Democracy isn’t dead...it’s sleeping Democracy understood through it greek etymology is the power (kratos) of the people (demos). In its origin an Aristocracy, or the rule of the elite, was in complete opposition to the definition of a democracy. Through the centuries the lines between these two political philosphies has blurred. I maintain with the ideals of Rousseau and Althusius, that men can come together to move towards a common good to put legislation into effect that benefits all. With the advancements in worldwide social networks and online education we could put a model into place that gives every citizen and equal oppurtunity to have an immediate effect in their world. We could empower every citizen to be truly knowledgable about particular issues, to question everything and to find their own opinion for political discourse. We need to trust ourselves to make the decisions that effect us all, not a representative that gets paid millions of dollars to put laws into effect that benefit only a select few.

“None are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely belive that they are free.”- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

JACQUE FRESCOThe man who started it all

“I was asked once, ‘your a smart man,why arnt you rich?’ I replied 'your a rich man, why aren’t you smart?”

“Democracy is a con game. It̓s a word invented to placate people to make them accept a given institution. All institutions sing, W̒e are free.̓ The minute you hear ̒freedom̓ and ̒democracy̓, watch out… because in a truly free nation, no one has to tell you you̓re free.TToday we have access to highly advanced technologies. But our social and economic system has not kept up with our technological capabilities that could easily create a world of abundance, free of servitude and debt. What is needed is the intelligent management of Earth's resources. If we really wish to put an end to our ongoing international and social problems, we must eventually declare Earth and all of its resources as the common heritage of all the world's people.Earth is abundant with plentiful resources. Our practice of rationing resources through monetary control is no longer relevant and is counter-productive to our survival.It It takes a different value system if you wish to change the world.”

What if everything was free?AN INTRO TO RESOURCE BASED ECONOMIES

Through digital media and an informative booklet I explore sociopolitical and cultural issues dealing with the disparity between classes and the plutocratic government, government controlled by the wealthy, that is prominent in the modern economic model. Through well designed succinct infographics, I aim to show the decline of democracy byby focusing on the individual, showing their inferiority from the eyes of the wealthy, and pushing them to understand the true power of the many. Each page of the book is aimed at one facet of the umbrella of “resource based economies” showing the negatives of neoliberal capitalism, the possibilities of technical abundance, and the path to a na new cultural hegemony.

James Harr

“My country is the world and my religion is to do good”

- Thomas Paine

What’s a Resource Based EconomyThrough developments in technology and modern understanding of systems engineering, the human species could create a societal model where money, scarcity and unskilled labor are eliminated.

”If the thought of eliminating mon”If the thought of eliminating money troubles you, consider this: If a group of people with gold, diamonds and money were stranded on an island that had no resources such as food, clean air and water, their wealth would be irrelevant to their survival. It is only when resources are scarce that money can be used to con-trol their distribution. One could not, for example, sell the air we breathe or water abundantly flowing down from a mountain stream. Although air and water are valuable, in abundance they cannot be sold.Money is only important in a society when certain resources for survival must be rationed and the people accept money as an exchange medium for the scarce resources. Money is a social convention, an agreement if you will. It is neither a natural resource nor does it represent one. It is not necessary for survival unless we have been conditioned to accept it as such.” - Jacque Fresco

important events that led to capitalistic & cultural hegemonyThe Industrial Revolution - (1760 -1830) The transition included people moving from countryside to larger cities, going from hand production to the use of machines, increased use of steam power and going from wood and other bio-fuels to the use of coal. For the first time in recent history the living standard of the masses of ordinary people began expe-rienced a sustainable growth.The classical economic school was largely influenced by the industrial revolution and thus influenced economics.

The Great Depression - (1929 - 1940)It It was the longest, most widespread, and deepest depression of the 20th century. The depression originated in the U.S., after the fall in stock prices that began around Sep-tember 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (Black Tuesday). The Great Depression had devastating effects in countries rich and poor. Personal income, tax revenue, profits and prices dropped, while interna-tional trade plunged by more than 50%. Unemployment in the U.S. rose to 25%, and in some countries rose as high as 33%.

