Technocracy

From Scandia

Technocracies share many points of political thought with Social Meritism and Unionists. Further than a conviction that work is good and honorable and noble, though, is a bit of what could be called elitism. Their cornerstone belief is that a proper and beneficial society arises from conscious engineering and design, and that those suited for leading such a society are the experts in applying both technology and logic.

Technocrats seek to expand the use of technology in the service of man. Democratic selection of the proper leader-experts is not necessarily a priority. There are social and democratic Technocrats, and there are autocratic or authoritarian Technocrats. As with some "peoples' republics" and radical communalists, Technocratic authoritarianism is at least initially approved of by the governed. Whether that is a really smooth con job, or the enthusiasm of a common goal, is not always discernable. A tension or balance in democratic technocracy is that the one system presumes all (or all the electorate) are qualified to decide all issues, while the other presumes only a technical elite can and should decide inherently complex issues.

A recent development has been called Predictive Democracy, wherein experts use technological means to anticipate likely outcomes of societal actions. These forecasts are then used to narrow the choices offered to the electorate, to "just the better paths". In Santosbourg this is formalized as their PreElectoral Collegia, a reasonably open and accessable steering committee of thousands.

Technocratic politics drives a real passion for excellence even in the "less free" versions. Even when Scandians declare they would not want to live in a Technocracy, they eagerly buy televisions, automobiles, and machinery built by them. Thus the prediction that rule by the demonstrated experts in technical application betters all citizens' lives, itself tends to be self-fulfilling. Typically, Technocrats preside over growing economies and improving standards of living, despite widely publicized failures of predictions. Although not a requirement technocractic systems have a tendency to also be a plutocracy.

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