Technocracy Embraces All Causes
One of the things that warms my heart about humanity in this day and age is the large number of volunteer and charity organizations operating throughout North America. Amidst all the crime, degradation, poverty, starvation, violence, and greed, lies the volunteer spirit, those precious few people that give of their time and/or money to help those less fortunate (or in some cases, just as unfortunate) than themselves. I have had the great pleasure of meeting many of these individuals, and their entire outlook on life can, at times, give me hope. I myself have been on both sides of this giving, and am glad to be a part of it still.
However, despite the vast efforts performed by these thousands of organizations, and even more individuals, things in general don't seem to be improving a whole lot. Take racism. The black slaves were emancipated over a century ago, yet people of this origin are still treated differently in many parts of the United States; when they go to stores, restaurants, or to schools. Sure, it's not as obvious as it once was, but some parents still teach their children that 'those' people are bad. Organizations like the KKK still exist, and now spread their hate through the internet.
Or how about poverty, and unemployment? We, for the most part, tolerate these social ills because they have always been with us, and because our glorious national leaders tell us at length all about the detailed plans they have to "combat" these problems. Meanwhile, social assistance and health care get cut. People get laid off now in the hundreds or the thousands at a time. Even the term "downsizing" has become in vogue as a way of mockingly justifying these lay-offs.
Our leaders came together in a historic conference several months ago to discuss the tough measures needed to stop the damage we are doing to the environment. This, no doubt, gave us all hope. That is, until we all saw that what they came home with was pathetically small in the way of "tough measures." So pollution continues to rise, the damage increases, and our ecological debt climbs with an unknown compound interest rate. My question is: When will mother nature come and collect? What will she consider collateral? How do we 'default' on a planet? Anyone who has studied what's been happening to our environment to any degree is, quite justifiably, scared.
So what? We're doing all we can, right? Perhaps you are thinking that what I am saying is that we all should pick a cause, maybe several, and give until it hurts? Actually, no. After studying the problem from a unique angle, it becomes rather apparent why all these hard-working people are losing an uphill battle. The simplified reasoning is that all these volunteers are part of a huge, disorganized movement for humanity. They are scrambling around, unaware of each other or the other problems that exist, applying whatever little band-aids they can afford to with their meager incomes. What this amounts to could be equated to an entire army of ants scrambling to collect the rare piece of bubble gum in order to help stop the leaks in a dam that has it's water pressure constantly building up on the other side.
Understand that I am not criticizing these people's good intentions, or their intelligence. Some of these organizations can become quite sophisticated and can operate rather large amounts of capital. The reason I used the army ant example is to illustrate the need for a new approach, one that calls for the unification of the entire 'army' for its strength, and the guiding principles of science as its leader. Why science? Go back to the ant example. The dam wasn't made of bubble gum, so why should we think that bubble gum will help stop the leaks? We are all using what we each only have a little of, money, and money alone can't solve the problems. Our continent isn't built of money, just by money. Indeed, money is an impediment.
Just look at some of the examples stated above. Why don't our political and business leaders stop and reverse pollution? They don't have enough money. Why don't children get adequate educations in many instances? Not enough money. Why do some people starve, or others die without sufficient medical care? Again, money. And it is money that volunteers try to re-distribute from those that have to where it's needed. This is their tool, but it is a flawed one. Money can only buy potential solutions, but since money is scarce, so will be the solutions. Thus, since scarce means "never enough", we will never have enough to solve our problems, as long as we use money.
Of course, most of us realize this, and that's why we accept the horrible facts as they are. For as long as we keep fighting, our consciences are clear. But has anyone ever stopped to ask if the problem was actually not enough money, or not enough of anything? Here's what I mean by this. Many people die in North America due to starvation, or at least malnutrition. So, we have food banks for these people, but there is never enough to go around. Why not? Do we actually have a shortage of food? Hardly. Science tells us that not only is this continent the most abundantly rich in nearly all resources, including agricultural, but we also have the strongest industrial machine available to us to convert those resources into use forms. So why don't these people have food? The answer, in part, is that the government actually pays the farmers to produce less, or buys their produce, then either stores it indefinitely or destroys it. Why is this? If they didn't, and food was left to be plentiful, prices would go down significantly, and since there is only so much people can physically eat, demand stays the same. So when supply increases, prices go down; simple economics. The farmers would be out of jobs, and continue going out of business, until a natural shortage comes along again, with people starving by the millions. This is because the when the prices go up, that guarantees that those with little purchasing power can eat.
