£ ICY COURSE llmMill'i 9 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE C H Q TECHNOCRACY INC, TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE AN OUTLINE OP THOSE ELE- MENTS OF SCIENCE AND TECH- NOLOGY ESSENTIAL TO AN UNDERSTANDING OF OUR SO- CIAL MECHANISM AN ANALYSIS OF THE PRICE SYSTEM TECHNOCRACY'S SOCIAL SYN- THESIS For Members of Technocracy Inc. TECHNOCRACY INC. 155 East 44th St., New York, N. Y. First Edition Published in New York During 1934, 1935, 1936 Second Edition Published in Saskatoon, Sask., 1937 Third Edition Published in Winnipeg, Man., 1937 Fourth Edition Published in Winnipeg, Man., 1938 Five Printings Fifth Edition Published in New York, N. Y. First Printing, December, 1940 Second Printing, October, 1943 Third Printing, July, 1944 Copyright 1934, 1935, 1936, Technocracy Incorporated Printed in U. S. A. TECHNOCRACY TECHNOCRACY INC. is a non-profit membership organization incorporated under the laws of the State of New York. It is a Continental Organization. It is not a financial racket or a political party. Technocracy Inc. operates only on the North Ameri- can Continent through the structure of its own Con- tinental Headquarters, Area Controls, Regional Divi- sions, Sections, and Organizers as a self-disciplined, self-controlled organization. It has no affiliations with any other organization, movement, or association, whether in North America or elsewhere. Technocracy points out that this Continent has the natural resources, the physical equipment, 'and the trained personnel to produce and distribute an abund- ance. Technocracy finds that the production and distribu- tion of an abundance of physical wealth on a Con- tinental scale for the use of all Continental citizens can only be accomplished by a Continental technological control — a governance of function — a Technate. Technocracy declares that this Continent has a rendezvous with Destiny; that this Continent must decide between Abundance and Chaos within the next few years. Technocracy realizes that this decision must be made by a mass movement of North Americans trained and self-disciplined, capable of operating a tech- nological mechanism of production and distribution on the Continent when the present Price System becomes impotent to operate. Technocracy Inc. is notifying every intelligent and courageous North American that his future tomorrow rests On what he does today. Technocracy offers the specifications and the blueprints of Continental physical operations for the production of abundance for every citizen. Til PREFACE NUMEROUS groups of people are requesting information about Technocracy, and in many places study groups have been formed for the purpose of studying Technocracy and its underlying principles. Unfortunately, the headquarters staff of Technocracy have not yet completed a comprehensive treatise which can be made available for the use of the general public. In the absence of such a treatise the following outline lessons are designed to serve as a guide for study groups which are now organ- ized and ready to proceed. Technocracy is dealing with social phenomena in the widest sense of the word ; this includes not only actions of human beings, but also everything which directly or indirectly affects their ac- tions. Consequently, the studies of Technocracy embrace practic- ally the whole field of science and industry. Biology, climate, nat- ural resources, and industrial equipment all enter into the social picture; and no one can expect to have any understanding of our present social problems without having at least a panoramic view of the basic relations of these essential elements of the picture. All things on the earth are composed of matter and therefore re- quire a knowledge of chemistry. These things move, and in so doing involve energy. An understanding of these relationships requires a knowledge of physics. Industrial equipment, as well as the substances of which living organisms are composed, are derived from the earth. This requires a knowledge of geology and earth processes. Man is himself an organism, and derives his food from other organisms. Hence, a knowledge of biology is necessi- tated. The purpose of this Study Course is not to give to any person a comprehensive knowledge of science and technology, but rather to present an outline of the essential elements of these various ix fields, as they pertain to the social problem, in a unified picture. Neither are these lessons a textbook. They are, instead, a guide to study. The materials to be studied are to a great extent already very well written in various standard and authentic references and texts in the fields of science. At the end of each lesson there is cited a series of references. If one is sincerely interested in learning what Technocracy is about we do not know any other way that this can be achieved than by mastering the basic material contained in these references, or its equivalent from other sources. The scope of materials in this course of studies is so broad that it is very doubtful that any group will have among its mem- bers a single person competent to discuss all topics. It is quite probable, however, that there may be individual members who are engineers, physicians, and people with training in other technical branches. The procedure therefore recommended for conducting the course is that of the seminar method — each member of the group is a student, and none is the teacher. Under this method there should be a permanent presiding officer, but discussion lead- ers should be chosen from among the group, with topics assigned on the basis of making the best uses of the talent afforded by the group. Thus, for the matter and energy discussions, use should be made of members with training in physics, chemistry, or engi- neering. For the biological discussions use should be made of physicians or of people having training in biology. For the min- eral resources people with a knowledge of geology should be the preferred leaders. The above suggestions are offered only as guides. If special talent in the various fields should not be available, then any suit- able leader can direct the discussion, using the outline and refer- ences as sources of information. The important thing is to get a comprehensive view of the problem as a whole, rather than of its parts as unrelated scraps of knowledge. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Technocracy vii Preface ix Lesson An Introduction to Science 1 1 Matter 15 Change of physical states; molecules; the elements; atoms; chemical changes; indestructibility of matter. 2 Units of Measurement 19 Mass; length; time; force; work; power; English System; Metric System. 3 Energy 33 Potential energy ; kinetic energy ; heat ; temperature ; measure- ment of heat and temperature; work and heat. 4 The Laws of Thermodynamics 39 Friction ; energy of evaporation ; chemical energy ; First Law of Thermodynamics; direction of energy transformations; entropy ; heat and work ; reversible and irreversible processes ; transformations; unidirectional nature of terrestrial history; Second Law of Thermodynamics. 5 Engines 51 Definition; efficiency; heat value of fuels. 6 The Human Engine 56 Calories ; heat value of foods ; efficiency of the human engine. 7 The Flow of Energy on the Earth 61 Energy of running water; energy of plants and animals; chlorophyl; solar radiation; flow of solar energy. xi xii Lesson Page 8 Dynamic Equilibrium Among Energy-Consuming Devices 67 Dynamic equilibrium of plants and animals ; dynamic equilib- rium of man. 9 Energy in Human History 73 Domestication of plants; domestication of animals; discovery of metals. 10 Early Stages in the Use of Extraneous Energy 79 Food, fire, animals, wind, and water; use of fossil fuel; use of gunpowder; a new problem. 11 Modern Industrial Growth 84 Development of the steam engine; the railroad; the steam- boat; the automobile; transportation by air; table of de- velopment. 12 Industrial Growth Curves 92 Pig iron ; growth of railroads ; point of inflection ; production of automobiles ; radio ; biological growth curves ; coal ; theo- retical growth curves; social and industrial results. 13 Mineral Resources 106 Discovery of metals; methods of discovery; coal; oil; iron; copper; ferro-alloys; movement of supplies; unequal dis- tribution of resources. 14 More About Growth Curves 113 The decline curve ; the man-hour ; mechanization of industry ; decline of man-hours. 15 The Price System 121 The concept of property; trade; the concept of value; the concept of debt ; definition of a Price System. 16 Rules of the Game of the Price System 130 Negotiability of debt; certificates of ownership; wealth; creation of debt; banking and credit; compound interest; growth of debt. 17 The Flow of Money 138 The flow of goods; the mechanism; the process; saving; investment; results. 18 Why the Purchasing Power Is Not Maintained 143 Xlll Lesson Page The inevitable inflection point; attempts to maintain pro- duction; the financial structure; the process of investment; income; profits, technology, and purchasing power; new in- dustry; debt creation. 18 Appendix : Population Growth in the U. S. A 157 19 Operating Characteristics Under the Price System 161 Inferior goods for large turnover ; foreign trade and war ; cur- tailment and destruction; low load factors; housing; inter- ference by business expediency; institutional and traditional interference; legal interference; political interference; propa- ganda. 20 The Nature of the Human Animal 180 The solar system; the age of the earth; supernaturalism of man; objective viewpoint; stimulus and response; thinking, speaking, writing; suppression of responses; involuntary pro- cess; control of behavior; glandular types; the endocrine glands; results on behavior; peck-rights; functional priority; social customs; social change. 21 Technocracy : The Design 213 The arrival of technology ; the trends ; the solution ; personnel ; operating example ; organization chart ; special sequences ; the Continental Control; Regional Divisions; requirements; the mechanism of distribution ; Energy Certificates ; a Technocracy. 22 Industrial Design and Operating Characteristics 242 Load factor; quality of product; the calendar; transportation; communication ; agriculture ; housing; design; standardization; unnecessary activities. Appendix 269 The Technate of America; production of minerals; industry; more industry; fuel consumption; some equipment and re- sources; agriculture production; energy — the world's work; references. Bibliography 281 Index 287 AN INTRODUCTION TO SCIENCE WE wish it were possible for us to have a friendly chat with each student at the beginning of this Study Course, in order that we might impart to him something of the 'feeling' of science before he receives portions of its substance. Since a con- versation is out of the question, we are offering this informal dis- cussion, addressed to the student, as the next best thing. Persons have come previously to Technocracy for one or more of many reasons, such as entertainment, instruction, etc. Some have come from a sense of duty which compels their supporting that in which they honestly believe, and others have come out of sheer curiosity. We are well aware that the type of material pre- sented in the general lectures you have heard, or in our literature, has not been adequate, either in form or substance, to afford a full understanding of just what our work is. For those interested in learning more, this course of study is necessary. It means just that — study ; and you should be warned it will not be a great deal of fun. Many of you will be entering the field of science for the first time. The immediate activity of Technocracy directs itself toward two general ends. There is the analytical purpose which inquires into fundamental relations among the various parts of a Price economy, and which discloses the reasons for the collapse of such a System in any civilization that converts energy at a high rate. There is also the synthetic purpose that designs a control which will successfully operate just such a high-energy civilization. Please do not think of the analytic aspect of Technocracy as the destructive aspect, for there is nothing destructive about it. It does not destroy the Price System. The Price System destroys itself. Nor do we particularly like the antonym of 'destructive/ The word 'constructive' has been bandied about so much by leaders of the 2 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE present system that it begins to have an odor all its own. We shall not, however, study either of these sides of Technocracy; not at once, anyway. We shall study, not Technocracy, as such, but the soil in which its roots are spread — science itself. It is appropri- ate for you to ask, at the outset of your course, what is this thing called science? How does it differ from something that is not science? A Fact , Though there are a number of definitions current in diction- aries and in writings of various kinds, we prefer to treat the matter at greater length. Perhaps there will be a definition, of sorts, later. We want you to have, at the end of this discussion, a fairly clear answer to your questions ; a fairly clear idea of what is meant by a scientific mind, a scientific viewpoint, and a scientific approach to a problem. We shall commence by investigating the meaning of a very common word — the word 'fact.' That has a familiar sound. You have all been using it most of your lives, and yet if you were to ask two people picked at random for the meaning of the term, you would get rather dissimilar explanations. To a scientist, 'fact' has a very specific and a very rigid meaning. Please remember this definition, in essence if not in exact words. It is important, serving as it does as the starting point of your studies. A fact is the close agreement of a series of observa- tions of the same phenomenon. Let us consider this for a while. We find a strip of steel and undertake a determination of its length. The investigator lays a scale parallel to the unknown length and measures it. He reads the scale at, say, 10.0 centimeters, but he does not accept as a fact the probability that the strip is 10 centimeters long. He repeats the measurement, taking care that his work is well done ; that no errors he might formerly have overlooked affect the result. Pos- sibly he uses a more accurate scale, one with a vernier, and let us say he reads the length to be 10.0 centimeters. In such a simple measurement as that of linear distance to one or two decimal places, probably two observations would be an extensive enough series to establish the fact that the length is so many centimeters, but if accuracy to the fifth or sixth place were required our scien- INTRODUCTION 3 tist would employ instruments more refined than the simple scale, and undoubtedly he would make more than two determinations. The most probable value for the velocity of light is 2.99796 x 1010 centimeters per second, which is, as you know, something over 186,000 miles per second. I do not know, and could not pos- sibly guess, of how many observations this fact is the result. Likely many hundred. Once an apparatus is set up, successive deter- minations can be made rather quickly. In the definition just given, the word 'observation' is used in a broad sense. It means, of course, direct observation by our vari- ous sense organs, and it includes observation through an inter- preter, as it were. In many cases the phenomena we are examin- ing lie outside the field of our direct perception, and we must then devise ways of causing them to produce effects which lie within that field. For example : We are directly aware of electro-magnetic radiation having any wave length between approximately 0.4 and 0.8 micron. (A micron is one 10,000th of a centimeter.) We see this as light. We observe radiation shorter than 0.4 micron, that is, ultra violet light, or even X-rays, much shorter yet, by exposing to the radiation a special photographic plate protected against ordinary light. How do we observe radiation with the wave length of %-mile, which is unrecordable by photographic processes? That particular wave length is in the range of marine signals, and we could detect it on a ship's wireless. We have said a fact is a close agreement of a series of observa- tions. Now, what about those 'facts' that cannot in any manner be observed by man ; those that, because of their remote or occult character, not only lie outside the field of his perception but refuse to exhibit themselves even through his most ingenious apparatus? It is implicit in our definition that there are no such facts. If and whatever such remote things are, they are not facts. One more point, and we shall be finished with our definition. It is a sine qua non of scientific work that all observations must be susceptible of confirmation. They must be so carried out that they may be repeated at will, or, if they are not repeatable, must have such a nature that you and I can ourselves substantiate them if we care to do the requisite work. We make a careful distinction, 4 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE you see, between verifiable and nonverifiable observations because from the former come facts, while from the latter come — well, what? Many devious and wonderful things we shall not scrutinize in this Study Course. We assure you none of them is within the scope of science. Science is built upon facts as we now under- stand them. Science is, indeed, nothing more than a system of facts and principles elaborated from facts. It is indispensable, therefore, that we check the verifiability of observations before we accept them as a valid basis for fact. Suppose we came upon a document signed by a dozen names and properly notarized. The document states that the under- signed have just returned from the planet, Venus, where they erected a monument to Colonel Stoopnagle. We would have the perfect agreement of a series of observations of an event, and the statement cannot by any means be disproved. But even non- scientists would be apt to reject this as a fact. If you are offended by such a puerile illustration, here is another nearer home. Slightly more than a hundred years ago there was published a book purporting to be a translation of the engravings on a number of gold plates, or tablets, dug out of a hill near Palmyra, New York. After the translation was made the plates were reburied in another secret place. At the beginning of this book, preceding the translated text, appears the written testimony of eight men, saying that each of them has seen and handled the plates, that the plates were heavy, had the appear- ance of gold, and were covered with a curious inscription. These men were all devout Christians, and they called upon their God to bear witness, so that, all in all, the testimony is a very impres- sive document indeed. Clearly, the existence of the gold tablets cannot be reestablished today, since they have disappeared. There- fore their existence is not a fact, even though more than a hundred thousand people believe that it is. Only when, and if, the plates reappear, as all Mormons expect them to do some day, and are placed in a museum accessible to all of us, only then will their existence become a fact. Assuming you have never visited Sydney, Australia, how do you know there is a city by that name? You may have heard people INTRODUCTION 5 mention it, or seen the name on maps, but perhaps something is being put over on you; perhaps it is all a great hoax. When Napoleon's chief spy, Karl Schulmeister, was working himself high in the ranks of the Austrian secret service, he received almost daily a copy of a Parisian newspaper. He said an agent of his smuggled it across the border. Naturally, the Austrians got a lot of information about conditions in France. The truth was that the newspaper was printed solely for Schulmeister and the Aus- trian generals, and each edition consisted of only one copy. It was all false, all exactly what Napoleon wanted his enemies to know. Might it not be the same with Sydney? The reason each of you believes in the existence of this place is because you know that knowledge is the kind that can be verified. You know many persons must have checked its reality by going there. You know that if worst came to worst you could go there yourself. This, then, is a fact, one which like all facts of science, can be reestab- lished by anyone. The student of science in our schools has laboratory courses in which he actually does check the work of others in simple ex- periments. This is done partly to develop his manual dexterity in that sort of thing, but mostly to drive into his head the knowl- edge that all observations may be so checked. Defining Words About all we have done so far in this discussion is to give you a definition, and to explain exactly what was meant by it. Why this insistence on exact meaning? We promised to tell you about science in general, and then proceed to split hairs about something so small as would surely make little difference in the composite whole. This brings us to another point. A scientist always knows exactly what he is talking about. That sounds like a boast, but it is really quite the opposite. It is just that a scientist pays attention to the exact definition of terms; he should never use a term beyond its definition^ and he should never use an un- defined term at all. Many, quarrelling with me on that last, will say one must somewhere use undefined terms. But we have a way out of that difficulty which will be indicated in a moment. Now, <5 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE contrast a rigidly defined term with the expressions used in fields other than science — in finance, in politics, law, etc. Suppose you were reading an article on economics and came upon the word 'price,' as you undoubtedly would do many times a page. Now everybody is credited with knowing the meaning of 'price/ but you, being a particularly inquiring individual, insist on an exact definition. You would discover that almost every economist, when he bothers to elucidate his terms at all, attaches to the word 'price' a different meaning. Some define it as the measure of the ratio of the scarcity of money to the scarcity of any commodity. Others make no mention of scarcity whatever. Still others introduce psychological and social factors. Invariably you will find that a definition when given is followed by great amounts of explanatory and qualifying material. This means the definition represents what is in the author's mind, not what is in the minds of all users of the word. For example : The Encyclopedia Britannica starts off by regretting there is no exact meaning for the word, and presently works into the definition, 'Price is value expressed in terms of money.' Then comes the qualifying material which says, in effect, this does not mean values are determined independently of or prior to the determination of their prices, or that values of goods and money are determined separately. Some sort of an exchange is necessary, after which the values thus de- termined appear in the guise of money prices. We are also told that the abstract notion of exchange value is a generalization of the simple idea of price. One who finds this less clear than he hoped would naturally try to discover what is meant by value, since price is expressed in terms of it. He would discover there are three conceptions of value : exchange value, sub- jective value, and imputed price. He would read the opinion that 'value is the greatest philosophical achievement of the 19th cen- tury' but nowhere would he find a statement of what it is. He would be gratified to learn there exists, however, if not an exact meaning, at least a theory of values, a theory that requires con- sideration of the following points: What is the nature of value? What are the fundamental values, and how are they to be classi- fied? How may we determine the relative values of things, and INTRODUCTION 7 what is the ultimate standard of value? Are values subjective or objective? What is the relation of values to things or of value to existence and reality? Let us go no further into the matter of price, for it does not appear necessary to labor the point that a term whose meaning has not been specified by general agreement among men is un- suited for the rigorous transmission of intelligence from man to man. In this connection, however, we shall take up another little problem. A hunter is standing near a large tree, and a squirrel is hanging onto the opposite side of the tree. The hunter now moves in a circle completely around the tree until he regains his start- ing position, but at the same time the squirrel also moves around the tree in the same direction and in such a manner as it always faces the man, and as the tree is always between it and him. Now, the problem is this : Does the hunter go around the squirrel? The correct answer is not 'yes,' and it is not 'no.' The correct reply requires an exact definition of the verb, 'go around.' If we define 'go around' as meaning that the hunter is first south, then west, then north, then east, and finally south of the squirrel, he very obviously does go around it. But if we agree that 'go around' shall mean first opposite the squirrel's belly, then its right side, then its back, then its left side, the answer is just as definitely 'no.' Here, again, we see the necessity for exact definition. It is inimical to the integrity of our thinking to use words loosely. Lack of careful definition sires more illegitimate offspring, widely vary- ing sports that take the form of controversies, debates, arguments, than a whole countryside of rabbit farms. Many problems out- side science would vanish into thin air if definition were exact. Before we leave the subject, let us ask if anyone can define a term used in connection with measuring the strip of steel — the word 'centimeter.' How long is a centimeter? It is useless to say it is the 100th part of a meter ; that, in effect, is saying it is twice one-half centimeter. One merely asks: 'How long is a meter? Is there possible an exact definition of length not in terms of other units of length?' Yes. In the International Bureau of Standards near Paris is a certain bar of metal — one only. It is an alloy of, I think, platinum and iridium. On this bar are two marks, and a 8 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE centimeter is denned as one one-hundredth the distance between these two marks when the bar is at 0° Centigrade. This is an example of the prosaic, matter-of-course way scientists have of going about things. If they cannot define a term in terms of other terms, they define it in terms of an object or system of objects in the external world. That is how we avoid using un- defined terms. We trust the distinction between a definition and a fact is clear. You will have many of both in your studies. A definition is an agreement, wholly arbitrary in character, among men; while a fact is an agreement among investigations carried out by men. It is a definition that a centimeter is one one-hundredth the distance between certain marks on a certain bar at a certain temperature. It is a fact that a particular strip of steel is 10 centimeters long. The Postulates So far we have been talking about fairly fundamental things. Just how fundamental, you may ask, and is there anything more fundamental? Let us see if we can go deeper yet. Let us try to strike the very foundations of science. Science is a fair palace of lofty dimensions. Does it rise out of the massive earthrock itself, or is it erected upon sand and apt to crumble utterly should the unshored plain ever shift? You see, even if we fail to take you to the heights of science — an excursion that would occupy several hundred lifetimes — at least we start you at the bottom. So let us descend toward that bottom to see if we can at any depth discard the relatively fundamental and deal with the absolutely funda- mental. We have used the quality of agreement to describe the intrin- sic character of both facts and definitions. There are in science agreements other than those of fact or definition. These are called postulates, and it is the postulates, three in number, that are the foundations of science. Now, a postulate is a curious mixture. It partakes of the nature of a fact in that it is a statement of fact, but differs from a fact in that the observations supporting it are not confirmable. A postulate partakes of the nature of a definition in that it is an agreement among men, but it differs from a defini- INTRODUCTION 9 tion in that it concerns no trivial matter of nomenclature, and in that it is certainly not arbitrary. A definition, as we know, is a mere shortcut in the language. Power is defined as the