An Overview of Technocracy: Where Technology & Political Parties Meet

As a recently-graduated college student from a notoriously liberal campus, my own political views have undergone numerous changes over the years. Suffice to say, the point I have arrived at by now is one that can best be described as something that is a steaming vat of liberal and technocratic ideals mixed together with my own ideological values. My own political orientation is not what I care to talk about, however. As we live in an era where threats such as global warming, ozone depletion, deforestation, and resource depletion are very real, it is easy to become worried about the future of humanity.

Technocracy has a solution.

As it's name implies, technocracy is a political movement originating in North America that is heavily rooted in science and technology. The main ideal of technocracy is simply; if we do not restructure our economic and political systems and stop thinking only about monetary profit, we will not survive. Period. Technocracy advocates the use of technology to find more environmentally-sound means of production and believes that the reason our world is in so much jeopardy is because our ideology has not changed to suit the technological age we live in.

Sounds good so far, right? Well, it's about to get a little more totalitarian here, and hence the reason I do not consider myself to be a technocrat. Technocrats believe that a monetary system like the one we have in place leads to massive inefficiency in terms of energy usage. Now this is a very valid point: Think about how capitalism works; perishable products (food, for example) are not produced specifically for individuals, they are just produced in bulk and shipped out to grocery stores where they may or may not be bought by consumers and eventually whatever remains must be thrown away. Competition between industries and corporations created by capitalism also lead to an inefficient usage of energy.

To solve these problems and regulate our energy usage, Technocrats have constructed a pseudo-governmental structure enveloping the whole of North America that seeks to regulate all industry in general. Everything from healthcare to maintenance to food production will be regulated by an area board that reports to the Continental board of North America. It sounds a bit fascist, no? However, the Technocratic argument is that if nothing is in private hands then everything can be monitored to ensure maximal efficiency. Technocrats also believe that people should be placed in jobs based on their qualifications, and that things will also run much more efficiently if the people who work in industries are very adept at their jobs.

So why write about Technocracy? Well, for one, I think it is important to understand the other socio-political ideologies that exist besides the standard liberal and conservative views. If anything, it is at least worthwhile to realize that capitalism is NOT a perfect system. And the looming disaster created by both our increasing population and dwindling resources is a very real threat that we are going to have to deal with in the immediate future or face the consequences. Will technocracy save us? Probably not. Can its ideals and principals help us? Most certainly.

Still confused? Want to read up more on Technocracy? You can visit the official website at www.technocracy.org.