So along comes our government to the rescue! They buy the food, destroy it, and thus keep prices up. Great! The farmers get paid, the economy is saved, and what? Oh right, the people are still starving. So what we have here is a situation where the country produces more than enough, an abundance rather than a scarcity, and yet they still don't get enough to eat, the reason being to save the money, creating artificial shortages of purchasing power. Money, is the problem.
You may have heard the old idea that if all the gold in the federal reserve were to disappear, (back when we were still on the gold standard), and no one noticed, that society would keep going fine. But what if all the money disappeared? Of course there would be problems, but let's look closely at this. What we would still have is a productive capacity. We would still have goods produced, and people to consume them. So nothing is physically wrong with the system. What would be missing would be a method of distribution. There would be all the products on the shelves, but how do you decide who gets them? That is what the government should be for, providing goods and services to people, not preventing it.
So how is that done? I will not go into the complexities of how a Technate (a Technocratic society) will operate here, but I will give you the end results. In the mean time a few details will crop up, but how they will come about is not within the scope of this article. What follows is divided up into many of the more prominent social problems which we experience here in North America, or causes which need help. I will show how Technocracy encompasses solutions for each one.
Starvation
For all of you working in food banks, you must really be peeved with the notion that the government destroys our surplus food. So now imagine a nation without money, and all it's financial constraints, where every citizen has a guaranteed income above what is their ability to consume. We have the food and production capacity to do it, this has been proven countless times.
Poverty
Some people try to alleviate the condition of the poor, but again only with money. The poor will never have enough to go around, our present Price/money System demands that. But it has been proven that we have sufficient resources and production to provide everybody, that is, every person on this continent, with a quite high standard of living. Thus, with everyone guaranteed a high income, the human spirit becomes freed to explore and grow for the first time in history. Of course, after hearing this, most people scoff and start talking about Russia, and how it's guaranteed income didn't work, and they'd be right, about Russia anyway. You see, since the old Soviet Union was a Communist state, and therefor a Price System, it still operated under the concept of scarcity, not abundance. This, as you will see, makes all the difference in the world. The people in Russia may not have worked, but this was more because of the type of work they had to do, toil and drudgery, i.e., they didn't like it. Add to that that they had to still perform lots of work, and what's the point? However, imagine if you were offered your dream job right now, along with a high salary, and all the free, personalized training and education was required for you to have that dream job, would you really turn it down? Throw in a 16 hour work week, and 78 days consecutive vacation into the package, would you work for that? The problem in a Technate might more be people wanting to work more, not less. And before you start trying any old arguments about human nature, well, the Technocrats have studied that too, and what I have mentioned before is the conclusion they've reached after decades of research. For now let us suffice to say that what most people think of as human nature is usually better termed human behaviour, which is something very different. Further discussion on this topic can be found elsewhere in Technocratic literature.
Medical Care
Far too many people in the Canada go without sufficient care. Budget cutbacks are the norm, beds, wings, and entire hospitals are closed every year. Medical benefits become harder and harder to get from employers as they look to cut back expenses such as employees. The situation in the United States is even worse.
Yet we have more than sufficient resources to take care of these people. There are enough doctors and nurses, or there would be if they were employed, and more people had access to that level of education. And just imagine how many fewer cases of everything there would be with a single, organized, central health authority, that could make sure that harmful pesticides would not get into our food (which they can't do now because of business interests), that the poisons were taken out of our paints, household cleaners, and cosmetics. Imagine an organization whose mandate was the health of the public, as opposed to making money, either for itself, or it's doctors. Even the doctors themselves wouldn't be so pressed for time, trying to see as many patients as possible just to keep the money coming in, so that they can stay in practice (or to get the latest Porsche, depending on the doctor). They could instead spend time with their patients, getting to know them and their lifestyle, so as to get a clearer picture as to where problems might occur, and deal with the source of the problem, rather than merely with the symptoms.
Yes, with a guaranteed quality health care system for all citizens, illness and disease would be drastically reduced, thereby giving people much more free time and comfort to do their small amount of work, and enjoy their largely leisurely lifestyle.
Racism
This has been a problem since time immemorial. Before modern times, this was largely due primarily to ignorance, fear, and territoriality. However, we civilized people of the 20th century know that, under our skin, we are all the same inside, right? If this is so, then why does racism still run rampant? It might appear that the elements of fear and ignorance will always be with us, but let us speculate on the idea that the problem is instead financial.
Many people fear black people as being violent and primitive. Of course, this is completely unfounded, unless, of course, you grew up close to places like Queens, or South Central L.A. In these places, and in hundreds just like them all over the continent, black people live together in poverty and squalor. The families are seldom two-parent, and in either case the parents spend most of their time working. The kids get bored, and join gangs. They do this for many reasons which I will not get into here. These gangs might also be preyed upon by older criminals, where they themselves turn to crime, drugs, and gang wars, and as the rest of us watch this, we wonder, what's wrong with them?
