DaCuBaN
7th July 2004, 11:12
Linkage (http://www.technocracy.ca/simp/Technocracy_FAQ_1.x.htm#6.18)
There are three basic conclusions. The first is that there exists on the North American Continent a physical potential in resources to produce a high standard of goods and services for all citizens, and that the high-speed technology for converting these resources to use-forms in sufficient volume is already installed, and that the skilled personnel for operating it are present and available. Yet we have unprecedented insecurity, extensive poverty and rampant crime.
The second conclusion of Technocracy is that the Price System can no longer function adequately as a method of production and distribution of goods. The invention of power machinery has made it possible to produce a plethora of goods with a relatively small amount of human labor. As machines displace men and women, however, purchasing power is destroyed, for if people cannot work for wages and salaries, they cannot buy goods. We find ourselves, then, in this paradoxical situation: the more we produce, the less we are able to consume.
The final basic conclusion is that a new distributive system must be instituted that is designed to satisfy the special needs of an environment of technological adequacy, and that this system must not in any way be associated with the extent of an individual's functional contribution to society.
Anyone else done any reading on this? I've only just started looking myself, but so far it seems promising...
The benefits would be many Without explaining them individually, they are listed here in summation:
The elimination of:
Industrial waste, poverty, homelessness, pollution, waste of natural resources, most crime, huge income disparity, political and financial control over others, corruption, overloading peak periods of the day, disparity in availability of health care and education, economic instability, discrimination, taxes, debt, insecurity, inefficient and haphazard transportation, profit and greed motives.
The creation of conditions such as:
Free and quality education for all, free and quality health care, a high income and standard of living for everyone, inexpensive and top quality housing, clean air and water, economic security, equality for all humans, work for less than 20 hours per week at a job you enjoy and are properly trained for, 78 days consecutive vacation, cheap communications, freedom and income to pursue personal hobbies and interests.
Sounds pretty good to me...
Money used today is a method of exchange. It is used to represent debt, and can be exchanged with or by anyone for any good or service imaginable, including those that are less than socially acceptable. Suppose we illustrate this by showing an example of how money is inadequate to distribute an abundance.
Suppose, for instance, that we attempted to distribute by means of money the goods and services produced. Suppose that it were decided that 200 billion dollars worth of goods and services were to be produced in a given year, and suppose further that during that time 200 billion dollars were distributed to the population with which to purchase these goods and services. Immediately the properties of money would create trouble. Due to the fact that money is not a physical measure of goods and services, there is no assurance that prices would not change during the year, and that 200 billion dollars at the end of the year would be adequate to purchase the goods and services it was supposed to purchase. Due to the fact that money can be saved, there is no assurance that the 200 billion dollars issued for use in a given year would be used in that year, and if it were not used this would immediately begin to curtail production and to start oscillations. Due to the fact that money is negotiable and that certain human beings, by hook or crook, have a facility for getting it away from other human beings, this would defeat the requirement that distribution must reach all human beings. A further consequence of the negotiability of money is that it can be used very effectively for purposes of bribery. Hence the most successful accumulators of money would be able eventually not only to disrupt the flow line but also to buy a controlling interest in the social mechanism itself, which brings us right back to where we started from. Due to the fact that money is a species of debt, and hence cumulative, the amount would have to be continuously increased, which in conjunction with its property of being negotiable, would lead inevitably to concentration of control in a few hands and to general disruption of the distribution system that was supposed to be maintained.
Thus, money in any form whatsoever is completely inadequate as a medium of distribution in an economy of abundance. Any social system employing commodity evaluation (commodity valuations are the basis of all money) is a Price System. Hence it is not possible to maintain an adequate distribution system in an economy of abundance with a Price System control.
A method of distribution, on the other hand, eliminates these problems. It would be individually issued, and non-transferable. This not only guarantees an individual's income and protects them from the predations of fiscally wily individuals, but also eliminates the political power it can exercise over others. In other words, it becomes far more difficult to actually "buy someone off." Because a method of distribution would be cancelled after use, or if not used cancelled after a certain time period, it could thus be used as an accurate method of measuring the exact amounts of things consumed. It could also be given the ability to keep track of what types of goods and services are consumed, thereby allowing production to match consumption. A person's purchase of a product or service would also serve as an instant "vote" for that product or service.
Energy Accounting is a method of Distribution based on the only measurable factor common to all products and services, and that is Energy. In an Energy Accounting system, all the energy used in the production, conversion, and transportation of goods and services would be accurately accounted for. This would be done by the relevant personnel in each Functional Sequence.
Primarily, Energy Accounting provides the accurate measurement of consumption, as well as production. This would be done with a device relevant to the available technology of the time. Technocracy's first proposed device was called the Energy Certificate. It would be distributed to all citizens and have the features of both a blank cheque and a traveller's cheque. It would be a document that would identify the user, with spaces to record information concerning the purchase, including what was purchased, the time and date, and what distribution center it was purchased from. This information would be immediately tabulated and sent to the Distribution Sequence , which could then use the information to determine what products were needed and where. Today, it is more likely that some sort of smart-card would be used. It could contain a microchip that could record all the relevant information, and also make the card far more difficult to tamper with.
What this would allow is for the Continental Control to know exactly how much of what items are being consumed and where. This information would allow production to be geared to consumption, and that the appropriate amounts of goods be delivered to the areas where they are desired. Since the energy it takes to produce and transport an item does not change, cost of items, measured in terms of energy, would not fluctuate, except in cases where a more efficient method of production was discovered, in which case the cost would only go down.
