Between 1921 and 1932, a strange man became a familiar face in Greenwich Village, New York City. Howard Scott lectured all who would listen on his vision for an anti-democratic state led by technicians and engineers. Businesspeople and politicians would be replaced, and a new society of abundance would be possible through science. He spread a gospel that preached “technology was the revolutionary agent of our period.” Scott believed liberal capitalism would eventually collapse and give way to a new system that he called “technocracy.”
Scott would form a movement known as Technocracy Incorporated, which by 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, boasted hundreds of thousands of members. Its followers took an oddly fascist look. Dressed in gray and hailing with Roman salutes, they saw themselves as a revolutionary organization whose creed was efficiency. The movement wished to see the entire North American continent unified under a single, centralized state, which they called “The Technate.” It would be organized on a system of “energy accounting” to allocate resources, and each citizen would receive an “energy distribution card” for purchases. A new calendar was also proposed to allow for uninterrupted, 24-7 production. At the top would be an elite committee of technological experts, overseeing every facet of life.
Technocracy found many admirers in its heyday, particularly among futuristic writers. Hugo Gernsback, who coined the term “science fiction,” published for the movement’s journal in 1933. Ray Bradbury similarly said that technocracy was “all the hopes and dreams of science fiction.” The public was introduced to this dream in Harold Loeb’s utopian novel Life in a Technocracy: What It Might Be Like (1933). Among scientists, prominent figures like Richard C. Tolman and M. King Hubbert were vocal supporters of the movement.
The case for technocracy was simple for Scott and his followers: “engineers and mechanics created this civilization, so they will eventually dominate it.”
A mass gathering of Technocrats at the Hollywood Bowl, California (1930s)
A group of technocrats with their signature gray cars and suits
Map of the “Technate of America” (July, 1940)
1933 issue of Technocrats Magazine. Technocrats were early advocates of universal basic income.
The technocracy movement reached its height in 1933 when Publishers Weekly called it the “most discussed topic in America.” As its popularity quickly rose, Scott began to sound more and more delusional in his belief that rule by technocracy was imminent. After a disaster of a radio appearance in New York City that year, the press began to criticize him for selling a cult-like fantasy. He was also exposed for lacking actual scientific credentials. The technocracy movement continued to persist throughout the 1940s with some minor influence, but nowhere close to its peak.
Technocracy Incorporated still exists as an organization, but it is insignificant and largely forgotten. It has been receiving some attention again recently since it became known that Elon Musk’s grandfather was a leading member of the Canadian technocracy movement. But what’s more interesting is how its core ideas have unconsciously found new life in the 21st century. Whereas Technocracy Incorporated tried to be a mass movement, today’s tech elite possess the capital and influence to pursue a similar philosophy through more covert means.
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