Dimentio
3rd October 2006, 12:45
http://www.technocracyeurope.eu
Hello human being!
Let's now explore what technocracy is. You may have heard the term before if you have attended university courses, for example "the history of ideas", or have played some role-playing games, like "Mage: The Ascension". Of course, we are neither some sort of bureaucratic elitists or a world-wide conspiracy.
Rather, we are a social movement.
We are living in a deeply troubled world. For every year, our growth-oriented civilisation destroys more and more of our diverse ecosystems. The natural ecosystems, which we are systematically exhausting, are circulation-focused, and work according to a dynamic equilibrum which creates a balance - a harmony - between the different lifeforms in the ecosystem.
Today, we have created linear ecosystems, where the environment is tamed, and reorganised according to the whims of the price system.
The price system is a global resource flow which works according to the principle of exchange. Money is utilised as a medium of that exchange, which could be of both raw materials, material products, and services. The price system is working according to supply and demand, where the subjective needs and income of the consumer is weighted towards the availability of the product or service given.
The price system has expanded and institutionalised itself during the last couple of hundred years, and today, it has - together with industrialism - created unprecedented growth and increases in human prosperity. The price system is the basis for both capitalism and socialism, for both free markets and government welfare.
Nowadays, there are many problems with the price system.
The two most alarming of them is;
1] That the Earth is a closed system, which contradicts the demands of the price system for eternal growth. When we are systematically creating new and less life-supporting ecosystems, we are going to destroy our own future and create a hell on earth[1].
2] That we have in fact leaved the time when scarcity of necessary goods and services was a natural law, and increased productivity so much that we have entered an age of relative abundance. The price mechanism is dependent upon scarcity since abundant goods cannot be sold with profit.
These two conclusions may contradict each-other, but it is a matter of balance. If we, theoretically, utilised our technology in a more wise manner, we could distribute a high standard of life to all human beings in a specific region or globally, while we would recycle our waste and thus create a equilibrum between humanity and nature.
But the price system stands in the way of both of these goals.
Therefore, we technocrats have proposed an alternative to the price system. The alternative is called, you guessed it, technocracy and it uses something called "Energy accounting".
Energy accounting means that all citizens would be given a digital certifikate with an energy quota. The quota would be based upon the total production capacity of the technological infrastructure. The quota comes in the shape of energy credits, which are based upon kilo-watt hours. All citizens are guaranteed an equal income in energy credits.
When the citizens are using their energy credits, the computers could track the demand and constantly adapt the supply after the demand, thus eliminating waste and allocating production to the best available facility.
To make this process easier, all production of products and services is sorted under the technate. It should be noted here that this does not equal central planning. Today's companies would still exist, but would be severly altered. They would keep most of their functions as what they really are (or should be) - creative productive units, but would lose their hungry drive to make profit. Also, people would be appointed to the job or function they are suited for according to meritocratic principles.
The technate is comprised of the entire infrastructure of an area big as a continent.
The technate is both a service and an information system, which is administratednot by politicians or businessmen, but by experts in their fields, chosen on the quality of their work and their efficiency. The technate would be run by technicians, engineers, scientists... well, geeks.
These experts would not have any authority over people. The technate would not make any laws or regulations. The experts would not decide what the people need, but rather how the production would be concluded in the most efficient manner, according to the needs and wants of the citizens and the needs of the environment.
This is the reason why it is called technocracy. Because the infrastructure would be administrated by those who actually understands it, instead of those who wants to execute economic and political power over other people.
Technocracy is a government over technology, not over people.
And how would the people live? Well, as long as they are not eating each-other and have the same access to the production capacity of the technate given by their certifiates, they are basically free to run their own lives. Barter would not be prohibited, but the mere existence of the technate would prevent it from forming a new price system.
We technocrats are also big fans of down-scaling and automatisation. We want to reduce the amount of people working, and instead letting machines take over so much work as possible. Thus running contrary to the naive belief that work is some sort of natural law.
All people able would of course still work, but the thought is that they should work with what they like, and that they should do their work because they are loving it, not because any usage of force.
The amount of work would be significantly reduced though, not to any specific time though, but according to the current level of automatisation. The more we will automatise, the less work-hours would be needed on a continental scale.
We would also like to abolish urban wastelands, and replace them with ecological structures, remniscent of arcologies, but called urbanates. These would be equally distributed along the technate, and built as sustainable communities.
All structures and equipment produced in a technate would be modular as Lego, thus making it easier to add extensions to your house, move your apartment, our repair your TV and refrigerator. Thus, the products would have much more lifetime in usage, and would be easier to recycle.
The prime point of technocracy is that it would allow us a middle way between capitalism and primitivism, without jeopardizing either and both of the environment or humanity. We technocrats are constantly working to improve and study our own design, according to traditional scientific methods, such as empiricism.
Already on the edge of your seat? Then check out the rest of the website and don't forget to join in if you want a piece of the action!
