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“PAGE 8 March 1, 1985

 

 

 

Technocracy — God?

Dear Other Press

| believe that one thing this college
truly lacks is to provide the student
with a solid foundation on which to
build their life. Rather than guide the
student in the proper direction, the
college atmosphere encourages to do
that which is right in your own sight,
to ‘‘do your own thing’’. In the society
of today everything is relative. We
have lost the absolutes of life by
ignoring the fact that this life is a
preparation for the next. Everyone,
right across the social and cultural
spectrum knows about and fears the
day of their death. Therefore, let us
redirect our attention to the things
which are not seen, for the things
which are seen are temporal, but the
unseen things are eternal.

We must teach our students the
truth about life. That is and was one
of the foundation stones upon which
the principle of education was based.
We teach our students to provide for

‘this life by way of education and this

is very commendable, but we should
not forget to teach them to provide for
eternity. If we are to send out
students with a sound mind, sound
values, and a proper attitude towards
life, then we ought to return to the
former principle of education. And
may this attitude begin in the home,
the building block of civilization.

The responsibility of teaching our
students to be a responsible and
accountable citizen is very great and
one that | believe needs to be
stressed. Greater still is the fact that
we all individually and collectively
have a responsibility, not only to our
fellow man, but to our Creator. If
everyone’s attention was brought to
this fact, the world would be a far
better place to live in. The knowledge
of our responsibility to Almighty God
would cause us to walk carefully. If
we ignore this truth then it is no
wonder that everything is relative.
Then let us eat, drink, and be merry
for tomorrow we die.

However, no matter how much we
ignore the absolutes written in the
Bible, its truth still stands. It is the
conviction of my heart that this is the

key issue of all times and all places.

If Douglas College, the faculty and
the students were to return to the God
of life and death in sincerity of heart,
the benefits would be to the honour of
God and the salvation of our never
dying soul. For if we build our life on
anyone or anything else but the Rock
of Ages, then at the end of life’s
journey that foundation will be to us
as sinking sand. The wise man. builds
his house upon rock but the foolish
man builds his house upon the sand.

‘ Our lives need to be rooted in the
sound values and principles which '

stem from the Word of God.
In closing | would like to quote from

a servant of the living God, Daniel —

 

 

Webster. He says ‘’...If truth be not
diffused, error will be; if God and His
Word are not known and received, the
devil and his works will gain the
ascendancy; if the evangelical volume

 

does not reach every hamlet, the
pages of a corrupt and licentious
literature will; if the power of the
Gospel is not felt throughout the
length and breadth of the land,

 

anarchy and misrule, degradation and
misery, corruption and darkness, will
reign without mitigation or end.’’
(1823)

Sincerely, Bill den Boer

the Book i¢ all
T've ever known-—
therefore, it must”
be sof

rve seen
pine ae
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Dear Other Press |

Recently while posting meeting
notices | was informed that a Douglas
College student class had studied the
subject of Technocracy and had con-
cluded that it was, ‘‘A Cult’. As a

‘result permission was granted for the

removal of all meeting notices.

Webster says, ‘A cult is a partic-
ular ritual or system of worship’’. So
what is Technocracy? Technocracy is
a social design for living, engineered
for the distribution of abundance to all
citizens on the North American con-
tinent, from birth to death.

In the winter of 1918-19 several
scientists, engineers, educators form-
ed a group which they called, The
Technical Alliance, a research organi-
zation. This group met regularly for a
period of 14 years studying the effects
of technology on the social structure
of the price system. They noted even
in 1919 with five million of our youth
or our best producers in the armed
forces a surplus of goods could be
produced. Manhours per unit of
production was going down while the
physical production was going up. If
this trend would continue how would
it affect our Price System in the future
years they asked?

At the turn of the 20th century net
production of electrical energy was
about six billion KwH. By 1920 this
rose to 57 billion KhW. The inventor
who developed the small electric
motor did more to liberate man than
all the rhetoric of the politicians. It
paved the way for mass production of
appliances, tools, labour saving de-
vices, etc. Social change was on the
way.

By the year 1950 North America
produced over 400 billion KwH of
electricity. Currently we can produce
over a trillion KwH of electricity per
year. When management looks at the

cost of a KwH of electricity versus

manhour cost which does he buy? The
answer is obvious. Robonics, auto-
matic factories, computors,[sic] obso-
lete the word, ‘‘manufacture’’ and
gives birth to a new word, ‘‘techno-
facture’.

