Competent Democracy

Competent democracy explained...

Jacque Fresco’s Resource-Based Economy (RBE) does not utilize traditional democratic decision-making (voting, opinions, or politics). Instead, it proposes a "competent democracy" or "scientific management" system where decisions are made by intelligent, computerized, and automated analysis of resources and human needs to ensure efficiency, bypassing the need for voting or politics.

Key aspects of decision-making in Fresco’s RBE include:

  • Scientific Design over Politics: Decision-making is based on data, sustainability, and available resources, not on political opinions, voting, or consensus.
  • Technocracy/Automation: The system is often described as a technocracy or a, centralized AI-driven system that manages the world's resources to eliminate scarcity.
  • No Politics or Politicians: Fresco believed that "democracy" as currently understood is a "con game" and argued for systems where fairness is engineered through environmental design, rather than political debate.
  • Goal-Oriented: The primary goal is to manage resources for the betterment of humanity, eliminating the need for monetary exchange or political power struggles.

While some supporters argued for a "fully vote-based" RBE, the core tenets presented by The Venus Project favor a top-down, rationalized, and data-driven management system.

Key Concepts of Decision-Making in RBE.

  • Arriving vs. Making Decisions: Fresco argued that decisions should not be "made" based on human opinion or consensus (voting), but rather "arrived at" through the scientific method and an assessment of available resources and environmental carrying capacity.
  • Critique of Democracy: Fresco often described traditional democracy as a "con game" or a way to make people believe they have a say while remaining within a flawed monetary system. He believed that voting is often a choice between "the lesser of two evils" rather than a path to optimal solutions.
  • Competent Democracy: While he critiqued traditional voting, he discussed the concept of a "competent democracy," where decisions are handled by those with specific expertise in a given field, overseen by automated systems that monitor resource levels.
  • Automated Management: In his vision, much of the social and economic management is handled by a centralized computer system that balances supply and demand without the need for political debate or subjective human interference.

Summary of Differences