The Scientific, Technological Design for the Economy of North America
Provides for:
- Complete economic security for
every man, woman, and child from birth to death;
- Complete health care;
- Modern, energy-efficient
housing for all;
- Education to the full extent of
each individual’s ability;
- Viable mass transit;
- Employment for all who are able
to work and care for those who cannot; and
- Careful stewardship of the
Continent’s natural resources and environment.
Background
As early
as the winter of 1918-19, it became obvious to a group of outstanding
scientists, engineers, and economists that technology was displacing man-hours
of labor, leading to increased unemployment and lack of purchasing power. The group included Howard Scott, chief engineer;
Frederick Ackerman, architect; Carl L. Alsberg, chemist; Allen Carpenter, M.D.;
Stuart Chase, C.P.A.; L.K. Comstock, electrical engineer; Alice Barrows
Fernandez, educator; Bassett Jones, electrical engineer; Benton Mackaye,
forester; Leland Olds, statistician; Charles P. Steinmetz, electrical engineer;
Richard C. Tolman, physicist; John Carol Vaughn, M.D.; Thorstein Veblen,
educator; Charles H. Whitaker, housing expert; and Sullivan W. Jones,
secretary.
Calling
themselves the Technical Alliance,
they embarked upon a survey of the energy and physical resources of the North
American Continent. After fourteen years
of intensive study, they were able to determine that North
America had the resources, both physical and energy, and the
know-how, to produce an abundance for all of its citizens. What is lacked was a viable method to
distribute the abundance. This inability
to distribute abundance had led to a depression in 1921, the unwise
introduction of installment buying in the 1920s. the stock market crash of
1929, and the Great Depression.
The
Technical Alliance determined that it was the efforts to preserve the Price
System, a system which had functioned, albeit imperfectly, during the centuries
of scarcity, that had led to the denouement of the 30s. They saw that a system that had grown out of
conditions of scarcity could not function adequately to distribute abundance.
Requirements to be met
A system
which could distribute abundance and satisfy the conditions listed above would
need these features:
- It must register continuously
the energy converted in the total day-to-day operation of the Continent,
both plant construction and maintenance, as well as the energy converted
in the production of goods and services for personal consumption by the
population.
- By registering the energy
converted, it would be possible to maintain a continuous inventory and to
balance production with consumption, eliminating both scarcity of any one
commodity and unnecessary resource depletion due to overproduction of some
other.
- This inventory could provide
information as to the type of goods and services produced, where and how
much had been used in order to give replacement information, and could, if
desired, identify the user.
- It must distribute goods and
services to every member of the population, giving each individual citizen
the widest possible choice in consuming his share of the Continental
physical wealth.
- It must guarantee that each
individual’s consuming power be his, or hers, alone, much as a Social
Security number is assigned to each individual, and is not to be
transferred to anyone else.
What would be the means of
distribution?
On each
of these counts, money fails to meet the requirement for distributing
abundance.
- It is not a measure of energy
converted, or of production or consumption of goods and services.
- It can be transferred from one
person to another, a fact which could deprive some citizens of their share
of abundance, besides making fraud an bribery possible.
- It can be stashed away. In this connection it must be noted that
any obstruction in a flow line, even at the consuming end, will eventually
shut the line down; hence, money will not keep production moving evenly.
On all
counts, money does not meet the requirements of a medium of distribution of
abundance.
The
mechanism that does meet the requirements is the energy degraded in the
production of goods and services. This
energy loss constitutes the physical cost
of production and can be stated in units of work (ergs or kwh) or in units of
heat (kg calories of Btus). We can
therefore measure quite accurately the energy lost in any given industrial
process, as well as the total physical cost of operating the Continent.
After
subtracting the energy required to operate the Continent as a whole – new plant
and maintenance thereof, roads, housing, hospitals, schools, local transport,
continental transport, communications, education, child care, and maintenance
of public institutions – the remainder would be shared equally by all adult
citizens in the form of personal energy credits. In the U.S. alone, in 1992, more than 81
quadrillion Btus were consumed, with 62 quadrillion being used for overall
operating, leaving 19 quadrillion to be consumed by the personal needs of the
population. That should supply every
North American with his favorite personal item, all else being supplied as a right of citizenship.
Keep in
mind: to be consumed. Since there is a definite limit to the amount
of goods and services one individual can consume, it is both reasonable and
efficient to issue equal numbers of personal energy units to each adult, male
and female alike. It is anticipated that
the number will be greater than anyone can reasonably use before the units
expire, at which time new units would be issued. These energy credits would be usable only by
the person to whom they are issued; no one else could “cash” them. Since everyone would have his own plentiful
supply, there would be no point in transferring credits to any other person –
or stealing someone else’s!
How will society be organized in a “technate”?
First,
realize that it will take years, even decades, to overcome the thought-patterns
and habits that have been the norm in the Price System. The urge to acquire things in order to gain
recognition must give way to a desire to excel in one’s chosen field of
endeavor. Whole new complexes of
energy-efficient housing interspersed with green areas and local cultural
facilities must take the place of the millions of units of substandard housing
and the decaying infrastructure which exist today. Taxes and monetary debt will be unknown. Crimes involving property – 95% of all crime –
will no longer be a problem. Disparity
between rich and poor will vanish and, with it, eventually, racism, sexism,
classism, ageism – most of today’s troubles.
Can we do
a global makeover? Not until we put our
own house (read Continent) in order. To
bite off more than we can chew is a sure prescription for failure. When things are running smoothly in North America, then we can invite young people from other
countries to come and observe what can be adapted to their situation.
After the period of transition is
over, the children
born into the Technate will enjoy lifetime
economic security and education to age 25, as a right of citizenship. At 25, after being exposed to the many
careers available, they will choose the one best suited to their talents for
their life’s work – a work life that will last probably 20 years of 4-day weeks
of 4-hour days with 78 days continuous vacation each year. At about age 45 then, they will retire at
full compensation, free to travel, enjoy a hobby, study, whatever.
The
actual operation of the Technate will continue as society operates today –
those with the expertise in the various lines of industry and the professions
will carry on all necessary functions.
We will be well rid of political interference and the financial
substructure, either of which contributes one iota to the physical operation of
the Continent. Those people who are
currently engaged in politics or finance will either retire, or, if under 45,
will find a line of work suited to them.
In order to
operate a mechanism as complex as an entire Continent, the needed functions
must be divided into manageable units. There
will be industrial sequences (agriculture, manufacturing, mining, etc.) service
sequences (education, medicine, etc.) and research sequences. Each sequence will have its own director
chosen from among its most capable personnel by his or her peers. These sequence directors will together form
an advisory body, similar to the U.S. President’s Cabinet, which will advise
the Continental Director, chosen from among the sequence directors by his or
her peers, on matters of policy.
Through such a vertical alignment, each person will be heard, making
possible the most completely democratic society ever devised.
Any
desirable features of societal organization not specifically mentioned here,
for lack of space, must be assumed to be included at the most optimum
level. In fact, the increasing
population, coupled with the flagrant depletion of resources which has occurred
as a result of 20th century Price System excesses, makes it
imperative that Technocracy’s Design,
with its emphasis on balancing production with consumption in order to conserve
natural resources, its insistence that only goods of optimum quality be
manufactured for the same reason – in order to conserve natural resources, its
equalizing of income and opportunity in order to avoid the chaos which looms if
we continue on our present course, be adopted as soon as reasonably
