Skeptic Project

http://www.amazon.com/The-Best-That-Money-Cant/product-reviews/0964880679/ref=cm_cr_pr_hist_3?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addThreeStar&showViewpoints=0

Retro Futurology, July 30 2002
By A Customer
Gave the book 3 stars
Ce commentaire est de: The Best That Money Can't Buy: Beyond Politics, Poverty & War (Paperback)
The "Left Behind" theology to the contrary, Jacque Fresco writes that we can't depend on "the divine intervention of mythical characters in white robes who descend from the clouds" to solve our problems because they are "illusions." It doesn't follow, however, that the kind of systematic social engineering Fresco advocates will work, either, because it's not taking into account some relevant facts of reality.
One, Fresco assumes that humans are born as the blank slates assumed by radical behaviorist ideology, instead of having neurological predispositions for all sorts of nonrational, reproductively-driven behaviors as shown by the rapidly growing field of evolutionary psychology. We have "politics, poverty, & war" partly because there is a hard-wired human nature that social engineering as such can't change. Supplying people's physical needs through a conjectural "resource-based economy" won't necessarily make them more sociable; they're likely just to devote more time towards noneconomic status-seeking as they go about forming dominance-submission hierarchies to show off their relative reproductive fitness, and violence can't be ruled out as a possible strategy. The history of well-provisioned aristocracies suggests that growing up in a state of affluence & leisure doesn't always bring out the best in people.

Two, in the real world property rights have demonstrated their value as a social institution for getting people to manage their resources and tools properly, giving them incentives to work hard, defer gratification, plan for the future, etc. Declaring the world's resources a "common heritage" is a guarantee for disaster, even though it sounds good according to socialistic ethical theories that aren't based on real human behavior. Fresco's plan is just a nonstarter in the sort of world we live in.

Three, Fresco doesn't seem to appreciate that in the money system we have now in the U.S., access to property ownership is available to everyone. A proper way to view one's relationship with the American economy is to find ways to get the balance of payments going in your favor. If you pay Federal income taxes, buy bonds and Treasury bills so the government has to pay you interest in return. If you buy a lot of things from a profitable, publicly traded company (current scandals aside), buy stock in the company so that it pays you dividends while the stock appreciates in value. You don't really benefit from our system as a consumer and a debtor, but as an owner of equity and a creditor, and you can leverage yourself into that position through some planning and self-discipline.

Perhaps because of his advanced age, Fresco seems not to have upgraded his worldview all that much since the late 1960's, when he and Kenneth Keyes published _Looking Forward_. Back then his vision of the 21st Century presented many futuristic ideas that were progressive in the context of its time, but his current proposals have a kind of "retro future" feel to them. Someone well read in the history of borderline sciences can detect in Fresco's book ideas derived from General Semantics, Technocracy, Inc., Buckminster Fuller's "design science," radical behaviorism, proposals for a cybernated "leisure society" and other early and mid 20th Century intellectual fads that never got very far because they couldn't make the case for their validity, necessity and real-world effectiveness. The fact that we've avoided disaster with the money system despite Fresco's warnings decades ago suggests that his proposal for social reconstruction is a solution for some other planet's problems.

The history of ideological utopianism the 20th Century shows that we have to be extraordinarily careful before we conduct another social experiment where we jettison a system that works tolerably well in favor of one that merely sounds good. While Fresco's vision of life in the latter 21st Century does address some of my concerns, in general the frontier of advanced thinking about the future seems to have passed on to where the Extropians and Transhumanists are doing their thing these days.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

http://www.amazon.com/review/R241D1WOU9PUN1/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=0964880679&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=#wasThisHelpful

Responses towards the negative comment of this book (keep in mind all responses to this comment are from 2008 and above and the original post of this has been up since 2002, so most likely TVPers, and TZmers defending there group):


Oct 5, 2008 12:04:45 PM PDT
E. Hayward says:
How well is our monetary system working now buddy?

Posted on Oct 5, 2008 8:15:42 PM PDT
Tonez323 says:
It's unfortunate that too many are willing to wait until we are experiencing crisis to start waking up to the real solutions that were already here to begin with.

Posted on Oct 10, 2008 8:00:42 PM PDT
scientist says:
Haven't read Fresco's book yet, but I can comment on this "Retro Futurology" critique--which I appreciate. This critique was obviously written prior to the current world economic crisis. We obviously need a completely different economic model than the one we have, and not just something that works "tolerably well". The one we now have works great for the very wealthy, while the rest of us are slaves to it--plain and simple. It doesn't take a genius to understand that interest is inherently evil. What is obviously needed i both economics and our society is something radically fundamental, involving why we have been doing war for so long: egoity. Where does it come from and how can we teach ourselves and our children out of it? This is what needs to be addressed before we can have a world that lives in peace. The best I've seen so far is Adi Da's Reality-Humanity.


4 of 5 people think this post adds to the discussion. Do you?
Posted on Oct 10, 2008 8:02:15 PM PDT
scientist says:
Haven't read Fresco's book yet, but I can comment on this "Retro Futurology" critique--which I appreciate. This critique was obviously written prior to the current world economic crisis. We obviously need a completely different economic model than the one we have, and not just something that works "tolerably well". The one we now have works great for the very wealthy, while the rest of us are slaves to it--plain and simple. It doesn't take a genius to understand that interest is inherently evil. What is obviously needed i both economics and our society is something radically fundamental, involving why we have been doing war for so long: egoity. Where does it come from and how can we teach ourselves and our children out of it? This is what needs to be addressed before we can have a world that lives in peace. The best I've seen so far is Adi Da's Reality-Humanity.


