How To Get There From Here

L.W. Nicholson

1996

Published in:

Technocracy Digest, 3rd quarter 1996, No. 321

Many people are concerned, or should be, with methods of transition from today's antiquated Price System into an intelligent society, in which all North Americans can share in the plentiful production of a highly technological age.

The physical transition is quite simple since we already have the technology, the natural resources, and the trained personnel to produce plenty for every North American citizen. All that is necessary is to produce that plenty, then distribute it to all of the Continent's citizens. What else is necessary? This is a physical operation which can be done at any time we are willing to remove the existing interference from the process. Any political or economic system which can't allow this has become antiquated in today's technological age.

The only major problem we have yet to overcome is the mental transition required to allow ourselves to use the plenty we can already produce. Once this is accomplished, it shouldn't be difficult to work out such minor details as: reducing working hours to less than one-half of that now considered normal, so that everyone may have the pleasure of participating in the operations of the first intelligent society on earth.

Unfortunately, this mental transition is difficult, in view of all the misinformation and economic superstitions which have been drilled into our heads since birth. We have a social background, dating back an unknown number of centuries, in which technology was not a factor to be considered, for the simple reason that it didn't exist. The traditions developed slowly, and have been taught to each new generation as they came on the scene. These customs haven't evolved as rapidly as necessary to keep pace with our scientifically developed technological mechanism, and, as a result, the difference in this ever-widening gap is tearing our social fabric into shreds. The increasing debt, crime, politics, poverty, underemployment, etc. are rapidly proving the point.

In the past, the idea of producing enough for everyone was considered impossible. Now that technology HAS made it possible, we find it quite difficult to believe it, or to understand the social consequences. In the past, only a few could have plenty, and then, only by taking more than a ``fair share'' from others who then must do without. This created a long-standing custom of socially un-cooperative behavior patterns which still interfere with our understanding of the new conditions. Technology has made an entirely new world for us to live in. As that physical world continues to change, it exerts an ever-increasing pressure to update the customs designed for the old conditions.

Technology has made an entirely new world for us to live in.

There may be any number of methods to encourage that mental transition, depending on conditions that exist at the time the last leg of the journey can no longer be delayed. Technology has already made these major changes necessary, and it may also make them less difficult to accomplish. We might consider some possibilities here:

First: Consider some incentives for change:

We already have 35 million Americans trying to live on Social Security; we have 38 million living in poverty; more than a million in jails across the country; we have about a fifth of the labor force who are underemployed; several million who have given up trying to find income-producing jobs. As our technological efficiency continues to increase, these numbers will also increase. We have here an increasing number of millions who must be supported financially by a decreasing percentage of the working labor force. Note also that Canada and Mexico are in similar conditions.

Second: Consider what technology is, even now, in process of achieving: A ``Smart Card'' with an embedded ``chip'' which can not only supply the condition of one's bank account, but, more importantly, can also provide much information, such as that needed to determine what is purchased, where, when, and in what quantities. The computer system involved here can supply this information to the manufacturing computer which controls the production process required to manufacture and ship to the point of ``sale'' to replenish the stock. Further, all this can be done without human hands. The significant point here is that this equipment can work just as well whether one has a bank account or not. This should be quite interesting to those who would like to live in a free country.

An age of peace and plenty is now possible

Now, add these two possibilities together -- the incentive, and the physical means -- and one can see that an age of peace and plenty is now possible. The age of controlling people by financial pressure is being relegated to the museum of un-natural history. The people now controlled by money can give all of it to those who have been so successful in taking from others, and the balance of us can use a better way.

The above would be an easy, and far less dangerous, method for getting from here to there. Only human concepts of debt and tradition stand in the way. Unfortunately, it is quite probable that many more difficulties will be encountered, due to human cussedness and stupidity in a non-cooperative world in which little knowledge concerning the social effects of a technological age has been allowed in educational institutions, or the news media. Rather than the easy way, North Americans will quite likely do nothing, continuing to allow themselves to be deceived, and defrauded, of the plenty our technology has been able to produce for more than a half century. Their apathy will cause them to wait for a major depression to jolt them from the life-long rut they are in the habit of enduring. Then, in desperation, they will jump on the first available bandwagon and chase off in all directions at the same time. Does this sound cynical? Then just take a look at the record.

Must it require a major depression to encourage serious thought?

A majority of people, and probably much less than a majority, can do anything they please, if it is physically possible, if they cooperate, if they know what they are doing, and if all go in the same direction at the same time. Further, they can do it without a violent revolution. Must it require a major depression to encourage serious thought? Must it require a financial debacle worse than the Savings and Loan collapse of a few years back? Must the present 38 million Americans now living in poverty be doubled in numbers? What will it take to inspire a person to think?

We have enjoyed the benefits of the increasing ability to produce, to this point, but the ability of past economic and political methods are being strained to the breaking point in an attempt to keep up with the rapidly-increasing ability of technology to produce, with an ever-declining number of man-hours per unit of production. Our present technology, running full blast, can overflow the warehouses in a few weeks.

It has become entirely too expensive for the government to buy up the so-called surplus on such a large scale, plus making unemployment and welfare payments.

The $5 trillion federal debt can't be paid off, and the interest payments have become the second highest of all government expenses. What is the highest? It just happens to be the total of all the entitlement programs which are the result of the ``system'' being unable to distribute sufficient purchasing power to keep itself in operation.

Cooperation and knowledge are the keys to success and it may be expected from those who have the intelligence to understand Technocracy's Technological Social Design. These are the people who must accept the responsibility for what this ability requires of them. Cooperation! This is our starting point right now. Regardless of the particular method chosen for the last leg of the journey toward an intelligent society, cooperation is essential, and the time to start that phase is the day before yesterday.