Technalism

Technalism is a politcal ideology made by txchnxn. It seems a lot of people subscribe to it, as it even has it's own subreddit with over 20 members, and a page on the polcompball anarchy wiki.

### The Technalist manifesto (according to the page on Polcompball anarchy wiki)

The first aspect of Technalist economics is workers democracy. Worker’s democracy aims to revolutionise our current form of economics by having the workers have direct influence and control over the workplace, this is by implementing workers council within the workplace which would be used to determine things such as the direction of the company and the salaries. This means each worker would have a say in working conditions and having inputs on how to improve the workplace, this would be split into the general workers and the analysts, who would use algorithms to evaluate the progress of the workplace. The workers would directly own the workplace and the means of production, thus everyone would benefit from improvements such as automation and growing economic prosperity, as it is sufficiently distributed throughout the workers through the influence of the councils without the need for the excess dominion from the Capitalist owner. Now this works very different for services that aren’t reliant on economic production, such as clinics, police, doctors etc. Under that system the salary system is through general taxation and takes a corporatist approach with the workers councils making agreements with the state on salaries depending on tax revenue.

The workers councils would elect 2 representatives, 1 being the Proletarian representative, and the other being the Technocrat Representative. The technocrat representative is selected based on their experience and expertise, these two would help direct the workplace and represent the company or service on a local level referring to all branches of it within their local district and would have 2 sections, for the PRs and TRs. These people will work as a central system on determining direction of the company or service on a local level, whilst the workers themselves still have ownership and democratic authority over the workplace. And so on and so on these would elect and select a PR and TR to represent the company or service branches of the district itself, and thus the district council would be made up of the representative from these industries and services, and split into the technocrats and proletariat, based on profession. Such as Technocrats being made up of mainly experienced doctors, engineers, scientists, etc, and would give a scientific input into policy, whilst the PRs would give the perspective of the average worker.

But on this local level, most of this in used in back up as Technalism aims to primarily rely on Ai algorithms to organise economics. Such as calculating total economic output of the services and industries of a region, and according to the salary agreement, the money is distributed accordingly, this works for also distributing resources within services. The algorithms would also analyse local material conditions and the populations to examine how much of each service is needed, thus all services are distributed efficiently with minimal waste. Said algorithms will also be used on higher levels of government such as municipal, provincial and the National Congress to help plan the economy.

From here we move onto the 3 highest levels of government, the Municipal government, The provincial government, and the National congress. The Municipal government is made up of the selected PRs and TRs of each District reorganised based on profession, but there would also be another section, that being the N.I.O (National Infrastructure Organisation). The N.I.O is responsible for organising the infrastructure of the nation on different levels of government, this would work as the third bureau of government from here on and is the main contributor to the economic planning system. The N.I.O is made up of Architects, engineers, and such to use data algorithms to find the best ways to distribute housing and infrastructure based on material conditions and would also be the main employer of these professions and thus encouraging more people to pursue said carrier due to being able to have a real impact on national infrastructure.

On the provincial level, the PRs, TRs, and N.I.O would have much larger roles in the central government and would use information gathered from Municipal governments to plan the economy thus setting production targets in specific regions according to material conditions evaluated by the AI algorithms and local representatives. These production targets would be aided depending on said target through funding from the provincial government accordingly. The provincial government also is highly focused on infrastructure using the N.I.O such as railway connections, airports, high speed rail, and larger housing projects for municipal governments.

The National Congress is where most of the national decisions are made and the 5-year plans for the economy are made, these plans are made using data evaluated from the provincial and municipal governments and thus create a coherent national economic plan, this is also reviewed and altered using the Ai algorithms to find flaws in reference to economic and production data. The NC is split into a much more detailed system, With the Technocrats having far more sections that would make up all major services and industries, including science and defence. These Technocrats would use their expertise on their field to make decisions on the direction of the country based on what service or industry they govern. The PRs would be split into the Proletariat of the Primary, secondary, and tertiary sector thus allowing for an elaborate understanding of the demands represented by people of varying profession types.

