Robert Sapolsky challenges the claim that humans have free will.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RI3JCq9-bbM

Why does The Venus Project use money despite criticizing money?

As with all ideals and as with any engineering project, the challenge is bridging the present state, consisting of problems, dysfunctions, and sub-optimality, to the future state that is designed to function more optimally. It is a fact of this world that the monetary system prevails over all nations, accompanied by a set of perennial tradeoffs, some of which are deleterious to health and life of people and nature. Coping in the present consists of tactics to mitigate these deleterious effects. The Venus Project advocates a value system that uses money as a tool to fund research and innovation to design alternative systems to overcome the need for a monetary system and the market system that it serves. To further mitigate the challenges posed by money and the profit motive, The Venus Project executes its work as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization, which currently represents the most likely type of institution to facilitate this work. To engineer a new world, we must use the tools of today to build the tools of tomorrow.

Read more FAQs: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/faq/

From our recommended reading list: "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" by Thomas Kuhn

This seminal work in the philosophy and sociology of science argues that scientific progress isn't a linear accumulation of knowledge, but rather a series of revolutions where one dominant paradigm (a set of beliefs, assumptions, and practices that underlie a methodological approach) is replaced or subsumed by a new one. These revolutions are triggered by the accumulation of anomalies and results that the prevailing theories are unable to explain or predict.

See more from our recommended book list: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/recommended-books-films-and-videos/

Paradigm shifts in science explained.

https://youtu.be/tJD5RMpIw18?si=0Zuk-ijwm6f7nXsx

Does The Venus Project plan to use cryptocurrency?

Cryptocurrency has earned a tarnished reputation due to a long list of abuses, including scams, pyramid schemes, and volatility. Some have suggested that cryptocurrency may represent a stepping stone away from a monetary system. While the blockchain (the technology that underlies cryptocurrency) may offer some technology to execute transactions more transparently and efficiently, its current deployment in a market system nonetheless suffers from many of the same human dysfunction that plague the monetary system. If The Venus Project were to ever employ cryptocurrency, it would require a thorough analysis of tradeoffs and a very clear use-case. Presently, The Venus Project has no plans to use cryptocurrency.

Read more FAQs: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/faq/

From our recommended reading list: "Consilience: The Unity of Knowledge" by E. O. Wilson

This influential book argues that all branches of knowledge are fundamentally interconnected and can be explained by a small number of natural laws. It suggests that science, with its method of organized thought, can be applied to enhance understanding in all fields, including the humanities and social sciences. The core concept is that the world is an orderly and explainable whole, driven by a common set of underlying principles.

See more from our recommended book list: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/recommended-books-films-and-videos/

In this full lecture, Edward O. Wilson presents a vision of integrating the sciences and the humanities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3jFl9wtDQE

What is The Venus Project's relationship with startup cities or micro cities?

The concept of a 'startup city' or 'microcity' has emerged in recent years in the tradition of startup culture for technology but scaled to human settlements. This is a natural progression of human knowledge and technology. The concept itself has much affinity with how The Venus Project has imagined implementing experimental prototypes to test its hypotheses about economics and governance in the real world. However, many proposals for such startup cities are conceived to serve priorities of a for-profit market system and although these will be new environments at smaller scales, they continue the danger of perpetuating the same social and environmental problems. What will make the difference is the values and beliefs that determine the design of such cities. The Venus Project follows from a value system and body of evidence that informs its priorities and design methodology. We believe this will make the difference.

Read more FAQs: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/faq/

From our recommended reading list: "Chaos: Making a New Science" by James Gleick

This book delves into how seemingly random, unpredictable systems in nature can exhibit underlying order and patterns. It highlights key figures like Edward Lorenz, Mitchell Feigenbaum, and Benoit Mandelbrot, and their contributions to understanding chaos, including the butterfly effect, fractal geometry, and the concept of strange attractors. The book argues that chaos is not simply random behavior, but a complex and fascinating natural phenomenon with implications across various scientific disciplines.

See more from our recommended book list: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/recommended-books-films-and-videos/

James Gleick on chaos theory.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3orIIcKD8p4

Veritasium explains Chaos Theory.

https://youtu.be/fDek6cYijxI?si=2VLtGPSdvGn7KTkT

What is The Venus Project's relationship to ecovillages?

Countless ecovillages have been proposed and built by a wide range of well-intending groups since the 1960s at the dawn of the environmental movement. While these projects are relatively innocent in their intentions, they often lack longevity or effectiveness beyond a very narrow scope and often exist in a simplicity incapable of the sophistication required for a technologically advanced civilization. The Venus Project has maintained a view that systems of broader scope, scale, and complexity will be required to tip the balance of human behavior and humanity's practices toward a globally sustainable outcome. While ecovillages may represent small scale stepping stones that introduce some local improvements, we believe that much more is required.

Read more FAQs: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/faq/

From our recommended reading list: "Reinventing the Sacred: A New View of Science, Reason, and Religion" by Stuart Kauffman

In the tradition of E. O. Wilson, Stuart Kauffman calls for the integration of science and the humanities to resanctify the natural world and exceed politics. Facts and values need not exist worlds apart.

See more from our recommended book list: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/recommended-books-films-and-videos/

Stuart Kauffman wants to reinvent the sacred through science.

https://youtu.be/Y9xknxWCs_4

What is The Venus Project's relationship with bioregionalism?

Bioregionalism is consistent with The Venus Project's fundamental principle of harmonizing with natural law. The scientific concept of a 'bioregion' follows from a body of evidence arising out of ecology and geophysics. Through this concept, we can identify non-arbitrary (natural) boundaries in an environment and within those boundaries calibrate relationships accordingly. Many are aware of the concept of 'carrying capacity' as it pertains to Earth. Through the analysis of natural boundaries of a bioregion, we can determine the carrying capacity of a select region of Earth and design systems to coincide with that environment's gifts and limits. In essence, instead of decisions following from whims or opinion or priorities of markets, industry, or governments, design decisions follow from a survey of the biogregion's supplies and constraints and internal cycles and interdependencies. The consequence is an ecological geography rather than the political geographies of nations. Natural boundaries over national boundaries.

Read more FAQs: https://www.thevenusproject.com/learn/faq/

Introduction to bioregions.

https://youtu.be/MZoGChndcRw