McCarthyism - (1947–1954)The The term has its origins in the period in the United States known as the Second Red Scare, lasting roughly from 1950 to 1956 and characterized by heightened political repression against communists, as well as a fear campaign spreading paranoia of their influence on American institutions and espionage by Soviet agents. Originally coined to criticize the anti-communist pursuits of Republican U.S. Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, "McCarthyism" soon took on a broader meaning, describing the excesses of similar efforts.

The Cold War - {1947–1991)A suA sustained state of political and military tension be-tween powers in the Western Bloc and powers in the Eastern Bloc. There was no large-scale fighting direct-ly between the two sides, although there were major regional wars in Asia. The Cold War left the USSR and the US as two superpowers with profound economic and political differences over capitalism and democracy.

The Neolithic Revolution - (10,000 BCE)Sometimes called the Agricultural Revolution, was the world's first historically verifiable revolution in agriculture. It was the wide-scale transition of many human cultures from a lifestyle of hunting and gathering to one of agriculture and settlement which supported an increasingly large population.

* * Not Economic Modernity but extremely important in understanding when we first developed ideas of personal property and inequality.

COMMUNISM CAPITALISM SOCIALISM FASCISM BARTER

MONETARYISM

Despite what you have been taught about the differences between these economic models, they are inherently and fundamentally the same. Each practice contains two primordial elements that are absent in a Resource-Based model. You could collectively group all these economic plans under the umbrella of “Monetaryism” because regardless of how they detail government̓s ability to in-tervene in commerce, they are all built upon the foundation of a labor force and a monetary system. An RBE is unique because it relies on neither, letting machines assume the role of workforce and increasing the abundance of natural neccessities to the point where money would be unneccessary.

3d / Contour crafting

The potential in 3D printing has not been fully realized yet, as the technology is relatively new. Regardless of it̓s novelty, the technology is already applicable to provide solutions to a lack of global access to adequate shelter that influences poverty, disease, illiteracy, crime and overpopulation. Behrokh Khoshnevis, director of the Manufacturing Engineering Graduate Program at the University of Southern California, created a large scale contour crafting machine that can print a 2500 Square-Foot house in 20 hours with full plumbing and electrical systems. These houses have walls that are sturdier than traditional wallswalls using 25 - 30% less material. Theoretically this system could be used to create homes in post-disaster areas to build emergency housing very quickly without human interaction freeing the individuals to focus on the rehabilitation of their community. This machine can print curves and complex geometrical forms, so one need not fear the dreaded homogenous track home dilemma.

future trains& transportation

The real answer lies in trains, which using current technology and engineering capability, could reach speeds in excess of 4000 mph while still being carbon neutral. There are two spaces that experience friction, the inhibitor to exponential increase in momentum, which are the points where the train meets the rails and where wind meets the train. Utilizing maglev technology, which elevates the train a few inches from the track and by placing the train inin an airless vacuum you eliminate both and provide an extremely fast, efficient and potentially fully automated mode of transportation. This combined with new advances in electric vehicles could eliminate the need for crude oil now.

The future of long distance travel is not in the skies. The answer lies not in airplanes which produce the same warming effect in one flight from SF to NY produces 2-3 Tons of CO2, per person, or 15% of the average Americans annual carbon emmissions. Five flights a year equate to 75% of the annual emissions of the average American.

