Engineering technology and cybernetics were on the agenda during a talk titled “A New Social System for a Technological Age” on day one of the fifth Knowledge Summit, taking place on December 5-6, 2018, at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
Organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF) under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE, Ruler of Dubai, and the directives of MBRF Chairman H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Summit bears the theme: “Youth and the Future of the Knowledge Economy”.
Roxanne Meadows, Co-Founder of the Venus Project, spoke of different methodologies for harnessing the potential that science and technology could provide for bringing positive change to our social system. The project advocates organising and engineering societies to create abundance as quickly as possible.
“With our automated technology and our scientific personnel, we could create a world where scarcity no longer exists,” she said. “Then, we could be a resource-based economy where all goods and services are available to everyone without barter or debt of any kind. This would be the end of stealing, greed and a lot of corruption – these traits aren’t inborn, they are generated or caused by our antiquated cultures.”
The project is introducing an extremely different type of society – one that is dedicated to human need and maximising quality of life for everyone, rather than maximising profit. “In a resource-based economy, we would live within the caring capacity of the planet. To determine this, we would have to conduct a global survey of our resources but, more importantly, the needs and health of people.”
Ms Meadows explained that the priorities of the project are to feed, house, clothe and provide a high standard of living for everyone on the planet as quickly as possible. To achieve this, total city systems would be built that conserve resources and use energy efficiently. She noted that it is far less expensive, in terms of energy consumption, to build new cities from the ground up than to restore and maintain old ones.
The Knowledge Summit 2018 brings together more than 100 speakers including experts, decision makers and stakeholders from around the world in more than 45 discussion panels.