An Age of Peace and Plenty is Possible
An Age of Peace and Plenty is Possible
L.W. Nicholson
Published in: 1997 The Northwest Technocrat, 2nd quarter 1997, No. 347
For centuries people have dreamed of an age of peace and plenty, an age without
crime, debt, hunger -- or war! A great dream indeed, but how could such a dream
actually be achieved in a real world in which these things are traditional and
profitable? If such an age became possible, what would be its operating
characteristics, and where is the human intelligence required for its
installation? Who would be willing to make an effort to understand the physical
requirements, or to accept the drastic changes necessary to turn this dream
into reality?
The ideal, or desire, for peace and plenty is not enough, the physical
requirements must be considered; an operating mechanism for the distribution of
plenty must be designed. And until it is, such an age will remain just that, an
ideal, or desire, without substance in this real world of matter and energy.
The installation of such a mechanism would require the greatest social change
in recorded human history.
If humans are ever to achieve such a great goal, they must first prepare for
it, not only in the physical characteristics required, but also with the
necessary mental concepts as well. Could it be done with the present state of
human intelligence? Unfortunately, that is extremely doubtful. About the only
chance of overcoming society's present mental blocks is the pressure resulting
from a complete economic collapse and the greatest economic depression ever
known by the human species. And, in addition, it must occur before a point-of-
no-return has been reached in the environmental degradation now in progress.
When that point has been reached an economy of plenty will be made impossible
by the shortage of natural resources left on this finite earth.
The first requirement for an age of peace and plenty will be to find a method
to produce plenty of everything required for everyone in the area. This is in
addition to the area concerned having the necessary quantity and quality of
natural resources to supply the population. It would require the intelligence
to design, construct, and operate an automatic, computer controlled technology,
and to achieve this conversion to a compatible social system. The location for
starting such an age must be determined by the area which has the resources to
make it possible, the iron, aluminum, wood, etc. Further the area must not be
overpopulated. WOULD YOU BELIEVE THAT THIS NORTH AMERICAN CONTINENT ALREADY HAS
THE ABOVE REQUIREMENTS?
When the above conditions are made possible, it would then be necessary, for
the first time in history, to design an economic system which could affect the
distribution of this plenty to all the people in the area. Since human muscles
are not powerful enough to produce so much, technology must do the job. Methods
must be found to allow more people to work less and still have access to the
plenty produced by technology. The most important jobs for humans will be to
design and control, to maintain and direct, the computers that control the
technology until computers can be trained to do this also.
It is a major mental problem to understand that abundance, like the air we
breathe, can't be distributed at a price. Therefore an entirely new economic
system, a non-price, non-profit system will be required. How could one expect
this requirement to be accepted by the owners of big corporations whose chief
concern is profit? It can't be expected! How could it be acceptable to
politicians whose campaign expenses are paid by corporations, or their owners?
Did the producers of wagons and buggies cheer the early success of the
automobile? Without a major miracle, this greatest dream will not be easy to
achieve. Certainly it would require more intelligence than has, so far, been
demonstrated by the human species.
In spite of all the difficulties, an entirely new social order is clamoring at
the gate with a new method of social organization -- that can provide an
equitable method of distribution that will eliminate the poverty, and near
poverty, now existing in the midst of plenty on this Continent -- one which
will eliminate politics, financial and business manipulations, debt, and all
crime for profit. This new method is already in process and is demanding to be
completed and admitted onto the North American scene as a replacement for the
present scarcity methods and concepts of the past. Technology is forcing this
issue and will make possible that age of peace and plenty that we humans have
dreamed about for centuries. The factors that are making all this possible are
the same factors that are making it impossible to continue the ancient methods
of the past; methods that do not allow the distribution of the plenty our
technology can already produce. If the citizens of this Continent are to make
these changes it will be because there is no other alternative to avoid chaos
and the probable extinction of the human species.
It is, unfortunately, highly improbable that we would ever make it into an
intelligently operated society if there was any other choice. Even so, it has
been postponed for more than a half century. People were taught to believe in
this system of scarcity, that it was the best, the only system possible, that
our country and the system are one and the same thing and that we should be
patriotic to it. So, it is likely that the pressure of events must drag many,
kicking and screaming, into a future actually so much better that it is without
comparison. Furthermore, it is most unlikely that those people will be able to
recognize the new society as being the one proposed by Technocracy Inc. for the
past 60 years.
The greatest changes in social operations in recorded history have been in
process for more than two centuries. The technological development during this
time has rendered all scarcity concepts of the past ineffective, antiquated and
unworkable; the developing technological ability reached the point of being
able to produce a plenty about 1920, but the inability of our ancient Price
System to distribute this plenty has condemned millions of this Continent's
citizens to a life of poverty and near poverty ever since. It has caused the
deliberate destruction of food at the same time people were hungry. Its
maintenance has required the greatest amplification of the debt structure of
all time, far greater than in 1929. How could these things be tolerated? -- By
a concerted program of maintaining ignorance!