Posted on Oct 16, 2008 1:00:11 PM PDT
C. E. Gray says:
This review is pretty laughable now. He actually compared the old aristocracies of the past where a few wealthy families were born into power and ruled the world to Frescos future where everyone is "affluent", thus eliminating the term itself because everyone will have there basic needs without being slaves to a job and/or money. He even said our economic system worked "reasonalby well"...Wow. I cant even say anything else.
Reply to this post
Posted on Oct 20, 2008 11:21:19 AM PDT
Paul Schulz says:
Its the future it hasnt happened yet and if we were to base all of our conclusions on the way things were we would still be in caves. Imagine, think, and realize the future doesnt have to be the past. GO AIG!!!!


Posted on Aug 9, 2009 5:51:58 PM PDT
Arcadian says:
Peter Joseph and Jacque Fresco have been erroneously accused of subscribing to the Radical Behaviorist school of psychology several times. Perhaps this is due to their tendency to describe what seems to be a stimulus-output causation chain. For example, "A human is stimulated by his environment, and the cause is this behavior."

However, the Radical Behaviorist school says nothing about the larger context and setting of the individual. Radical Behaviorism is truly a theory about the individual, but the Zeitgeist philosophy is much broader than that; it is the view that the individual's mental states are largely determined by his social environment.

So I searched for theories which more accurately fit this view, and what I found is called "Sociocultural Psychology." Here is one definition that I found:

"Sociocultural theory states that our cognitive developmental processes and learning processes are merely products of our society and culture. Different cultures have various systems including beliefs, values, manners, normative behaviors, and practices.

Within these various cultures around the world, differences in specific societies within the larger culture also exist. Our culture teaches us behavior, which may also vary according to our society. Our socialization within a specific culture and society molds our behavior and teaches us right from wrong.

The sociocultural theory claims that everything which makes up the psychological processes which join together to form our "self-image" and our "identity" and overall our "reality" are sociocultural. Thus, we are merely products of our culture and society."


S. Locklin says:
"Supplying people's physical needs through a conjectural "resource-based economy" won't necessarily make them more sociable;" I do not agree, first of all, Fresco also points out that as important as making resources available is appropriate education, for example, how to hold different views from others without getting angry. "They're likely just to devote more time towards noneconomic status-seeking as they go about forming dominance-submission hierarchies to show off their relative reproductive fitness, and violence can't be ruled out as a possible strategy." In an adjusted society humans will find other outlets to "show off their relative reproductive fitness" take e.g. travelling, hiking, caving, sky-diving, base jumping, bungee, golf, dancing, singing, art.... all are outlets by which people can demonstrate their own bravery and individuality if so inclined. "The history of well-provisioned aristocracies suggests that growing up in a state of affluence & leisure doesn't always bring out the best in people." The aristrocracy have always had to guard their dynasties from other aristocrats and the poor in monetary systems where scarcity abounded. The point Fresco is making is remove the scarcity, educate and realign expectations, and there is more than enough to go round. Remove the causes and improve the environment and you can improve much of human behaviour. Oh and I note since this review in 2002, our economic system continues to take us to the edge in the Western World and in India where the economy is growing exponentially according to UN figures malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India as of 2008/9.

T. Wiebe says:
That's a pretty self-satisfied view of things. The system works for a select few, if you look at the numbers. Worldwide, or just in the states, money tends to end up, in a few hands. As far as people participating in buying shares, etc., nature endowed people with different abilities. Also, we don't educate our young to participate on an equal footing, in the economic sphere. Most people just aren't that good with money.

Property rights have helped create wealth, for individuals, you are right. But it's ended up in a few hands, and has nearly destroyed the environment.

Pretty weak argument.


Posted on Jan 30, 2012 1:20:08 AM PST
Last edited by the author on Jan 30, 2012 1:20:49 AM PST
Roenie says:
IMO you should not rate a book lower because you happen to disagree with the content. How well is it written? Did the author gets his ideas across clearly? etc. Did you enjoy reading it? Did it make you think? Enough to write a small essay in the review!

November 23, 2012
By TG "thg57" (Irvine, CA USA) - See all my reviews
Gave 1 star
This review is from: The Best That Money Can't Buy: Beyond Politics, Poverty, & War (Paperback)
I bought this book because of the good reviews. It is a huge disappointment. Baseless, primitive fantasy about Utopian world, marketed as a practical strategy, yet, devoid of any practical proposal. I have not learned anything that I did know about: that some day we would have urban air transportation (there goes fuel economy and green design), underwater cities (is Mr. Fresco himself going to be the first resident?), democracy without corruption (and how is it going to be achieved?). Do not waste your money. You can get the same information by googling around for free.

Future My Love is a unique love story challenging our collective and personal utopias in search of freedom.

At the brink of losing the idealistic love of her life, filmmaker Maja Borg takes us on a poetic road trip through the financial collapse, exploring a radically different economic and social model proposed by 95-year-old futurist Jacque Fresco. How much freedom are we prepared to give to the ones we love? And how much responsibility are we ready to take for our society?

Carefully weaving a texture of archive footage, black and white Super 8 film, and colour HD, Borg poignantly depicts the universal struggle between our heads and hearts in times of big change.