In the thirties with a myriad of
goods and too few takers, time
payment plans for goods and services
were instigated. Today, our debt load
(both sides of border) in personal,
corporate and national debts runs into
many trillions of dollars. The interest
payment alone on this load cannot be
met. Simply stated, we can produce
all the goods and services we want in
the quality and quantity we want.
However the price system fails and
fails badly when it comes to distribut-

ing the plethora of goods coming out
of our production facilities.

The synthesis lies in the word,
“‘energy’’, common denominator of
all matter. Before the turn of the

- century 98 per cent of energy convert-

ed was by human muscle. Today that
figure is less than 2 per cent. Over 98
per cent of energy converted on the
North American continent today is by
extraneous energy (none human).

In 1933 Technocracy which grew
out of the Technical Alliance, was
incorportated under the laws of New
York state as a non-profit, non-polit-
ical, non-sectarian organization. It has
no affiliation with any other organiza-
tion either in North America or
elsewhere. Technocracy was _ incor-
porated as an educational, research
group without the resources or per-
sonnel for power base concept.

There are those with tongue in
cheek who contend that technology
makes jobs. The ratio is about five to
one. For every job created by applica-

tion of technology in various forms,

five are lost. This process will contin-
ue in unidirectional and irreversible
direction. For instance: agricultural
population has dropped to three per
cent from 18 per cent in the past 40
years. Yet surpluses exist which
embarrass our law makers. Mining
has dropped to .7 per cent from about
10 per cent, yet production has
increased several times. Railways
move many thousands of tons more
than during the steam era with about
25 per cent of former labour force.
This same trend continues through
virtually any endeavor one wishes to
name.

In 1968, those engaged in the
service industry increased over those
engaged in the manufacture field for
the first time in history. Planned
obsolescence and soddy goods were
the culprits. If the automobile quality
control were’ such that 10 per cent
more kilometers were built in, the
automobile industry would be in dire
straits. The manufacture of goods of
ultimate quality cannot be dreamed of
in a price system. The system is
predicated on waste. Waste of our
finite resources should not be tolerat-
ed yet it is part and parcel of the
system we live in.

We are using Kitty Hawk controls
to fly the 767. A technological prob-
lem demands a technological solution.
Technocracy’s synthesis is that it is
now possible for those in the age
group 25 to 45 years to, ‘‘work’’ a 4
hour day, 4 day week and provide all
the goods and services necessary to

heretofore highest quality of life
known to mankind. Technocracy’s
calender would provide for 4 days on

. 3 days off, 165 working days plus 78

successive days vacation per year.
People would contribute to jobs they
enjoyed and were trained in. They
would be more in a_ supervisory
capacity than, ‘‘by thy sweat, etc.’’.

Those below the age of 25 would be
required to attend school, college or
university of their choice. They would
be taught how to learn not what to
learn. Part of the learning process
would be to travel the length and
breadth of this continent as well as
other continents to learn at first-hand
what problems there were and how to
solve them if that was required.

After the age of 45 a person would
be retired with full consuming priv-
ileges. Students and _ adolescents
would have their own allotment. for
acquiring material things.

Each resident of North America
would be alloted a series of Energy
Certificates for acquiring their needs
of goods and services. An Energy
Certificate would work like-a credit
card. Value of goods would be based
on energy cost (measurable) and not
on monetary value (unpredictable). It
would be:

- a medium of distribution

- a continental accounting system
- 24 hour inventory

- identification and record of holder
- guarantee of security

It would not be:

- a medium of exchange

- subject to fluctuation of ‘‘value’’
- subject to theft or loss

- subject to hoarding or gambling
- a means of wealth or prestige

- a means of creating debt

Governance would be via vertical
alignment system as currently used
by most corporations today. There are
some 90 functional sequences, head of
each sequence would sit on Continen-
tal Board, from which would be
elected the Continental Director. One
could vote several times each day for
the goods and_ services desired
through the Energy Certificate with-
out monetary interference. Pipe
dream? Not at all. We are doing that
today but only in a haphazard way.

We strongly urge you to investigate
Technocracy and its synthesis for the
operation of the North American
continent based on energy cost. When
one analyzes the price system as
expounded by Mr. Webster it more
reasonably fits the ‘‘cult’’ definition
than does Technocracy.

Ralph Bartlett

 

give all the residents an equal and