time rate of doing work. Obviously, we could go through all scientific litera- ture, cross out the word 'power/ substitute the phrase 'time rate of doing work/ and entirely eliminate a definition from the vast amount of material the mind must handle. Definitions which can be done away with thus easily cannot be per se the fundamental things we seek. But there is no more essential, however complex, manner of stating a postulate. And there are no already existing propositions from which it may be deduced. The first postulate states that the external world actually is. In other words, a chair, a pencil, a city, the mountains, rivers, oceans, continents really do exist. We can at once go to work on them without having to establish their existence. The second postulate states that nature is uniform. This means we do not have to flounder about in a world wherein a sacfc of flour suddenly transforms itself into a fish, and that into an automobile, and that into an oil well. The second postulate is our protection against chaos. The third postulate states that there are symbols in the 'mind' which stand for events and things in the external world. The total sum of all such symbols in all minds, after eliminating duplicates, would be the sum total of that kind of knowledge for us ; and the sum total of all things and events meant by these symbols, provided the symbols should ever become complete in number, would con- stitute the entire physical world. This means, in effect, that the mind itself is uniform. Mathematicians will note that the third postulate establishes a one-to-one correspondence between all that is in our minds and all that is in the external world. A corollary of this is that there is nothing in all the world that has the a priori quality of being unknowable. ( In this paragraph the word 'mind' has been used in its conventional sense. Later in the course we shall consider 'mind' from a somewhat different and highly interesting point of view.) We shall not discuss the postulates further for the reason that a scientist has nothing whatever to say about them. Every 10 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE scientist is agreed that, so long as he shall live, he shall not ever question these postulates, nor require any proof thereof. They are the rules of his game, and he is no more concerned with the rules of other games than a bridge player is about baseball rules. Is science built upon a firm foundation? Yes. It stands, properly ordered and rock solid, upon the enduring base of its postulates. Take note too that science is forever impregnable against any attack originating outside its postulates. The criticisms of meta- physicians, of philosophers, of mystics, are categorically absurd; are invalidated at their very source by so originating. And bear in mind it does not become you as scientists to discuss questions of ultimate truth, nor ultimate reality, nor anything else ultimate. Discuss them as novelists or theologians if you like, but not as scientists. Science Now, in a paper that purports to introduce you very inform- ally to the field of science, why has no mention been made of any of the sciences themselves, if only that you may know what they are about? We have not spoken of heat, sound, electricity, hy- draulics, etc., which are branches of physics, nor of zoology, cyto- logy, embryology, etc., branches of biology, nor of chemistry and its branches. Why not? Simply because there are no sciences. There is only one science. It makes little difference what you call it. Call it the science of existence, or the science of the world, or just plain science. It is only very elementary phenomena we can identify as belonging exclusively to one or another of the name- labels that a hundred or so years ago were thought to distinguish one science from another. When we reach phenomena of any com- plexity— and you need not be told most of the world is very, very complex — we find the facts of one name-label mixing with those of another to such an extent as it is mere sophistry to think they should be treated separately. Suppose we bring together two substances, carbon dioxide and water. Nothing much happens, as you know from your experi- ence with charged water. Bring them together on the leaf of a plant in the presence of chlorophyl, and still nothing much hap- pens. But allow sunlight to fall on the leaf, and these two simple INTRODUCTION 11 substances will be synthesized into additional plant tissue, cellu- lose. Here we have light, chemistry and botany, all in one reaction. Consider deep ray therapy where advantage is taken of the fact that malignant tumor cells have three to four times the elec- trical condenser capacity of benign tumor cells. Here we have electricity, short-wave radiation, and human pathology becoming one problem. Diathermy and radio surgery are other examples of the connection between medicine and what were once called extra-human phenomena. Consider photopheresis, where a particle of gold or selenium or sulphur suspended in a strong stream of light moves toward the source of light, even though that be directly above the particle. Thus we establish a liaison between light and that elusive thing, gravitation. Consider the photolytic cell where an electrode of lead and one of copper oxide are immersed in a solution of lead nitrate. No current flows in the dark, but if light is allowed to strike the inner face of the copper oxide electrode a strong although not a steady current is produced. Here we have chemistry, electricity, and light functioning together. The wedding of biology and chemistry is expressed in the word biochemistry. If you undertake the study of chemistry you will reach something called physical chemistry, which might just as well be called chemical physics. The chlorophyl of plants mentioned a moment ago and the hemoglobin of your blood have very similar chemical structures. Your blood con- tains the same salts as sea water and in virtually the same pro- portion, not so much the sea of today as that ancient Cambrian Sea that existed before ever there were warm-blooded animals. Do you see that there can be no frontiers within science; that there is, indeed, only one science? Scientific Prediction The two aspects of Technocracy, analytic and synthetic, which have formed the subject matter of lectures you have heard in the past, have already been pointed Out. This would not be an effectual preface if we failed to show that these two aspects are character- istic of the whole field of science. The collecting of facts of all avail- 12 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE able kinds, by carefully repeated observations in all parts of the world by all types of interpreting apparatus, is clearly of an ana- lytic nature. What do we do with these facts as they are collected? Is our work finished when we make a report in the literature, and neatly file it on a library shelf? The high-energy civilization about us should demonstrate to anyone this is not so. Facts are powerful tools in our hands, continually in use. They are good tools; but if you will again consider the definition you will see that no fact is absolutely certain, having been established by inductive methods. Fifty observations may have agreed very closely, but we cannot say positively that therefore the next fifty will so agree. We can say only that it is probable they will. Thus does the vast store of facts collected in the literature serve as a basis for determining what is most probable. The mechanism of scientific progress is this: We start with any phenomenon we care to, from a simple electrical effect in the laboratory to a high-speed Diesel engine. We say, 'On the basis of what we have observed, such and such a modification will prob- ably produce such and such a result.' Then it is tried if the proba- bility is great enough. Sometimes it works and sometimes not. But out of the times it does work comes our intricate civilization with all its marvelous technical accomplishments. Science is, in a dynamic sense, essentially a method of predic- tion. It has been defined as being the method of the determination of the most probable. In tossing a coin, how does one know how many times heads will turn up? How does a life insurance company know how many people will die next year? How does a geologist know where to drill for oil? How does the designer of a building determine how many elevators will be required? How does the weather bureau predict what the weather will be tomorrow? How can the astrono- mers predict to within a second an eclipse of the sun 150 years hence? These are all illustrations of scientific predictions. Some of these predictions, as you well know, are more exact than others, but they are all based on the same fundamental principles of reasoning from the basic facts. When more facts are known, more INTRODUCTION 13 accurate predictions can be made. That is what is meant by the most probable; not that by this method one knows exactly what will happen, but by its use he can determine more nearly what will happen than by any other method. But machines must be operated in accordance with their design. If you wish to speed up your automobile, you must press the accelerator pedal. Into this problem enter no abstract consid- erations whatever, such as, is it ethical to speed up an auto this way, or is this the best of all possible ways of doing it? The machine simply is built to accelerate in response to this one oper- ation. This is a useful lesson to digest. No machine, no group of machines may be properly operated except as specified by their design. America's idle factories, her wanton destruction of food supplies while her citizens remain undernourished are results of trying to operate a system by other criteria. Engineering Just a word or two about engineering. It is a frequently used term and some slight explanation of it should be offered. In the light of what has just been said you can see that a scientific labora- tory is not always a single building on a college campus. More often the dimensions of a laboratory coincide with the boundaries of a city or a nation. Suppose you have the problem of transport- ing a liter of sulphuric acid from one side of the room to the other. The best solution would be to pick up the bottle and carry it across. It is very simple. Suppose, however, you are confronted with the same problem on a somewhat larger scale. You receive a 10,000- gallon tank car of sulphuric acid on a railroad siding, and want to use the acid on the second floor of your plant. Now you must con- sider a number of things that did not enter into the smaller prob- lem. What material will you install to convey the acid? What motive power will you use to propel it? Where will your storage tanks be located? Finally, do you buy in large enough quantities to warrant the erection of a sulphuric acid manufacturing plant on your own premises? This is the engineering side of chemistry. On the basis of established facts, the solution that is probably the best must be 14 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE found for each question. Similarly with other kinds of scientific work. Laboratory electricity is the production of electrical energy in a voltaic cell. Electrical engineering is the production of elec- trical energy by a waterfall, and the transportation of it a hundred miles at a hundred thousand volts. Please recognize we are still within the field of science, and remember no frontiers are set up anywhere in this field. There is only one science, and there is no essential difference between sci- ence and engineering. The stoking of a bunsen burner, the stok- ing of a boiler, the stoking of the people of a nation, are all one problem. Summary Since we are now actually to begin studies in this field, let us recapitulate the several pieces of equipment we have for the job. First of all, there are five senses through which the external world is perceptible to us. Next, we have a mind to reflect upon what is perceived. But it is now a critical mind, unwilling to accept knowledge until inquiry is made^into the sources thereof. Let us indicate here, and emphasize the fine, the incomparable quality of that mind which is able to entertain something in which it neither believes nor disbelieves, something upon which it withholds judgment until the source-observations have been verified, or their verifiability affirmed. This critical mind is aware of the uselessness of thought unless thought be clothed in exact terms. With this mind a simple experiment performed with the hands and viewed with the eyes weighs heavily, while the testament of however many men con- cerning unconfirmable observations, even though that testament be preserved between the finely tooled covers of a rare book, weighs much, much more lightly than a feather. We are continu- ally aware that science is more than a dry catalogue of facts ; it is a dynamic and powerful tool before which all problems shall some day yield. This, then, is the equipage we carry as we approach the physi- cal world, that actual, uniform world our postulates give us. I think we should not find it burdensome. Lesson 1 MATTER The earth and everything upon it is composed of matter. Matter occurs in three principal physical states — solids, liquids, and gases. Examples of solids are rocks, wood, ice. Examples of liquids are water, gasoline, alcohol. Examples of gases are air, illuminating gas, water vapor or steam. Molecules. The smallest particle of any pure substance, such as water, iron or salt, which can exist without that substance changing its physical properties, is called a molecule. Thus, water is made up of millions of water molecules, each of which is, so far as we know, exactly like every other water molecule. These molecules are much too small to be seen by even the most power- ful microscope. There are ways of measuring them quite ac- curately, however, as to weight and size. Change of Physical State. Matter can be changed from one physical state to another. Thus, by the application of heat, water can be changed from its solid state, ice, to its liquid state, water ; and by further heating, to its gaseous state, water vapor. In a similar manner air, which is normally gaseous, can, by cooling and compression, be converted into liquid air, and this by still further cooling, can be frozen solid. Elements. There are compound substances and simple sub- stances, or elements. Common salt, a compound substance, for in- stance, can be separated by electrical means into two substances — the metal element, sodium ; and the poisonous gas element, chlorine. Water, in like manner, can be resolved into two constituent gases, the elements oxygen and hydrogen. Marble, similarly, can be divided into the elements carbon, calcium and oxygen. 15 16 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE All of these .last named substances are characterized by the fact that they cannot be further subdivided. They are called chemical elements. Chemical elements are the building materials of which everything else on earth is composed. There are only 92 chemical elements. Several of these are relatively common in everyday life. Among the better known ele- ments are iron, aluminum, copper, tin, lead, zinc, silver, gold, platinum, oxygen, carbon, sulphur, hydrogen, nitrogen, chlorine, iodine and nickel. Some of the elements are exceedingly rare, and have been obtained only in extremely minute traces. Other elements are very common. Estimates based upon the averaging of thousands of chemical analyses show the upper 10 miles of the earth's crust to be com- posed of the following elements in approximately the percentages given. TABLE 1 CHEMICAL COMPOSITION OF THE OUTER 10 MILES OF THE EARTH:* Element Amounts in Percent by Weights Oxygen . 46.59 Silicon 27.72 Aluminum 8.13 Iron 5.01 Calcium 3.63 Sodium 2.85 Potassium 2.28 Magnesium 2.09 Titanium 0.63 Phosphorus 0.13 Hydrogen 0.13 Manganese 0.10 99.29 All remaining 80 elements 0.71 Total, 92 elements 100.00 * Clarke, The Data of Geochemistry The striking thing about this table is that by far the greater part of the materials comprising the surface of the earth is com- posed of only five or six chemical elements. Most of the familiar MATTER 17 metals that are used daily occur in amounts of less than one-tenth of one percent of the surface rocks of the earth. Atoms. The smallest particle of a chemical element is called an atom. Chemical Compounds. A chemical compound is a substance of definite chemical composition, which is composed of two or more elements. Over 750,000 different chemical compounds are known. Examples of chemical compounds are water (oxygen and hydrogen, abbreviated H20), salt (sodium and chlorine, abbre- viated NaCl), and sugar (carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, abbrevi- ated Ci2H220ii). Mixtures. Most substances are not simple chemical com- pounds, but are rather mixtures or aggregates of various com- pounds. Wood, for instance, is composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and a small amount of mineral matter. Wood, however, has not a definite chemical composition, and is not a single chemi- cal compound. Likewise the air is a mixture chiefly of two gases, oxygen and nitrogen. Chemical Changes. A chemical change involves a change of chemical composition. The grinding of wood into sawdust is a mechanical change which does not affect the chemical composition of the wood ; burning of wood, however, is a chemical change. The burning of wood consists in combining the oxygen from the air with the substances composing the wood. Without the added oxygen, wood will not burn. After the wood is burned, if all the gases given off are collected and analyzed, it is found that they consist of carbon dioxide and water vapor. A slight residue of mineral matter in the form of ash remains. Hence, wood+oxygen — ► water+carbon dioxide+ash. In a similar manner the burning of gasoline in an automobile results in water vapor and cartyon dioxide. This can be seen by watching the steam issue from the exhaust pipes on a cold day. Gasoline+oxygen — ► water vapor+carbon dioxide. 18 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE When chemical elements combine in such a manner as to form more complex substances from simple ones the process is called combination. The reverse process of breaking more complex sub- stances down to form simpler ones is called decomposition. Example of combination : 4Fe+302— *2Fe203 iron oxygen iron oxide Example of decomposition : 2H20— ►02+2H2 water oxygen hydrogen Indestructibility of Matter. In all chemical changes of what- ever sort it has been found that if all the materials are carefully weighed both before and after the change, while allowing nothing to escape in the meantime, the weight of the materials taking part in the change before the reaction will be exactly equal to the weight of the products resulting from the reaction. This is true not only for the whole, but is also true for each individual element. Summary All events on the face of the earth involve in one manner or another the movement or change in the relative configuration of matter. The rains and the flow of water, the winds, the growth of plants and animals, as well as the operation of automobiles and factories are a part of the movement of matter. Matter moves from one place to another, from one physical state to another, or from one chemical combination to another, but in all these proc- esses the individual atoms are not destroyed; they are merely being continuously reshuffled. References : An Introduction to Chemistry, Timm. The Spirit of Chemistry, Findlay. Matter and Motion, Maxwell. The Data of Geochemistry, Clarke. Theoretical Chemistry, Nernst. Lesson 2 UNITS OF MEASUREMENT In the preceding lesson we have discussed some of the properties of matter. We have noted that all the ma- terials on the surface of the earth are composed of various combinations of the 92 chemical elements. We have ob- served that matter can be transformed from one physical state to another or from one chemical combination to another, and that such processes are occurring continu- ously on the earth, but that in none of them is the matter destroyed ; it is merely reshuffled. Our next problem is to investigate the circumstances under which matter moves, or undergoes physical and chemical transformations. Before we can do this, how- ever, it is necessary that we become familiar with our systems of measurement. Mass, Length and Time. The three quantities that we deal with most frequently and hence are obliged to measure most often are mass, length and time. The mass of a body is that property which gives it weight, or, more generally, causes it to have inertia or a resistance to any change of motion. A body has weight because of the attraction of gravity upon its mass. If gravity were reduced by one-half, the weight of a body, as measured by a spring balance, would also be reduced by one-half. For example, the weight of a given body on the earth is less by about one part in 200 at the equator than at the poles. Its mass, however, remains the same. If gravity were zero, bodies would weigh nothing at all. Sup- pose under this condition that we had two hollow spheres identical in outward appearance, one filled with air and the other with lead. Neither would have any weight. How could we tell them 19 20 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE apart? All we would need to do would be to shake them. The lead ball would feel 'heavy' and the one filled with air 'light.' If we kicked the lead ball it would break our foot just as readily as if it had weight because it would still have the same inertia and resistance to change of motion, and hence the same mass. Length is an already familiar concept which needs no explana- tion. Time is measured in terms of the motion of some material system which is changing at a uniform speed. Mechanically oscil- lating systems like pendulums and tuning forks are the basis for most of our time measurements and form the control mechanisms of our clocks. Our master clock is the rotating earth whose hands are the stars which appear to go around the earth with uniform angular velocity once per sidereal or stellar day. Units of Measurement. The way we measure a quantity of any kind is to compare it with another quantity of the same kind which we employ as a unit of measurement. Thus we measure a mass by determining how many times greater it is than some standard mass; we measure a length by the number of multiples it contains of a standard length; and an interval of time by the multiples of some standard time interval. The choice of these standards is entirely arbitrary but if confusion is to be avoided two conditions must be rigidly observed: Different people per- forming a measurement of the same thing must use standards which either are the same or else the two standards must have a known ratio to each other; the other condition necessary is that the standard of measurement must not change. Unintelligibility results when either of these conditions is violated. The first type of unintelligibility would result if one man measured all of his lengths with a measuring stick of one length and another man used a measuring stick of a different length without the two ever having been compared. The second type of confusion would result if we attempted to measure lengths with a rubber band without specify- ing the tautness with which it is to be stretched. In the early days almost endless confusion in the units of measurement existed due to the failure to observe one or both of these conditions. All sorts of units of measurement sprang up UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 21 spontaneously and were in general use. Such units of length as that of a barley corn, the breadth of a hand, and the length of King John's foot were not uncommon. Thus, it was customary to employ as units things like a barley corn which bear a single name but may vary considerably in size. The type of confusion that this could cause is illustrated by an apple dealer who adver- tised his apples at 25c per bucketful. He had on display several large size buckets filled with apples but when filling the customer's order he used a bucket much smaller in size; yet no one could say that he had not received a 'bucketful' of apples. The trick of course lies in the fact that there is no standard size of 'bucket.' The same liberties with a bushel measure would have landed our merchant in jail. To eliminate this kind of confusion governments have had to establish standards of measurement so that today in the whole world only two systems of units are extensively used. These are the Metric system and the English system. It is to be hoped that soon there will be one only. The Metric System. The Metric system was established by the French government immediately following the French Revolu- tion. For the standard of length a bar composed of an alloy of platinum and iridium was constructed and is preserved at the Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris. Near each end of this bar there are engraved transversely three fine parallel lines. The distance from the middle line at one end of the bar to the middle line at the other end when the bar is at the temperature of melting ice is defined to be 1 meter. This is the prototype of all the other meters in the world. Exact copies of this bar made by direct comparison have been constructed and distributed to the govern- ments of the various countries of the world. In the United States this duplicate is kept at the Bureau of Standards in Washington. From this, additional copies are made and are obtained by manu- facturers of tapes, meter sticks and other measuring scales from which these latter are graduated. Hence the meter stick that one uses in his laboratory is probably not more than three or four times removed from the original bar in Paris. For units smaller and larger than a meter a decimal system 22 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE of graduation is employed. Thus the centimeter is a hundredth part of a meter ; a millimeter is a thousandth part of a meter ; and a micron is a millionth part of a meter. Going up the scale a kilometer is 1,000 meters. There are other multiples and sub- multiples but the above are the ones most extensively used. Similarly, the unit of mass is that of a platinum weight kept at the Bureau of Weights and Measures and defined to have a mass of 1 kilogram. The gram is accordingly a thousandth part of the mass of this standard kilogram. Just as in the case of the meter, duplicates of the standard kilogram in Paris have been con- structed and distributed to the various countries. While both the meter and the kilogram are entirely arbitrary, when they were constructed an effort was made to satisfy two useful conditions. The original meter was constructed as accur- ately as possible to be one ten-millionth part of the distance along the earth's surface from the equator to the pole. This result of course was not achieved exactly so that by later measurements the earth's quadrant is found to be 10,000,856 meters. Still, how- ever, we can say with considerable exactness that the circumfer- ence of the earth is 40,000 kilometers. In a similar manner an attempt was made to have the mass of 1 gram be that of a cubic centimeter of water at 4° Centigrade (the temperature at which water has its greatest density). Hence the kilogram is very nearly the mass of 1,000 cubic centimeters of water and for most purposes the mass of water can be taken to be 1 gram per cubic centimeter. The unit of time is the second which is defined to be l/86,400th part of a mean solar day or 1/86,164. 09th of a stellar day. In addi- tion to the second we have the familiar multiples, minutes and hours. The English System. The unit of length in the English system of measurement is the distance between the centers of two transverse lines in two gold plugs in a bronze bar deposited at the Office of the Exchequer, when the bar is at a temperature of of 62 degrees Fahrenheit. This distance is the standard yard. A foot is defined to be one-third of a yard, and an inch one thirty- sixth of a yard. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 23 The unit of mass in the English system is that of a certain piece of platinum marked 'P.S., 1844, 1 lb./ which is deposited at the same place as the standard yard. This is known as the standard pound avoirdupois. The unit of time in the English system is the same as in the Metric. Conversion Between Metric and English Units. These two systems of measurement are interconvertible when we know the magnitude of a standard in one system as measured in terms of the corresponding standard unit of the other system. By very exact measurement it has been established that 1 meter = 1.093614 yards = 3.28084 feet = 39.37011 inches 1 yard = 0.914399 meter 1 foot = 30.4800 centimeters 1 inch = 2.5400 centimeters 1 kilogram = 2.20462 pounds 1 pound = 453.592 grams Except for purposes of exact measurement one will rarely need to employ more than the first three or four of the figures of the above conversion factors. Hence, approximately, 1 meter =39.37 inches 1 kilogram = 2.20 pounds Derived Units. The foregoing units of mass, length, and time are said to be fundamental. By means of these we can also measure a large number of other secondary quantities which are accordingly said to be derived quantities. For example, area is a derived quantity depending upon length, and a rational unit of area is a square whose length of side is the unit of length. Similarly, the unit of volume, is a cube whose length of side is equal to the unit of length. Less obvious derived units are speed and velocity, and accel- eration which are terms used in describing the motion of a body. 24 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE When a body moves its speed is the ratio of the distance it travels in a small interval of time to the time required. It is thus measur- able in terms of a length divided by a time, and so requires no other units than those of length and time already defined. We may express a speed in meters per second, kilometers per hour, yards per minute, or any other convenient length and time units. The velocity of a moving body at a given instant is its speed in a particular direction. For example, two bodies having the same speeds, but one moving eastward and the other northward are said to have different velocities. A point on the rim of a fly- wheel rotating uniformly describes a circular path at uniform speed, but since its direction of motion is changing continuously, its velocity is also changing continuously. Quantities like velocity which have both magnitudes and directions are called vector quantities. The acceleration of a body is its rate of change of velocity. When the body is moving in a straight line this becomes equal to its rate of change of speed. For example, when an automobile is moving along a straight road, if it increases its speed it is said to be positively accelerated ; if it decreases its speed the accelera- tion is negative. We commonly speak of the foot pedal for the gasoline feed as the 'accelerator.' The brake, however, is just as truly an accelerator. If an automobile is increasing its speed uni- formly at the rate of a mile per hour each second, we say that the acceleration is 1 mile per hour per second. This is clearly equal to 1.47 feet per second for each second, or to 47.7 centimeters per second for each second. From this we see that an acceleration involves the measurement of a distance, and the division of this by two measured time intervals. If we make these two time in- tervals the same, then acceleration becomes: (distance/time) /time, or distance/ (time)2. Thus an acceleration of one cm./ sec2, means that the body is changing its veliocity by an amount of 1 centimeter per second during each second. Acceleration, like velocity, is also a vector quantity. Its direc- tion is that of the change of velocity. What we mean by this can be shown by representing the velocity by an arrow whose length is proportional to the speed, and whose direction is that of the UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 25 motion. Suppose the motion is curvilinear with the speed con- tinuously varying. The velocity vectors represented by arrows for successive times will have different directions and lengths. If we take two of these arrows representing the motion at two suc- cessive times only a short interval apart and place them with their feathered ends at the same point, their tips will not coincide. Now if we place a small arrow with its tail at the tip of the first arrow, and its tip at the tip of the second, this small arrow will represent, both in magnitude and direction, the change of velocity during the time interval considered. The average acceleration during that time is the ratio of the change of velocity to the time required to affect the change, and has the same direction as the change of the velocity. If this type of construction is tried with respect to uniform circular motion, it will be seen immediately that the velocity is continuously changing in a direction toward the center of the circle. Consequently the acceleration is also toward the center of the circle. If the motion is not at constant speed this will not be true. Force. We come now to the concept of force. Our primitive experience with force is by means of our muscular sense of push- ing and pulling. We can render this measurable by means of the stretch of springs, or the pull of gravity on bodies of known mass. A dynamic method of measuring force is by means of the accelera- tion of a body of known mass. For example, suppose we construct a small car with as nearly as possible frictionless bearings, and run it on a straight horizontal track. Suppose that we pull the car by means of a stretched spring or rubber band kept at con- stant tension. The car will accelerate uniformly in the direction of the pull. Now, if we load the car with different masses and repeat the experiment, for the same tension of the spring the acceleration will be greater when the load is decreased, and less when it is increased. If we keep the load constant and employ different tensions on the spring, the acceleration will increase as the tension is increased. Quantitatively, after correcting for any residual friction, what we learn in this manner is that the acceleration of the car 26 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE is directly proportional to the tension of the spring, or to the applied force, and inversely proportional to the total mass of the car and its contents. By experiments similar to this it has been shown quite gen- erally and very exactly that this is true for any kind of a body undergoing any kind of an acceleration : The acceleration is pro- portional to the applied force (or resultant of the applied forces where several act simultaneously), and inversely proportional to the mass. The direction of the acceleration is the same as that of the applied force. Conversely, the applied force has the direction of the acceleration and its magnitude is proportional to the ac- celeration and to the mass of the body accelerated. Since we already know how to measure acceleration in terms of length and time, and how to measure mass, this last fact en- ables us to measure forces in terms of masses and accelerations. In this manner we define a unit of force to be that force which causes a unit of mass to move with a unit of acceleration. In the Metric system, using the gram, the centimeter, and the second as our units of mass, length and time, respectively, the unit of force is that amount of force which will cause 1 gram of mass to move with an acceleration of 1 centimeter per second for each second the force is applied. This amount of force we call a dyne. At the latitude of New York the pull of gravity on a mass is such that if it is free to move with no other forces acting upon it, starting from rest it will move in the direction of the force exerted by gravity with a uniform acceleration of 980 cm./sec.2, or 32.2 ft./sec.2. Since this is true for a mass of any size, then for a 1-gram mass the force must be 980 dynes, since the accelera- tion in this case is 980 times as great as that produced by a force of 1 dyne. For a mass of m grams the total force would have to be m times as great as for one gram in order to have the same acceleration. We can obtain an approximate idea of the size of a dyne if we consider that a nickel coin (5 cents) has a mass of 5 grams. The force exerted by gravity upon this is therefore 5X980, or 4,900 dynes. Thus, approximately, a dyne is one five-thousandths part of the force exerted by gravity upon a nickel. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 27 Engineers frequently use another method of measuring force. They take as their unit of force the pull of gravity on a unit of mass, or its weight. The difficulty with this is that gravity is not the same at different parts of the earth. It varies with elevation above sea level, with the latitude, and with certain other random disturbing factors. Hence, to be exact we must define what the value of gravity is to be. This is commonly taken to be 980.665 cm./sec.2 which is approximately the mean value of gravity at sea level and latitude 45°. The pull of this standard gravity on a 1-pound mass is a pound weight. The corresponding pull of gravity on a kilogram of mass is a kilogram weight. Since a pound is 453.592 grams, and the attraction of this standard gravity on a gram mass is 980.665 dynes, it follows that a pound weight is the product of these two figures, or 444,820 dynes. Work. When a force acts upon a body and causes it to move, work is said to be done. A unit of work is defined to be that which is done when a unit of force causes its point of application to move a unit of distance in the direction in which the force acts. In the English system when the unit of length is the foot and the unit of force the pound, the unit of work is the foot-pound. Hence the total number of foot-pounds of work done by a given force is the product of the force in pounds by the distance its point of ap- plication is moved in the direction of action of the force, in feet. The simplest example is afforded by the lifting of a weight. It requires 1 foot-pound of work to lift a 1-pound mass a height of 1 foot. In the Metric system when a force of 1 dyne causes its point of application to move in the direction of the force a distance of 1 centimeter, the work performed is defined to be 1 erg. Like the dyne, the erg is a very small quantity so that a larger unit of work is useful. We obtain such a larger unit if we arbitrarily define 10,000,000 ergs to be one joule. The conversion factors between the English and the Metric units of work are easily obtained by computing in both systems of units the work done in lifting a pound mass a height of 1 foot against standard gravity. In the English units this is simply 1 foot-pound. In Metric units the force, as we have already noted, m TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE is 444,820 dynes, and the distance 30.4800 centimeters. The work is therefore the product of these quantities, or 13,558,200 ergs or 1.35582 joules. Inversely, a joule is 0.73756 foot-pounds, or the amount of work required to lift a pound mass a height of 8.84 inches, and an erg is one ten-millionth of this amount of work. Power. Power is the time rate of doing work. In the Metric system, when work is performed at the rate of 1 joule per second, the power is denned to be 1 watt. Work at the rate of 1,000 joules per second is a thousand watts or a kilowatt. In the English sys- tem, the unit of work is the horsepower. This unit was denned by James Watt, who attempted to determine the rate at which a draft horse could do work so that he could use this for rating the power of his steam engines. The result he achieved was that 1 horsepower is a rate of doing work of 33,000 foot-pounds per minute, or 550 foot-pounds per second. Since a kilowatt is 1,000 joules per second, or 737.56 foot-pounds per second, it follows that this is equal to 1.3410 horsepower, or that a horsepower is equal to 745.70 watts, or 0.74570 kilowatts. A kilowatt-hour is the amount of work done by a kilowatt of power in 1 hour ; a horsepower-hour is the amount of work done by a horsepower in 1 hour. These are accordingly units of work, the kilowatt-hour being 1,000 joules per second for 3,600 seconds, or 3,600,000 joules, and the horsepower-hour 33,000 foot-pounds per minute for 60 minutes or 1,980,000 foot-pounds. Also 1 kilo- watt-hour bears to a horsepower-hour the same ratio as the kilowatt to the horsepower. Conversion Factors. While all of the conversions between the foregoing units of measurement are easily derived in the manner we have just seen, it is convenient to have at hand a table of con- version factors for ready reference. Such a table containing the factors that are most often used is given below. In this let us introduce for the first time here a system of notation for writing numbers that is widely used by scientists and engi- neers but may not be familiar to some of the readers. When dealing with very large numbers or very small decimal fractions it is bothersome and confusing to have to write out numbers like UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 29 2,684,500, which is the number of joules in a horsepower-hour, or 0.000,000,737,56 which is the number of foot-pounds in an erg. We may note that 2,684,500=2.6845X1,000,000=2.6845X10°, and similarly, that 0.00000073756=7.3756X1/10,000,000=7.3756X10-7. Any number, large or small, can be written in this manner which has many advantages over the longhand method. In the following table this system will be used for the very large and very small numbers. In this table the factors are expressed to five or six significant figures. For all ordinary calculations only the first three or four figures are needed and all the rest can be dropped or set equal to zero. They are only needed when very exact measurements have been made and hence very exact calculations required. Most measurements are not more accurate than 1 part in 1,000, and calculation more exact than this is meaningless for such measure- ments. TABLE OF CONVERSION FACTORS Standard Gravity: gravity rz 980.665 cm./sec.2 zz 32.174 ft./sec.2 Force: 1 dyne zz 1 gm. cm./sec.2 — 2.2481 X10-6 pound weight 1 pound weight — 4.4482 X105 dynes Work: 1 erg — 1 dyne-centimeter — 1X10-7 joules 1 joule zz 1X107 ergs zz 0.73756 foot-pound 1 foot-pound zz 1.35582 joules / zz 1.35582X107 ergs 1 kilowatt-hour zz 3.6000X106 joules zz 2.6552 X106 foot-pounds = 1.3410 horsepower-hours 1 horsepower-hour = 1.9800X106 foot-pounds zz 2.6845X108 joules = 0.7457 kilowatt-hour — 745.7 watt-hours 30 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Power: 1 watt = 1 joule per second = 0.001 kilowatt = 1X107 ergs per second = 0.73756 foot-pound per second = 1.3410X10-3 horsepower 1 kilowatt == 1X1010 ergs per second = 1,000 joules per second — 737.56 foot-pounds per second = 1.3410 horsepower 1 horsepower — 550 foot-pounds per second = 33,000 foot-pounds per minute = 0.7456 kilowatt = 745.7 watts 1 foot-pound/sec. — 1.35582 watts = 1.8182 X10"5 horsepower Examples of Work and Power. Lest we lose sight of the fundamental simplicity of the concepts of work and power and become confused by the array of conversion factors, let us consider a few simple examples. ( 1 ) The Power in Climbing Stairs. How much power does a man generate in climbing stairs, for example? At an average rate of walking a man will climb a height of about 36 feet per minute. In so doing he is lifting his own weight. Suppose he weighs 150 pounds. Then his rate of doing work is 5,400 foot- pounds per minute, or 90 foot-pounds per second. Since a horsepower is 550 foot-pounds per second, and a watt is 0.73756 foot-pounds per second, it follows that he generates 0.164 horsepower, or 122 watts. This is in round numbers one-sixth of a horsepower. If he ran up the stairs six times as fast he would generate 1 horsepower. Running at such a rate, however, could only be maintained for a few seconds. Even walking at the above rate can be continued by few people for more than a few minutes. For example, few people can walk steadily, without stopping for rest, from the ground to the top of the Washington Monument which is over 500 feet high. Climbing for 8 hours would give an average rate much smaller than that of walking up a few flights of stairs, and so would reduce correspondingly the average power generated. UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 31 (2) Lifting Packages. Suppose a workman lifts packages from the ground to trucks 4 feet above the ground. In 6 hours he lifts 65 tons. How much work does he do, and what is the average power? The work done is 520,000 foot-pounds. This is 0.26 horsepower-hour, or 0.20 kilowatt-hour. The power averaged is 24 foot-pounds per second which is 33 watts, or 0.044 horsepower. ( 3 ) Pumping Water. A man pumps water for 10 hours with a hand-pump. In that time he raises 14,000 gallons a height of 10 feet. What is his work and his average power? A gallon of water weighs 8.337 pounds. The work done is therefore 1,170,000 foot-pounds, or 0.44 kilowatt-hour. The average power is 44 watts. (4) Shoveling Loose Dirt. In 10 hours a man shovels 25 tons of loose dirt over a wall 5 feet 3 inches high. What is the work and average power? The work done is 262,500 foot- pounds, or 0.10 kilowatt-hour. The power is 7.28 foot-pounds per second, or 10 watts. (5) Carrying a Hod. In 6 hours a man carrying a hod raises 17 tons of plaster 12 feet. The work is 408,000 foot-pounds, or 0.154 kilowatt-hour. The average power is 18.8 foot-pounds per second, or 25 watts. (6) Pushing a Wheelbarrow. A man with a wheelbarrow raises 51 tons of concrete a height of 3 feet in 10 hours. The work done is 306,000 foot-pounds, or 0.115 kilowatt-hour. The average power is 8.5 foot-pounds per second, or 11.5 watts. These examples give one a very good idea of how much use- ful work a man can do in a day. In work of these kinds we have counted only the useful work accomplished. In each case the work actually done was greater than that computed. In the wheelbarrow problem the total work performed should include the repeated lifting of both the wheelbarrow and the man himself. If the wheel- barrow load was 200 pounds and the man and empty wheelbarrow weighed another 200 pounds, then it is clear that the actual work 32 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE performed would be twice that computed, not allowing for the friction of the wheelbarrow. A kilowatt-hour of work will lift a ton weight a quarter of a mile high; a kilowatt of power will do this in one hour of time. Working under the most efficient conditions, it would take at least 13 men to do the same amount of work in the same time. Under less efficient conditions the number of men would be correspond- ingly greater. This same kilowatt-hour is the unit for which we pay our monthly electric light bill at a domestic rate of 5 — 7 cents each. Commercial rates on electric power range from a few mills to a cent or so per kilowatt-hour. A workman whose pay is less than 25 cents per hour is working at practically starvation wages. The conjunction of these two facts is of rather obvious social signif- icance. References : This Mechanical World, Mott-Smith. A Textbook of Physics, Vol. I, Grimsehl. Lesson 3 ENERGY Now that we have become familiar with what is meant by work, let us consider a related but more general physical quantity, namely, energy. If anything has the capacity to perform work, it is said to possess energy. The amount of its energy is pleasurable in terms of the amount of work it can perform. Hence, energy is measur- able in units of work — ergs, joules, or foot-pounds. Potential Energy. A stretched spring does work when it con- tracts. A weight upon a table does work in being lowered to the floor. Work is done when a piece of iron is drawn to a magnet. Hence, each of those systems possesses energy which is manifested by the amount of work that it can do in changing from one posi- tion or configuration to another. Energy of this kind obviously is associated with the position or configuration of a material system and is known as potential energy. Chemical systems, such as gunpowder, gasoline, coal, dry cells, storage batteries and the like, have the capacity of performing work when they undergo chemical changes. This too is potential energy and is dependent upon the internal configuration of the atoms with respect to each other. Kinetic Energy. Imagine a flywheel mounted upon a horizon- tal axle with as nearly as possible frictionless bearings, and a cord with a suspended weight attached so as to wind around the axle. First, wind the system up and then release it. As the weight falls, the flywheel will continuously increase its angular velocity. When the weight reaches its lowest position, the cord will begin to wind around the axle in the opposite direction, and the weight will be raised. At the same time the flywheel will be slowed down, 33 34 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE coming finally to rest when the weight has regained its original elevation. Then, if not arrested, the process will repeat itself in the opposite direction. In the initial and the final stages of this experiment the system possesses potential energy — that of the raised weight. In the middle stage, when the weight has reached its lowest position, its potential energy is a minimum. Still, however, the system has a capacity to do work as demonstrated by its lifting the weight back to its original elevation. This energy obviously resides in the motion of the flywheel. In fact, if we set a flywheel in motion by any method and then bring it to rest by having it lift a weight, we find that the number of foot-pounds of work it can do is propor- tional to the square of its angular velocity (number of revolutions per unit of time). In the same manner we can bring an automobile coasting on a level road to rest by making it lift a weight. The work it can do is found to be proportional to its mass and the square of its speed. In fact, the work it could do in this manner is : mass X speed2 work= ~ Bodies, therefore, possess energy in virtue of their state of motion. Work must be performed upon them to set them moving, and must be done by them in coming to rest again. This energy, due to motion, is called kinetic energy. Heat. When work is performed on a system, it may not in- crease either the potential or the kinetic energy of the system. It may be completely dissipated by friction. An automobile or a flywheel can be brought to rest by means of brakes. A weight can be lowered at constant speed if properly braked. In all such cases heat is produced where the friction occurs. On a long grade the brakes of an automobile may become so hot as to burn out. Drills become heated when boring. Tools are heated by grinding. The conclusion is that when a body loses kinetic or potential energy due to friction heat is always produced. Hence, heat must be a form of energy. Does a given amount of work always produce ENERGY 35 the same amount of heat? To answer this question we must devise a way to measure heat. Measurement of Heat. To measure heat we must first dis- tinguish between the temperature of a body and the quantity of heat it contains. Our primitive recognition of temperature is by means of our sense of feel. The quantity of heat a body contains is related both to its temperature and to the size of the body. Thus, a gallon of water contains four times as much heat as a quart of water at the same temperature. How the quantity of heat is related to the temperature can only be determined after we have found how to measure temperature. Measurement of Temperature. Our sense of feel is not very reliable for determining temperatures, so we must devise a tem- perature measuring instrument. This we do by noting that gases, liquids, and solids all change volume as their temperature is changed. Usually, but not in all cases, the volume increases with increase of temperature. In addition to this we have certain in- variant points of fixed temperature like that of melting ice, and boiling water at constant pressure. By means of the expansion of a given material between these fixed temperatures we can measure intermediate temperatures. We may define the temperatures of melting ice and of boiling water at a pressure of one standard atmosphere (one standard atmosphere is defined to be the pressure exerted by a column of mercury 76.0 centimeters high due to the attraction of standard gravity, or 1.01325 X106 dynes per square centimeter) to be any- thing we like, but the choice of these temperatures determines the thermometric scale. If we let 0° be the temperature of melting ice and 100° that of boiling water, we have the Centigrade scale. If we let 32° be the temperature of melting ice and 212° that of boiling water, we have the Fahrenheit scale. For the intermediate temperatures our best thermometric substance is hydrogen gas. If we let V0 be the volume of a given quantity of hydrogen gas at the temperature of melting ice and at a pressure of 1 atmosphere, and V100 that of the same gas at 36 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the temperature of boiling water and a pressure of 1 atmosphere, then by dividing the difference between these two values into 100 equal parts we have a volume scale for the gas to which we relate the corresponding temperatures. For example, at some unknown temperature the gas has a measured volume V. The temperature in °C. then is: V-Vo f~ v100-v0 100 If V should be one-fourth the difference between V0 and V100, the temperature would be 25° C. ; if one-half, the temperature would be 50° C, etc. The same procedure is used for the Fahrenheit scale except in this case the interval between freezing and boiling is taken to be 180° instead of 100°, and freezing is defined to be 32°. The familiar mercury thermometers are handier to use. They are calibrated, however, by temperatures originally established by a hydrogen thermometer. Absolute Scale of Temperature. There is one more scale of great scientific importance that should be mentioned now because we shall need to make use of it in our next lesson. This is the abso- lute scale. It is found by experiment that for each degree Centigrade be- tween 0° C. and 100° C, the volume of hydrogen gas increases by a constant amount of 1/273.2 of its volume at 0° C, V0. At this same rate of volume change, the volume would decrease to zero at a temperature of — 273.2° C, which suggests that this may be the lowest possible temperature obtainable. Elaborate experi- mentation has demonstrated that this is the case, and tempera- tures within a fraction of a degree of this amount have been obtained. It seems reasonable, therefore, to call the lowest possible temperature, the absolute zero of temperature. If we call this 0° absolute, and otherwise use the Centigrade scale, then the melt- ing point of ice becomes 273.2° absolute and the boiling point of water 373.2° absolute, ENERGY 37 Conversion factors between the thermometric scales are as follows : 1.8° F.=1.0° C. 5 1.0° F.=y °C. 9 #°F.=— T°C.+32 5 5 ~9 a?0abs.=!F0C.+ 273.2 w°C.= y(T°F.