Technocracy Inc.
The name Technocracy Incorporated refers to an organisation formed in 1933 in the United States of America. The organisation promotes a version of technocracy and a technocratic plan for the North American continent.
History
The organisation was form in 1933 from former members of the Technical Alliance, including Howard Scott and Dr. M. King Hubbert. The organisation was one of a number of technocratic organisation to form in 1933 and it continues to exist today as the sole representative of the technocracy movement in the United States.[1] The organisation was at its height during the 1930s under the leadership of [Howard Scott]. A personality cult was built up around Scott. However, discontent with Scott’s leadership lead to a split in the movement during the 1940s.[2] The resulting break away group soon failed. Technocracy Inc. organised a large demonstration in 1947 but its membership began to decline. Scott remained as it leader and chief engineer until his death in 1970. The organisation still exists today and has its HQ in Ferndale, WA, USA.
Ideas
The organisation aim to apply science to society and promotes a technocratic plan based around a hierarchy of functional sequences to administer the North American continent with aboard of directors forming the overall governing body. Each functional sequence would have a technical area to administrate, for example health, production, defence, and research among others.
The organisation promotes a replacement for money. The organisation takes a thermal dynamic interpretation of society based on the observation that energy forms the lowest common denominator to all work which leads to the organisation promoting an Energy Accounting system where each citizen would have an allocation of Energy Certificates representing the production capacity available, which they could use to allocate energy to the production of desired goods.
The organisation propose and organisation of the American continent centred on North America and including Central America, the Caribbean as well as parts of South America and Greenland as the administrative area, which they refer to as a Technate. Within this area, the organisation propose that people will live within urbanates. The term urbanate refers to the organisation’s plan for a replacement of the current cities.
Some of the ideas the Technocracy present have overlaps with Edward Bellamy's works such as equal income and removal of political government found in Looking Backwards and Equality. The use of energy also has similarities to the works of the British chemist, Prof. Fredrick Soddy.
References
- ↑ Akin, William E. (1977). Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocrat Movement, 1900-1941. University of California Press. ISBN 0-520-03110-5.
- ↑ Elsner, jr., Henry (1967). The Technocrats: Prophets of Automation. Syracuse University.