Through this system, the government works as a form of Socialist Corporatism with different groups making agreements in a unified manner to progress society in a way that maximised benefits in all sectors. The lack of interference from bourgeoisie interest groups that may use economic power to alter government policy in their own interests as the economy is owned by the workers who also work as the government. This creates a Scientific type of proletarian state, where decisions are made by the best suited for each task by incorporating Technocracy. Technalism also incorporates independent judiciary and a constitution to prevent the government from slipping into tyranny, there is also the use of direct democracy for social issues that do not have a technical solution, but these are made within the confines of the constitution to prevent tyranny by majority.

The Technalist system like other forms of socialism, aims to use its economic system to guarantee every citizen basic needs such as Housing, Healthcare, Food, Education, electricity and employment. With Electricity and housing being implemented through the N.I.O and the others being through the general technocracy. Essentially aiming to eliminate the privatisation of basic commodities. The goals. Technalism has a few primary goals in mind. The first is to establish a sort of classless society through to elimination of economic monopoly by individuals, this applies to both Capitalist monopoly over the economy, and a Socialist monopoly through bureaucrats. The reason for this is for 2 main reasons, first is to prevent bourgeois dictatorship which is the philosophy that the state is built to serve the interests of the ruling class, within capitalism that is the Capitalists who own the means of production and who’s goals go against the interests of the working class as they aim to maximise profit at the expense of the workers as well as having excess dominion over workers. The second reason is due to automation, and that under capitalism, the benefits of automation will mainly benefit the capitalists, and due to unemployment, the majority would have to rely of UBI for consumer needs, this essentially removes most real economic power from the people. So, by having the workers directly own the means of production and workplace through democratic means, automation will not lead to a reliant class and an owning class and rather one class of those who benefit from the evolving technology.

The second is to accelerate automation to maximise production in the benefit of the proletariat, thus minimising working hours and maximising economic freedom. The third is Space exploration, where Technalism puts high emphasis on place exploration due to the scientific benefits and the endless frontiers that can be discovered. As well as prolonging the survival of humanity by eliminating the threat of planetary extinction through natural means. Moving beyond earth would force humanity to accelerate scientific advancement to adapt to the new conditions we find ourselves in. The fourth is environmentalism which is the emphasis in maintaining a clean environment and evolving beyond fossil fuels, mainly focusing on energy sources such as Nuclear, hydro and solar, while also developing fusion for the near future. Technalism aims to evolve humanity beyond its predatory phase of development, as the constant survival of basic needs prevents sufficient collective advancement from all intellectual minds. With this phase passed, human society can focus on advancement without the constraints of economic and intellectual barriers as these would be reduced as much as possible to ensure collective welfare of society towards the future.

The next paragraphs will focus on Nationalisation, the state economy, and market economy under Technalism. As mentioned earlier, national industries work through a system of workers democracy that works up into levels of government through layers of representative democracy and technocracy. This process changes a lot depending on the role the industry or service as well whether it is state owned, as this can greatly affect the role it has in the nation and government. Technalism does permit markets within a socialist framework, this allows for more initiative for innovation and such to generally improve the amount of participation people have in the economy. This works by having someone create a business, and hire more people to expand said business, but this does not permit bourgeois wage labour as this would allow for a few individuals to gain a monopoly on the business and thus have excess dominion over the workers. Instead, the business would be collectively owned by the workers, and the income generated would be collectivised with democratic agreements on salaries depending on the amount needed for maintenance and total revenue. There are a few ways a business or industry can become nationalised, the first is through an agreement between a market and the local government where the market makes an agreement with the local government to have their business nationalised, thus leading to a state approved workers council and the typical representative system of the Technalist state. The next way a business can be nationalised is through direct government action, this is typically when a market becomes large enough that nationalising it would be beneficial to the nation and thus would be a component of the economic plans. The third way a business can be nationalised is by through said business being state owned from the start and developed from then on. This would be the case for most industries as the Ideology would be based on a dominant state planned economy, and a smaller market economy to maintain an innovative presence.