— 32) Quantity of Heat. To measure the amount of heat, we re- quire a unit of measurement, whose choice, like that of all other units of measurement, is arbitrary. In the Metric system we take this to be the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1° C. We call this the gram calorie. A kilo- gram-calorie is 1,000 gram calories, or the heat required to raise the temperature of a kilogram of water 1° C. In the English system the corresponding unit is the British thermal unit, or therm, denned as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water 1° F. Since the heat required per degree varies slightly with tem- perature, for very exact measurements we must specify also the temperature at which the measurement is to be made. The most common procedure is to take the mean, or average, values over the range from 0° C. to 100° C. These will be understood to be the values employed here. By converting ° F. to ° C. and pounds to grams we can easily determine the conversion factors between the English and Metric units : 1 kilogram-calorie=3.9685 British thermal units 1 British thermal unit=251.98 gram calories =0.25198 kilogram-calories. Work and Heat. We are now in a position to answer the question propounded earlier : How much heat is produced by fric- 38 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE tion from a given amount of work? To determine this all we need is a heat insulated vessel filled with water, into which a shaft from the outside extends and terminates in some kind of a brake me- chanism. On the external end of the shaft is a pulley around which a cord supporting a weight is wound. The weight falls slowly and heat is generated by the brake inside the vessel. By noting the temperature rise and the quantity of water heated, the number of calories of heat can be computed; by knowing the weight and the distance it descends the amount of work can be computed. Then we know the quantity of heat generated by a known amount of work. The first experiment of this kind was performed by Joule in England about 1845. Subsequently, numerous such experiments have been performed with great precision. As a result it has been found that a given amount of work always produces the same amount of heat: 4.186 joules of work produce 1 gram calorie of heat; 777.97 foot-pounds of work produce 1 B.t.u. of heat. Thus, since 4.186 joules are equal approximately to 3.1 foot- pounds, it is clear that a 1-pound weight falling 3.1 feet will pro- duce 1 gram-calorie of heat ; if a 1-pound weight falls 778 feet and its energy is converted into heat, the amount of heat will be 1 British thermal unit. Hence, the heat generated by a waterfall 778 feet high would be sufficient to raise the temperature of the water at the foot of the fall 1 degree Fahrenheit. Actually, unless the quantity of water is large, a considerable fraction of this heat will be lost to the surrounding air and by evaporation of the fall- ing water, but the heat generated, counting the above losses, is still 1 British thermal unit per pound of water. Since friction is never completely eliminated, we see that in all processes involving work, energy in the form of work is con- tinuously dissipated and an equivalent amount of energy in the form of heat is produced. References : This Mechanical World, Mott-Smith Heat and Its Workings, Mott-Smith The Story of Energy, Mott-Smith A Text Book of Physics, (Vol. I, Mechanics; Vol. II, Heat and Sound), Grimsehl Lesson 4 THE LAWS OF THERMODYNAMICS In the preceding lessons we have already learned that matter on the earth is not destroyed, and that move- ments and changes of matter involve work or energy. We further learned that there is an exact relation between work and heat; namely, that when a given quantity of work is converted into heat the same amount of heat is always produced. It was also pointed out in discussing the weight-and- flywheel experiment that if no friction were involved, and hence no heat produced, the loss of potential energy by the falling weight would be completely compensated by the gain in kinetic energy of the flywheel. After the fall- ing weight had reached its lowest point it would be re- lifted by the flywheel which would slow down and lose kinetic energy as the lifted weight gained potential energy. Furthermore, the gain in potential energy would be exactly equal to the loss in kinetic energy and vice versa. Hence we arrive at the conclusion that, in any purely mechanical system involving no friction and hence no heat loss, the sum obtained by adding all the potential energies and all the Jcmetic energies existing simultane- ously is a constant. The Conservation of Energy Friction. When there is friction (which in reality involves all cases) heat is produced, and the amount of heat produced is proportional to the loss of kinetic and potential energy by the system. Since heat is a form of energy and 1 gram calorie of heat is equivalent to 4.18 joules of work, if the heat loss be stated in terms of joules instead of calories, it will be found that the energy appearing as heat is exactly equal to the loss of mechanical energy — potential and kinetic — by the system. 39 40 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Energy of Evaporation. When water boils at a pressure of 1 atmosphere the temperature remains constant at 100° C. If heat is added at a faster rate the water boils more vigorously but the temperature still remains constant. If this be continued long enough all the water will finally disappear as steam or water vapor. Here we have a case where energy in the form of heat is being added to a system without any increase in temperature of either the water or the vapor, but in which there is a progressive change of water from its liquid to its gaseous state. It follows, therefore, that the energy must be required to effect this change. By careful measurement of the amount of heat required to vapor- ize a known quantity of water it has been determined that 539.1 gram calories of heat are required to vaporize 1 gram of water at a pressure of 1 atmosphere and 100° C. At first thought it might appear that this energy has been lost. If the steam is made to condense back to water again, how- ever, while at 1 atmosphere pressure and 100° C, it has been found that 539.1 gram calories of heat must be extracted. Thus the heat of evaporation has not been lost but stored in the vapor. This energy required to produce evaporation serves two pur- poses: (1) Part of it is required to pull the water molecules apart against their own mutual attractive forces and hence be- comes stored as potential energy. (2) Part of it is required to perform the work of vaporization against the atmospheric pressure when 1 gram of liquid water expands into 1 gram of steam. Thus we may say that the heat of vaporization is employed to perform two kinds of work, an internal work against cohesive forces, and an external work against atmospheric pressure. When the reverse process occurs this energy is again released in the form of heat. Chemical Energy. If 2 grams of the gas hydrogen are mixed with 16 grams of the gas oxygen and the mixture ignited by an electric spark while being maintained at a constant pressure of 1 atmosphere, there will be a mild explosion and 18 grams of water vapor at a greatly elevated temperature will result. If this water vapor be cooled down to the temperature of the original mixture (room temperature) it will become 18 grams of liquid water, but THERMODYNAMICS 41 to produce this result it will be necessary to subtract 68,300 gram calories of heat. Thus we may write : 2H2 + 02 — ► 2H20 + 2 x 68,300 cals. 4 grams 32 grams 36 grams Hydrogen Oxygen Liquid Water It is also possible by means of an electric current to separate liquid water back into its components, hydrogen and oxygen, at room temperature and 1 atmosphere pressure. When this is done we find that the electrical energy required plus the heat that must be added to decompose 18 grams of water is equivalent to 68,300 calories. While this is only an isolated instance, the same kind of thing is true for all chemical reactions. Some release energy; others require the addition of energy. In all cases, however, if a chemical change when proceeding in one direction releases energy, then an exactly equal amount of energy would have to be supplied if the constituents of the system are ever to be restored to their initial state. Thus a storage battery releases energy upon being discharged, but the same amount of energy must be supplied if the battery is to be recharged. Coal and wood release energy in the form of heat upon being burned (reacting with oxygen) but this energy was originally supplied by the sun when the components of these fuels were originally combined. Still other forms of energy are those of light, electricity, mag- netism, and sound. Space here does not permit a detailed discus- sion of all of these forms. Enough has already been said to lead one to suspect that energy is interchangeable among all of these various forms. This is indeed the case. The First Law of Thermodynamics. If we generalize the facts already noted we arrive at one of the most important con- clusions of all science. Let us take any system of matter, and let us cause this to change from some initial state, A, to some final state, B. In this process a definite amount, E, of energy will be released in the process of transition. ( If energy is absorbed E will be negative.) Now by any method whatsoever, let us restore the 42 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE system to its initial state, A. In this case the same amount, E, of energy will have to be restored to the system as was originally released by it. Were this not so it would be possible to obtain more energy, Ely in changing the system from state A to state B than the amount E2 required to restore the system from state B to state A. In this manner a complete cycle would leave us with a surplus of energy which could be used in lifting a weight or in otherwise performing work. This would enable us to build a self- contained, self-acting machine that would operate continuously and perform work, a form of perpetual motion. On the basis of our experience, however, we have never found it possible to build such a machine, and so we conclude that to do so is impossible. If this be so, then we must also conclude that it is impossible to obtain more energy when any system goes from an initial state, A, to a final state, B, than must be restored to the system in order to change it back from state B to state A, Consequently, if this be true, it follows that either to create or to destroy energy is impossible. Thus in processes occurring on the earth when a given amount of energy in one form disap- pears an equal amount always appears in some other form. Energy may change successively from radiant energy to chemical energy to electrical energy to mechanical work and finally to heat, but in none of these processes is any of it lost or destroyed. It is this indestructibility and non-creatability of energy that constitutes the First Law of Thermodynamics. Reversible and Irreversible Processes Direction of Energy Transformations. It is not enough, how- ever, to know that in processes occurring on the earth, energy is neither created nor destroyed, or that when an engine performs external work such as lifting a weight, an equivalent amount of energy must have disappeared somewhere else. We must inquire whether energy transformations occur with equal facility in op- posite directions, or whether there is a favored direction in which energy transformations tend to occur. To do this we may begin with simple instances of our every- day experience. If we could build a flywheel that was perfectly THERMODYNAMICS 43 frictionless, once started it would turn indefinitely at constant angular velocity. Similarly a frictionless pendulum would swing with undiminished amplitude. In each of these instances the me- chanical energy originally supplied would be retained in undimin- ished amount. In actual practice, however, we have never been able to completely eliminate friction; so the flywheel gradually slows down, and the pendulum swings with steadily diminishing amplitude of swing, both coming finally to rest. In each case the initial energy has been gradually dissipated by the friction into waste low-temperature heat. Had we tried the reverse process, however, of supplying energy in the form of heat to the bearings of the wheel or pendulum while initially at rest, this energy would never have resulted in the wheel's turning or the pendulum's beginning to swing. Thus we observe that while there is a spontaneous tendency for mechanical energy to be converted into low-temperature heat, the process does not appear to be reversible. In a more complicated case we might consider a waterfall such as Niagara. Here the water falls from a height of 167 feet. In falling, the potential energy due to height is converted into heat, and the water at the foot of Niagara is about one-eighth of a degree Centigrade warmer than it was at the top. Thus, the energy of Niagara is being continuously converted into waste heat. Suppose, however, that a part of this water is made to go through a hydroturbine. Then over 90 percent of this energy is captured by the turbine, which, in turn, converts it into electrical energy. This electrical energy is then used to drive electric motors and drive machinery, to produce light, to heat electric furnaces, or to produce chemical reactions such as charging storage batteries or producing calcium carbide. If it drives an electric motor, fric- tion exists in the motor and in the machines which it drives, and the energy is lost as waste heat of the bearings and the air, plus the heat losses in the windings of the motors due to electrical re- sistance. If it is used for lighting or for an electric furnace, again it produces heat. Light is absorbed and becomes heat. If the energy is used to produce a chemical reaction, such as making calcium carbide, this, when placed in water, reacts to release acetylene gas, which when burned in air, produces heat. 44 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Now if we add to this apparently exceptionless tendency for all other forms of energy to be transformed spontaneously into heat, the further fact that heat always tends spontaneously to flow from regions of higher to those of lower temperature, we obtain the remarkable result that all other forms of available energy tend finally to be degraded into heat at the lowest tempera- ture of the surroundings. Entropy. Now we can introduce another type of quantity we have not dealt with heretofore. When a quantity of heat, Q, flows into a body at the absolute temperature T , let us agree to call the quantity Q/T the increase in the entropy of the body. If the heat flows out of the body the entropy of the body will, of course, de- crease. If a body were heated from a lower temperature, T2, to a higher temperature, Tl9 its entropy would increase, but to obtain the amount we would have to add up all the separate entropies step by step from the lower to the higher temperature. Thus for water, since 1 calorie raises the temperature of 1 gram approxi- mately 1° C. or 1° A., the entropy-increases would be, when the temperature is raised from 273° A. to 278° A., approximately : 11111 274 ' 275 ' 276 ' 277 ' 278 ' where A# (read delta 8) is the increase in the entropy of 1 gram of water. Now let us consider the entropy changes that occur in vari- ous energy transformations of the kind we have already consid- ered. If we take any frictionless mechanical system such as a pendulum or flywheel at constant temperature no heat will be produced and no heat conduction will occur, consequently the entropy change will be zero for all such systems, A£=0 and they are said to be isentropic or constant entropy systems. If, however, friction exists, heat is produced and the entropy increases by an amount Q THERMODYNAMICS 45 where A# is the increase of the entropy of the system, Q the amount of heat generated and T the absolute temperature. Now let us consider two adjacent bodies, one at an absolute temperature Tly and the other at T2, Tx being higher than T2. The heat will flow by conduction from the hotter of the two bodies to the colder. Let a small quantity of heat, dQ, flow in this manner from the body at temperature Tt to that at temperature T2. The entropy lost by the hotter body is dQ/Tx ; that gained by the colder body is dQ/T2. The total entropy increase of both bodies together will be the difference between these two entropies, dQ dQ T2 Tx Now dQ is the same in both cases, but T2 is less than 7\. There- fore dQ/T2 is greater than dQ/Tx. Hence the total entropy change, A$, consists in an increase in the entropy of the two bodies taken together. Thus we see that an idealized frictionless mechanical system involves a zero change of entropy, while any process involving friction, or heat conduction, results in an increase of entropy. Now let us see if we can find a process that results in a de- crease of entropy. A direct conversion of heat into work would be such a process. Suppose we could construct an engine which is self-contained and operated cyclically, that is, one that repeats the same cyclical operation over and over and which does nothing but take heat from a heat reservoir and lift a weight. This is mani- festly no contradiction to the First Law of Thermodynamics, because we are not proposing to create energy, but merely to transform already existing energy from heat to work. If T be the temperature of the engine and the heat reservoir, and if Q be the heat taken in at each complete cycle, then, since the engine returns at the end of each cycle to its initial state, its entropy remains unchanged. The lifting of a weight is an isen- tropic process. Consequently the only entropy change of the sys- tem is manifested by the disappearance of an amount of heat Q at temperature T per cycle. This would correspond to a decrease in the entropy per each cycle by the amount 4tf TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Q But no such engine has ever been built. If one could be built it could be made to run on the heat from the ocean or from the ground or the air. It would act both as a refrigerator and as an engine for doing work. Such a machine would not violate the principle of the conservation of energy, but it would still con- stitute a sort of perpetual motion machine in that it could oper- ate from the heat of, say, the ocean and perform work, which could be transformed by friction back to heat, thereby maintain- ing the initial supply. This has been called perpetual motion of the second kind. Our failure to build such an engine leads to the conclusion that to do so is impossible. This conclusion is based entirely upon negative experience and can be upset only by actually producing this kind of perpetual motion. Another instance of a decrease of entropy would be given if heat flowed from a colder to a hotter body. By reasoning analo- gous to that employed for heat conduction from a hotter to a colder body, we arrive at the fact that if heat ever flowed from a colder to a hotter body the entropy of the system would decrease, or, the entropy change would be negative. But such a heat flow is contrary to all of our experience. All of our experiences thus far may be summed up by saying that in all processes of whatever kind so far observed, the changes in the entropy involved are such that the total entropy of the whole system either remains constant or increases. Conversion of Heat into Work. Now if we have a difference of temperature between two heat reservoirs, the higher tempera- ture being T± and the lower T2, the entropy would increase if heat were allowed to flow directly from the one to the other by conduc- tion. On the other hand, we know it is possible to operate a steam engine between these two different temperatures, using one for the boiler temperature and the other for the condenser. In this case if an amount of heat Q1 be taken by the engine per cycle from the temperature Tl9 and Q2 be the heat discharged into THERMODYNAMICS 47 the condenser at T2, then Qx— Q2 is equal to the work, W, done by the engine per complete cycle. The maximum possible value of the work, W, is obtained when we consider that the limiting case of the operation — the limit that the engine can approach but never exceed — is given for the case when the entropy change is zero. For each cycle the entropy lost by the heat reservoir at tem- perature Tx is QJTxy while that gained by the condenser is Q2/T2y the entropy of the engine itself being the same at the completion of each cycle. Then if the total entropy change is to be zero, Qi Q* Tx - T2> or T2 Qz—Qi-jji-- Now, since the work, W, done by the engine is equal to the loss of heat, Q—Q2, T W=Ql—Qi=J21—Q1-jr-> or T-T2 Thus the maximum possible fraction of the heat, Qif taken from the higher temperature reservoir that can be converted into work is given by the fraction Tx — T2/Tlf which is the highest pos- sible efficiency of the engine. The nearer the two temperatures are together, the smaller the value of this fraction, becoming zero when the two tempera- tures become the same. Hence it is impossible to operate any heat engine except when a difference of temperature exists. Under no circumstances can the work produced from a given amount of heat or the efficiency be greater than that given above. Reversible and Irreversible Processes. Now we come to the concepts of reversible and irreversible processes. A reversible proc- ess is in reality an idealization and occurs only in those cases for which the entropy change is zero. All actual cases involve 48 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE friction or its equivalent and therefore result in an increase of the entropy of the system. Such systems are said to be irreversible and the entropy-increase is a measure of their degree of irre- versibility. An irreversible process is characterized by the fact that when once it has occurred, by no process whatsoever can it be undone. For example, if a book is pushed off the desk and falls to the floor its potential energy is changed into heat and the entropy increases. It is physically impossible ever to put the book back on the desk and at the same time to restore everything else to the state it was in before the book originally fell. The book could be lifted back by hand but that would degrade chemically the energy inside the body. It could be hoisted by an electric motor, but that would dis- charge a battery. So with every other process of replacing the book. It is impossible to put everything involved back to its initial state. In consequence of this fact the universe has ex- perienced a new event and has made a stride forward. Transformations in an Isolated System. Now let us imagine a system completely isolated from all outside energy transfers, that is to say, that no matter or energy is allowed to enter or escape. For such a system we may imagine a large heat-proof, light-proof, sound-proof room. Let it be stocked with all sorts of physical and chemical apparatus and supplies such as storage batteries, gasoline, oxygen, food supplies, water, electric and gasoline motors, electric or fuel lights, etc. Into this room we will also place a physicist and then seal the door to isolate the system. Now this isolated universe, as it were, is all equipped to run. Our physicist can have light and food, oxygen to breathe and water to drink. In addition to this he has engines and motors and an energy supply to drive them. To make the problem even more interesting we might even allow him soil and plant seeds so he could grow his own food supply. What would be the future of this isolated universe? Merely from our everyday experience we would know that the food sup- ply, the free oxygen, and the fuel would all diminish with time. The storage batteries would become discharged; the water would become contaminated; our miniature universe would run down THERMODYNAMICS 49 so to speak; and, ultimately, if not rescued, our physicist would die from lack of food, oxygen, or water, and then disintegrate chemically. Now it is instructive to analyze the problem thermodynam- ically. The room, by hypothesis, consists of an isolated system. The matter in the system is constant ; the energy is constant ; but both the matter and the energy are undergoing continuous trans- formations. If the matter is initially at state A it successively occupies states B, C, D, etc. at successive intervals of time. Since, from what we have seen, all actual transformations of matter from any given state to the next successive state involve an increase of entropy, we may say that the entropy of the system is continu- ously increasing. Thus the entropy of state B is greater than that of state A; that of state C is greater than that of state B, etc. This being so, if the room were ever to regain any earlier state such as going from state D to state B, a decrease in entropy would occur. But this, we have seen, is impossible. Consequently we may say that when any isolated system has once occupied and passed through any given state it is physically impossible, by any method whatsoever, for it ever to regain that state. Consequently the history of any isolated system may be re- garded as the record of the changes of the material configurations and states of that system. These changes are however unidirec- tional and irreversible. Consequently it is a physical impossibility for the history of the system ever to repeat itself. Unidirectional Nature of Terrestrial History. Now what we have said with regard to the room is equally valid with respect to the earth if we recognize that although it is not an isolated system the changes in the configuration of matter on the earth, such as the erosion of soil, the making of mountains, the burning of coal and oil, and the mining of metals are all typical and characteristic examples of irreversible processes, involving in each case an in- crease of entropy. Consequently terrestrial history is also uni- directional and irreversible. In order to repeat the history since the year 1900, for ex- ample, we would have to restore to the earth the configuration 50 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE that it had in the year 1900. We would have to put the organisms back to their 1900 state; we would have to put the coal, the oil, and the metals back into the ground; we would have to restore the eroded soil. But these are things which by no method whatso- ever can be done. The Second Law of Thermodynamics. It is this unidirec- tional tendency of energy transformations; this fact that all actual physical processes, at least on a macroscopic scale, are irrevers- ible; this fact that no engine operating cyclically can convert heat into work without a difference in temperature existing and then only incompletely; the fact that heat flows only from regions of higher to those of lower temperature; the tendency for the en- tropy of a system only to increase with time, that comprises the Second Law of Thermodynamics, References : The Story of Energy, Mott-Smifh An Hour of Physics, Andrade (Chap, on Heat and Energy). Physico-Chemical Evolution, Guye (Second essay, pp. 30-117). A Textbook of Physics, Grimsehl (Vol. II, Heat and Sound). Thermodynamics, Planck. Theoretical Chemistry, Nernst. Lesson 5 ENGINES In the previous lessons we have found that while energy may be converted from one to another of its forms it is never destroyed. We also found that there is a fundamental tendency for all other forms of energy to change into heat, and for all bodies to come to the same temperature. When a difference of temperature exists it is possible to convert heat into work, but if no tempera- ture difference exists no heat can be converted into work even if, literally, oceans of heat exist. Definition of an Engine. An engine may be defined as any type of machine which takes energy in any form and converts it into work. The initial form of the energy converted may be mechanical, as in the case of wind and falling water ; it may be chemical, as in the case of coal, oil and wood ; it may be electrical, as in driving an electric motor from a power line ; or it may be radiant energy, as in the case of using the sun's heat to drive an engine. TABLE 2 ENGINES CONVERTING MECHANICAL ENERGY INTO WORK: Engine Energy Used Windmill Kinetic energy of the wind Sailing vessel Kinetic energy of the wind "Water wheel Potential energy of water ENGINES CONVERTING CHEMICAL ENERGY INTO WORK: Engine > Energy Used Steam Engine Fuel — Coal, oil or wood (a) Reciprocating type (piston) (b) Steam turbines 51 52 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Internal combustion engines (a) Gas engine * Gas (b) Gasoline engine Gasoline (c) Diesel Fuel oil ENGINES CONVERTING ELECTRICAL ENERGY INTO WORK: Engine Energy Used Various forms of electric motors Electrical energy from power lines or from electric batteries An engine which makes the initial conversion of energy into work is called a prime mover. In electric power systems me- chanical or heat energy is converted first into work which is used to drive the electric generators. These convert work into electrical energy. The engine which drives the generator in this case is the prime mover. Electric motors converting this electrical energy back into work are not prime movers, but 'secondary movers/ in- stead. Efficiency of Engines. The efficiency of an engine is defined as the ratio of energy converted into work, to the total energy initially supplied. work output Efficiency; energy input Therefore, in order to measure the efficiency of an engine it is necessary to know both the total energy taken during a given time and the work done in that time by the engine. In the case of a waterfall, the available energy per unit of time is determined by the amount of water passing through the water wheel in that time, and by the height of the fall. Suppose the fall is 100 feet high, and that 990 pounds of water per minute pass through the water wheel. In this case the energy input would be 990 x 100, or 99,000 foot-pounds per minute. Since 33,000 foot-pounds per minute is 1 horsepower, then the input into this wheel would be 3 horsepower. Suppose the output of the wheel were only 2 horsepower due to frictional losses or to poor design of the wheel. Then the effici- ency of this wheel would be : ENGINES 53 2h.p. efficiency =-^r =66.7 percent. The maximum efficiency possible in this case would be 100 percent, with an output of 3 horsepower. Modern hydroturbine installations such as the 70,000 horse- power units at Niagara Falls have an efficiency of approximately 92 percent. That is, they convert into electrical energy 92 percent of the energy supplied by the water. Efficiency of Heat Engines. In order to measure the efficiency of a heat engine we have to measure the heat supplied to the engine as well as the engine's output of work. We cannot measure the heat directly, but we can measure the fuel that is used; then we can determine the heat input if we know the amount of heat that is produced by a given amount of fuel. Heat Value of Fuel. It was pointed out in Lesson 3 that when certain chemical reactions take place heat is evolved. Also, for the same amount of substances taking part in a given reaction, the same amount of heat is always produced. Now, the production of heat by the burning of a fuel results from the chemical reaction due to the chemical combination of that fuel with oxygen. Fuel plus oxygen equals waste products plus heat. If the fuel be of a particular grade, then the number of calories of heat produced by burning 1 gram is the same for all the fuel of that grade. The number of gram calories produced by burning 1 gram of the fuel, or the number of British thermal units produced per pound, is called the heat value of that sub- stance. Heat values are obtained by placing a measured amount of fuel surrounded by compressed oxygen in a gas-tight container. This is placed in a heat insulated vessel of water and the fuel ignited by an electric spark. When the spark occurs the fuel burns and the heat which is released is taken up by the water. The amount of water is known, and the rise of temperature is measured. From this the number of calories or British thermal units is obtained. 