Now imagine those same kids in stable, two-parent homes. Imagine the kids going to a free school, that gives them individualized training in whatever interests them. Imagine they grow up in a neighborhood where there are no drug dealers, simply because the dealers can't make any money selling drugs. Why? Because there is no money! And do the kids get bored? Well, if they are not already excited about what they are learning in school, there will also be a wide variety of entertainment and amusement centers in which the children can participate, and since their parents only work 16 hours a week, they both have plenty of time to spend with each other doing things as a family.
My point is that once every citizen no longer needs to be afraid because they have so little and others who have less might take that away from them, the fear aspect of racism melts away. The ignorance aspect would vanish in light of a proper education, using unbiased scientific information to teach the kids. Science only recognizes one distinct human species still alive on this planet: homo sapiens. In the work place, discrimination would not exist either, since employment is guaranteed to all citizens, and individual positions are selected based only on merit and qualifications. There also would be no businesses in which people could 'own', and thus make arbitrary decisions based on their own ignorant opinions. They would have to follow the operating standards as dictated by our environment.
Women's Rights
While this also isn't as much of an issue as it once was, sexual discrimination and harassment still exist. However, in a Technate, women would have all the same rights and privileges as men, right across the board. They would be receiving the same large income everyone else would, thus no man could hold his income over the woman's head as a form of emotional manipulation. Other than that, the same arguments apply here as they did for racism above.
Anti-Crime Campaigns
The issue of racism brought up some good points that should be cleared up. Few people are aware that in a report issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), 95% of all crime is crime against property. What this amounts to is that should society be reorganized as Technocracy proposes, 95% of all crime would simply vanish without having passed a single law, or having issued a single moral statement. The examples of this are many.
Many crimes are simply financial in nature, such as fraud, counterfeiting, tax evasion, embezzlement, etc. Since the institutions which provide the opportunities for these crimes would cease to exist in a Technate (banks, stocks, insurance, taxes), so would the crime that goes with them.
Other crimes have to do with the weaknesses of money itself. Money is transferable. Thus it can be stolen, cheated, and gambled away. Regardless of the method, others can divert it from you to them. Technocracy's usage of the Energy Card would assign a number of credits to each individual that represents that person's duly designated purchasing power, and would likely be more than most people would find it convenient to consume. These credits are non-transferable, and thus are only a means of distribution, not exchange. Thus, your credits cannot be stolen, and more crime would be done away with.
What about personal belongings? Well, what's the use in going to all the trouble of breaking into your neighbor's house (which would be difficult indeed) just to steal their T.V. when you have more than enough 'credits' to buy your own, even two, and have them delivered right to your door? Not much, I suspect.
As for drugs, and prostitution, these are no longer viable crimes. The purpose of most crime is to obtain purchasing power, usually in the form of money. Since there will be no money that the pimps and dealers can get, again, what's the point?
The remaining 5% of crime, dealing with people of a pathological nature, would receive the best available medical care, with the most advanced and well funded research behind it to give them all the help they need.
Education, Hot Meal Programs
To me it is the saddest thing I can think of when children in this Great Country of ours have to be fed at school because they don't get enough to eat at home. Now, even these programs are being cut. Schools are being closed, teachers are quitting or striking because of pay deductions, and classes are getting larger. University tuitions go up every year while student loans go down. Schools are having to finance their budgets by allowing private companies to advertise their products on school computers, and elsewhere. Even Coke and Pepsi are fighting for exclusive advertising rights, dividing our schools by a type of soft drink. It would appear that we are once again fast becoming a society in which a quality education is a luxury for the wealthy only.
Yet still, we have enough food, enough teachers, and enough materials to produce a fantastic education for our children. Each and every one should be fascinated with the world we live in. They should be continuing to learn as long as they want, as much as their abilities allow. In a Technate this would happen. With the obstacle of money removed, we could take full advantage of the difference in the styles of learning that each person has, and use that to convey information in the most efficient and enjoyable way. Teachers could get to know their students, and help them with each problem as it comes up. This would obviously produce generation after generation of experienced and knowledgeable young adults that will have a lot to offer society on many levels. These advantages cannot be understated.