This sounds like a better form of socialism...
There are three basic conclusions. The first is that there exists on the North American Continent a physical potential in resources to produce a high standard of goods and services for all citizens, and that the high-speed technology for converting these resources to use-forms in sufficient volume is already installed, and that the skilled personnel for operating it are present and available. Yet we have unprecedented insecurity, extensive poverty and rampant crime.
The second conclusion of Technocracy is that the Price System can no longer function adequately as a method of production and distribution of goods. The invention of power machinery has made it possible to produce a plethora of goods with a relatively small amount of human labor. As machines displace men and women, however, purchasing power is destroyed, for if people cannot work for wages and salaries, they cannot buy goods. We find ourselves, then, in this paradoxical situation: the more we produce, the less we are able to consume.
The final basic conclusion is that a new distributive system must be instituted that is designed to satisfy the special needs of an environment of technological adequacy, and that this system must not in any way be associated with the extent of an individual's functional contribution to society.
Anyone else done any reading on this? I've only just started looking myself, but so far it seems promising...
The benefits would be many Without explaining them individually, they are listed here in summation:
The elimination of:
Industrial waste, poverty, homelessness, pollution, waste of natural resources, most crime, huge income disparity, political and financial control over others, corruption, overloading peak periods of the day, disparity in availability of health care and education, economic instability, discrimination, taxes, debt, insecurity, inefficient and haphazard transportation, profit and greed motives.
The creation of conditions such as:
Free and quality education for all, free and quality health care, a high income and standard of living for everyone, inexpensive and top quality housing, clean air and water, economic security, equality for all humans, work for less than 20 hours per week at a job you enjoy and are properly trained for, 78 days consecutive vacation, cheap communications, freedom and income to pursue personal hobbies and interests.
Sounds pretty good to me...
Money used today is a method of exchange. It is used to represent debt, and can be exchanged with or by anyone for any good or service imaginable, including those that are less than socially acceptable. Suppose we illustrate this by showing an example of how money is inadequate to distribute an abundance.
Suppose, for instance, that we attempted to distribute by means of money the goods and services produced. Suppose that it were decided that 200 billion dollars worth of goods and services were to be produced in a given year, and suppose further that during that time 200 billion dollars were distributed to the population with which to purchase these goods and services. Immediately the properties of money would create trouble. Due to the fact that money is not a physical measure of goods and services, there is no assurance that prices would not change during the year, and that 200 billion dollars at the end of the year would be adequate to purchase the goods and services it was supposed to purchase. Due to the fact that money can be saved, there is no assurance that the 200 billion dollars issued for use in a given year would be used in that year, and if it were not used this would immediately begin to curtail production and to start oscillations. Due to the fact that money is negotiable and that certain human beings, by hook or crook, have a facility for getting it away from other human beings, this would defeat the requirement that distribution must reach all human beings. A further consequence of the negotiability of money is that it can be used very effectively for purposes of bribery. Hence the most successful accumulators of money would be able eventually not only to disrupt the flow line but also to buy a controlling interest in the social mechanism itself, which brings us right back to where we started from. Due to the fact that money is a species of debt, and hence cumulative, the amount would have to be continuously increased, which in conjunction with its property of being negotiable, would lead inevitably to concentration of control in a few hands and to general disruption of the distribution system that was supposed to be maintained.
Thus, money in any form whatsoever is completely inadequate as a medium of distribution in an economy of abundance. Any social system employing commodity evaluation (commodity valuations are the basis of all money) is a Price System. Hence it is not possible to maintain an adequate distribution system in an economy of abundance with a Price System control.
A method of distribution, on the other hand, eliminates these problems. It would be individually issued, and non-transferable. This not only guarantees an individual's income and protects them from the predations of fiscally wily individuals, but also eliminates the political power it can exercise over others. In other words, it becomes far more difficult to actually "buy someone off." Because a method of distribution would be cancelled after use, or if not used cancelled after a certain time period, it could thus be used as an accurate method of measuring the exact amounts of things consumed. It could also be given the ability to keep track of what types of goods and services are consumed, thereby allowing production to match consumption. A person's purchase of a product or service would also serve as an instant "vote" for that product or service.
Energy Accounting is a method of Distribution based on the only measurable factor common to all products and services, and that is Energy. In an Energy Accounting system, all the energy used in the production, conversion, and transportation of goods and services would be accurately accounted for. This would be done by the relevant personnel in each Functional Sequence.
Primarily, Energy Accounting provides the accurate measurement of consumption, as well as production. This would be done with a device relevant to the available technology of the time. Technocracy's first proposed device was called the Energy Certificate. It would be distributed to all citizens and have the features of both a blank cheque and a traveller's cheque. It would be a document that would identify the user, with spaces to record information concerning the purchase, including what was purchased, the time and date, and what distribution center it was purchased from. This information would be immediately tabulated and sent to the Distribution Sequence , which could then use the information to determine what products were needed and where. Today, it is more likely that some sort of smart-card would be used. It could contain a microchip that could record all the relevant information, and also make the card far more difficult to tamper with.
What this would allow is for the Continental Control to know exactly how much of what items are being consumed and where. This information would allow production to be geared to consumption, and that the appropriate amounts of goods be delivered to the areas where they are desired. Since the energy it takes to produce and transport an item does not change, cost of items, measured in terms of energy, would not fluctuate, except in cases where a more efficient method of production was discovered, in which case the cost would only go down.
This sounds like a better form of socialism...