54 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE TABLE 3 HEAT VALUE fuel Gram Calories British Thermal per Gram Units per Lb. Coal Bituminous, low grade 6,000 11,000 Bituminous, high grade 8,000 14,000 Anthracite, low grade 7,000 12,500 Anthracite, high grade 7,500 13,500 Liquid fuel Gasoline 11,000 20,000 Fuel oils 10,500 18,500 Wood Oak 4,500 8,500 Pine 5,000 9,000 The average consumption of coal by central power stations in the United States in 1938 was at a rate of 1.41 pounds per kilowatt-hour. This was a drop from a rate of 3.39 pounds in 1920. These figures are based upon a heat value of 13,100 British thermal units per pound of coal. At this value 1.41 pounds of coal contain 18,470 British thermal units. Since a kilowatt-hour represents 3,411 British thermal units, the average efficiency for the year 1938 is given by work done 3,411 efficiency = t = 7^-7^77=18.5 percent. J energy used 18,470 r The corresponding figure for 1920 is 7.7 percent. TABLE 4 ENGINE EFFICIENCY Waterwheels 70 to 92 % Steam engines (a) Locomotives 5 to 10% (b) Stationary reciprocating engines 10 to 17% (c) Steam turbines 15 to 30% (d) Hartford mercury vapor station 33.1% (e) Average of all central power stations in U. S. in 1938 18.5% Internal combustion engines (a) Gasoline engine (automobile type) 15 to 28% (b) Gas engines 25% (c) Diesel engines 29 to 35% ENGINES 55 The above discussion of engines has been presented in some detail not because we are interested in having the reader become an engineer, but because this, it is hoped, will help to clarify the relationship between matter and energy. It was stated at the out- set that all the matter on the earth is composed of 92 chemical ele- ments, and that, whether this matter is in the form of living organ- isms or rocks, its movement involves a degradation of energy. Engines do not create work or energy; they are instead con- verters of energy — they convert energy from one form to another. In our next lesson we shall show that the human body is itself an engine that converts energy into heat and work in strict and exact accordance with the laws of thermodynamics. References : The Story of Energy, Matt-Smith. A Textbook of Physics, Grimsehl (Vol. II, Heat and Sound, pp. 153-173). Thermodynamics, Planck. Lesson 6 THE HUMAN ENGINE IN Lesson 5 we discussed various types of engines, and it was learned that engines do not create energy, but instead merely take energy in a form available for doing work, and convert a part of this into useful work. All of this energy is finally degraded into the unavailable form as waste heat. In the present lesson we wish to focus at- tention on a very remarkable engine that has not been previously discussed, namely, the human body. Calories. A steam engine, as we saw, takes in coal and oxygen, and gives out, as products of combustion, water vapor, carbon dioxide, and cinders. Besides this it produces heat and work in driving the steam engine. In an analogous manner, the human body takes in food and oxygen, and gives out carbon di- oxide, water vapor, and waste products. Besides this, heat is pro- duced inside the body, and the body is enabled to do work. Human food is just as much a fuel as is coal or gasoline, or wood. The same kind of tests have been made to determine the heat value of food as were described in Lesson 5 to determine the heat value of coal, gasoline, etc. The apparatus that is used to determine the heat value of fuels is called a calorimeter. The 'calories' contained in various kinds of food have become a household expression, but few people are familiar with what is meant ; what is actually meant is that food of a certain kind has been burned in a calorimeter and the heat produced by 1 gram of food has been carefully measured and stated in terms of kilo- gram-calories produced by 1 gram of food. Hence, the 'calorie/ that one commonly hears spoken of in regard to food is a kilogram- calorie. 56 TEE HUMAN ENGINE 57 Heat Value of Foods. There are three fundamental kinds of food substances : proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. Chemically, a protein consists of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen plus a small amount of sulphur and mineral matter. Both carbohydrates and fats are composed of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. TABLE 5 FOOD CARBON HYDROGEN OXYGEN NITROGEN Proteins 52.0% 7.0% 23.0% 16% Carbohydrates 44.4 6.2 49.4 Fats 76.6 11.9 11.5 (Percentages in this table are by weight.) Examples of proteins : White of eggs, curd of milk, and lean meat. Examples of carbohydrates : Sugar and starch. Examples of fats: Fat of meats, butter, lard, and olive oil. Most foods are a mixture of proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. TABLE 6 FUEL VALUES OF FOODS KILOGRAM-CALORIES FOOD PER GRAM Protein 4 Carbohydrates 4 Fats 9 On the average, in temperate climates, out of each 100 grams of food eaten, approximately 16 grams are proteins, 75 grams are carbohydrates, and 9 grams are fat. This food is taken into the body, oxygen in the air is taken in by breathing, and combines chemically inside the body with the food. Energy in the form of heat and work is released. Food+oxygen — ► carbon dioxide+ water+ waste- products+energy (heat and work). The heat produced by 100 grams of this average diet would be about 457 kilogram-calories, provided all of this were digested. This provides us with a scientific way of rating human beings ; we can rate them by the amount of energy they consume or degrade 58 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE per day. Men, on the average, consume about 2,800 kilogram- calories per day and women about 2,000. The average energy consumed per capita per day by all the people in the United States, young and old alike, is about 2,300 kilogram-calories. The significant thing about all this for our purpose is that it is possible to determine exactly how much energy is contained in various kinds of foods, and then after they are eaten to deter- mine how much heat and work they can produce. This latter is ac- complished by placing a man in a large heat-tight calorimeter, and measuring very accurately over a given time-period the amount of heat given off by his body. At the same time the amount of oxygen he breathes, and the amount of carbon dioxide that he gives off, are also accurately measured. If the person is lying quietly and doing no work, it has been found that the heat given off in a given time is exactly equal to that contained in the food 'burned' or oxidized in that time. By this manner it is also possible to determine how much work a given amount of food can be made to produce, or the effici- ency of the human engine. This is accomplished by having the man turn a crank, or pedal a bicycle attached to an instrument called an ergometer. The ergometer measures how much work has been done by the man ; the calorimeter at the same time measures the heat given off. In this case it has been found that the energy represented by the heat given off and the work done by the man are exactly equal to the energy contained in the food 'burned' dur- ing that time. Efficiency of the Human Engine. Remembering that the effi- ciency of any engine is determined by the ratio of the work done by that engine to the total energy degraded in a given time-period, it is now possible to determine the efficiency of the human engine. The maximum efficiency of the human engine has been found to be only about 25 percent. Due to the fact that the human engine, while still alive, never completely shuts down, and therefore never ceases to degrade energy, the efficiency is zero when no outside work is being done ; that is to say, Avhen the body is at rest. This THE HUMAN ENGINE 59 basic rate of consuming energy while at rest amounts on the aver- age to 1,700 kilogram-calories per adult person per day. When physical work is done the rate of energy consumption very rapidly increases. A strong man doing heavy physical labor can perform approximately 2,000,000 foot-pounds of work in a 10- hour day, or one-tenth of 1 horsepower for a 10-hour day. In order to do this he will require approximately 5,000 kilogram-calories per 24 hours. By way of contrast, work involving little physical activity, such as writing, or various kinds of desk work, involve very little energy expenditure. It has been found that the additional energy required for intense mental work amounts only to about 4 kilogram-calories per hour. In other words the most difficult think- ing requires additional energy per hour equal approximately to that of 1 gram of sugar or to one-half a peanut. Indeed, so small is the amount of energy required to 'think' that a housemaid en- gaged in sweeping and dusting the study of a college professor would expend as much energy in 3 minutes as the professor would expend in an hour of intensive study. One frequently hears careless talk about 'nervous' energy, 'mental' energy, 'creative' energy and other such expressions, which imply not only that there are numerous unrelated kinds of energy, but that energy associated with the human body is differ- ent from energy as manifested in calorimeters and steam engines. It is also implied that human beings are somehow or other spon- taneous sources of work or energy. From what has been shown in this lesson it becomes evident that all such expressions have no basis in fact, and are sheer nonsense. There is only one funda- mental energy which, as we defined above, is the capacity to per- form physical work. Engines of any kind are not creators of energy; they are, instead, converters of energy from one form to another in exact ac- cordance with the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. The laws of thermodynamics are no respecters of persons, and they hold as fast and rigorously in the case of the human body as they do in man-made engines. A human body takes the chemical energy from food and con- 60 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE verts it into heat and work on a 24-hour per day basis. Rarely is as much as 10 percent of this energy converted into work. Con- sequently, in spite of anything we can do, man is a dissipater of energy and it is not possible for him by any amount of work he may do ever to repay the amount of energy that he requwed in doing that work. References : The Chemistry of Food and Nutrition, Sherman. The Exchange of Energy Between Man and His Environment, Newburgh and Johnston. Living Machinery, Hill (Out of print). The Science of Nutrition, husk. Lesson 7 THE FLOW OF ENERGY ON THE EARTH In the previous lesson we have seen that all movement of matter on the face of the earth involves a corre- sponding change of energy. We have also seen that while energy may be manifested in various forms, such as heat, chemical energy, potential energy, kinetic energy, etc., and may be changed from one of its various forms to an- other, none of it is ever lost, but that all of it tends to be dissipated into waste heat. Engines, as we have seen, whether animate or man-made, do not create energy, but merely utilize a supply of available energy for doing work. The available energy used by various engines usually oc- curs in two forms — mechanical energy as in the case of waterfalls or the wind, and chemical energy, as in the case of fuels and food. Energy of Running Water. The end product of all of this energy is waste heat, but until now we have not inquired as to where it came from in the first place. Take the waterfall for ex- ample, which is continually dissipating energy. The water in the river was originally derived from rain, and this was in turn evapo- rated principally from the ocean. Now we have already seen that to evaporate water requires energy. At ordinary temperatures 585 gram calories of heat are required to evaporate 1 gram of water. Since ocean water does evaporate, this heat must be supplied, but where does it come from? Obviously the only source of heat in the open ocean is the sunshine ; the sun shines upon the ocean and other bodies of water, and its energy is used to produce evapora- tion. Another part of the sun's energy heats the earth's atmos- phere, and, by causing it to expand, produces winds. In this man- ner the evaporated water is carried over the land. Then, upon cooling, the water vapor in the atmosphere condenses and falls as 61 62 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE rain and snow, and this in turn produces rivers. Hence, the energy of a waterfall is originally derived from the energy of sunshine. Energy of Plants and Animals. Where does the energy con- tained in food and fuels come from? We have already seen that when foods and fuels are combined chemically with oxygen the combustion produces chiefly carbon dioxide (C02) and water vapor, while in the process heat is released. Since heat is not spon- taneously created, a similar heat supply had to be provided when water vapor and carbon dioxide were originally united to pro- duce the food and fuel products. A large class of foods, such as grains, vegetables, etc., are derived directly from plants. A large amount of fuels such as wood and coal are likewise plant products. Coal is simply the consoli- dated remains of forests which grew in past geological ages, and have been preserved from decay by being buried under great thick- nesses of rock. Hence, most of the energy contained in our food and fuel is derived directly from plants. Some foods, and to a slight extent some fuels (whale oil, for example,) are derived not from plants, but from animals. In all cases, however, the energy contained in the animal tissues was derived from the animals' diet of plants or other herbivorous animals. Thus we see that all energy contained in animal tissue, and used to operate the animal bodies, is derived directly or in- directly from the chemical energy of plants. The energy contained in petroleum has not yet been discussed. It has now been established beyond a doubt that petroleum has been derived from plants and animals of the geologic past which have been preserved from decay by burial under great thicknesses of rock. Hence, this energy is also derived from plants. Chlorophyl. It remains to be seen where and how plants get energy. It is a matter of common observation on farms that a weed such as a cockleburr, if growing alone on an open piece of ground, will reach only a moderate height of about 3 feet and will spread laterally until its lateral diameter is also about 3 feet. If the cockleburr, however, is only one of a thick patch of cockle- burr plants growing about 6 inches apart, then it will develop a FLOW OF ENERGY 63 long, slender stalk reaching a height of 5 or 6 feet, with almost no leaves except a small tuft directly on top. This same type of thing is true for all kinds of plants. Oak trees in an oak thicket have long slender trunks, whereas the same kind of oak trees when alone will form the familiar widely-branching tree. When plants are placed in a house or cellar where little sun- light is available, the leaves usually lose the familiar green color and turn white or yellow, the plant loses its vigor of growth, and eventually dies. Grass on a shady lawn frequently dies out, and has to be reset. Among plants the struggle for existence is, among other things, largely a struggle for sunshine. Raw materials from which plants are composed are chiefly carbon, hydrogen, and oxy- gen plus a small amount of nitrogen and mineral matter. Water is required by plants, and this water is derived from the moisture of the soil. The mineral matter, likewise, is the ordinary salts which are contained in solution by the water of the soil. The carbon is derived from the carbon dioxide which is contained in the air. The nitrogen is likewise derived from the air. We can repre- sent this as follows : 6C02+5H20 — *C6H10O5+6O2 carbon dioxide water cellulose oxygen Cellulose plus lignin, a similar material, compose the woody material of plants. We have already seen that the chemical com- bination of wood with oxygen releases heat, as follows: C6H10O6+6O2 — 6C02+5H20+heat cellulose oxygen carbon dioxide water It will be noticed that the production of plant substance is chemically exactly the opposite from the burning of wood. Since energy is released when wood is burned, then an exact equal amount of energy must have been required when the wood was formed in the first place. Accordingly, the formation of wood may be represented: 6C02+5H20+energy — ►C6H10O5+6O2 carbon dioxide water cellulose oxygen 64 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Where does the energy come from? It has been found that, in this case, the energy is derived from the sunshine or other sources of light. This accounts for the fact that the plants seem to compete with each other for sunlight. The green substance in the leaves of plants is called chlorophyl. In the presence of chlorophyl solar energy is converted into chemical energy, as water and carbon dioxide combine to form plant substance. Solar Radiation. Almost all of the energy used by man, whether derived from wind or water power, from coal or oil, or from other animals or plants, is derived ultimately from the sunshine. Excep- tions to this are energy derived from tides, or from volcanic heat from the earth's interior. These exceptions are at present of little importance, and will probably continue to be so in the future. From the foregoing it is evident that most of the activity — most of the movements of matter — on the face of the earth are directly or indirectly the result of sunshine. The energy of solar radiation as it impinges on the earth has been measured. It has been found that the solar radiation upon a square centimeter of surface taken at right angles to the sun's rays will, if converted into heat, produce 1.94 gram calories of heat per minute of time. This relationship is strictly true only just outside the earth's atmosphere; on the earth's surface, the heat per minute is some- what less than this due to the fact that some of the heat is absorbed by the earth's atmosphere. It may give one a better idea of the enormous quantity of energy contained in sunshine if one considers that the average sun- shine per day on one square mile at Washington, D. C, would, if converted into mechanical work, equal 20 million horsepower- hours. It is easy to see what an enormous amount of energy per day the total solar radiation on the entire earth must be. Flow of Solar Energy. As energy is not destroyed, we must now determine how, with such an enormous amount of heat arriving daily from the sun the earth does not get continually hotter and hotter. We have geological evidence that the intensity of sunshine on the earth has been practically the same for many millions of years. We also know that the earth has had about the same tem- FLOW OF ENERGY 65 perature during that time. Therefore, the earth must be losing energy at about the same rate it is receiving it. Let us trace the energy from the sun. Of the total energy con- tained in the solar radiation which impinges upon the earth, ap- proximately 37 percent is reflected back into space. Another part of the energy of the sunshine is directly absorbed by objects upon which it falls and is converted into heat; still another part pro- duces the evaporation of water ; another part is consumed in ex- panding the gases of the atmosphere and the ocean waters, produc- ing winds and ocean currents. Finally a part is converted by the chlorophyl of the plants into the chemical energy required by plant- eating animals and these latter finally become the food for car- nivorous animals. As we have already shown, a part of the plant energy may be converted into mechanical work by means of man- made engines ; in a similar manner the energy of waterfalls which ordinarily is dissipated as waste heat, may be made to drive ma- chinery before finally being reduced to waste heat. The end product of all these processes is, however, low-temperature waste heat. Due to the fact that the earth is not getting hotter, the earth must be losing heat at the same rate it is receiving heat from the sunshine. This loss of heat is accomplished by means of long wave- length, invisible heat radiation which the earth radiates out into space. This type of thing is well illustrated in the case of a closed automobile parked in the hot sunshine. The temperature in the car stays several degrees higher than the temperature outside the car, which is due to the fact that sunshine, which is short wave radiation, passes readily through the glass windows. When it strikes the cushions of the car it is absorbed, and produces heat. These cushions then emit a long wave-length radiation, which can pass only with difficulty through the glass windows ; consequently, the temperature of the interior of the car rises until enough heat can be radiated to allow the escaping energy to be equal to that coming in. Thereafter the temperature does not change. Clouds in the earth's atmosphere act in a similar manner — they tend to block the escaping long wave-length radiation. That is the reason it rarely frosts on a cloudy night. 66 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Summary Solar radiation impinges upon the earth as a short wave- length radiation, and thereafter undergoes a series of energy changes, each one of which, in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics, is at a lower scale of degradation than that pre- ceding it. Finally, it is re-radiated back into space as spent long- wave radiation. During, and as a consequence of this process, the winds blow, rivers flow, and plants and animals grow and propa- gate their kind, and most of the other events on the face of the earth take place. Since the total flow of energy on the earth is practically a con- stant, it follows that there is not likely to be any cessation or diminution of this process for a long time to come. While the total flow of energy on the earth's surface is essentially constant, the resulting picture, in terms of the configuration of the earth's sur- face and of plant and animal life, is continuously changing. This change is itself unidirectional and irreversible; that is to say, it never repeats itself. References : Physics of the Earth — ///, Meteorology, Bull, of National Research Council No. 79 (1931). The Data of Geochemistry, Clarke. Elements of Physical Biology, Lotka (Chaps. 16-20). Introduction to Geology, Branson and Tarr. Photosynthesis, Spohr (Out of print). Animal Life and Social Growth, Allee. Lesson 8 DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM AMONG ENERGY-CONSUMING DEVICES We have already seen that every sort of mechanism, both inanimate and organic — plant, animal, and steam engine — is an energy-dissipating device. Plants require solar energy; animals require chemical energy in the form of food derived either from plants or other animals; steam engines require the chemical energy of fuel. It is important to note here that particular kinds of energy-consuming devices can, in general, make use of energy only when it occurs in certain forms. Thus, a steam engine cannot utilize the energy contained in a waterfall, neither can a horse operate on the energy con- tained in coal or gasoline. Certain animals, the herbi- vores, can utilize only the energy contained in a limited variety of plants; other animals, the carnivores, can utilize only energy occurring in the form of meat. Most plants can utilize only the energy of light radiation. All of the energy used by every kind of energy-consuming device on the earth is, as we have pointed out, derived almost without exception, initially from the energy of sunshine. The energy of sunshine is a vast flow of energy. The existence of plants and animals is dependent upon a successful competition by each of the different species for a share of this total flow. A simple illustration will per- haps make this more clear. Dynamic Equilibrium of Plants and Animals. Imagine an area of land in a temperate region having the usual array of vege- tation peculiar to such an area. , Suppose that a block of this land of several square miles in area be completely fenced off in such a manner that no animals at all are allowed within this area. Under 67 68 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE these conditions the grass, in the absence of animals, would become tall and of luxuriant growth. Now, into this pasture with its luxuriant growth of grass, suppose that we introduce a pair of rabbits, one male and one female, without allowing any other animals within the region. Suppose, further, that we take a census at regular intervals of the rabbit population within this area. As we know, rabbits breed rapidly, and in a year's time one pair of rabbits produce about 12 offspring. Assuming no rabbits to die in the meantime and this same rate of multiplication to continue, at the end of the first year the total rabbit population would be 14 ; at the end of the second year the population would have reached 98 ; at the end of the third year it would have reached 686. One might object to this on the ground that some of the rabbits would have died in the meantime, and this objection is well founded. Given a situation such as we have assumed here where the food supply is abundant and other conditions are favorable, it is a well established fact that animals multiply in such a manner that their birth rate exceeds their death rate, and as long as these conditions maintain, the popula- tion tends to increase at a compound interest rate. In the case of the rabbits we are considering, if the births per year were 600 per- cent and the deaths per year were 200 percent, there would be an expansion of 400 percent. This, while slightly less spectacular than the case where no deaths occurred, would still result in a very rapid increase in the rabbit population of the area. Under these conditions, if at the end of a certain time the rabbit population were 100, there would be by the end of the following year 500 rabbits in the area, and by the end of the year after, 2,500 rabbits, etc. At this rate it is very obvious that it would not take many years for the rabbit population to reach an overwhelming figure. How long could this rate of growth continue? Is there any upper limit to the number of rabbits that can live in a given pasture area? There very obviously is. The rabbits eat principally grass and certain other small plants. For the sake of simplicity, we shall assume that the rabbits eat only grass. Grass, therefore, being the food, constitutes the energy supply for the rabbit population. DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM 69 Each rabbit in order to subsist must have a certain number of calories per day, and therefore, must eat a certain minimum amount of grass per day. In the initial conditions that we have specified, the grass supply far exceeded the needs of the rabbit population. Under these conditions there were no limitations on the rate of growth of the population. Finally, however, there would come a time when the number of rabbits would be such that the amount of grass per year required to feed them would just equal the rate at which grass grows. Under these conditions it is easy to see that if the rabbit population were to get any larger than this, the sur- plus would starve to death. Our curve of the growth of the rabbit population, therefore, if plotted as a graph, would at first rise more and more rapidly with time. After