Environment
No other issue is as important today, or as misunderstood, as our ecology. Anyone who has studied our environment to almost any degree knows very well that we humans are an integral and dependent part of the complex web of life that covers our planet. Even experts in the field must admit that there is still so much that they don't know. What we do know for certain is that the way we are using technology at this time is severely damaging to our environment. Air and water pollution, ozone depletion, acid rain, deforestation, and global warming are but a few of the issues that honestly threaten our very existence on Earth, and yet all the politicians and big corporations can give us are a sugar-coated promises for the future. Why don't they take the measures necessary to stop and even reverse the damage we have done? Is it that they don't know how? Is it that they don't care? No, it is simply a matter of priorities, and when your priorities are towards supporting our current economy, without which we might not have anything at all (in their view), it becomes necessary to 'break a few eggs' so to speak. They cannot see outside the boundaries that politics and money have set out for them, and they are left powerless, no matter how benign or evil they may in truth be.
However, Technocrats have seen beyond these barriers, using science. They have calculated all the factors necessary to operate our entire society with a high industrial output, and virtually no pollution of any kind. It can be done, but only when money and its power are taken out of the picture. For example, did you know that automobiles make up over 95% of all the prime mover engines in North America? What this means is that they are also responsible for a corresponding amount of the pollution. Yet from a scientific viewpoint it is entirely feasible to design a continent-wide transportation system, involving all forms of transport (air, water, and land), to provide as much actual transportation as exists today (even more if desired), without the dependence on automobiles. And whatever transport is used, autos included, could easily be rendered non-harmful to the environment, with no sacrifice in comfort, reliability, or convenience. In fact, the only difference people would find in a Technate's Transportation Sequence, is how much of it they can partake of. One could easily have breakfast in Toronto, meet with friends in L.A. for lunch, then visit their folks in Florida for dinner, without it taking up all their income.
As well, since methods of farming and agriculture would be enhanced to at least the best methods in use today, waste and inefficiency there would disappear too. The net affect of this is the need for only as much land as is contained in the state of Illinois to feed us all. The rest could be carefully restored to it's natural state, something we have not seen since the days of Columbus!
Youth Organizations
One of the benefits to our society is the organizations that allow our children the opportunities to have many new experiences, and learn new skills. Many of these functions would be taken over by the increased resources of the Education Sequence (department) of the Technate. And of course, these programs would not suffer from any sort of financial limitations, and thus these opportunities would be extended to all children. Girls would no longer have to sell cookies to their neighbors in order to do anything. Hobbies and interests that were not covered by the official Education Sequence could easily be tended to by the new youth organizations. These could be formed and handled just like any non-profit organization today, except that there would be many less legal procedures for them since again, money would not be an issue. These groups would have every opportunity to explore their hobbies and interests, children and adults alike. No charity needed here either.
Anti-Nuclear (weapons and power)
This has been quite the debate of the past half-century. However, in a Technate, debate would be unnecessary. First of all, financial considerations would be removed. This would eliminate corporations and politicians with an interest in making money from these technologies. Instead, these technologies would be fully evaluated in all their benefits and detriments. Of course the safety and health of the population and environment would be paramount.
For the nuclear energy issue, most of our power would come from the efficient use of hydroelectric, geothermal solar, and wind generators. If nuclear energy were to be considered at all, it would only be allowed after careful assurances that it would be 100% safe, and that the disposal of the waste could be handled in a way as to not harm the environment at all, but again, this would likely not be necessary. Which form would be used would be determined by such factors as energy efficiency, safety, and location. Thus, areas which experience more wind would consider wind energy more than other areas; and places with more water would consider hydroelectric more.
For the issue of nuclear weapons, again, the need is likely not there. With the greatest amount of productive power and natural resources on the Earth, as well as the removal of money constraints on research and production, we could easily match and beat the military might and production of any other nation on Earth. In fact, it would likely require a concentrated attack by all the other nations simultaneously to even seriously damage a fully running Technate, but then again, when are they all likely to agree on anything anyway, except that they should also become Technates?
If our military production did prove inadequate against an aggressor (unlikely as it may be), the population may be called upon to increase their workday from 16 to maybe 20 or 24 hours a week. Remember that while this is still much lower that today's 40 hour week, your will have increased the entire productive capacity of this continent by either 25% or 50% respectively. And if this were all channelled into our military, that would likely mean at least a doubling to quadrupling of our military production, which was initially something to be reckoned with, only using the most technologically advanced and highest quality equipment available, and thus likely superior to our enemies.
The end result is that the need for nuclear weapons would likely not exist, which is good because since Technocrats value both people and our environment so much, the thought of having to use such items would be anathema.
Social Assistance and Health Care
Not much needs to be said here. There would be no need for any form of social assistance program simply because no one would need it. Expecting mothers would receive a more than ample maternity leave with full consuming benefits, and when she decided to return to work the most expert care available would be at her and "junior's" disposal.
