Friday 16 March 2018

Psychotechnocracy

In Poul Anderson's Genesis, there is a Paleotechnic Era.

In Anderson's first, Psychotechnic, future history, there are:

the Psychotechnic Institute;

a volume inappropriately entitled The Psychotechnic League;

a three-volume complete edition inappropriately entitled The Complete Psychotechnic League.

In Anderson's second future history, the History of Technic Civilization, there are:

the Polesotechnic League (whose members included Nicholas van Rijn);

later folk tales of  "Polesotechnarch Van Rijn" ("The Plague of Masters," p. 45) (For full reference, see here);

a theory of "Psychotechnocracy." (op. cit., p. 39)

The Psychotechnic Institute tried to apply scientific knowledge to social and psychological problems. I would expect "Psychotechnocrats" to do the same, not to try to fit people into a perfect scheme, which is what Dominic Flandry accuses them of doing.

1 comment:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

But I agree with Flandry! The scientific mind is simply not well suited for something as messy and chaotic as politics. Which is why I strongly suspect these theories about "psychotechnocracy" soon disappeared, except in the debased form seen with
Biocontrol on Unan Besar.

Sean