that, the curve would begin to level off, signi- fying that the food requirements of the rabbit population were approaching the rate of growth of the grass of the region. When these two things become equal, that is to say, when the rate at which rabbits eat grass is equal to the rate at which grass grows in the region, there will have been reached a state of dy- namic equilibrium between rabbits and grass. If there should be a particularly good growing season, the grass would grow more rapidly, and the rabbit population would increase as a conse- quence; if this were followed by a drought, the grass would de- crease and the surplus rabbit population would consequentlv die off. Now suppose that in this pasture where a state of dynamic equilibrium between rabbits and grass has already been achieved, we introduce a disturbing factor in the form of a pair of coyotes. Coyotes live on meat, and since we have postulated that rabbits are the only other animals in the area, the coyotes will live upon the rabbits. Now, what will happen? Since there is an abundance of rab- bits the coyotes will have plenty to eat, and while this condition lasts they will multiply at their most rapid rate. At the same time, however, because of this, the death rate among the rabbits in- creases, and the rabbit population declines. Finally, there comes a time when the rate at which the coyotes require rabbits for 70 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE food is equal to the rate at which the rabbits grow. Under this condition the rabbit population will stabilize at a lower figure than formerly, and the coyote population will also stabilize at a different figure. When this is attained there will then be a state of dynamic equilibrium between coyotes, rabbits, and grass. We could complicate the picture still further by introducing foxes, owls, field mice, and the whole complex array of animals that one normally finds in such localities. With this more complex picture we would find exactly the same thing ; that is, if left alone, each of these different species would tend to come to a stable popu- lation. In the case of each species a stationary population involves an equality between its birth rate and its death rate. Its birth rate is dependent upon its available energy supply ; and its death rate is determined in part by age and in part by the rate at which it be- comes an energy supply in the form of food for other species. A disturbance on either side of this equation, a change in the food supply, or a change in the rate at which it is eaten or dies, will disturb this dynamic equilibrium one way or the other. The Dynamic Equilibrium of Man. The principles discussed above are just as valid for the human species as for coyotes or rabbits. Suppose we consider man in his most primitive state, before he had invented tools and clothing, learned to use fire, or had domesticated plants and animals. What was his food supply? He must have lived on fruits, grass seeds, nuts, and other such plant products as were available and suitable for human food. He prob- ably caught and ate small animals such as rabbits, rats, frogs, fish, and perhaps insects. His population in a given area was therefore limited on the upper boundary by the rate at which he could catch these small animals, or could gather the plant foods. On the other side, such large predatory animals as bears, panthers, lions, and saber-toothed tigers were lurking about, and it is entirely probable that our primitive ancestors formed a part of the natural food supply of these animals. This, as in the case of the coyote-rabbit equilibrium mentioned above, tended to restrict further the human population within a given area. DYNAMIC EQUILIBRIUM 71 Now, suppose that this primitive species, man, learned to use such a weapon as a club, what effect would this have toward changing the state of the dynamic equilibrium? In the first place, with a club, a man could probably kill more animals for food than he could have caught using only his hands. This would tend to increase his food supply, and in so doing, would to that extent curtail the food supply of his predatory competitors. For example, suppose that with a club a man could kill more rabbits than he could catch with his bare hands; this would increase the human food supply and consequently tend to increase the human popula- tion in the given area. At the same time there would be a decrease in the rabbit population, and a corresponding decrease in the population of other animals depending on rabbits for food. A club is a weapon of defense as well as of offense. With a club, a man would be able to defend himself from beasts of prey, and would accordingly decrease the rate at which he became the prey of other predatory animals. The result of both of these, the increase of human food supply, and the increase in the expectancy of life of the human being, act in the same direction, namely, to disturb the balance in favor of an increase of human population in the given area. Now, let our primitive man discover the use of fire. Fire, by its warming effect, would protect man from the winter cold, and doubtless decrease the number of deaths from freezing and ex- posure. This would prolong the average length of life and con- sequently increase the population. Fire also is a powerful medium of defense in that it effectively prevents depredation by predatory animals. This also tends to increase the expectancy of life. The use of fire would also permit man to invade new and colder terri- tories. Thus, not only would learning to use fire tend to increase the population in areas inhabited by man, but it would enable him to reach a food supply in areas not previously accessible, and, con- sequently, to multiply still further by inhabiting a larger and larger portion of the earth. The discovery of the use of fire is of even greater significance in another way. In this hypothetical development that we have outlined the only part of the total flow of solar energy that had 72 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE been diverted into the uses of man, prior to the use of fire, was that of the food he ate. The energy requirements of our primitive ancestors in the form of food were probably not greatly different from that of today, namely, about 2,300 to 2,600 kilogram-calories per capita per day. No other energy was utilized than that of food eaten. With the discover]/ of fire, a totally new source of energy wa)s tapped, and use for the first time was made of extraneous energy — energy other than food eaten. This constituted one of the first steps in a long and tortuous evolution in learning to convert an ever-larger fraction of the total flow of solar energy into uses favorable to the human species. The results of this learning to direct the flow of solar energy, as we shall see in succeeding lessons, are among the most momentous of the events in the history of life on this planet. References : Animal Life and Social Growth, Allee. Origin of Species, Darwin. The Biology of Population Growth, Pearl. Elements of Physical Biology, Lotka. Lesson 9 ENERGY IN HUMAN HISTORY In Lesson 8 we learned that all plant and animal species are in a perpetual state of competition for larger and larger shares of the total flow of energy from sunshine. The number of individuals of a particular animal species that can live in a given area is dependent in part upon the rate at which energy occurs in that area in a form suitable for use by that species; in part upon the number of competing species for energy in the same form ; and in part upon the rate at which this same species becomes food, and therefore serves as the energy supply for still other species. Under the strenuous competition for existence there develops in a given area between the various plant and animal species a state of balance, or, of dynamic equili- brium. This state of balance is precarious, and is subject to disturbances by a change of weather conditions and hence of food supply, or it can be disturbed by numerous other factors. The human species, as we have seen, exists as a part of this dynamic 'web of life/ The history of the human species since prehistoric times is distinguished chiefly from that of other animal species in that during this period man has been learning progressively how to deprive a larger and larger share of the sun's energy from other animals and direct it into his own uses. This has resulted in the ascendancy of man, and has wrought unprecedented havoc among the other organisms of the earth. In our last lesson we saw that the use of a simple tool like a club gave man a decided advantage in the struggle for existence, and by increasing his food supply, made available for man's use a larger supply of the total flow of the sun's energy. We saw that the discovery of the use of fire, probably his first use of energy other than food 73 74 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE eaten, gave him another decided advantage tending both to increase his length of life and to enlarge the area he could inhabit. The use, both of the club and of fire, tended to increase the human population of the earth. Domestication ,of Plants. Let us review a few more of the high points of man's conquest of energy. Consider the domestication of plants. The first stage in the domestication of plants consists of taking those plants in a wild form which are suitable for food for man or his animals (or otherwise useful, as for clothing) and cultivating them for the purpose of increasing their yield. This cultivation consists chiefly of two things: (1) the removal of competing plants from the area under cultivation; (2) the loosen- ing of the soil to increase the yield of the plants cultivated. The net effect of this is that a very much greater portion of the solar radiation incident upon the area under cultivation is con- verted into forms suitable for food for man and his animals, or into other useful products, than was the case prior to such culti- vation. The domestication of plants, therefore, is simply an artifi- cial means of diverting a larger and larger proportion of the sun's energy (which formerly was, as far as man is concerned, wasted) into human usage. Domestication of Animals. Consider the domestication of animals. Out of all the array of the animal species in regions in- habited by man only certain ones, such as sheep, goats, cattle, and swine, were especially suitable for human food and at the same time amenable to domestication. Others, such as the horse, the camel, the ox, and the dog, were suitable for uses other than food, such as carrying burdens or otherwise performing work. Here, as in the case of the domestication of plants, we are dealing primarily with a diversion of energy. Prior to the domesti- cation of animals a given pasture area would have been roamed by the miscellaneous grass-eating herds, along with wolves, lions, and other predatory animals preying upon these. In such an area man would have taken his chances in competition with the rest. Suppose, however, he domesticated one species of these animals, ENERGY IN HUMAN HISTORY 7(8 sheep, shall we say, and protected it from its natural enemies. Under these circumstances the biological equilibrium would be disturbed, and the protected species would multiply out of all pro- portion to the numbers it would have if not so protected. Because of their great number these domestic herds also would eat a far larger proportion of the grass in the area than they would have been able to do otherwise. Thus the domestication of animals is a device whereby man has been able to convert solar energy represented in such vegeta- tion as pasture grass, which is not in that form suitable for human uses directly, into forms such as meat, wool and skins, which are suitable for human use. We see, therefore, that the domestication of plants and ani- mals, by beginning with a disturbance of the biological equilibrium between plant and animal species, results in an increased food and clothing supply for man, himself, from a given area. Since, under primitive conditions, the human species tends always to expand faster than these devices tend to increase the food supply, it follows that the astounding result of each of these achievements must have been to increase the number of people who could exist in a given area, and, therefore, to increase the human population of the earth. The population of the Nile Delta at the time of the early Egyptians, with their cultivation of plants, must have been vastly greater than the number which could have subsisted in the same area in its wild and undeveloped state. The North American Continent affords a very interesting contrast of a similar kind. The Indians had few domestic plants, and almost no domestic animals. Their principal tools were fire, the bow and arrow, and the canoe. While the size of the Indian population prior to the European invasion can only be estimated, available figures indicate that the total population north of Mexico at the time of the discovery of America was less than 2,000,000 people. With the methods of energy conversion known to the Indians it is doubtful if the area in which they lived could have supported very many more than actually existed at that time. In other words, there was pretty nearly a state of dynamic equilibrium between the Indians and their food supply. The population of 76 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the United States alone at the present time is 131,000,000 people (1940). This has been made possible only by a far greater utiliza- tion or conversion of energy, than was possible by the Indians in their state of knowledge. Discovery of Metals. Succeeding stages in the conquest of energy by the human species are represented by the discovery of metals and their uses. Metals provided better tools and weapons, both of offense and defense, than man had known prior to that time. This still further, in the manner we have indicated, dis- turbed the biologic balance in man's favor, and again he extended his conquest and increased his numbers. Greater mobility also was achieved by the use of the camel and the horse as beasts of burden. Wheeled vehicles were devised, and boats of increasing sizes and improved modes of propulsion were developed. The combination of the use of metals, and the increased mobility brought the human species face to face with some of the hard facts of geology, namely, that metals in concentration suitable for human exploitation occur but rarely and only in cer- tain localities of the earth's surface. Moreover, the ores of these metals occur at various depths beneath the earth's surface, and can be mined only with difficulty. The ancients obtained important copper ores from the mines of the Isle of Cyprus. The Greeks obtained silver from the silver mines of Laurium. The ancient tin mines of Cornwall were ex- ploited by the Eomans, and probably even by the Phoenicians. The methods of mining used were of the crudest. Only the simplest of hand tools were available, and with these a single miner working in solid rock could generally not mine much more than a basket of ore per day. The labor employed in the mines was primarily that of slaves, frequently working in chain gangs. In passages too small for adults, children were employed. Few written records of the earlier mining practices have been preserved to the present time, due largely to the fact that the writ- ing of the time was done primarily by the philosophers and others who felt it distinctly beneath their dignity to dirty their hands with the work-a-day labor of the world sufficiently to inform them- ENERGY IN HUMAN HISTORY It selves on such processes. This much is known, however, that the mining methods of the ancients were sufficiently thorough in the localities worked by them that little has been left to be done by more modern methods except at depths greater than the ancients were able to penetrate. This increase in the use of metals had the social effect not only of increasing the prowess of man but also of increasing the technical problems presented by the mining methods themselves that he was called upon to solve. The ancients found their opera- tions curtailed and finally balked at depth by the inflow of ground water into the workings of the mines. If greater depths were to be obtained suitable pumps had to be devised, and since the water flowed in continuously, pumping operations had to be maintained. This required power. The solution of the problem , together with that of hoisting ores and rock from the mines, may very well be said to have laid the foundation stones for the future mechani- cal development. Various kinds of windlasses and pumps were developed; at first only the muscle power of human beings was employed, then oxen working on treadmills were used, and later in a similar manner horses were employed. Where suitable waterfalls oc- curred, water wheels were developed, employing the energy con- tained in the waterfall for pumping and hoisting. In other cases windmills were developed employing the energy of the wind for a similar purpose. Had these been the only sources of energy avail- able, mining and consequently the industrial development of the future would have been seriously handicapped. The crying need was for newer and larger sources of energy. Summary We have thus traced the high points of the development of man's conquest of energy through its initial stages. We have found that every new technical device — the domesti- cation of plants and animals, the use of tools, such as the club, the boat, wheeled vehicles, and finally the use of metals— has each played its part in contributing to a diversion of an ever-increas- ing part of the sun's energy into uses of the human species. 78 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE The extensive use of metals was among the most significant and far-reaching in its effect of the events in human history. It not only disturbed the biological equilibrium resulting in an in- crease in human population at the expense of the other species, but it also, in a similar manner, gave certain peoples an advantage, due to their greater command of energy, over other peoples not so favorably equipped. This resulted in a disturbance of the equi- librium within the human species in favor of those with the greater command of energy. References: The Biology of Population Growth, Pearl. Elements of Physical Biology, Lotka. Man and Metals, Rickard. History of Mechanical Inventions, Usher. Lesson 10 EARLY STAGES IN THE USE OF EXTRANEOUS ENERGY In previous lessons we have seen how the degrada- tion of solar radiation in processes occurring on the earth's surface has resulted in the various forms of move- ment that matter on the earth's surface is continually undergoing. We have pointed out that the various life- forms are in competition with one another for shares of the solar energy. We have seen, furthermore, how the human species, by learning to use fire, to domesticate plants and animals, and by developing various tools and weapons, first of stone, wood and bone, and later of metals, has been able to disturb the biologic equilibrium and gain for itself a disproportionate share of this solar energy as compared with other species. At first thought one might conclude that this would result in an improved human standard of living and general well-being, and in some cases this was true, but by and large the improve- ment as regards the individual does not seem to have been great. Food, Fire, Animals, Wind, and Water. Consider the energy available per person during all this time. Before man learned to use fire, his sole available source of energy was that contained in the food he ate. This, as we have seen already, for an average population of young and old, amounts to about 2,300 kilogram- calories per person per day. Since available evidence indicates that our ancestors at that time were approximately the same size we are now, they must have consumed energy in the form of food at about the same rate we consume it now. Extraneous energy — energy other than food eaten — was, as we have just seen, introduced but very gradually. First, there was fire. This was the utilization of the heat contained in wood. Then there was the work of animals, the horse, the ox, the dog. At no time throughout early history was the number of domestic 79 80 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE animals per capita very large on an average. Then came the use of the energy of the wind and running water, but these were only used locally, and were never (during this period) of great im- portance. The tendency of the human species to multiply at a compound interest rate tended always during this early history to keep the population at approximately the maximum number that the means available were able to support. Estimating on the average the use of fuel to provide approximately 400 kilogram-calories per capita per day ( average for all climates ) , and one domestic animal for every five people, providing an additional 1,600 kilogram- calories per person per day, we would arrive at a total of extrane- ous energy of only about 2,000 kilogram-calories per capita per day prior to the extensive use of fossil fuels. Thus we see that, great as were the strides made by the human race through the preceding history, the increase of the average standard of living, stated in the physical terms of energy- consumption, was almost negligible. This can be seen in another way when one considers the abject poverty and squalor under which the great bulk of the people during all preceding history apparently lived. During the 'golden age' of Athens only a relatively small part of the population was free. The preponderance of the people were slaves or serfs of some degree or other. History, as it has been handed down, has focused attention upon a few of the more illustrious of these free citizens; the others whose toil made this freedom of the few possible have been more or less tactfully omitted. Under the glory that was Eome, one finds a similar or worse condition. At the height of the power of the Koman Empire most of the necessary work that was required, such as building, agri- culture, and mining, was done by slaves. The campaigns of the Roman armies of this time, so the records of the Roman senate show, were largely directed for the acquisition of spoils, such as mines and the products thereof, and slaves. These slaves were worked to the limit of human endurance, and were, after a few short years of service, broken, discarded, and replaced by others obtained by new conquests. EXTRANEOUS ENERGY— EARLY STAGES 81 The Use of Fossil Fuel. A totally new era in this unidirec- tional progression was entered when man began to tap a hitherto unused energy resource, that of fossil fuel — coal, and more re- cently, oil. Coal and petroleum in small amounts, and largely as curios- ities, have been known, according to available records, since the time of the ancients. Coal, however, as an energy resource first began to be exploited extensively in England in about the twelfth century. First, chunks of coal found along the seashore, came to be burned for domestic fuel; later, in the vicinity of Newcastle, coal was dug from the ground out of open pits. The fact that this coal could be more easily acquired, and, if purchased, was less ex- pensive than wood, caused it to be adopted as fuel by the poorer classes. Shortly after, coal was shipped from Newcastle to London, where it came to be used as fuel, much to the annoyance of the royalty and nobility of the time; and, because of its smoke and sulphurous odor, laws were passed prohibiting its use. Some- what later, coal from Newcastle found its way to Paris in exchange for boatloads of grain. By the year 1600 the use of coal for domestic purposes in England had become a custom permanently established. Chimneys had been built, much to the disgust of the older generation, who considered that the young folks were becoming effeminate by not being able to endure smoky atmosphere after the stalwart manner of their elders. Coal found its way, also, into industrial uses. First the blacksmith, and then the glassmaker, found its use more and more indispensable. The iron mines of England, which, simultaneously with coal, were being developed, had up to this time depended upon a supply of charcoal for smelting purposes. The demand for wood for the making of charcoal, as well as for the building of English ships — men-of-war and merchantmen — was placing a heavy burden on English timber. Comments and complaints began to increase after the year 1600 about the exhaustion of timber. This placed a premium upon a method whereby iron might be smelted by the use of coal. In aoout the year 1745 such a process was discovered. Coal could be roasted into coke, and this latter used for the smelting of iron. Iron ores, like coal, were abundant 82 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE in England. The union of these two components, coal and iron, was among the most significant events of human history. The more iron that was smelted the more coal was required. Also, the more iron that was made available, the more equipment requir- ing iron was devised. Thus we have a process which of itself ap- pears to have no ending. The Use of Gunpowder. Another important contribution to the use of extraneous energy that occurred during this period was the invention of gunpowder. While its exact date is obscured, gunpowder came into use in the Western World about the end of the thirteenth century. Gunpowder was composed of charcoal, saltpeter and sulphur. These, when ignited, react together with explosive violence, releasing energy as follows : heat JKN03 + S + 3C— K2S + 3C02 + N2 + Saltpeter Sulphur Charcoal Potassium Sulphide Carbon Dioxide Nitrogen Of course, the first and most obvious use of this new form of energy, as with most others that can be so applied, was for weapons of warfare. Guns were developed, and those people using firearms exercised a very decisive advantage over those not so equipped, as well as over other animals. This still further disturbed the bio- logic equilibrium in favor of the human species over other ani- mal species, as well as in favor of those groups of people having this energy resource over other peoples of the earth not so equipped. The conquest of the New World by the Europeans is due almost entirely to the superior energy-technique of the Europeans as com- pared with that of the Indians. Bows and arrows were no match for firearms ; wood and stone tools could not compete with tools of metal ; little or no domestication of plants and animals rendered the Indian far inferior to the European in regard to the production of food. So decisive is the matter of energy-control that one may fairly state that, other things being equal, that people which has a superior energy-control technique will always tend to supplant or control the one with a lesser technique. Another use to which gunpowder was applied which may have been of greater significance than its use in warfare, even EXTRANEOUS ENERGY— EARLY STAGES 83 though not so much noted in textbooks of history, was its applica- tion to mining, and later to other industrial purposes requiring blasting. Gunpowder as an industrial explosive came to be used in the mines of Germany in the late sixteenth century. It was employed in the mines of Cornwall in 1680. Before this time the tools of mining had been largely the pick and hammer and simple wedges and chisels. By employing gunpowder, holes could be drilled and blasts set off, thereby breaking out a very much larger quantity of ore with a given number of workmen than had ever been done previously. This acceleration in mining practice went hand in hand with the same acceleration in the use of coal that we have just described. A New Problem. In both of these cases, as is always true of the introduction of a new technique, new and unsolved problems were created. The first coal mines, as pointed out, were shallow, open pits. The increased use of coal required mining at continu- ally greater depths. Ground water is usually encountered within a few tens of feet of the top of the ground. The deeper the mines and the larger the workings, the faster the rate of infiltration of water. This is true, both in metal mines and in coal mines, but due to the greater number and size of the coal mines it there presented a more serious difficulty. In the earlier and smaller workings the water was bailed out by hand labor. Finally the problem became too large to be solved by this method, and pumps operated by treadmills driven by horses Were introduced. At first, treadmills with a single horse, then with five, twenty, and a hundred were used. By this time the problem had obviously reached very