Health care, as has been already mentioned, could easily be provided for free to everyone who wanted it. Again, with profit motive out of the picture, doctors and nurses would concentrate on prevention, rather than curative measures. A healthy population is in the best interests of everyone, except a price/scarcity economy.
Treatment of the Elderly & Retired
More and more I hear about how much harder is is to be a senior citizen these days than it was several years ago. The main focus of the problem, however, is on the declining trend of retirement funds. Sure, the banks are more than happy to help you start saving now, but government programs are decreasing. Fees for elderly medical care increase along with the rest our health care problems. Young people today are honestly scared as to whether they will actually have any money to survive on when they retire, unless they give in to the banks and start saving their money now.
Why must this be? It all comes down again to money, or lack thereof. The governments are so far in debt that they will never get out, to think otherwise is a fantasy. They have to start cutting back just to buy themselves time. And banks, like everyone else, are in it just to make money, and where a bank or other corporation is making money, people, human beings, are losing it.
Yet there is enough for all, and a Technate would provide this. With the advanced organizational skills of experts backed up by the facts of science, it would be possible to provide ALL citizens, young and old, with the same high standard of living. All of the benefits I have mentioned previously for younger citizens would also apply equally in every way to the retired. In fact, it has been calculated that with everyone working a 16 hour work week at only socially useful jobs (meaning no banking, insurance, or sales people, among others), then the entire working population could easily be reduced to the age range of 25 to 45 years old. Imagine that! Retirement at 45 with full consuming privileges, until death, and with no need to save! After that you would have all of your time available to travel, or devote to your hobbies, interests, or family. Remember, the focus of a Technate is to release people from work, not to enslave them to it, as our current system demands.
As for medical care, our seniors would be provided with only the best, just like everyone else. Caring, qualified professionals focused on maximum health and comfort would provide the average citizen with a long and enjoyable life.
Foreign Assistance
Many people complain that Technocracy is too involved with only the North American continent, that we should all be thinking globally if we humans and our environment is going to survive. This is all true, however, Technocracy has also given this much attention, and has some very carefully thought out reasons why we must focus on ourselves first.
First of all, look at us. We have been trying to convince the 300 or so million people of this continent to see things as they really are, and have met vast resistance. With this little progress, it would be foolhardy to expect that we could possibly change the minds of everyone in the world simultaneously, with all their wars, hatreds and feuds. Thus, from a strictly practical viewpoint, this approach is not feasible. That is not to say that a Technocracy would not make its research known to anyone in the world. Indeed, there are people in many countries that have noticed the need for a scientific government, but there is nothing these people can do for us right now, and nothing we can do for them.
From a strictly physical viewpoint, that is, one of science, the continent of North America constitutes a single operational unit. Any unit that was smaller would not have the diversity of resources that the whole continent does. Any larger unit would involve new scientific problems (such as overseas shipping and energy management) of an order much larger than the people of a single continent would find workable. This is not to say that our continents will never come together, but that the next operational unit above a continent is the globe, and again, that is too unlikely of a target at the moment.
Even with a global government, its concerns would primarily be that of global issues, and individual continents must still deal with their continental business, much like the proposed Area Controls, which would handle areas within a continent, dealing with solely regional issues.
Technocracy realizes that the best way to help others right now is to help ourselves. One does not give blood when they themselves are dying. Thus, when the Technate is fully operational, two things can occur. One, is that we will be able to provide, no strings attached, free assistance to other countries and their problems in the form of medical aid, scientific training, or food. Second, the other countries of the world, seeing how well the North Americans are living, will want that as well, and demand that their governments provide the same. b Their governments will fail to do so, and they will come to us for help. When they ask, we will show them how we run things here, and help them set up their own Technates. If enough Technates become established, then it will become feasible to begin considering the makings of a true global government, but that will be for our children to decide. Right now all we can do is give them everything we can to allow them the opportunity to decide. We can only do that by investigating Technocracy, and installing a Technate.
These are some of the major issues on the minds of humanitarians today. As you can see, Technocracy has a place for them all. Indeed, only through the workings of a scientific government will these peoples' dreams of a better world come true. There is no reason to believe otherwise; these are all proven facts. Technocracy invites all caring people, men, women, and children to investigate its findings so that we can show you that this is not all just some idle dream. You, like every member of Technocracy, will be pleasantly surprised as to how real this all is, and none of it is going to happen without everyone's involvement. The government won't install a technate. Neither will business. Even the Technocrats themselves are not capable of doing it alone, we need everyone. If you have been waiting for an answer to all these problems then here it is, and if you let it go, without establishing whether it is factual or not, you would be doing a great disservice to the true spirit of humanitarianism.