Without a drastic change from the mental concepts that support the abominable
scarcity methods of the past -- new concepts developed which are compatible
with and able to control a technological society in a far more efficient
manner, poverty will continue to increase at an ever more rapid rate in spite
of the increasing ability to produce. The waste required to maintain a scarcity
economy will continue to increase at the same time that it becomes ever more
obvious that the continued waste of the earth's natural resources will render
this planet uninhabitable. With 5.8 billion-plus people, the earth can no
longer afford a waste of its resources in the production of inferior products
to increase sales and profits. Shipping abroad resources to assist in
increasing the overpopulation already existing in many areas can no longer be
tolerated, nor can an economic system which rewards such waste.
Technocracy Inc. has been trying to inform the citizens of this Continent
concerning these trends for the past 60 years, including the environmental
warning "The Ecology of Man", published in 1948. Technocracy has had little
assistance and much opposition from the Price System leadership and its press.
Nevertheless, these trends continue as predicted and the only solution remains
Technocracy's Technological Social Design. Further, these trends are developing
to the danger point and any continued attempt to maintain public ignorance of
these facts must be considered social treason.
Unfortunately, the political leadership is so confused and stupid that they
believe they can balance the budget by decreasing the $130 billion in yearly
public assistance for the poor without decreasing the $448 billion in welfare
for the rich. Many strange behavior patterns may be expected as this system of
price continues its deterioration. A technological society is entirely too
complex to be administered by the political methods of any political party
regardless of its position from right to left. One shouldn't be surprised to
observe an increasing number of citizens who are less confident in the
political leadership. As society becomes more complex, political mistakes
become more obvious and dangerous.
North Americans have been taught many things, for example, that they should
have political equality. They have NOT been taught that they should, or could,
have economic equality, or that an economy of scarcity can never tolerate the
distribution of plenty regardless of the ability to produce. They haven't been
taught that abundance can't be distributed at a price, or that North America
has the technology, the resources and the trained technologists required to
produce plenty for every citizen on this continent. They haven't been taught
what the physical requirements are for an economy of plenty. And, in fact, they
haven't been taught to understand the economic system in which they have lived
all their lives. What more can one expects from educational institutions that
are politically controlled? The citizens of this Continent need to know these
things, their survival depends on it.
The whole financial "system" is a system of debt. Debt is a promise to pay. The
total national debt is more than $20 trillion and increasing at a trillion per
year. The federal debt alone is $5.1 trillion (1996). To who is this debt owed?
No one, it is an illusion!
Distribution is affected (more or less) by a system of trade, or commerce,
based on COMMODITY VALUES that are determined by the relative scarcity and
desirability of the commodity involved. And, for the sake of convenience,
money, a token of debt is used. This is a system made entirely by man sometime
in the distant past, and which can be changed anytime we have the intelligence
to do so.
There is no physical law that requires one horse to be in debt to another
horse. And there is no physical law that requires one human to be in debt to
another human. This whole thing is an illusionary mess that grew haphazardly
through the centuries from the old barter system devised by the most cunning
before recorded history. Such immeasurable methods are not efficient enough,
and are far too restrictive to affect the distribution of the plenty modern
technology can produce. If the people of this Continent are ever to expect an
intelligent distribution of the production, they must do far better than this.
The plenty everyone wants, the plenty our technology can already produce, must
be distributed to this Continent's citizens WITHOUT PRICE. That is the only way
it can be done. Some may think they don't like the idea of a non-price system.
Some didn't like the automobile, the telephone, or the computer, but they are
here just the same. Progress has a way of continuing whether some like it or
not. An economy of plenty is the next major step in human progress, and any old
antiquated method (such as politics) that interferes will be rejected when that
interference is understood. Political nonsense is just not good enough to
survive, since it cannot control technology. It wasn't good enough to build the
greatest technological mechanism on earth right here on this continent, and it
is not good enough to balance production with consumption, or conserve the
earth's natural resources so that human survival can be made possible. These
things require a scientific solution, and a non-price system is it.
So, an entirely new type of social system is required, one that, for the first
time in history, is intelligently designed. One that will engineer out stupid
nonsense such as poverty when plenty can be provided. A waste of the resources
is not required to encourage people to cooperate rather than compete. The march
of technological events, population growth and environmental deterioration are
demanding better methods of social and economic operations. People are already
beginning to demand that the problems of joblessness, homelessness, poverty and
crime be solved, but they can't be solved under the dictates of a system based
on scarcity. They can only be solved be demanding an entirely new social order.
Anything less is only an exercise in futility.
The only scientifically designed social mechanism is that designed by
Technocracy Inc. Technocracy's Technological Social Design is the only one
available or likely to become available. No one is asking anyone to believe in
it, we only ask that it be carefully investigated to determine its correctness,
as any intelligent person would do before reaching a conclusion.