serious proportions, be- cause, if the mines were to be kept open, the pumps had to be operated continuously day and night, and the food required to keep two shifts of a hundred horses working on treadmills was a very serious problem in early eighteenth century England. A new solution had to be found. References: Man and Metals, Rickard. Behemoth, The Story of Power, Hodgins and Maigoun. History of Mechanical Inventions, Usher. Lesson 11 MODERN INDUSTRIAL GROWTH WE have traced the rather slow and tortuous evo- lution of the human species in the struggle for energy. We noticed in the last lesson that, with the learn- ing to use the energy contained in coal, there seemed to be a quickening of the tempo of human affairs. Coal provided heat for domestic purposes, and for glass making. After 1745 coal was made into coke for the smelting of iron. The increasing uses for coal created a greater and greater demand for more coal. The increased rate of mining operations caused mining to be carried on at greater depths, with consequent pumping problems of continu- ously increasing magnitude. As we have pointed out, the use of as many as 100 horses, working on treadmills, created costs of upkeep for the horses which threatened to overbalance the proceeds from selling the coal. It was imperative that a better and cheaper method of pumping be devised. One of the first of these was that of Thomas Savery. Development of the Steam Engine. Savery, in 1698, devised an engine consisting of a boiler and two steam expansion cham- bers, equipped with suitable valves operated by hand. These chambers were filled with water, and when the steam was turned into each of them alternately, water was forced upward; then, with the bottom valve open, and the steam inlet turned off, the condensation of the steam in the chamber produced a vacuum which sucked more water from the mine. This engine was not very satisfactory, and was followed shortly after by the 'atmospheric engine' of Newcomen and Cawley in the year 1705. This engine consisted of a rocking beam, to one end of which was attached a pump rod and to the other a piston in a vertical cylinder. When steam was admitted to the cylinder 84 MODERN INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 85 the piston was lifted, and the pump rod lowered; next, water was injected into the cylinder to condense the steam, thus creat- ing a vacuum below the piston, so that the atmospheric pressure on the top side of the piston forced it back down, lifting the pump rod, and thereby pumping water. Thus, the work stroke was done, not by the steam, but by the pressure of the atmosphere, hence the name 'atmospheric engine., At first the valves of this engine were operated by hand, but this became tedious; and later, so the story goes, the boy who operated the valves became tired, and devised a system of strings attached to the rocking beam in such a manner that they opened and closed the valves automatically. Such was the rate of progress at this time that it was not until 1769 that any material improvement was made on this engine. In that year James Watt invented a condenser so that the hot steam could be exhausted from the cylinder and condensed in a chamber outside, instead of cooling the cylinder down each time, as had been done previously. In 1782, Watt still further improved the steam engine by making it double acting, that is, steam was admitted alternately, first at one end of the cylinder, and then at the other, thus driving the piston in both its up and down strokes. At about this time the flywheel was added to the simple rocking beam. By this time the age of power was well begun, and more and more uses were found to which the steam engine could be applied, as will be pointed out presently. Individual engines were made continuously larger. First there was only the single cylinder, then there developed successively the double-, triple-, and quadruple- expansion types of engines. The reciprocating engine reached its climax toward the end of the nineteenth century in the Corliss type. Of these the largest stationary units reached upwards of 10,000 kw., and stood with their cylinder heads approximately 30 feet above the axis of their cranks. In 1889, De Laval, of Sweden, devised a steam turbine to oper- ate his cream separator. In 1884 Sir Charles Parsons built a steam turbine which delivered 10 h.p. at 18,000 revolutions per minute. In 1897 steam turbines were installed in a small steamship named 86 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the Turbinia. In 1903 a 5,000 kw. turbine was installed in one of the central electric power stations of Chicago. From that time on this form of steam engine has increased rapidly in size and usefulness. By 1915 a 35,000 kw. unit was in- stalled in Philadelphia. In 1929, in the Hell Gate Station, New York City, units of 160,000 kw. each were installed. These repre- sent the largest single engines ever built. If 1 horsepower for 8 hours represents the work of 10 strong men, then for 24 hours 1 horsepower would represent the work of 30 men working 8 hours each. One kilowatt is one and one-third horsepower, and hence represents the work of 40 men for 1 day. Thus, one of these engines does the work in 1 day's time of 6,400,- 000 strong men. There are 5 of these engines in New York City at the present time. These 5 engines when running to capacity, do work equivalent to 32,000,000 strong men working at hard labor for 8 hours a day each. The Railroad. Not only did coal mining create a problem of pumping water, but the coal had to be hauled varying distances over bad ground, either to the market or else to the seashore to be loaded in ships and transported by water. This created a serious problem in transportation, and early in the sixteenth century rails of timber were laid at the coal mines of Newcastle- on-Tyne. Carts carrying 4 to 5 tons of coal each were drawn by horses on these rails. These first rails were secured to cross- timbers. In 1735 it was found that the rails could be made stronger and wear longer if iron bars were fastened to their tops. In 1767 cast iron rails, 4 to 5 feet long, were substituted for the entire wooden rail. These cast iron rails were brittle and troublesome because of their short length and numerous joints. In 1820 these were replaced by wrought iron rails, 15 feet in length. Such were the first railroads. The development of the steam engine and the rapid rate of increase in the use of coal led naturally to the casting about for a new kind of motive power. In 1804 Eichard Trevithick built a steam locomotive which hauled 10 tons of coal at 5 miles per hour. In 1814 George Stevenson built an important locomotive that hauled 35 tons of coal 4 miles per hour up a 1 to 450 grade. MODERN INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 87 By 1825 there were altogether 28 railroads in Great Britain, mostly mine roads, with a total mileage of 450 miles. In that year the Stockton & Darlington Railway, 25 miles long, was put into operation. This may be considered the first modern steam oper- ated railway. At the opening of this road, a Stevenson engine hauled a train consisting of 22 wagons of passengers and 12 wagons of coal, totaling 90 tons, at an average speed of 5 miles per hour. Later this road reverted largely to horses for motive power, reserving the steam locomotives for hauling freight, chiefly coal. By 1830 the Liverpool & Manchester Railroad, 35 miles long, was operat- ing with an improved type of locomotive, and from that time on mechanical motive power has been indisputably established. In the United States, as in England, railroads were first built for horse-drawn vehicles. In 1829 a 16-mile road from Honesdale to Carbondale, Pennsylvania, was built, and a steam locomotive of English manufacture introduced. The following year a 13-mile road from Baltimore to Prescott, Maryland, was opened. The Steamboat. Similar advances were made in water trans- portation. In 1785 John Fitch ran the first successful steamboat in America. After this followed, in rapid succession, numerous other small steamers in inland and coastwise waters, both in Europe and the United States. In 1819 the 8.8. Savannah was the first steam-propelled ship to cross the Atlantic Ocean. By 1838, two ships, the 8.8. Great Eastern and 8. 8. 8irius, were in regular service. In 1837 and 1838 John Ericson introduced in England the screw propeller. This gradually replaced the paddle wheels, so that by 1870 all ocean-going steam-driven vessels were propelled by screws. While the advances made in both railroads and in steam- ships since 1900 have been great, the trend has been one more of orderly evolutionary development rather than of radical de- partures. Electrification of steam railroads was under way prior to 1910. This has been followed by Diesel-electric locomotives, and by steam locomotives of continually greater size, and of greater thermal efficiency. At the present time we seem to be on the threshold of a major departure in railroad equipment in the 88 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE form of high-speed, light-weight, streamlined trains propelled by Diesel engines. The Automobile. The more modern forms of transportation are the automobile and the airplane. The beginnings of efforts to construct a self-propelled road vehicle were practically coinci- dent with the locomotive. In the period from 1827 to 1836 Walter Hancock, in England, constructed several steam wagons that car- ried passengers over carriage roads. One of these is reported to have run 20 weeks, travelling a distance of 4,200 miles, and carry- ing 12,000 passengers. With the rise of railroads, motor vehicles for road use were virtually abandoned until about 1885, when the development of the gas engine by Daimler and others led to the motorization of the bicycle and then of the carriage. About 1895 the development of motor vehicles propelled by internal combus- tion engines or by electric motors began in earnest, leading to modern automotive transportation. Transportation by Air. The first abortive attempts at trans- portation by air date back to the early balloons, about the year 1783. Finally, in 1896, Langley's heavier-than-air machine made the first successful flight of its kind. In 1903 the Wright brothers were the first to take off in a heavier-than-air machine propelled by its own power. Since that time aviation has developed by leaps and bounds, gaining particular impetus during the World War. Planes have become bigger and faster, and the cruising radius has progressively increased. Summary In the space here it is manifestly impossible to more than scratch the surface of the vast field of technological developments that have taken place since the first feeble beginnings. Among the first industrial equipment to use power from steam engines was that of the textile industry. The changes wrought here were so great as to be characterized in history as the Industrial Revolution of the latter part of the eighteenth century. Corresponding developments beginning at various times can be MODERN INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 89 traced in communications — telegraph, telephone, radio, and tele- vision. It becomes evident that our Industrial Revolution of the last two hundred years is a development radically different from that of any preceding period of the earth's history, and compared with which all earlier developments are insignificant in magnitude. Each development has come, not as a thing of itself, but only as a part of the picture as a whole. Steam or water turbines could not effectively be utilized until electrical equipment had been de- veloped. This latter, in turn, had to wait until Faraday, Maxwell and others had discovered the fundamental principles of elec- tricity. Viewed with regard to the multiplicity of its details it would appear to be an endless and hopeless task for a single individual to obtain even approximately a comprehensive grasp of our modern industrial evolution. When one considers, however, that all of this equipment is composed almost entirely of a small number of the chemical elements — iron, copper, lead, zinc, etc., and that further- more, the manufacture and operation of the equipment requires energy in strict accordance with the laws of thermodynamics, the problem is evidently greatly simplified. In other words, if it be known at what rate the industrial system has required the basic materials such as iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, and if it be known at what rate it dissipates energy from the energy sources of coal, oil, gas, water power, and plants, all of the innumerable details are automatically included. TABLE 7 PRIME MOVERS 1698 Savery steam engine 1705 'Newcomen and Cawley, steam engine 1769 Watt, steam engine condenser 1782 Watt, double acting piston engine 1820 W. Cecil, gas engine, 60 r.p.m. 1823 Brown, gas vacuum engine 1849 Francis, water turbine (size 6 in. to 18 ft. diameter) 1876 Otto, cycle internal combustion engine 1882 Pearl Street, New York, generating station 1883 De Laval, steam turbine 90 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE 1884 Parsons, steam turbine 1895 Diesel, internal combustion engine 1903 First 5,000 kw. central station steam turbine, Chicago, 111. 1929 160,000 kw. turbines installed. Mercury turbine TRANSPORTATION — WATER 1785 First successful steamship, John Fitch 1819 First steam-driven ship crossed Atlantic 1837 Screw propeller introduced (Ericson) 1897 Turbine engine used in steamships TRANSPORTATION — LAND Railroads 1750 Cast iron rails, 4 to 5 ft. long, first useld (1767) 1800 Trevithick's steam locomotive (1804) George Stevenson built improved locomotive (1814) Wrought iron *-ails, 15 ft. long, first used (1820) First modern railroad, Stockton to Darlington, England (1825) First railroad in U. S., Honesdale to Carbondale, Penna. (1829) George Stevenson introduced the 'Rocket,' improved locomotive (1829) 1850 First transcontinental railroad system in U. S. (1869) First working electric railroad, Germany (1879) 1900 Electrification of steam railroads Diesel-electric locomotives Other Vehicles 1800 Steam wagons, Walter Hancock, England (1827-1836) 1850 Gottlieb Daimler high-speed gas engine, Germany (1884) Motorized bicycle (1885) Benz, three-wheeled gas carriage (1886) Geo. B. Seldon, patent on clutch and transmission system (1895) TRANSPORTATION — AIR 1783 Montgolfier, first balloon, using heated air 1852 Gilford, first successful spindle-shaped gas bags, driven by steam engines 1884 M. M. Renard and Keebs, gas bag driven by electric motors, led (by electric batteries 1896 Prof. Langley, moidel airplane, driven by steam. Flight of three-quar- ters mile. First time in history that an engine-driven, heavier- than-air machine accomplished a successful flight 1900 Count Zeppelin, rigid form airship; 399,000 cu. ft. gas; driven by two Daimler, benzine engines, 16 h.p. each. First means of passenger service in the air 1903 Orville and Wilbur Wright, glider fitted with a 16 h.p., four-cylinder motor. This machine made the first successful flight in which the machine carrying a man had ever risen of its own power from the ground MODERN INDUSTRIAL GROWTH 91 1908 Louis Bleriot, the Bleriot monoplane. This was the first successful monoplane. It was also the first machine to cross the English Channel 1910 Fabre, first practical hydroplane By the time of the World War it was recognized that aviation was strictly an engi- neering science. Since then some of the most remarkable advances in the field of engineering have been made in this branch. COMMUNICATION 1820 — — Oerstedt, made the discovery that an electric current flowing through a wire built up a magnetic field around the wire 1831 Faraday and Henry, discovered the converse of Oerstedt, /i.e., that a mag- netic field can be cut by a wire, and cause current to flow in the wire 1837 Morse invented telegraph system. This was the basis of most modern land systems 1876 Bell, telephone 1882 Dolbear developed wireless telegraph system, using electric static induc- tion 1885 Hertz, Hertz's oscillator; the real beginning of radio-telegraphy 1888 Lodge, developed a method of synchronizing two circuits, i.e., placing them in resonance 1896 Marconi developed a system, using the Hertzian oscillator, of radio- telegraphy for sending and receiving messages 1898 Braun developed the coupled circuit 1902 Poulsen and Fessenden, radio-telephone 1903 First trans-Atlantic wireless transmission 1907 DeForrest invented the three-element tube, permitting tubes to detect as well as amplify 1921 Broadcasting 1922 Freeman and Dimmel, A.C. tube, radio 1926 J. L. Baird, television TEXTILE INVENTIONS 1733 John Key, flying shuttle 1770 James Hargraves, spinning jenny 1775 Richard Arkwright, roller spinning frame, using water power 1779 Samuel Crompton, spinning 1785 Edward Carlwright, power looms, using Watt engine, first for spinning and then for weaving 1793 Eli Whitney, cotton gin No attempt has been made here to include the numerous inventions that have revolu- tionized the textile industry in the last century. The foregoing merely indicates the initial steps that were responsible for the Industrial Revolution. References : History of Mechanical Inventions, Usher. Behemoth, The Story of Power, Hodgins and Magoun. Lesson 12 INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES If one attempts to follow the industrial development that has taken place in the Western World since the year 1700 by attempting to take into account all of the separate inventions and technical developments that have occurred in the various fields of industry, he soon finds himself hopelessly involved. Order, however, readily emerges from this chaos when one considers that all of this industrial activity has been based in the main upon the use of a few relatively simple substances, chiefly, the few industrial metals — iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, etc. — as the essential materials for machinery, and the use of a few basic sources of energy, chiefly, the mineral fuels, coal, oil and natural gas, and, of lesser importance, water power. The most accurate quantitative picture of the rate and magnitude of our industrial growth, however, could be obtained by plotting growth curves of the production of these primary metals and of energy. In this lesson we are presenting, therefore, the growth curves of a number of our basic industries — the production of pig iron, coal, energy, railroads, and automobiles. These curves are plotted with the vertical dimension representing the quantity produced per annum, the horizontal dimension measured from left to right representing time in years.* Pig Iron. There are a number of highly instructive details to be observed about each of these curves. In the first case, they are not smooth, but are, instead, jagged or zig-zag. This is due to the * The data for these curves were obtained from the Mineral Resources of the U.S.A., U.S. Statistical Abstracts and Mineral Industry, Vol. 41. For 1933 figures the Survey of Current Business was used. These volumes con- tain the most authoritative figures that can be obtained. INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES 93 fact that the production fluctuated from one year to the next. This is particularly noticeable in the case of pig iron. In Figure 1 notice the drop in the production of pig iron dur- ing the depression of 1893 and 1894 and, after that depression, notice that the pig iron industry expanded for a number of years, and enjoyed uninterrupted prosperity. Then came the depression of 1908, which shows up as a severe shutdown in the pig iron industry. This shutdown lasted one year, followed by a still further expansion and growth culminating in the large peak of production from 1916 to 1918, showing the effect of large war orders for steel. Note next the depression of 1921. After this the pig iron in- dustry recovered somewhat, but did not expand as rapidly. The highest peak of production in pig iron was reached in 1929. This was followed immediately by the enormous drop due to the pres- ent depression. [1932-33.] 40 & Z o 3 * i -1 J 2 15 10 s 0 1 .— 1 n V < PI G 1 30 M f >RC >DU CT ON - U. 5. , DA TA FR OM Ml MEf AL INC >US FR > - V DL N o.4l A /I 1 ft /] (\ f H SM< )OT> 1 M EAN cu RVE >> [ 1 1 1 / 1 / J r ** -^ '•**$ 1 \ 1 I 1 1 1 1 1 1 \ Figure 1 94 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE What were the actual magnitudes of these depressions? If we measure the graph, we find that the drop in production from peak to trough in 1893 and 1894 was 27 percent ; in 1908 the cor- responding drop was 38 percent; in the depression of 1921, the shutdown in pig iron was 57 percent from the previous peak of production; the drop since 1929 has been 79 percent, [to 1933.] What does this mean? Simply this: That, "stated in terms of physical measurements, each depression since 1894 has been pro- gressively bigger than the previous. These up and down move- ments of the production curve are spoken of as swings or oscilla- tions. The biggest oscillations since 1893-94 coincide with the financial depressions. Each one of these depression oscillations has had an amplitude or depth of swing approximately 30 percent greater than the one preceding. If one examines the other curves, that of coal, for instance, or of automobiles, he finds a similar situation. The larger the production becomes the larger become 30 26 26 24 K 22 ffl 5" 3 .6 CE »" .e o i<4 10 D 10 8 e 4 2 TC )JA L EN ER 3Y U s. FR< )M Ml SJEF 220 O j£ 200 D kTA FRC >m : >TA1 1ST CA . A 3ST *AC T I 1.3. 10: 3 RA ILVj AY Ml LE *G : o PE *A" "ED / / * a 440 a/ iy i z u r 1 Zi w.eo < 11) 140 .J 2 120 too r / 2 S20z 240 2 200 p TC )N Mil .ES '0 F F tEV EN JE Ff x/i IGH T A i > r J / 160 120 80 40 eo 40 20 / / A 7^ / / 4T\* J YEAR « O O o o o o i x §> s s i o § Figure 3 Growth of Railroads. Figure 3 shows no oscillations because it represents the number of miles of railroad track in operation and this, of course, increases, but rarely decreases, from year to year. The oscillations of exactly the same kind as those exhibited by pig iron, however, are found in the second railroad graph, that of ton-miles of revenue freight hauled. (One ton-mile is equal to one ton hauled one mile. ) 96 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Point of Inflection. Another feature to be observed about each of these growth curves is that represented by the smooth dotted-line curve. This dotted-line curve has in each case been drawn to represent the mean rate of growth. Notice in each case the $-shape of this curve. In the beginning it starts up very gradu- ally, but each year the increase in production is greater than that for the year preceding and during this time-period the curve is concave upward. Finally, in each case there comes a time when the growth begins to slacken, and the curve becomes convex up- ward and begins to level off rapidly. The point at which this smooth mean curve changes from concave upward to convex up- ward is called the point of inflection. This point of inflection occurred in pig iron about the year 1905; in railroad trackage about 1885; in railroad freight haul- age about 1910 ; in automobile production about 1921, and in 'all energy' about 1912. Calculation shows that the state of growth before the point of inflection is reached has been a compound interest type of growth ; that is to say, that the production each year during that period was on the average a certain fixed percentage greater than that of the year before. In the case of coal and energy production this rate of increase was approximately 7 percent per annum during that same period. The same is true for pig iron. In other words, with the rate of growth that prevailed during that period the an- nual production was increased tenfold in 32% years. All of the graphs mentioned thus far have been those of basic industries, extending back approximately a hundred years or more. Since not infrequently our economic soothsayers assure us that as older industries reach their saturation, or decline, newer and bigger industries always rise to take their places, it becomes a matter of some especial importance to examine the rise in growth of one of these newer industries. Of such industries, automobiles are by far the most striking example. The auto- mobile industry practically began in the year 1900. Since that time it has risen into one of the greatest of our present industries, and has practically revolutionized our social life in the process. INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES 97 Production of Automobiles. In what manner did the pro- duction of automobiles grow? A glance at the growth of auto- mobile production in Figure 4 will indicate that the production of automobiles grew in a manner essentially similar to those older industries we have just discussed. In this curve, just as in those previous, there are zig-zag oscillations, by far the greatest being that since 1929. woo 5200 DA TA 1 fRO> A S rATi STIC AL ABS rRA CT u.; . I€ 33 k s 24 z o f\ \ Z £"00 D §4000 Z3C00 o *t2600 A ' 22 i Z 20 ~ •I JO 14 S a 12 10 T< )TA . / 0J1 OM OBI IF. PF OD UC ior ^ — *A // \ 1 TO- AL Al JTC MC BIL £ RE< ilS TRt m )N fl < V // i / \ §2400 5 °-2O00 MOO 1200 •00 400 / \ _i w \ A t 'V \ / \ t / 6 1 / ,^ // / 2 r=^ YEAR I 2 2 2 2 s • * e Figure 4 The production of automobiles reached an all-time peak in the year 1929, with an annual production of 5,600,000 automo- biles. From that time until 1932 production dropped to 1,400,000 cars per annum, a shutdown of 75 percent. A mean curve of this growth of automobile production shows a distinct levelling-off since the year 1923. The point of inflection of the mean growth curve occurs about the year 1921-22. The broken-line curve on 98 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the automobile chart represents the number of registered motor vehicles in the United States. It will be noted that this number in 1929 was something over 26,000,000. Also notice that this curve has been levelling off since 1926. Radio. Or, to select another new industry, radio is an excel- lent example. Unfortunately, reliable data are not available for plotting a growth curve of the number of radio sets. This much, however, we do know, that radio broadcasting began on a com- mercial scale about the year 1921. From that time it grew with amazing rapidity until by 1929 by far the greater number of people in this country had radio sets. Since that time the number of radio sets in operation appears, from such data as are available, to be increasing but slightly. Biological Growth Curves. From the study of the foregoing graphs of the growths of various of our basic industries the per- sistent #-shape of each of the growth curves examined is a striking and singular phenomenon, and merits further investigation. Dr. Raymond Pearl, in his book, Biology of Population Growth, has made an extensive study of types of growth, and has found that almost every growth phenomenon exhibits this same #-shape characteristic. One of his experiments consisted in plac- ing a pair of fruit flies in a bottle, and letting them multiply while he kept a record of the increase of the fly population on successive days. When plotted as a growth carve after the manner of the charts above, the curve of the growth of the fly population would be indistinguishable from our mean curve of coal or pig iron pro- duction. Bacteriologists have found that yeast cells or bacteria when placed in a test tube under conditions favorable for their multi- plication increase in numbers in a manner identical to that dis- cussed above. Dr. Pearl has found ample evidence that human populations obey the same laws of growth. Fallacy of Economists. It is a simple matter to see why in the initial stages organisms and new industries should, under INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES 99 favorable conditions, expand at approximately a compound inter- est type of growth. Since, until recently, most of the industrial development of this country has still remained in the compound interest stage, it has come to be naively expected by our business men and their apologists, the economists, that such a rate of growth was somehow inherent in the industrial processes. This naive assumption was embodied in the graphs and charts made by these gentlemen, in which 'normal' conditions were taken to be a steady industrial growth at the rate of 5 percent or more per annum. Such conditions being 'normal,' it was further assumed, without question, that such normal growth would continue in- definitely. We have already seen that the actual facts warrant no such assumption. The question remains, however, as to why these growth proc- esses have abandoned the original upward trend and tend to level off or reach a stage of saturation. The simplest case, perhaps, with which to answer this question would be that of the growth of fruit flies inside their bottle universe. Should the fruit flies continue to multiply at their initial compound interest rate, it can be shown by computation that in a relatively few weeks the number would be considerably greater than the capacity of the bottle. This being so, it is a very simple matter to see why there is a definite limit to the number of fruit flies that can live in the bottle. Once this number is reached, the death rate is equal to the birth rate, and population growth ceases. Very little thought and examination of the facts should suf- fice to convince one that in the case of the production of coal, pig iron, or automobiles, circumstances are not essentially different. Coal. As we have pointed out already, during the period from 1860 to 1910 coal production increased at the rate of 7 percent per annum. According to the report of the International Geologi- cal Congress in 1912, the coal reserves of the United States are about 3.8 million million tons (3.8 x 1012 tons). Had our rate of coal consumption continued to grow at 7 percent per annum, all the coal reserves of the United States would be exhausted by the year 2033, almost exactly 100 years hence. 