having a very hard time finding any information about Fresco that doesn't read like a public relations press release.

Does no one in the movement ever wonder what the hell this guy has been doing with his life before this Venus Project crap?

What the hell has he been doing for 94 years?

Yes I have inquired about that Matt.

i am waiting for this guy to return with a scoop.

Fresco spoke at the 2012 Tipping Point Conference with a bunch of New Age crackpots, though. Sounds like they just don't want to share! Like the blog said, they have had their heads up their asses for 30 years and think they're the kit and kaboodle. The filmmaker probably realized what a snore and a repetition his movie would be if it just had Jacque yapping.

@anticultist,

Do you have any sort of timeline concerning Fresco's life?

I'd love to know what the hell he's been doing all these years.

Is his renewed popularity nothing more than Merola picking up the phone and calling him? I'd never heard of him before TVP became involved with ZM.

"They want to promote Jacque as one of the "greatest thinkers of our time" or a genius."

But he's a nobody outside of woo circles. I can't find anything remarkable that he has done.

"Fresco was contacted by a film maker to do a doumentary in 2000 ish, this documentary was given to Merola."

Future by Design? I keep meaning to watch it, but I find Fresco's speaking style to be abrasive and confusing. The idea of watching that old fart flap his gums and play with toys for two hours is less than appealing.

"Seems like he may have made a huge mistake, perhaps even bigger than making conspiracy movies if the poster on my blog is correct."

Glad I'm not part of a movement that is lead by an illogical and tyrannical art school drop out.

Yeah I have to say Kurzweil synths are very nice.

this article is utterly false. having seen the whole thing first hand, Earth2 team lacks sufficient understanding of the scope of The Venus Project. The writer, Simon, lacks an even kindergarten understanding. In attempting to stick his own misinformed interpretations into the project he would have done tremendous damage to the direction that The Venus Project is promoting. Jacque rightly exited the situation.

The above was posted by the user: questioningearth2

Fake name made for the blog, but clearly someone connected to the movement somehow. I am not allowing it on my blog for the reason he opens his statement with 'this article is utterly false'.
I could not honestly care for his emotional attachment to the movie or the movement. And the fact he cant see how fucking intolerant it is what Jacque is saying is really sad.
If he wants to support a seperatist and anti religious hate movement then go for it, but I am not letting him justify his inane BS on my blog.

Yeah does a bit but the emails all different, so leads me to think its just the party line being towed. You know yourself from experience how similar they all sound.

Yeah I found that interesting as well that they tore into the fact they profess self sustainability and all that good stuff, but in fact have concrete houses and run off the same power grid everyone else does.

There seems to be no concerted effort in all these years to become self sufficient whatsoever.

The only thing they seem to have achieved is to seclude themselves away from society on their own patch of land.

Kind of like what they want to do with their big city.

In reference to your question, I don’t want to elaborate to the point that it sounds like I want to bash Fresco. Because, in fact, there are many worse people in this world. And, he lives a life of frugalness, having survived the depression. So, those of us who invested in his projects do not have the interest in ever taking him to court, because he has been and always will be a “grandfather” figure to us. That being said, “fool me twice, shame on ME”. He doesn’t solicit money from people to buy fancy cars (as do some religious leaders), almost ALL the money he receives goes back into his art work, and toy models. So, under the circumstances, I gave him a “pass” for his actions, a long time ago, and in fact learned a lot from his various lectures. I learned to think straight, and corrected many of my metaphysical “assumptions” about the universe. But, like many eccentric “creative types”, he has a sort of tunnel vision when it comes to remembering who his friends and supporters are. You’re IN today, OUT tomorrow!

In the 1970s he was having regular membership meetings at his home in Miami. With a weekly group of maybe 10 to 12 followers. Up until then, everything was only on paper, with “nothing” to show the rest of the “non-believing” world. So, the group (called Sociocyberneering at the time) signed an agreement to purchase some land (near Miami where they all lived) and they agreed to make regular monthly payments until the land was paid off. It would take several years to complete the payoff. The group had the vision to “live the dream” in their own little dome community. The community was to be self-sustaining with agriculture and other manufacturing products Fresco had designs for. They even donated funds for some small dome molds, which could be used for acquiring government grants. The group made regular payments, many of them making only minimum wage (most of members were low income, well meaning do-gooders). Whatever it took to make the monthly payments was done, even if it meant skipping a few meals a week. The goal was to show the world “what is possible with futuristic science on your side”.

