Which Way Now, North America?

L.W. Nicholson

1996

Published in:

The Northwest Technocrat 4th quarter 1996, No. 345

Throughout the recorded history of the human species humans have made war against their own kind. They steal from their neighbor; they have enslaved, tortured and murdered their way to this day. And, now they consider themselves civilized!!

Century after century humans have allowed the conduct of human affairs to be administered by the strong man, the medicine man, the witch doctor and other politicians. And, still they believe in political freedom rather than freedom from politics!!

In the past century, a few people have developed the knowledge to build on this Continent a technological mechanism so great that it can literally produce more than can be used. And, in order to maintain prices and jobs, everything possible has been shipped abroad in exchange for money. Sometimes we have even supplied that. Farm products have been destroyed and farmers paid to produce less, shoddy goods are manufactured to increase turnover and to maintain profits, causing a wasting of non-replaceable natural resources. In pursuit of profit, fouling up the environment has become the result. And, humans consider themselves intelligent!!

For more than a half-century North America has had all the physical requirements to provide plenty for every citizen; at the same time there are 38 million Americans, including one-fifth of all children, living in poverty. While this condition exists at home political "leaders" consider themselves capable of showing the world how to run their affairs!!

Where are all the "smart" Americans who are willing to admit they don't know, to take time out from serving their own "best" interest on the bottom line to investigate the reasons for so much crime, debt and poverty in the midst of plenty on this Continent?

Human progress throughout history has been a long hard struggle with significant breakthroughs in human knowledge few and far between -- until the past 200 years or so. And, even now, the major breakthroughs come from only a small percentage of the population, who have to some extent, been able to break out of the traditional mold of human beliefs and opinions to become acquainted in a few areas with the scientific method.

Which way do we go now? We have reached a crossroad which we haven't even recognized and, as a result, we are trying to continue our journey on the same road traveled in the distant past. But this road has suddenly become very bumpy, with potholes of increasing size and is rapidly approaching a dead-end. Looking at present trends of human and technological progression, unmistakably, we are headed into unknown and unprecedented territory. For two centuries this Continent has been developing rapidly, driving full-steam ahead toward a high-energy, highly-complex, technological society. This is an unprecedented development that is changing social patterns more than any previous social progression in human history. All other forces involved in social change pale into insignificance by comparison. For example, the automobile alone has been responsible for more social change than all political parties combined since 1776.

These trends are not static, they have not reached the present high plateau to remain static forever. They are variable and dynamic, and they are developing at an ever faster pace as a function of time. No slowdown in technological development is in sight; in fact, with the computer-controlled technology, now being installed, the trend is progressing faster than ever. Further, new technological breakthroughs are adding to the complexity of society so fast that it is difficult to keep up with this trend alone. As a result of all these complex and increasing pressures, we may expect more social change within the next few years than has occurred in the past 200.

The changes in the workplace have been almost unbelievable and sudden; work has changed from wrestling a plow behind a mule to watching a computer screen. The highly skilled can push buttons and produce technologically -- more than thousands could produce before the technological revolution. The unskilled and the semi-skilled are being rapidly rendered irrelevant and under-employed, unneeded in this new workplace in a new world of computer controlled technology. Further, many products are now available that could never have been produced by hand. And many, or most, of all manufactured products -- could be made far superior in quality -- that would last longer and conserve man-hours and non-replaceable natural resources while reducing pollution.

The rate of social change is increasing. This trend has been on the increase at a very rapid rate since the steam engine provided a new source of energy that could be applied to the production of human requirements. Since the development of the steam engine, other developments have occurred with an ever increasing frequency. As the total technological mechanism continues to increase in efficiency, the rate of social change will continue to increase accordingly. And if we, as a society, fail to update our mental and economic concepts to fit the new technological conditions, the social turbulence already underway can only continue its present growth toward a socially intolerable state. Remember the riots of 1967 and 1992? And the protest marches on Washington?

It is a most unpleasant reflection on human intelligence when poverty is allowed in the midst of plenty, or when profits are considered more important than the physical environment, or when a nation of people cannot select a leadership that can lead us out of such a mess.

Our country and our Continent are in trouble, serious trouble -- trouble that will never be solved by ignoring it. Poverty is on the increase. Under-employment, crime, homelessness, hopelessness and environmental degradation are increasing, while confidence in the economy and its political and financial leadership is declining. Millions of people are being abandoned without incomes and little chance of obtaining jobs with a living wage. Since all this is going on at the same time that technology is growing faster than ever before, proves the point that the present method of distribution, this system of price and its failure to distribute sufficient purchasing power as a reward for human labor, is definitely obsolete. An entirely new economic system with a new and less restrictive social control technique is required.

Our society has become entirely too complex, technologically, environmentally, and in population density, to be adequately controlled and directed by political methods. The solutions for such physically complex social problems can only be achieved by the use of the scientific method. A method which is based on factual, verifiable, information. The present efforts of the political "leadership" are insignificant and irrelevant and have no chance whatsoever of solving the present economic dilemma. This is becoming so obvious that less than half of the qualified voters bother to do so. These people are not unpatriotic, they simply see no worthwhile results from making an "X" beside the name of some dubious character.

An intelligently operated society can never be achieved by the un-intelligent, dog-eat-dog, greedy, individualistic methods of economic design attained through the thousands of years of past experiments in futility. Those same methods have provided the incentive for crime, both legal and illegal, through the centuries. A new design to fit the new conditions of technologically produced plenty with reduced labor requirements must be employed to solve today's economic problems. When that is done, there will be no debt, no poverty, no taxes, and our behavior will no longer be determined by haphazard economic methods. Working hours can be reduced to allow all citizens to take part in the affairs of society. Anything less falls short of the technological potential. Anything less may end the human experiment itself.

Which way now, North America? Are we so apathetic, so careless, or so interested in the bottom line that we must endure another 1929 economic collapse to provide the incentive to make the effort to understand the requirements of an economy of plenty, and eliminate under-employment and most crime? The achievement of a thousand years of peace and plenty certainly should be worth some consideration by all normal North Americans. Technocracy Inc. has provided the physical working plans and has attempted to encourage the people of this Continent to investigate them for the past 60 years with little help from the chief beneficiaries of past methods. Their failure to provide an economy of plenty -- or even the specifications required -- should make it obvious that they do not intend to allow such drastic improvements for this Continent's people. We must achieve an intelligent society in spite of their interference. We must make a beginning for something worthwhile. Investigate Technocracy now!!