TECHNOCRACY 101
By George Wright
Until the design of Technocracy was conceived, all societies to date in the world had only the various concepts that were created centuries ago for a way of life lived centuries ago. We call them collectively or individualized as a “Price System.”
The Price System: Any social system that exchanges goods and services by trade or commerce based on commodity evaluation and uses debt tokens or money, is a Price System.
TECHNOCRACY’S BASIC DESIGN & CHARACTERISTICS
Removing all controls from the political and financial institutions and replacing the former with a scientific functional design using available energy sources with specific criteria as a determinant.
Assigning an individualized basic “Energy Debit Card” to all citizens. This is similar to a ‘Credit Card’, and as we know, credit (DEBT) issues are what has changed this world dramatically since 1945. The Debt has risen so dramatically it is almost a vertical climb. To keep the current Price System going we would need to increase debt daily and keep people buying and wasting and buying and wasting. It is NOT a sustainable system.
After determining total energy available for the basic needs of our technologically advanced society; the infrastructure, protection, etc. The remaining energy is allocated to each citizen for their personal needs. Research shows the energy available to be more than adequate for this function.
Technocracy’s plan allows for access for every citizen to all the goods and services that our technology should produce. It is not only possible to distribute goods and services to all, but with the Energy Debit Card, an accounting of the amount, type and location of any particular item being automatically tabulated allowing for replacement. The EDC card is assigned to each citizen individually and only that individual. This removes almost totally the incidences of theft and other crimes of that nature that are so prominent in the Price System.
Total access for every citizen to individualized health maintenance which includes everything from preventive medicine to major surgeries and cancer treatments. One thing that Technocracy’s plan would introduce is a non-profit based medical system. When there is no benefit for certain people to market their ‘cure-all’ then the science of finding actual cures will be the benefit. Healthy people are more productive, more creative, and more helpful to others. To have a thriving and healthy citizenry is of paramount importance.
Technocracy’s Housing Plan is designed for comfort and ease of access with coordinated transportation and modern type distribution centers. These centers would include most of all the various levels of citizen’s interests including everything from shopping, restaurants and entertainment.
In many of Technocracy’s old publications the housing idea was presented as “Everything the Same”; and this caused concern that there would be no choices and Technocracy was touting communism. Nothing could be further from the truth. Basically, what they were saying is that having interchangeable parts is much more effective and efficient from a building and design standpoint; a common sense and scientifically provable standpoint
As many of you know, having parts change for each and every different item is annoying when you try to find replacement parts years later. You are forced to create a replacement, or to purchase a new item. There is very little repair these days because it is beneficial for those selling items to create a built-in obsolescence.
Photo credit http://shannoneileencampbell.blogspot.com/2015/01/part-ii-examples-of-planned-obsolescence.html
Technocracy’s Plan enables access for all citizens to an educational process whereby they can advance to any level they might want to achieve. Many of the higher education organizations are already beginning to allow people to access their online classes for free. These are known as MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses. Institutions from MIT, Harvard, down to local colleges are making these available. Citizens no longer must choose an educational program primarily aimed at making the most money they can, or because of the cost of a program, but instead study what their aptitude is or what interest them.
There would no longer be the discrimination against blue collar jobs. A janitor, business owner, and mayor jobs would all be valued equally. Many people take one direction early in life and then would like to pursue another option, but the cost of schooling, and living while going to school are obstacles to furthering their aptitude. People would not have to choose between furthering their education and paying bills.
Technocracy’s Plan had a calendar of sorts; a design of how people could / should participate to ensure that the system runs well. All the following steps would allow for the ability, maturity, and desire of the child / person.
• The first years would be childhood, learning how to get along with others, discovering the joy of learning, and beginning to learn teamwork skills;
• Then the education process would begin; further education designed around the person’s learning style, own choices, and aptitude;
• Shadowing/apprenticeship/volunteering would be next;
• Technocracy’s Plan has set the years of service to 20 to 25 years in a person’s choice of fields. What is now called a job.
Although as our life span gets longer, people may choose to add to their years of service, especially since they will be working in fields of their aptitude and choice. And, yes, people with no aptitude for music, could work in the music field. Choice and aptitude, not just aptitude would be the criteria;
• After the service years are over people would have a choice to continue on, to be consultants, to completely retire from active participation in service work.
One very important aspect of Technocracy’s Plan is that much less damage to the environment would result of the production and distribution process because of the built-in guidelines of making products to last as long as feasible, and reuse, recycle and reclaim every aspect of the function of producing our goods and services.
Photo credit: Sustainable City Network
The application of Technocracy’s design opens a whole new world of travel, hobbies, visiting. It also encourages and allows people with abilities to develop and share them without having the financial handicaps and constraints that are now in place. It would also remove the handicap of entitlement that often accompanies extremely wealthy children.
Much of Technocracy’s Plan is already in place in the world. It would be fairly simple with the systems already in place to move forward toward a more efficient, effective system. We have credit cards, social media, online education, the technology to create amazing infrastructure, plans for clean production and distribution, excellent waste management. The knowledge and ability to provide excellent health care.
One obstacle to further move forward to a better ‘economic’ system, and a major problem is that for a few, and many of those few are in control of the ability to change, is the idea that Profit is more valuable than People. That power and control are by-products of monetary wealth, and those are sometimes possessed by people with less than altruistic motives.
Grassroots can change the social structure – look what happened in the 60s in the United States, what is happening now in Saudi Arabia with women’s issues, what is happening in many places by the community, not politicians. People make changes, politics don’t.
This is an excellent representation of the ideas of Technocracy Inc., much improved from when I joined the organization almost sixty years ago and I am encouraged to see it after having very little success trying to inform people of the efficacy of an energy based system.
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Edward L Blechschmidt