One day, without discussion, the land that was purchased was sold. A new “legal entity” was created in the middle of nowhere (Venus), so that the investors would not be able to live there and commute to work at the same time. The new entity was called the “Venus Project”. The proceeds from the sold land was “funneled” into this new entity. The original investors in Sociocyberneering would have no “standing” or voting rights in the new entity. There was no other reason to change legal entities except to protect the funds from those who had built up the fund. If the goal was just to locate a nicer neighborhood, the Sociocyberneering entity could have continued to have control and voting rights of the new land. But, not so if you “dissolve” (under the attorney’s advice) the first entity, and create a second entity. Those members who were upset about this surprise move were assured that they were still welcome to “visit” the new entity and new land “anytime” they wanted to. But, they would have NO voting privileges as to how the money would be spent with the new entity. In the beginning, the 2 hour drive from Miami was tolerated, just to “visit” the new property. But, in the end, most of the investors cut their losses, and stopped contributing further, and said goodbye to any money they had deposited. The bottom line is that we are talking about events that happened over 30 years ago. Some of the members of the time are no longer alive. Most have all lost contact with each other. But, it is safe to say, in spite of all the financial disappointment that happened, most if not all the former members would like to see Fresco succeed. BUT, they prefer to admire him from “afar”, in the same way you can watch and enjoy a “Kung Fu” demonstration on stage, without having to jump on stage in the middle of all the “Kung-Pow” and get kicked by a “well meaning” performer. I would recommend anyone who has not heard any of his lectures to do so. He is one of the best of what he does, namely, explaining “systems approach” methodology to those students who never heard of the phrase. And also he helps people understand “TEC” (total enclosure) systems, as found on cruise ships, and applied to small futuristic communities. I’m sorry I have no other specific details about what happened 30 years ago. I am a strong believer that people should “experience him” directly, on their own terms, and determine yourself what he is or “is not” in terms of his personal behavior. I was particularly moved by your “experience” at the beginning of this blog, and how your well meaning words just “bounced off” him. But, to be honest, if I were to meet Einstein in person, I can’t guarantee that he would be any easier to deal with on a “human” level. “Uncommon people” many times cannot relate to us “common people”, and maybe it has always been that way…..

As far as Venus Project is concerned, there is no voting membership that I know of. Just Jacque. That was the main advantage of dissolving Sociocyberneering, no more “votes” to contend with.

In reference to your other point about forgiveness, I must confess that I WAS distressed while it was all happening, and it DID take several years to cool down. The same is true for the other members. It is “not” his goal to bite the hand that feeds him, it just happens with him “naturally” out of habit. He is focused on the goal, and not the intricacies of “give and take” which is all a part of working with a team. He works best when he is alone, period. He just wants someone to hand him a billion dollars and “shut up”, and not ask any questions. Consequently, none of the multiple millionaires who were introduced to him in the past, by some of his supporters, were interested or enticed to “buy in” to an “offer/relationship” like that. It’s almost funny that he seems “surprised” that no one in a position of responsibility wants to just “dump” a bag of money on his lap, with no questions asked. We try to explain to him that this only happens in the movies, but he is never amused by this observation.

7 companies he has been involved with, all different directors, but Jacque and Roxanne have always been on the boards. In most instances these businesses that no longer exist have been managed and located from venus projects land. This seems to me like some very suspect behaviour, particularly when you consider the post this person has made to the blog.

And of course Fresco and Merola have allowed people to call them Dr and not attempted to correct them, not too dissimilar to Pellegrino.

@Matt - I found Future by Design on Google Video if you're still interested:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=928740787902773398&ei=ZGxISpHXL4PAwgPIoMDBAg&q=jacque+fresco

In this video he goes into some of the stuff that he's done in the past and the functionality behind his inventions. He apparently worked in the airline industry (the company that is currently known as Northrup Grumman).

One thing that I wonder is that in the beginning (and throughout) Future by design they discuss his numerous patents. It shouldn't be too hard to search patent databases for anything submitted by Fresco.