Technocracy -- An Entirely New Social Design

L.W. Nicholson

1996

Published in:

Technocracy Digest, 3rd quarter 1996, No. 321

The North American Continent needs every citizen possible to study and understand the grave conditions -- social, economic and environmental -- now present on this Continent, and elsewhere.

Most likely you will, if, and as, your study continues, find that you increasingly will be able to answer many of the questions you have asked yourself for years. Many Technocrats have found this to be so in their own experience.

Solutions to North America's major social problems have been available for more than 60 years, and all citizens who could read should have been made aware of Technocracy's solutions long ago. The fact that they haven't can only be due to the planned failure of the news media and the educational system to present this knowledge. They have certainly been supplied with this information.

To anticipate an often-asked question, the probable time of a transition from this Price System to a Technate is unanswerable at this time. Although Technocracy has been surprisingly accurate in its predictions, this one is so riddled with variables that a prediction can not even be attempted. The answer depends, for example, on the intelligence available, how much the public is willing to suffer, how long information can be withheld, and, of course, how successful Technocrats are in overcoming the silence of the news media in informing our fellow citizens concerning this subject.

We can point out, however, that the U.S. federal debt is now $5.0 trillion, and increasing at about a quarter of a trillion per year.

We can point out that more than 38 million Americans are living in poverty, with at least another 38 million only slightly better off.

We can point out that Canada's condition is quite similar.

We can point out that more people, including newspaper columnists, ecologists, and the general public are being forced, by the march of events, to admit that, more than ever before, something is not working properly since the great depression of the 1930s.

We can also point out that, with a population increase of nearly 100 million per year, and with the resulting decline in natural resources, plus the increasing pollution of the environment, the human species have a limited time available to reverse these trends. If it is not done soon, a point of no return will be passed. Then, the best that can be done will be an effort to postpone an ecological collapse, with no solution possible. Some ecologists say this time limit will last only through the 1990s.

Another anticipated question: ``How well are we prepared to initiate solutions?'' Not well. However, I must say that Technocracy is not going to ``Take Charge.'' The solutions required must be the result of pressure from the public, either as a result of knowing what is necessary and how to do it, or as a demand that solutions offered by the methods of science be effected. It could be started in either the United States or Canada, but it will have to be done, because there is no alternative for survival. We do not know that a Technate will ever be installed, any more than we know that the human species can survive the collapse of the present Price System economy, or the collapse of the physical environment.

North American citizens are certainly not prepared to make any major social change. Our ``leadership'' is not prepared, so how could they prepare us? However all major new ideas have started from a very few, and possibly only one human brain, and it must become widespread from there. The time limits now being so short further limits the possibilities. However, we think we have a chance, and since we know that we haven't a choice, what can we do but try?