Next, we move on to the function of Technocracy within Technalist government, as mentioned establishes technocracy using technocratic representatives on each level of government. The way the specification for the technocrats is determined is through having higher levels of government using information about each industry to create criteria for the TRs of each service and industry, this is then passed down to lower levels of government and adjusted for the variable local businesses and services present. This system of representatives only applied to nationalised industries, and the criteria would be used to evaluate the worker used for the position of TR. Within this process, the criteria would be adjusted for higher levels of government, with an elaborate increase of expertise until you reach the central government comprised with the best suited Technocrats of each industry and service.

The technocrat area of government is distinct from the proletarian representative in that the PRs are elected through democratic means, while the TRs are selected based merely on expertise and the criteria. Thus, being able to represent each area of society while maintaining a balance between Technocracy and Workers Democracy. When it comes to other more specific and or advanced professions such as nuclear physics, neurosurgery, or Astrophysics, the Technocrat selection process may allow a direct placement into higher levels of government like the provincial government and so on. Which is due to these jobs being very advanced and there being so few people who partake in this profession. As mentioned earlier, the workers councils would elect TRs and PRs for the local industry. But this would be made proportional to its size, this is through the system of regional presence, as larger industries will have branches in many areas of a country thus leading to more TRs and PRs as a result of the most district represented. But this system does have some exceptions, for example an Industry can be very influential yet have very few branches. In this case, depending on the varying influence of the industry, they will get a certain amount of influence in the Municipal government. This process ensures that the level of representation doesn’t deviate from the proportional level in comparison to local influence. National Congress and Democracy. The Technalist National Congress (TNC) is the main vessel of centralised decision making, the TNC is primarily responsible for making national decisions such as county wide laws and policies. The amount of decentralisation of a national policy depends on the nature of it, for example if a policy was suggested to add an environmental standard for industries and energy production, this decision would be primarily processed through the TRs as it is primarily a technical decision that requires scientific input. There still would be an agreement between the other sections of congress like the PRs and NIO, but the main process it through the TRs due to their better knowledge of the subject. From here, the NIO would implement this into the economic plans, while the PRs would help implements these into the workplace on a decentralised level. These sort of decisions within Technalist government are called Central Technical decisions, as there are mainly reliant on the technical expertise of the TRs for the final decision, while other strands of the state agree on a form of compromise and implement said policies. For another example of a different kind of government decision, let’s say due to the increased economic output the medical sector wants higher salaries. For this case, the workers council within the medical sector would schedule a meeting with the Municipal government and make a compromise on the salary change based on the economic situation. The next type of government decision is that of a social decision, as this also requires the input of the general population. A social decision as defined within Technalism, is a national policy change or decision in which the best answer cannot be decided through small agreements or a logical conclusion of its effects. A social decision is a compromise between the Central government, the general population, and the constitution, in which the problem would be displayed by the government on various level depending on the significance of it, and it would be passed through the constitutional rights, if it passes then a referendum could be placed to make a final decision through democratic means. And after this the change is then finally passed through the independent judiciary and implemented into national policy.

