Editing Technocracy movement (section)

==United States and Canada==
[[Image:Howard Scott at a Technocracy Section house.jpg|thumb|Scott in front of Technocracy Inc. Section house RD-11833-2 SHQ in 1942]]
[[Howard Scott (engineer)|Howard Scott]] has been called the "founder of the technocracy movement".<ref name=tay/> Near the end of 1919, he started the [[Technical Alliance]] in New York. Members of the alliance were mostly scientists and engineers. The Technical Alliance started an "energy survey of North America," which aimed to provide a scientific background from which ideas about a new [[social structure]] could be developed.<ref name="BEW8">{{cite web|url=http://www.hubbertpeak.com/hubbert/Technocracy1943.pdf|title=Questioning of M. King Hubbert, Division of Supply and Resources, before the Board of Economic Warfare|date=1943-04-14|access-date=2008-05-04}}p8-9 (p18-9 of PDF)</ref> In 1921, the group broke up before the survey was completed.<ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, p. 37.</ref><ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, pp. 61-62.</ref>

In 1932, Scott and others interested in the problems of technological growth and economic change began meeting in New York City. Their ideas gained national attention and the "Committee on Technocracy" was formed at [[Columbia University]], by Howard Scott and [[Walter Rautenstrauch]].<ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, p. ix.</ref> The group was short-lived and in January 1933<ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, p. 96.</ref> splintered into two other groups, the "Continental Committee on Technocracy" (led by [[Harold Loeb]]) and "Technocracy Incorporated" (led by Scott).<ref>Jack Salzman (1986). [https://books.google.com/books?id=UPc8AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22technical+alliance%22+scott&pg=PA1596 American studies: an annotated bibliography, Volume 2] p. 1596.</ref><ref name=seg>[[Howard P. Segal]] (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=n6RabZ8t48gC&dq=%22thorstein+veblen%22+technocracy+movement&pg=PA121 Technological Utopianism in American Culture] Syracuse University Press, p. 123.</ref> 

Smaller groups included the Technical Alliance, The New Machine and the Utopian Society of America, though Bellamy had the most success due to his nationalistic stances, and Veblen's rhetoric, removing the current pricing system and his blueprint for a national directorate to reorganize all produced goods and supply, and ultimately to radically increase all industrial output.<ref name=loeb>Harold Loeb (1933). [https://books.google.com/books?id=1kvifvNro9MC&dq=Technocracy+book+review+scott&pg=PR13 Life in a technocracy: what it might be like] p. xv.</ref><ref name=seg2>Howard P. Segal (2005). [https://books.google.com/books?id=UPc8AAAAIAAJ&dq=%22technical+alliance%22+scott&pg=PA1596 American studies: an annotated bibliography, Volume 2] p. 1596.</ref>

[[Image:TechnocracySign.gif|thumb|A sign on the outskirts of a [[Great Depression|Depression]]-era town about meetings of the local technocracy branch]]
At the core of Scott's vision was "an energy theory of value". Since the basic measure common to the production of all goods and services was energy, he reasoned "that the sole scientific foundation for the monetary system was also energy", and that society could be designed more efficiently by using an energy metric instead of a monetary metric (energy certificates or 'energy accounting').<ref name=nye>David E. Nye (1992). [https://books.google.com/books?id=dAElGDvk2yUC&dq=%22technocracy+movement%22+scott&pg=PA343 Electrifying America: social meanings of a new technology, 1880-1940] pp. 343-344.</ref> Technocracy Inc. officials wore a uniform, consisting of a "well-tailored double-breasted suit, gray shirt, and blue necktie, with a monad insignia on the lapel", and its members saluted Scott in public.<ref name=bur/><ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, p. 101.</ref>

