by Carl Teichrib
Forcing Change
This article is Part 1 of a multi-part series. It is historically oriented. That said, it’s also one of the most important articles published in Forcing Change,as it tackles an historical worldview that is seldom discussed, yet vitally important to understanding today’s global transformation.-Berit Kjos
“Rugged individualism must go… The individual must subordinate himself to the community…” – Graham A. Laing (1)
Those disturbing words didn’t spring out of Nazi Germany, Benito’s fascist Italy, or Stalin’s heavy-handed Soviet Union – although the text was common to that era. Rather, the idea that “individualism must go” was the language of a very American movement, one that rapidly spread during the 1930s. From Columbia University to newspapers coast-to-coast, Technocracy was the buzzword for a new way of organizing humanity.
Mention “Technocracy” today and a mix of responses emerge. “It’s in a lot science fiction books,” explained one younger friend. “It’s a model for a utopian world run by technology.”
An older gentleman, a product of the 1940s, laughed when I mentioned the word; “It was a crack-pot idea with a cult following. Thankfully it died long ago.”
Another friend who was a child during the Great Depression remembers hearing about it at the kitchen table, and seeing Technocracy literature in the house.
Technocracy was all of the above: a utopian dream, a cult-like movement, and a concept that captured the public’s attention. But it was and is much more; it’s the prime motivator. Today, the fingerprints of Technocracy are deeply impressed upon the political, economic, military, social and spiritual landscape. There isn’t anything that Technocracy hasn’t touched, chiefly because as a type of meta-philosophy, it rests on the most basic principle of human rebellion: By pursuing god-like illumination, Man can become as God.
Man, not God, is the ultimate engineer of human destiny – therefore, Man is God. Technocracy represents the pinnacle of Man’s quest for self-deification: The perfectibility of Man through the thoughts of his mind and the subsequent works of his hands. It’s the cosmic taunt, stemming from the most ancient of days. What God can do, Man can do. The Garden of Eden will be remade.
At the personal level, the first Techno-fingerprint came to view in 2009. And after seeing it, I couldn’t believe I had somehow overlooked Technocracy in my past research. Ironically, I had published many articles touching on the subject, including a well-circulated piece in 2004 titled “Social Engineering for Global Change.” Yet I hadn’t realized that a specialized meta-movement existed that gave energy to the changes being described. I had chocked it up to “globalism” and “world citizenship,” which wasn’t inaccurate. But I had missed a bigger picture.
Two quotes immediately come to mind from that 2004 “Social Engineering” article.
“Fifty years is ample time in which to change a world and its people almost beyond recognition. All that is required for the task are a sound knowledge of social engineering, a clear sight of the intended goal – and power.” – Arthur C. Clarke (2).
“A world society cannot be haphazard. Since there are no precedents, it cannot be traditional at this stage in its development. It can only be deliberative and experimental, planned and built up with particular objectives and with the aid of all available knowledge concerning the principles of social organization. Social engineering is a new science.” – Scott Nearing (3).
A double irony exists, as these two quotes were the inspiration for the title of my web-based research journal, Forcing Change (www.forcingchange.org). And these two quotes describe the heartbeat of Technocracy: Man’s desire to re-shape humanity in Man’s image.
So what was the “fingerprint” that caught my attention in 2009? Carbon, and a phone call. Click here to continue.
Click here for Part II of Carl Teichrib’s series in technocracy.
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