Within the Technalist Nation Congress (TNC), due to the large scale of the government and bureaucracy, when a national decision is passed through the central government, and proper final decision and agreement must be made. This is where the Central Congress and National Representative come in, the central congress is comprised of elected representatives from each section of the TNC and each sector and industry they govern which can lead to a simple final decision to be made. The head of government and state within the TNC and Technalist State, is known as the National Representative (NR) who’s role is to direct the government and be a diplomatic figure head for the nation. Unlike in most democratic or autocratic structures, the Head of government and state is still highly bound by congress in terms of decision making, as giving the NR too much power of the government contradicts the Technocratic and democratic nature of the system. For someone to become the National Representative, first they need to have served in the National Congress for at least 2 years, this ensures they know how the government and bureaucracy they will be directing works. And from here they need to run as a candidate for NR, and then the election works in two phases, the first phase is the approval phase in which the candidates and their plan are processed through the government and narrow them down according to their criteria and public approval. Once the number of candidates is narrowed down to a few, then the National election takes place in which the public votes for their new National Representative. In general scheme of things, representatives of all levels of government have 5-year terms and can serve a maximum of 2 terms, just like in most representative democracies. When it comes to the party system, as I mentioned multiple candidates are chosen, which would initially imply a multi-party system, but it’s a lot different. Technalism is typically either nonpartisan or one party, as party politics would get in the way of rational decision making and would plague Technalism with many of the flaws of multi-party systems such as pure ideology dictating policy rather than pragmatic decision making.

From here we go onto more of the details of Technalist economic planning while considering the criticisms of central planning that are displayed by the economic calculation problem. The economic planning system is split into various segments, first is the price system, prices would be determined based on factor such as scarcity, material need, energy needed for production, and VAT. This is where the use of local knowledge and Ai algorithms come into play, the AI economic system is connected through a network of various servers around the country using local data for economic calculation. These values that are inputted are scaled relative to other resources of similar type to find a price range, then the local workers councils use this data to determine prices according to the available data. When taking this into account and other economic data of workplaces, districts and municipalities, the information is then sent into higher levels of government such as the provincial and central government to formulate economic plans using both local information and Ai data and algorithms. With this full material analysis, economic plans can be formulated, and investigate drops and increases in certain areas of production and using this interconnected data to maximise production. Intern, Technalism uses a mix of Central, decentral and Ai planning to tackle to economic calculation problem using local information for the economic plans. From here we move onto some of the welfare aspects, more specifically the housing system. The housing is organised through a segment of the economic planning that is the National Infrastructure organisation aka the NIO, which is the third segment of high level of government. Housing planning is merged into the general city planned, with a system of mixed planning allowing for apartment blocks to be in the same areas as commercial and service buildings, thus preventing residential areas to become isolated and inactive leading to increased crime. A more lit up city through mixed planning would deter crime due to the higher visibility of its occurrence. Apartment blocks are also organised to be in small groups of a few that face each other creating a small courtyard in the centre that would be set as a green space, which would increase local activity in these areas and create a more communal environment for residents. The housing system would be funded in two ways, first is through government funding that would initially fund the construction of housing. The second one is through additional taxation; this would mean that people applying to move into national housing would pay an extra tax fee if they’re employed. And since it would work in a percentage system, this means that everyone can afford housing while still paying their fair share. This additional tax would depend on the home size and the number of residents, as the national housing would be split into different apartment sizes relative to the amount of people it is meant to house. Thus, maintaining an equitable system.

When moving onto the social aspect of Technalism, it is mainly driven by secularism, egalitarianism, and progress. Just as how it looks to the future in advocating for the acceleration of automation, the transition to sustainable energy and space exploration, Technalism also seeks progress in social endeavours. This is implemented through a secular education system, in which religious full time school institutions aren’t permitted, people are allowed to set up institutions to teach in religious matters, but it cannot be implemented into a full-time school curriculum. Such alterations will maintain a scientific and fact-based education system, while religious freedom is still maintained. This secularism also includes the full separation of religion and the state, meaning that on no circumstance can religion be used as a justification to push a policy, and such preserving the technocratic nature of Technalist government. Religious institutions are taxed like any other organisation, and all religions are considered equal under the system. Moving from secularism, Technalism also emphasises social egalitarianism, which means laws cannot discriminate based on the characteristics of a group. From this we aim for Gender Equality, and LGBT rights and equality, as well as the elimination of most affirmative action as it still works as a form of discrimination, thus ethnic equality is also emphasised.