THE BEST THAT MONEY CAN’T BUY BEYOND POLITICS, POVERTY, & WAR By Jacque Fresco was first to describe in detail the principles of space flight. A Frenchman, Louis Pasteur, developed an inoculation against rabies. In the sixteenth century, the Italian Leonardo da Vinci envisioned the principals of flight and designed a rudimentary form of the helicopter. The Polish astronomer, Nicolas Copernicus, published his book on the revolution of the celestial bodies. Albert Einstein, a German, gave us the theory of relativity. The contributions of all nations made our standard of living possible and enriched our lives. But we still are only at the threshold of the future. Students would learn that no single nation has all of the answers nor an answer for all situations. Society is in a constant process of change. Students would understand that there are no final frontiers. They would also realize that each phase of society will evolve a set of values appropriate to that time. All values, including many of the postulates of science, must be utilized as the best tools available at the time. With the advent of additional information and more sophisticated tools, our notions about the nature of the world could be constantly updated. Science would be taught as a set of known facts and applications that are subject to change as more information becomes available not as a set of immutable rules and laws. Children taught through cooperative participatory hands-on experiences develop better socialization skills and self-confidence. Instead of rote learning, our new schools could provide opportunities for children to improve their interaction with one another in real life situations. In other instances students may choose to explore independent interests by selecting their own curriculum. If they prefer, they would be assisted by counsellors or artificial intelligence machines, which would convey information through words, diagrams, visual displays, and many other methods. Our new schools will accommodate the many varied ways in which children learn. Education would emphasize humane values and communication, an essential process to improve the interaction and communication between people of all races, colour, and creeds. Both children and adults can learn to outgrow the self-centeredness that dominates the behaviour of many today. A new form of education could make abundantly clear that our likes and dislikes are based upon our present culture, and that our visions of the future are always culture-bound. The children would visit farms, power plants, production facilities, and resource centers, and could actually take part in managing and planning their own affairs. Each child could experience leadership by planning activities, and these responsibilities could be constantly rotated so that each student would gain the experience. To improve the mental condition of all our children, we must not only educate them through books and other visual aids, but also through games that are both physically and mentally stimulating. The Children’s Centers would be equipped with books, computers, and a wide variety of visual aids. At these learning centers, the games children play would be relevant to the needs of the child and the emergent culture. Today, far too many of the games available to our children depend on competition ad encourage hostility. The game of chess does not generate creativity in other areas; with practice, strategies for chess may be enhanced but that does not enhance creativity beyond that game. This game takes a tremendous amount of effort to learn but is about nothing in particular. If this same effort were applied to games that improved one’s understanding of nutrition, health, an disease-control, it would be far more beneficial for the player and for the society. People consider chess a challenge, but its significance is equal to that of a beauty contest. What games will be available in the future?
Jacque Fresco
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