TECHNOLOGY & AUTOMATION

UNLIMITED free FOOD PEEL&STICK SOLAR CELLSAdvancement is photovoltaic cells (Solar Cells) could revolutionize how we power the electronics we use on a daily basis. Peel and stick solar cells could be used on almost any surface to capture the suns energy for any need. Also eventually the developments in clear solar cells could be used on the vast amount of window space to capture as much of the sun̓s potential energy as theoretically possible.

automation & ManufacturingMost fear that robotics and automation eliminate jobs, which through societal constructs are necessities for survival, but in a RBE automation frees humans from monotonous tasks thus aloowing us to focus on truly innovative and creative endeavors. We can automate up to 60% of the workforce. Automation has been achieved by various means including mechanical, hydraulic, pneumatic, electrical, electronic and computers, usually in combination. Complicated systems, such as modern factories, airplanes and ships typically use all these combined techniques.TheThe biggest benefit of automation is that it saves labor, however, it is also used to save energy and materials and to improve quality, accuracy and precision in manufacturing.

“Current 3D printers in the consumer market are limited. They're limited by both print resolution (as in, how precisely they can print), and by material—consumer printers do well with plastics, but anything beyond that is still shaky territory.These limitations mean that for the time being, consumer printers are an interesting novelty, but don't offer enough solid utility and convenience for widespread market adoption. However, these are technical barriers, and if we humans are good at anything it's solving technical challenges when there's money and convenience on the line. In the grand scheme, it didn't take that long to go from Nokia bar phones to the iPhone 5s.So the So the great promise here, and indeed one of the greatest promises of 3D printing in general is the open-sourcing of—well—everything.”

- Justin Slick ____

Douglass Malette, a former systems engineer for NASA, created a plan for fully automated self-sustaining farming units that, without any human interaction could produce organic vegetation in any climate.His business, Cybernated Farm Systems says that the fact that anyone should go hungry in the 21st century is unconscionable. These farm units would be fully powered by solar and wind energy and would utilize a closed loop aquaponic growing system that would recquire no human input at all after the initial “on button” is pushed. This technology was developed for arid climates that cannot sustain vegetation, but if implemented in all aall areas could create technical abundance of food, which would place food within the monetary value of water.

TECHNOLOGY & AUTOMATIONcont...

3d Printing in Consumer market

The Truth aboutour dependence on crude oilThere is a lack of knowledge as to the truth of our actual potential to utilize the renewable resources we have in vast abundance. If we were to efficiently utilize the basic renewable energy sources; solar, wind, tidal and geothermal we could power the whole world for 15 years. These estimates are based on the technilogical capability in 2004, which has advanced tremendously in the 10 years since the study was originally published.

SOLAR OCEANGEOTHERMALWIND

1,5003.9M 6756,000 5,000140M 300+7,000TechnicalPotential

TheoreticalPotential

TechnicalPotential

TheoreticalPotential

TechnicalPotential

TheoreticalPotential

TechnicalPotential

TheoreticalPotential

ALL FIGURES IN RELATION TO TECHNICAL AND THEORETICAL ENERGY POTENTIAL ARE EXPRESSED IN EXAJOULES (EJ)

GLOBAL ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN 2012

CURRENTLY RENEWABLE ENERGY RESOURCES SUPPLY 14 PERCENT OF THE WORLD̓S PRIMARY ENERGY USE14%

Facts from the top 5 oil companies(ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips)

The five biggest oil companies earned a combined profit of $375 mil-lion per day, or a record $137 billion profit for the year, in 2011, de-spite reducing their oil production.

In 2011, the three largest domestic public oil companies spent $100 mil-lion of their profits each day, or over 50 percent, buying back their own stock to enrich their board, senior managers, and largest share holders

On top of the $37.5 million in political campaign contributions, Big Oil spent an additional $70 million on lobbying Congress in, with the top spenders being Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Koch Industries and BP.

Despite ranking as some of the most successful companies in the world, big oil and gas companies continue to receive $2.4 billion in tax breaks each year.

Ending the $2 billion in annual tax breaks for the big five oil companies could pay for:

36,000TEACHERS$55,000 SALARY

500,000Pell Grants

Reducing carbon dioxide pollution by 175,000 metric

tons annually

67,000 homeSolar Systems

we could power the world for 302,966 years