Running Around in Circles

Editor

1997

Published in:

Technocracy Digest, 2nd quarter 1997, No. 324

People certainly are! It's because they don't know which way to turn! The present social system is in such a mess; jobs being downsized, people out of work and thus, no money with which to buy even necessities; man-made disasters, crime, pollution, stress; no good times in sight. People are swayed this way and that by media information and mis-information; they don't know whom to believe. But, there is a way to assess the truth; a means by which you can find out what is actually happening now, and what is bound to happen because of the bungling of both financiers and politicians.

To assess the truth, you use the scientific method. You use science just the same as you do when you want a machine to work, or you are building something you want to last.

That is how the research and educational organization, Technocracy, came into being. It had its inception in 1919 in New York City in an organization known as the Technical Alliance of North America, formed by seventeen competent, educated people.

They were: Frederick L. Ackerman, Architect, Allen Carpenter, M.D., Carl L. Alsberg, Biochemist; Louis K. Comstock, Electrical Engineer, Stuart Chase, CPA, Alice Barrows Fernandez, Educator, Bassett Jones, Mathematical Technologist, Sullivan W. Jones, Architect, Robert D. Kohn, Architect, Benton Mackay, Forester-Naturalist, Leland Olds, Statistician, Howard Scott, Engineering Scientist-Technologist, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, Electrical Engineer, Richard C. Tolman, Physical Chemist, John C. Vaughn, Surgeon, Thorstein Veblen, Educator and Author, Charles H. Whitaker, Architect. They chose Howard Scott to be their chairman; he later became Director-in-Chief of Technocracy.

The primary aim of the Technical Alliance was to ascertain the possibility of applying the achievements of science to social and industrial affairs. With this in mind, they undertook a survey of the energy and natural resources of the North American Continental Area. In addition, they studied the industrial evolution that had taken place therein. They showed graphically the operating characteristics of the present industrial system with all its waste and leakage, and worked out a tentative design of a completely coordinated system of production and distribution. They kept in mind always, of course, their aim, which was to provide a better standard of living in the continental area with the least possible waste of non-renewable resources.

These seventeen people did research, in their own special fields, for 14 years, and concluded that machines would eventually be able to take over many of the tasks then performed, thus releasing people from drudgery and allowing them to have more freedom and leisure time to take up pleasant pursuits that would broaden their minds, entertain them, and make life here on earth a wonderful place for them. And isn't that what it's all about? Isn't that what is supposed to happen? Enjoy this beautiful world around us?

Instead of that, politicians and financiers have hoisted the Price System flag and everyone is supposed to salute it. Different methods have been devised for a few at the top to enjoy the fruits of the labors of the 95 percent at the bottom. The lower layers are left to scurry around, most of them forced into unsatisfying jobs, scratching and scraping for money. When the produce of the machines in the crammed warehouses started spilling over, as it was now a glut, or because the majority couldn't afford to buy it, wars were pulled out of the hat so the produce could be sold and used up, resulting in more money getting into the hands of the already rich, regardless of the blood being spilled by the many who fought because they were told they must be loyal to the Price System flag (OOPS!) country. These wars -- I and II, Korean, Viet Nam, and Gulf -- have all been pulled off for the same reasons.

Even though most people now have jaded views of politicians and the whole social and financial process of no jobs, no money, they still are running around in circles, trying to find ways out of the maze. They still do not want to start thinking for themselves -- why they are struggling to keep alive in a system which is catering to a few.

We urge all of you in that category to just sit down a moment and think. Even the media carries articles that could make you aware of why you are in a poverty-stricken situation. In another article in this magazine, is a list of some of these disasters chronicled in the media -- calamities that need never have happened. And, if you want to know why they happened, then keep reading our articles.

And, if you want to know how you can have that happy, leisure time we mentioned above, Technocracy does have the solution. Over 60 years ago, the Technocracy, Technological Social Design was offered to the citizens of this Continent. It still is.

We urge you, for your own sakes, and for the sakes of your children, to start looking at things from a scientific viewpoint, and you can then come to the conclusion that the only thing that can work to solve social problems caused by the present financial system, is that Scientific Design. We hope you will, because then the work of the Technocrats will be done, our research and education finally heeded, and we, too, can enjoy that leisure time.