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SCIENCE
vs
CHAOS
By Howard Scott
DIRECTOR.
TECHNOCRACY
INC.
SCIENCE MUST SAVE CIVILIZATION
PRINTED IN CANADA
TECHNOCRACY
SCIENCE VS CHAOS
The following pamphlet r e p r e s e n t s t h e s u b s t a n c e of
a n a d d r e s s given by H o w a r d Scott b e f o r e t h e
National
Technological. Congress and t h e Continental Convention
on Technocracy a t t h e M o r r i s
Hotel, Chicago, Ill. in
J u n e , 1933.
Men Must Live
doing
In
the f i f t e e n t h century, in the Saxon mines, t h e introduction of g u n p o w d e r opened up new tunneling methods and went beyond the old methods' limit of the r a t e
of doing work.
Over a long period of social history, f r o m t h e time of
t h e ancients to t h e invention of the steam engine, t h e r a t e
of doing work, or t h e consumption of extraneous energy,
r e m a i n e d practically c o n s t a n t ; i. e., of t h e order of m a g nitude of 2000 kilogram-calories per capita per day.
Modern China and India are c o n t e m p o r a r y examples of
this same r a t e of doing work. W h e n idealists speak of
China today, they say, "If only we could raise the standard of living of those 470 millions of Chinese to t h a t of
our own."
Such idealism is foolish, for, due to t h e enormous
population of China and t h e very limited supplies of coal,
iron ore and other essential mineral products, it is quite
impossible to increase t h e s t a n d a r d of living of t h e Chinese very greatly above t h a t which t h e y now have. It
is interesting to consider the problem of f a m i n e in China.
Aside f r o m a f e w r a i l r o a d s and rivers, almost t h e only
existing means of t r a n s p o r t is t h e coolie. Consequently,
in an a r e a of f a m i n e , even t h o u g h an a b u n d a n c e of food
m i g h t be available a t t h e railroad or river, it would not
be possible by m e a n s of coolies to deliver food to t h e
f a m i n e a r e a at a distance g r e a t e r t h a n seventy-five miles
f r o m such a source of supply. This is due to t h e f a c t t h a t ,
in m a k i n g the trip of seventy-five miles and r e t u r n , a
coolie would require f o r his own sustenance all t h e food
he h a d originally s t a r t e d with.
The ancient agriculturist was t h e person who provided t h e m a j o r i t y of energy f o r the social system of his
t i m e ; in t h e old a g r a r i a n societies a p p r o x i m a t e l y ninetyt h r e e p e r cent of t h e total energy consumed w a s in t h e
f o r m of sustenance. Today seven per cent of t h e energy
consumed in this country is f o r sustenance and ninetyt h r e e p e r cent goes to t h e operation of our physical equipm e n t . T h e whole t e x t u r e of the social f a b r i c is altered.
Technical Processes Alter Rate
t h a t h u m a n social systems
dynamic changes.
are undergoing
extensive
What Is Wealth?
Britain,
Great
betterment.
the
5.
ment of t h e energy contract. The income received, however, m a d e possible by virtue of our possession of energy
reserves, would be several times t h e present a v e r a g e income in this country, and many times g r e a t e r t h a n any
possible contribution of services by any individual.
Purchasing would be effected by means of surrendering energy certificates properly identified in return f o r
goods and services. The cost of any particular commodity would be determined entirely by the energy consumed
in the process of its production and delivery to t h e point
of consumption. There would be no profits. The entire
physical equipment of this Continent would, of course,
be owned and operated by the Technate.
Every item of
goods or services would, in the functional numeration system
mentioned above, bear its own particular catalog number.
Should an energy certificate be surrendered in payment
for any commodity or service, it would be cancelled by
having punched through its face the functional number
of the item purchased. It would then be pushed through
photo-electric control recording
machines, which deduct f r o m the inventory the item purchased, and simultaneously, from the purchaser's account, the amount of
the item purchased.
Since the system of certificates and accounting used
would be uniform throughout the Continent, all inventories and accounts would be relayed continuously by wire
to central h e a d q u a r t e r s , where in this manner would be
maintained a complete and up-to-the-minute inventory of
the physical operation of the entire Continent as to rates
of production, stocks on hand, and r a t e s of consumption.
The rates of consumption would be ascertained by
sorting the energy certificates cancelled, such sorting to
be done photo-electrically, according to the status of the
purchaser, the geographical division, and the item purchased, providing the maintenance of complete statistical
tabulation, even to minute details, of every significant
physical and social operation.
An Economy of Abundance
T h o r s t e i n Veblen,
in " T h e Theory of the Leisure
Class," ably discussed t h e "canons of conspicuous
w a s t e " and the " p e c u n i a r y canons of t a s t e , " as induced
by the existence of a P r i c e System. Once revoked, as
they would be u n d e r a non-Price System of equal income
f o r all, it follows t h a t social rivalry, which seems an
inherent characteristic of the h u m a n species, would have
to find o t h e r means of expressing itself. Consequently, if
one f o u n d it impossible to display one's superiority to the
Joneses by virtue of being able to live more pretentiously,
one would be obliged to find some more substantial manner of self-expression. The chief channel f o r t h a t would
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"Technocracy" will always present the closest approximation possible from the existing data, and when more and better data are
made available, closer approximations will be rendered. The
scientific, factual basis of the technological functioning of this continental area will be presented free from the prejudices of partisan
politics, race, creed or color. It will always be free from the Billingsgate of personalities so prevalent in the present political world.
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