Public interest in technocracy peaked in the early 1930s:
<blockquote>
Technocracy's heyday lasted only from June 16, 1932, when the ''New York Times'' became the first influential press organ to report its activities, until January 13, 1933, when Scott, attempting to silence his critics, delivered what some critics called a confusing, and uninspiring address on a well-publicized nationwide radio hookup.<ref name=seg/> 
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Following Scott's radio address from the Hotel Pierre,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.technocracy.org/periodicals/technocracy/a19/hotel-pierre.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010520151538/http://www.technocracy.org/periodicals/technocracy/a19/hotel-pierre.html|title=Technocracy Incorporated|archive-date=20 May 2001|work=technocracy.org}}</ref> the condemnation of both him and technocracy in general reached a peak. The press and business people reacted with ridicule and almost unanimous hostility. The American Engineering Council charged the technocrats with "unprofessional activity, questionable data, and drawing unwarranted conclusions".<ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, p. 88.</ref> 
<blockquote>
The technocrats made a believable case for a kind of technological utopia, but their asking price was too high. The idea of political democracy still represented a stronger ideal than technological elitism. In the end, critics believed that the socially desirable goals that technology made possible could be achieved without the sacrifice of existing institutions and values and without incurring the apocalypse that technocracy predicted.<ref>William E. Akin (1977). ''Technocracy and the American Dream: The Technocracy Movement 1900-1941'', University of California Press, p. 150.</ref>
</blockquote>
The faction-ridden Continental Committee on Technocracy collapsed in October 1936.<ref name="seg"/><ref name=loe>[[Harold Loeb]] and Howard P. Segal (1996). [https://books.google.com/books?id=1kvifvNro9MC&dq=Technocracy+book+review+scott&pg=PR13 Life in a technocracy: what it might be like] p. xv.</ref>  However, Technocracy Incorporated continued.<ref name="Frank Fischer 1990 p. 86"/><ref name=ad>David Adair (1967). [http://summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/3437/b13876442.pdf The Technocrats 1919-1967: A Case Study of Conflict and Change in a Social Movement]</ref>

On October 7, 1940, the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] arrested members of Technocracy Incorporated, charging them with belonging to an illegal organization. One of the arrested was [[Joshua N. Haldeman|Joshua Norman Haldeman]], a [[Regina, Saskatchewan|Regina]] chiropractor, former director of Technocracy Incorporated, and the maternal grandfather of [[Elon Musk]].<ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/longform/technocracy-incorporated-elon-musk/|title=In science we trust|last=Basen |first=Ira |date=June 28, 2021 |work= [[CBC News]] |access-date= December 20, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-leader-post-police-hold-technocrat-h/101818960/|title=Police Hold Technocrat Haldeman |date=October 8, 1940 |newspaper= [[The Regina Leader-Post]] |page=16 |access-date= December 20, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Lepore |first=Jill |date=2025-04-04 |title=Opinion {{!}} The Rise and Fall of Elon Musk |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/04/opinion/elon-musk-doge-technocracy.html |access-date=2025-04-05 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

There were some speaking tours of the US and Canada in 1946 and 1947, and a motorcade from Los Angeles to Vancouver:<ref>David Adair (1967). [http://summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/3437/b13876442.pdf The Technocrats 1919-1967: A Case Study of Conflict and Change in a Social Movement] p. 101.<!--  --></ref>
<blockquote>
Hundreds of cars, trucks, and trailers, all regulation grey, from all over the Pacific Northwest, participated. An old school bus, repainted and retrofitted with sleeping and office facilities, a two-way radio, and a public address system, impressed observers. A huge war surplus searchlight mounted on a truck bed was included, and grey-painted motorcycles acted as parade marshals. A small grey aircraft, with a Monad symbol on its wings, flew overhead. All this was recorded by the Technocrats on 16-mm 900-foot colour film.<ref>David Adair (1967). [http://summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/3437/b13876442.pdf The Technocrats 1919-1967: A Case Study of Conflict and Change in a Social Movement] p. 103.</ref>
</blockquote>

In 1948, activity declined while dissent increased within the movement. One central factor contributing to dissent was that "the price system had not collapsed, and predictions about the expected demise were becoming more and more vague".<ref name=da/> Some quite specific predictions about the price system collapse were made during the [[Great Depression]], the first giving 1937 as the date, and the second forecasting the collapse as occurring "prior to 1940".<ref name=da>David Adair (1967). [http://summit.sfu.ca/system/files/iritems1/3437/b13876442.pdf The Technocrats 1919-1967: A Case Study of Conflict and Change in a Social Movement] p. 111.</ref>

Membership and activity declined steadily after 1948, but some activity persisted, mostly around Vancouver in Canada and on the West Coast of the United States. Technocracy Incorporated currently maintains a website and distributes a monthly newsletter and holds membership meetings.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.technocracy.org|title=Technocracy Inc.}}</ref>

An extensive archive of Technocracy's materials is held at the [[University of Alberta]].<ref name="ualberta.ca"/>