Technocracy

The Technocracy was a militant political faction and nationstate during the Solar War arising from the seizure of the means of production by technicians in various places in the Main Belt at the agitation of covert agents from Noveautrea. It was led by Arthur Feingold, Nikolaisha "Nikanor" Varkosky, and Wilhelm F. Keigel until it's absorption into the unity government with the Consortium.

## History

The movement that would participate in the Solar War claimed a long history by appealing to the ancient writings of Plato and Socrates, Marxist analysis, and the movement of the same name in the 20th century United States as well as some of the more outlandish ideals of science fiction authors.

## Ideology

### Theory

*"There are four powers in Sol System and upon four legs are thrones built from which rule the would-be demagogues of history. The essential power of the working technician is inviolable, without whom the whole scheme of spacer society would come crashing down in but the wisp of an instant. Therefore, it is fitting that one of these powers must evaporate through consent or through force to pave the way for the reconstruction of society in its threefold perfection: technology, technician, and technocrat."* -- Thorstein Rautenstrauch, The Technological Manifesto

The theory of technocracy in the modern sense was outlined in a series of publications first circulated in the *Productinium!* newspaper edited by Keigel. Responsible for most of it's theory, Kegel wrote under the moniker *Thorstein Rautenstrauch* until revealing his true identify in the midst of the Solar War. Popular pamphlets intended for the masses include:

* *The Technological Manifesto*
* *What is Technocracy and of what does it consist?*
* *Das Technik.* Overview of four centuries of history from the Space Age onward through the lens of dialectical techno-materialism
* *Stagnation: The Highest Form of Consortium.* A scathing criticism of the reliance of spacer life on many of the manufactured goods and complex technologies of the Consortium.
* *The Freitaika Rebellion.* An analysis of the event of the same name and a prediction of Solar War
* *The Conquest of Progress by Arthur Feingold*
* *Technosyndicalism and the Abolition of the Working Class*

The basic ideas of these pamphlets were codified into a practical program by the Technocracy organisation:

1. All practical power lies in the hands of technicians, technocrats, and technology.
2. History is guided by those who invent, innovate, and implement technology.
3. Spacer society should be unified, whole, and singularly organised. To achieve this, the Technocracy sought to expropriate all technology throughout Sol System outside the Consortium into the hands of those most "scientifically fit" to use it; abolish any spacer ties to Earth and work towards immediate self sufficiency, effectively ending the interplanetary transport system; reintroduction of taxes to fund scientific development; and the confiscation and redistribution of property of opponents of the Technocracy.
4. Complete mobilization of technicians and technocrats into a single organization to which all existing institutions are responsible. In this sense, neither the Confederacy nor Free Mars would need to be abolished in theory, but both would have to answer and pay taxes to the Technocracy.
5. Permanent security of peace and avoidance of the possibility of Solar War through tying together all of spacer society through the central organisation.

### Triumvirate

*"The most ancient and hospitable of powers were based upon a threefold division of power ... in nature, this appears to be the strongest possible shape utilizing the fewest possible angles and so mankind has adopted the triumvirate as the expression of* quintessence par excellance." -- Thorstein Rautenstrauch

The central organisation was outlined as a threefold structure in which there was no division of power. Each angle of the triangle was to be "the masses, the militants, and the materials". While originally conceived of as relatively democratic and self organizing institutions, each of these roles was largely assumed in practice by singular individuals. It was assumed that power would be divested from these individuals and reinvested in institutions after the Solar War; however, that never came and instead the Technocracy was largely absorbed by the new unity government formed by the remains of the Consortium, something completely unforeseen in Technocracy theory.