Jacques Fresco Is an American production engineer, industrial designer and futurist. Director and founder of Project Venus.
There are many interesting facts in the biography of Jacques Fresco, which we will talk about in this article.
So, here is a short biography of Jacques Fresco.
Biography of Jacques Fresco
Jacques Fresco was born on March 13, 1916 in Brooklyn (New York). He grew up and was brought up in a family of Jewish immigrants.
The father of the future scientist, Isaac, was a farmer from Istanbul, who was fired after the beginning of the Great Depression (1929-1939). Mother, Lena, was engaged in raising children and moonlighting as sewing.
In addition to Jacques, 2 more children were born in the Fresco families - David and Freda.
Childhood and youth
Jacques Fresco spent his entire childhood in the vicinity of Brooklyn. From an early age, he was distinguished by a special curiosity, which prompted him to get to the bottom of the facts, and not to believe simple words.
According to Fresco himself, his grandfather seriously influenced his worldview. It is worth noting that the boy developed a critical attitude towards religion after his brother David imposed the theory of evolution on him.
At school, Jacques behaved very unusual, strikingly different from his classmates. He once refused to swear allegiance to the American flag, which angered his teacher.
The student explained that when a person swears allegiance to one or another flag, he thereby exalts his country and nation, and humiliates everyone else. He also added that for him there are no differences between people either by nationality or by their social status.
When the teacher heard this, she took Fresco by the ear and led him to the director. Left alone with the teenager, the director asked why he behaved this way.
Jacques managed to explain his position so well that the man allowed him to read any literature in class and even bought several books at his own expense, which Fresco asked.
For 2 years, the student studied what he liked, and also built a small chemical laboratory in his attic, where he conducted various experiments.
However, after the death of the director, Jacques was again forced to adhere to the established norms. As a result, he decided to quit school and pursue self-education.
At the age of 13, the future engineer first came to the local airport, where he began to study aircraft construction.
Education
With each passing day, Jacques Fresco became more and more interested in aircraft design and modeling.
When the Great Depression began, a 14-year-old teenager decided to leave home in search of a better life. At that moment in his biography, he firmly decided to become an aviation engineer.
In addition, Fresco was seriously worried about the sharp economic downturn in the United States. He thought about the causes of the "Depression" and later came to the conclusion that money was not needed to achieve a developed society.
If you believe Jacques, then he once managed to share his ideas with Albert Einstein himself.
At the age of 18, Fresco is professionally engaged in design, improving the characteristics of aircraft. In particular, he is making a major contribution to the modernization of the landing gear system and mounting hardware on aircraft.
In 1939, the young engineer got a job at Douglas Aircraft, from which he later quit. Jacques was offended that for all his ideas and improvements, which brought the company millions, he did not receive a single award. In addition, all patents for his developments were also owned by Douglas Aircraft.
For some time, Jacques worked in a rehabilitation center for disadvantaged segments of society, trying to improve the social system. He soon realized how awful the services that work with alcoholics and drug addicts are.
Fresco was surprised that social structures tried all the time to deal with the consequences of problems, and not with their causes.
In the 30s of the last century, the engineer went to the Tuamotu Islands, seeking to study the life of the aborigines.
At the height of World War II (1939-1945), Jacques was drafted into the army. He was entrusted with developing the most effective military air communication system.
It is worth noting that Jacques Fresco has always had an extremely negative attitude towards military conflicts and any manifestation of militarization. Already at that time of the biography, the guy thought about changing the world order and eliminating wars on earth.
Primary activity
Jacques Fresco set out to create a symbiotic social order in which man will live in harmony with nature.
The scientist was interested in the possibility of forming a fully payable housing capable of working in an autonomous mode without using any external power sources.
Over time, Fresco and his team introduced an aluminum eco-house in a Hollywood studio. The project brought him a good profit, which the engineer donated to charity.
However, the state refused to finance such buildings, as a result of which the project had to be frozen.
Then Jacques decides to establish his own Research Center. During this biography time, he actively teaches and presents various inventions.
Several years later, Fresco goes bankrupt, prompting him to travel to the Atlantic coast in Miami.
The engineer was actively involved in social work, trying to identify the causes of racism and find an effective way to combat it. At the same time, he is again fond of developing eco-housing.
Later, Jacques presents ideas for a circular city as well as innovative projects for prefabricated sandwich houses. World scientists are seriously interested in his works.
An interesting fact is that Fresco carried out his activities on the basis of his own company "Jacque Fresco Enterprises".
At the age of 53, Jacques Fresco publishes his first scientific work "Looking Forward". In it, the author shared his views on the study of modern society, as well as forecasts for the future.
The futurologist described in some detail the way of life of the 21st century society, in which human labor will be replaced by the work of cybernetic machines. Thanks to this, people will have more time for self-development.
It is curious that Fresco promoted a perfect model of ancient Greek society, but in the realities of the future.
Venus Project
In 1974, Jacques announced the formation of a new world order. The following year, he finally formed the ideas of the Venus project, a developing civilization that will eventually unite all the countries of the world.
In fact, the Venus project was the main brainchild of Jacques Fresco's scientific biography.
According to the scientist, the new model of society will allow each person to enjoy various benefits for free. This will lead to the disappearance of crime and murder, since a person will have everything he needs for a fulfilling life.
People will be able to do what they love, improving in one or another field of science.
Fresco carried out his developments in the city of Venus, located in Florida. It was here that he built a voluminous domed laboratory structure surrounded by tropical plants.
Jacques Fresco called for the complete abolition of commodity-money relations, which were the main cause of all the troubles in the world.
The Venus Project is a charitable organization that, in turn, did not bring profit to Fresco himself. At the same time, the designer himself lived on the funds received from his inventions, as well as from the sale of books.
In 2002, Jacques published 2 new works - "Designing the Future" and "All the Best That Money Can't Buy".
Recently, "Venus" is of increasing interest among world scientists. However, there are many among them who are skeptical about Fresco's ideas. For example, the Russian journalist Vladimir Pozner called the futurologist a utopian.
In 2016, the 100-year-old Fresco received an honorary award from the UN General Assembly for his significant contribution to the development of the society of the future.
In the same year, the premiere of the film "The Choice is Ours" took place, where the engineer once again shared his ideas and best practices with the audience.
Personal life
During the years of his biography, Jacques Fresco was married twice. His first wife remained in Los Angeles after Jacques moved to Florida.
With his second wife, Patricia, the scientist lived for several years, after which the couple decided to leave. In this marriage, the couple had a boy Richard and a girl Bambi.
After that, Fresco never married again. Since 1976, Roxanne Meadows, who shared the views of a man in everything, became his assistant and companion.
Death
Jacques lived a long and fulfilling life. Until the end of his days, he strove to do everything possible to improve the world order and help poor people.
Jacques Fresco died on May 18, 2017 in Florida, at the age of 101. The cause of his death was Parkinson's disease, which progressed more and more every year.