Designs for a Better Future

A design for a Better Future is made from a large set of Better Alternatives; all major topics should be included. So much to think and write about, a huge challenge to finish. And what makes a Design for a Better Future more than the sum of it's Better Alternative parts, is that all these parts should connect, just like in reality, where everything is more or less directly or indirectly connected to each other. No individual group or computer is powerful enough to predict how a design for a Better Future is going to run in reality, especially on the long term. We can only make a calculated guess. Anyone that thinks he/she knows exactly what the long term results of applying a design for a Better Future are, is mistaken. This stuff is complex.

So, what Designs for a Better Future have already been made?
I know of only three:
- The Venus Project, by Jacque Fresco
- Zicht op de toekomst, by Robbert and Rudolf Das
- Das Kapital, by Karl Marx
Aren't there more?
There are a lot of SF books and movies, but is any of them meant to be a serious and complete Designs for a Better Future? And when a new country is founded, the constitution, does that count? The rules and goals of a government, no I would not count that as a Design for a Better Future, although these contains a lot of interesting parts, these are more about how to keep the current situation afloat. Maybe the book "Das Kapital" by Karl Marx, I did not read it but it appears to be Design for a Better Future, no matter the results and opinions.

What Design for a Better Future is the best so far?
That is really not important now. What matters is that we can study the designs by some people that have seriously tried to make a Design for a Better Future. Use it as an example, as inspiration for your own design. We need many more designs, hundreds more!

If you know about other designs, please let me know.

Zicht op de toekomst, by Robbert and Rudolf Das
(both from 1929-01-23).
This is the first one I found, as a child in our house, we had a lot of books. Title: "Zicht op de toekomst, de wereld 80 jaar verder" translates to: "looking at the future, the world 80 years from now". It is a Dutch book, first printed in 1983. It is about how (terrible) the world can become if we continue on the same path, and the better path Robbert and Rudolf (brothers) suggest by applying their better alternatives. How nice a world can we design, to become a reality in 80 years from now. That would be the year 2063.
Great about Robbert and Rudolf Das, is that they made many gorgeous drawings, not just text.

The book: Zicht op de toekomst (1983) Elsevier ISBN 9010047938
Their website: www.rudolfdas.nl
On Wikipedia: nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robbert_en_Rudolf_Das

So yes: Das Kapital, by Karl Marx (published in 1867). For everyone who reacts by thinking "hate communism hate socialism" I ask; did you read it?. I did not -yet, but from looking into it, the goal really was to improve the quality of life for most everyone. In those days there was a lot of suffering going on (hmm did that change much..), and this was his Designs for a Better Future. It turned out that his design wasn't perfect and it got abused by a number of dictators, and now many people are very negative about his design, without knowing much about it. One can argue that his design has never applied as was meant to.
But anyhow and again: you don't need to like it. Goal is to learn from all designs.

The Venus Project, by Jacque Fresco (1916 – 2017).
"Byond politics poverty and war"

"The Venus Project proposes an alternative vision of what the future can be if we apply what we already know in order to achieve a sustainable new world civilization. It calls for a straightforward redesign of our culture in which the age-old inadequacies of war, poverty, hunger, debt and unnecessary human suffering are viewed not only as avoidable, but as totally unacceptable. Anything less will result in a continuation of the same catalog of problems inherent in today's world."
Visit his site here: www.thevenusproject.com
On YouTube: The Venus Project
Wikipedia: Jacque Fresco

Giesbert Nijhuis