Hello human being!
Let's now explore what technocracy is. You may have heard the term before if you have attended university courses, for example "the history of ideas", or have played some role-playing games, like "Mage: The Ascension". Of course, we are neither some sort of bureaucratic elitists or a world-wide conspiracy.
Rather, we are a social movement.
We are living in a deeply troubled world. For every year, our growth-oriented civilisation destroys more and more of our diverse ecosystems. The natural ecosystems, which we are systematically exhausting, are circulation-focused, and work according to a dynamic equilibrum which creates a balance - a harmony - between the different lifeforms in the ecosystem.
Today, we have created linear ecosystems, where the environment is tamed, and reorganised according to the whims of the price system.
The price system is a global resource flow which works according to the principle of exchange. Money is utilised as a medium of that exchange, which could be of both raw materials, material products, and services. The price system is working according to supply and demand, where the subjective needs and income of the consumer is weighted towards the availability of the product or service given.
The price system has expanded and institutionalised itself during the last couple of hundred years, and today, it has - together with industrialism - created unprecedented growth and increases in human prosperity. The price system is the basis for both capitalism and socialism, for both free markets and government welfare.
Nowadays, there are many problems with the price system.
The two most alarming of them is;
1] That the Earth is a closed system, which contradicts the demands of the price system for eternal growth. When we are systematically creating new and less life-supporting ecosystems, we are going to destroy our own future and create a hell on earth[1].
2] That we have in fact leaved the time when scarcity of necessary goods and services was a natural law, and increased productivity so much that we have entered an age of relative abundance. The price mechanism is dependent upon scarcity since abundant goods cannot be sold with profit.
These two conclusions may contradict each-other, but it is a matter of balance. If we, theoretically, utilised our technology in a more wise manner, we could distribute a high standard of life to all human beings in a specific region or globally, while we would recycle our waste and thus create a equilibrum between humanity and nature.
But the price system stands in the way of both of these goals.
Therefore, we technocrats have proposed an alternative to the price system. The alternative is called, you guessed it, technocracy and it uses something called "Energy accounting".
Energy accounting means that all citizens would be given a digital certifikate with an energy quota. The quota would be based upon the total production capacity of the technological infrastructure. The quota comes in the shape of energy credits, which are based upon kilo-watt hours. All citizens are guaranteed an equal income in energy credits.
When the citizens are using their energy credits, the computers could track the demand and constantly adapt the supply after the demand, thus eliminating waste and allocating production to the best available facility.
To make this process easier, all production of products and services is sorted under the technate. It should be noted here that this does not equal central planning. Today's companies would still exist, but would be severly altered. They would keep most of their functions as what they really are (or should be) - creative productive units, but would lose their hungry drive to make profit. Also, people would be appointed to the job or function they are suited for according to meritocratic principles.
The technate is comprised of the entire infrastructure of an area big as a continent.
The technate is both a service and an information system, which is administratednot by politicians or businessmen, but by experts in their fields, chosen on the quality of their work and their efficiency. The technate would be run by technicians, engineers, scientists... well, geeks.
These experts would not have any authority over people. The technate would not make any laws or regulations. The experts would not decide what the people need, but rather how the production would be concluded in the most efficient manner, according to the needs and wants of the citizens and the needs of the environment.
This is the reason why it is called technocracy. Because the infrastructure would be administrated by those who actually understands it, instead of those who wants to execute economic and political power over other people.
Technocracy is a government over technology, not over people.
And how would the people live? Well, as long as they are not eating each-other and have the same access to the production capacity of the technate given by their certifiates, they are basically free to run their own lives. Barter would not be prohibited, but the mere existence of the technate would prevent it from forming a new price system.
We technocrats are also big fans of down-scaling and automatisation. We want to reduce the amount of people working, and instead letting machines take over so much work as possible. Thus running contrary to the naive belief that work is some sort of natural law.
All people able would of course still work, but the thought is that they should work with what they like, and that they should do their work because they are loving it, not because any usage of force.
The amount of work would be significantly reduced though, not to any specific time though, but according to the current level of automatisation. The more we will automatise, the less work-hours would be needed on a continental scale.
We would also like to abolish urban wastelands, and replace them with ecological structures, remniscent of arcologies, but called urbanates. These would be equally distributed along the technate, and built as sustainable communities.
All structures and equipment produced in a technate would be modular as Lego, thus making it easier to add extensions to your house, move your apartment, our repair your TV and refrigerator. Thus, the products would have much more lifetime in usage, and would be easier to recycle.
The prime point of technocracy is that it would allow us a middle way between capitalism and primitivism, without jeopardizing either and both of the environment or humanity. We technocrats are constantly working to improve and study our own design, according to traditional scientific methods, such as empiricism.
Already on the edge of your seat? Then check out the rest of the website and don't forget to join in if you want a piece of the action!