100 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Theoretical Growth Curves. The exhaustion of coal or of any other mineral resource is, however, not something that happens sud- denly, but occurs very gradually instead, by a process which is some- what analogous to the dipping of water from a pail when one is allowed to take onlv one-tenth of what remains each time. wo 6*0 C( DAI PF toe uc TIC )N I J.S l\ i I COO 0/ JA FF 0>V u s. Ml NEF *AL R ES ou ICI :s. / fc •1 f f\A >- ^.480 A ' 1 i iMO *TH Ml :an cu RVE ■ o | ;*o © 3*20 i 280 -J I f t 2*o 200 •20 80 40 / 2 f 1 YEA* £ 1 i 1 1 1 1 i I i i Figure 5 To show the various types of growth a chart of four theoretical growth curves has been inserted. In Figure 6, Curve I represents pure compound interest at 5 percent per annum. It will be noticed that many physical types of growth approximate this curve in its lower parts, but ultimately, due to the fact that no physical quantity can increase indefinitely, all cases of physical growth must depart from this initial com- pound interest curve. The later stages in various types of physical growth are s^iown ip Curves II \ III and IY\ INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES 101 Curve II represents a type of growth which reaches a maxi- mum, and thereafter remains constant. A familiar illustration of this type of growth is represented by water power. Power pro- duced from waterfalls in a given area can increase until all the falls are harnessed. Thereafter, provided the installations are maintained, the production of such power remains constant. Curve III represents a type of growth which reaches a maxi- mum, then declines somewhat, and finally tends to level off at some intermediate level. In the United States the production of lumber follows such a curve as III. In the initial conditions virgin timber was slashed off, and the lumber industry grew until it reached a production peak. Then, as the forests diminished, the production of lumber tended to decline. The final levelling-off process will be reached when the production of lumber shall be >• z < 0 / Th EOI W \Cfl L TYf >ES 01 " G RON vrc I . / / ii / — . --- — — - — .... _-. £L. 1 / '* "v X f V \ PC INT OF INF LEC TIO \ — — - i \ s %x„ ^ 111 I \ \ / \ / \ / / s J / \ 4V / / \^ x^ •**-. — TIME Figure 6 102 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE maintained equal to the rate of growth of forests and reforestation. Curve TV is the type of growth curve characteristic of the exploitation of any non-recurrent material, such as all mineral resources. Coal, oil, and the metals all exist in minable deposits in definitely limited quantities. One of the simplest illustrations of a curve such as type TV is illustrated in the life history of a single oil pool. In an oil pool the production rises as more and more wells are drilled, until it reaches a peak. From that time on the production declines year by year, until finally it becomes so small that the pool is abandoned. In most American oil pools the greater part of this history takes place within 5 to 8 years after the discovery, though the pool may continue to be operated for the small remaining amount of oil for 10 or 15 years longer. In the case of mineral fuel, such as coal and oil, it is the energy content that is of importance in use. This energy is degraded in accordance with the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Thus, coal and oil can be used only once. The case of the metals is somewhat different. Iron, copper, tin, lead, zinc, etc., can be used over and over again, and are never in a physical sense destroyed. In the process of using metals, however, there is a continuous wastage through oxidation and other chemical reactions through the dis- carding of iron and tin in the form of tin cans, razor blades, etc. While this does not destroy the metal it disseminates it in such a manner as to render it unavailable for future use. Primary metals are derived from naturally occurring ore de- posits containing the metallic salts and other compounds in rela- tively high concentrations. Thus, there is a flow of metals from the limited deposits at high concentrations into industrial uses, and finally, by wastage and dissemination, back to earth again in widely scattered and hence unavailable forms. This process, like that of the degradation of energy, is unidirectional and irrever- sible. It follows, therefore, that the production of the rarer metals, such as are now most commonly used in industrial processes, must ultimately reach its peak and decline after the manner illustrated by Curve TV. It is not intended to convey by the above calculations the impression that the levelling-off of our present growth curves is INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES 103 due as yet in any large measure to exhaustion or scarcity of re- sources. The resource limitations are cited only as an illustration of one of the many things that must eventually aid in producing this result. Social and Industrial Results. The levelling-off of the pro- duction curves thus far has been due largely to a saturation in the ability to consume under our existing Price System limitations of the ability of the individual to purchase. There is a definite limit as to how much food an individual can consume in a given time; how many clothes he can wear out; and, in general, how much energy degradation he can account for. There is no question but that in many respects the people of the United States prior to 1929 were approaching some of these limits, and that accounts in some degree for the slowing down of the growth of production in many fields. There was an average at that time of one auto- mobile per family. This fact, together with the consequent con- gestion of traffic, was sufficient to depress the rate of growth of automobile production. Another important factor that is rarely taken into account in this connection is that, due to the change of rate in the operation of physical equipment, at the present time almost every new piece of machinery runs faster than the obsolete one which it displaces. There is a physical relationship in all physical equipment to the effect that for a given rate of output the faster machinery is made to operate, the smaller it needs to be. Compare, for example, the size of a 1 h.p. high-speed electric motor with a slow-acting gaso- line engine of the same power. This relationship is true, whether the equipment be individual machines, whether it be a whole fac- tory, or whether it be a whole industry. Since the production of consumable goods is levelling off, and the machinery is being con- tinuously speeded up, it follows that our industrial plants and equipment, instead of getting larger, may actually diminish in size. The implication of this fact with regard to the demand for such raw materials as iron, copper, etc., is far-reaching. In our pioneer days, and during the period of most rapid growth, rail- roads, telegraph and telephone systems, power systems, and fac- 104 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE tories, had to be built, each requiring its quota of primary metals. Now that these things have already been built, the materials for the construction of new equipment are largely obtained by junk- ing the equipment now obsolete. To appreciate the importance of this rise in the use of secondary metals, consider the fact that in the year 1933 the production of secondary copper was over 90 per- cent of that of the primary copper in the United States for that year. Summary In this lesson we have tried to show in quantitative terms what the leading facts of our industrial expansion have been. Man's learning to convert to his own uses the vast supply of energy contained in fossil fuels — coal and oil — has opened up a totally new and unparalleled phase of human history. It has been esti- mated that the effect of this upon the biological equilibrium of the human species has been such that the human population on the globe has approximately tripled since the year 1800. Areas like the British Isles, which, under a pre-technological state of the industrial arts, were able to support only from 5,000,000 to 8,000,000 people, now have populations of approximately 46,000,- 000, or a population density of 490 persons per square mile. It has been shown that this industrial growth has been char- acterized in the initial stages by a compound interest type of ex- pansion of about 7 percent per annum in the United States. It has also been shown that not only is it impossible to maintain for more than a few decades such a rate of expansion, but that in the United States that period of most rapid growth has passed, and that already more or less unconsciously we have entered well into the second period of growth, that of levelling off and maturation. Due to the physical limitations it seems at present that the days of great industrial expansion in America are over unless new and as yet untapped sources of energy become available. We have been told repeatedly that new industries have been and will con- tinue to be sufficient to maintain the industrial growth as older industries slacken. Consideration of the graph of total energy which represents the motive power of all industries, new and old, INDUSTRIAL GROWTH CURVES 105 indicates that, until the present, such has not been the case, and there are no prospects that it will be so in the future. Foreign trade has been frequently invoked as a means of maintaining our industrial growth. Invariably in such cases, how- ever, foreign trade has been discussed implicitly as a 'favorable balance of trade/ which implied that the amount exported will be in excess of the amount imported. Physically, a 'favorable balance of trade' consists in shipping out more goods than we re- ceive. Following this logic a 'perfect trade balance' should consist in a state of commerce wherein everything was shipped out and nothing received in return. Under our Price System, or monetary economy, an unbalanced foreign trade can only be maintained, as we are learning to our sorrow, for a comparatively short length of time. With a balance of trade there is no reason to expect any essential increase in the domestic production of this country by means of foreign markets for such a condition necessitates that approximately equal quan- tities of goods be obtained from abroad, and the net effect is zero. References : t/.S. Minerals Yearbook. World Minerals and World Politics, Leith. Man and Metals, Rickard. Mineral Raw Materials, Bureau of Mines Staff. Mineral Economics, Tryon and Eckel. Minerals in Modern Industry, Voskuil. Statistical Abstract of the U. S. Lesson 13 MINERAL RESOURCES In the United States in 1929, 55 percent of all revenue freight hauled by Class I railroads consisted of 'pro- ducts of the mines.' This classification included only min- eral products before manufacture. If the same products after manufacture had been included, the total would have been approximately 75 percent. Thus, modern high- energy civilizations, as contrasted with all previous ones of a low-energy character, may truly be called mineral civilizations. In all earlier civilizations the rate of energy con- sumption per capita per day has been low, the order at most of 2,000 or 3,000 kilogram-calories of extraneous energy. In the United States, in 1929, this figure had reached the unprecedented total of 153,000 kilogram- calories per capita per day. The significance of this can best be appreciated if we consider that this figure is re- sponsible for the railroads, the automobiles, the air- planes, the telephone, telegraph and radio, the electric light and power; in short, for everything that dis- tinguishes fundamentally our present state of civilization from all those of the past, and from those of such coun- tries as India and China at the present time. Stated con- versely, if we did not consume energy — coal, oil, gas and water power — at this or a similar rate, our present indus- trial civilization would not exist. Ours is a civilization of energy and metals. Inspection of the growth curves in Lesson 12 shows us something that is rather startling, namely, that most of this industrial growth in the United States has oc- curred since the year 1900. Stated in another way, if from those curves we compute the amount of coal or iron that has been produced and used since 1900, we would find this to be greatly in excess of all the coal and iron produced prior to that time. 106 MINERAL RESOURCES 107 Discovery of Minerals. It frequently is assumed by people interested in world social problems that such industrial growth as has taken place in North America and Western Europe is a mere accident of circumstances, and that it might equally well have occurred in India or China instead. A corollary to this as- sumption is that it is possible for these areas to develop high- energy industrial civilizations and that the only reason they have not done so thus far is due to the backwardness of the people. Since we have found that high-energy civilizations depend upon the existence of abundant resources — energy and industrial metals — it is a very simple matter to determine the validity of such assumptions by considering the world distribution of these essential minerals. Until 30 or 40 years ago, the knowledge of the world distri- bution of minerals was more or less in the category of the knowl- edge of the geographical distribution of land shortly after the dis- covery of the Americas. Maps of the known world in the sixteenth century showed certain land areas that were well known, such as parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia; other areas which were but partially known, such as the eastern boundary of the only partially explored New World; and other parts of the world which were totally blank, due to the fact that no knowledge of these parts whatsoever was available. In the mineral map of the world prior to 1900, there were still large blank places representing areas as yet unknown. Since that time these blank spaces have become almost nonexistent. Quietly and unheralded the prospector, followed by the geologist and the mining engineer, has penetrated to the utmost corners of the earth. It is a well known geological fact that certain mineral re- sources occur in large amounts only in certain geological environ- ments. Oil, for instance, occurs only in sedimentary rocks which have not been too greatly folded or otherwise disturbed since their original deposition. In igneous rocks or in pre-Cambrian basement complexes, such as the region between the Great Lakes and Hud- son Bay, or of the Scandinavian Peninsula, oil in large quantities cannot exist. 108 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Iron ores, likewise, as Leith pointed out, have shown a re- markable tendency to occur in these very pre-Cambrian terranes of the United States, Brazil, India, and South Africa, from which oil is absent. Other mineral resources have their own more prob- able environments. Since these various major types of areas are known, it follows that the geography of the future mineral dis- coveries for the entire world may now be fairly well predicted. Methods of Discovery. The intensity of prospecting and the number of people engaged in the search for new mineral deposits have in the last few decades increased tremendously. The old- fashioned prospector, with burro, pick, and hammer, has been re- placed by the modern highly trained geologist and mining engineer, travelling by automobile and by airplane. Areas are now mapped by aerial photography. Geophysical instruments are now avail- able which enable the oil geophysicist to discover salt-domes and oil pools that are completely hidden beneath the surface of the ground. He has seismographs that enable him to make maps of geological structures at depths of 5,000 feet, and more, beneath the surface of the ground. For the use of the mining engineer there are electrical instruments capable of detecting metallic minerals buried several hundred feet under earth. By means of these methods the mineral geography of the earth is at present rather well known. It is significant to note, as Leith has pointed out, that except for oil (and recently potash in the United States* ) , a major source of minerals has not been discovered in Europe since 1850, and in the United States since 1910. This seems to indicate that most of the discovering in these areas may have been done already. Coal. What is the mineral geography of the world as it is now known? Consider coal, which is probably the best known of the major mineral resources. It is interesting to note that the United States alone, accord- ing to the estimate of the International Geological Congress of 1913, possesses approximately 51 percent of the coal reserves of the entire world. Canada has about 16 percent of the world total. * Within the last few years there has been discovered in New Mexico and Texas what promises to be the world's largest supply of potash. MINERAL RESOURCES 109 Of the remaining 33 percent, Europe has approximately a third, or 10 percent of the world's total. Asia, Africa, South America, and Australia, all together, have only about 23 percent of the world's total coal reserves. Oil. In the case of oil, the United States in 1929 was produc- ing 69 percent of the world's total production. The proven oil reserves of the world in 1933 were, according to the estimate of Garfias, in a report read before the Society of Mining and Metallurgical Engineers, approximately 25 billion barrels. Of these, 48 percent, or 12 billion barrels, were in the United States. This estimate of reserves represents only the differ- ential between discovery and consumption of oil. Should discovery cease a reserve of 12 billion barrels would last the United States only about 12 years at the 1929 rate of consumption. Iron. The iron reserves of the world are localized chiefly in a few areas. In the United States most of the iron produced comes from the region around Lake Superior, and the Birmingham dis- trict in Alabama. Foreign iron ores, in greatest abundance, are to be found in such regions as England, Alsace-Lorraine, Spain, Sweden, and Russia. In South America the largest reserves are found in Brazil. Other large supplies are found in India, South Africa and Australia. The United States in 1929 produced slightly less than 48 percent of the world's total production of pig iron. Copper. Next to iron, the most important industrial metal is probably copper. In 1929 the total world production of copper was 2,100,000 short tons, of which the United States in that year produced 1,000,000 short tons, or slightly less than 50 percent. Of our major metallic resources, copper is probably the near- est to a forced decline resulting from a gradual exhaustion of high grade ores. Within the last few years large supplies of African copper have rapidly come into a prominent place in world pro- duction. It is quite possible that Africa may become the leading producer of copper in the future. From what has been said with regard to the production and reserves of coal, oil, iron, and copper, it becomes evident that the 110 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE United States is singularly well supplied with the world's essential industrial minerals. In fact, it would not be overstating the case to say that the United States has the lion's share of the world's mineral resources. She is by far the best supplied of all the na- tions of the world, and the North American Continent surpasses in a similar manner all the other continents. The Ferro-alloys. The United States, however, is largely de- void of certain highly essential industrial minerals, the group known as the ferro-alloys — manganese, chromite, nickel, and van- adium. While these minerals are required only in small quantities, they are essential for most alloy steels which are used in industrial processes, and but for them, modern high-speed machinery would be impossible. So essential are these alloys that in war time they have come to be known as 'key' minerals. It is interesting to note in passing that for the period from 1910 to 1914, Germany's importations of ferro-alloys were consid- erably in excess of her industrial requirements for that period. It is equally significant to note that at the present time the French importations are in excess of France's present industrial require- ments. Fortunately, Canada is the world's leading producer of nickel. Movement of Supplies. A review of the world mineral geo- graphy shows that by far the greater part of the world's industrial minerals are located in the land areas bordering the North At- lantic: Western Europe, United States, and Canada. Supplies of individual minerals occur in other parts of the world in quan- tities sufficient to be important in world production. Examples of this are to be found in the case of oil in Venezuela and Colombia, copper and nitrates in Chile, tungsten in China, tin in Bolivia and the Dutch East Indies, and iron ores in Brazil. It has long since become axiomatic in the iron and steel indus- try that iron ore moves to coal for smelting, and not the reverse. Iron ore, for instance, moves from the Great Lakes region to the blast furnaces of Gary, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh. In Europe, the iron ores of Sweden and of Spain move to the coal fields of England, France, and Germany. _ r A similar type of thing is true in the case of any essential industrial mineral when it occurs in a region devoid of sufficient other minerals to support a high-energy industrial system. Con- sider Colombia and Venezuela in the case of oil. Venezuela is third in the order of the oil producing countries of the world, and Co- lombia is sixth. Both countries have ample oil production to sup- port an automobile traffic comparable to that of any other area. If one, however, should visit Bogota, the capital of Colombia, he would find only a few automobiles, all owned by government offi- cials and the wealthier citizens. These can be driven around the town and for just a few miles out into the country, beyond which all automobile roads end. The cars have to be brought in by boat and by railroad. The country as a whole is almost totally devoid of automobiles, or of passable roads. Colombian oil, therefore, in- stead of supporting a domestic automobile traffic, flows to the industrialized areas of North America and Europe. In a similar manner tungsten moves from China to the United States and to Europe, tin moves from Bolivia and from the Malay Peninsula, vanadium moves from Peru, copper and nitrates from Chile, and copper from South Africa. Unequal Distribution of Resources. The significant thing about the world's mineral geography is that industrial minerals in quantities large enough to play significant roles in modern in- dustry are very unequally distributed about the face of the earth, and moreover, tend to occur in a comparatively small number of point sources. Most of the world's iron, as we have pointed out, is derived from only about half a dozen regions. Most of the world's oil comes from a similar number of localities. The world's potash comes chiefly from the Strassfurt deposits in Germany. Most of the world's nickel comes from two sources, the Sudbury district of Canada, and from New Caledonia. The social significance of this unequal distribution of the world's minerals is that industrial equality of the various areas of the earth's surface is a physical impossibility. So long as the world's industrial motive power necessary to maintain high-energy civilizations is derived chiefly from the 112 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE fossil fuels — coal and oil — the North American Continent and Western Europe will continue to dominate industrially the rest of the world. The social idealist's dream of a world state and world equality is based on an utter failure to consider the physical factors upon which the realization of such a dream depends. Unless some new and as yet untapped source of energy becomes available, the 475,- 000,000 of people in China will continue at approximately their present standard of living. The problem of maintaining an industrial civilization is a problem which is peculiar separately to each major industrial area. The laws of thermodynamics are universal; they are exactly the same in China, India, or Soviet Russia, as they are in the United States. The distribution of coal and oil in each of these areas, how- ever, is radically different. The North American Continent. Industrially, and from the point of view of resources, the North American Continent com- prises the most nearly self-sufficient high-energy industrial area on the earth's surface. When the tropical vegetation of Mexico, Central America, and the West Indies is combined with the tem- perate products of the United States and Canada, very little in the way of vegetable products need be obtained from the outside world. Likewise, when the mineral products of this area, chiefly the United States and Canada, be pooled for a common industrial operation, an almost complete mineral independence is achieved. Geographically and industrially, therefore, the North American Continent comprises a natural unit. References : World Minerals and World Politics, Leith. Mineral Economics, Tryon and Eckel. U. S. Minerals Yearbook. Mineral Raw Materials, U. S. Bureau of Mines Staff. Lesson 14 MORE ABOUT GROWTH CURVES IN the lessons preceding, we have seen that the in- dustrial growth of Western Europe and North America has, within the last 150 years, undergone a phase of development totally unlike that of any previous period in the world's history. Industrial growth, we have seen, has followed the now familiar $-shape curve, beginning with the period of most rapid growth, and gradually reaching maturity and levelling off. We have seen further that it was by no means acci- dental that this spectacular industrial growth should have occurred in Western Europe and North America rather than in Asia or South America, for the simple reason that large-scale industrial growth requires that there be readily available a suitable ensemble of mineral re- sources, principally coal and iron, together with the accessory minerals yielding copper, lead, zinc, and the ferro-alloys. This required assemblage of mineral re- sources in amounts essential to large-scale industrial growth has thus far been discovered only in the countries bordering the North Atlantic Ocean, and, according to present available evidence, is lacking in such amounts in other parts of the earth. A large class of phenomena grows according to this same #-shape growth curve — bacteria, yeast, biological populations of all kinds, including human beings, as well as all kinds of industry. The 'Decline' Curve. There is another type of 'growth' curve, however, that behaves in a manner quite different from these that we have discussed thus far. This is a type which decreases as those discussed above increase. Perhaps this latter should more cor- rectly be called a 'decline' curve instead of a 'growth' curve. We can speak of them as growth curves, however, provided we under- stand the word growth to mean a change of magnitude, whether smaller or larger. Thus, we can conceive of something growing smaller as well as larger. 113 114 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE As an example of this latter type of growth phenomenon, con- sider the amount of human time required to produce a single thing, for instance, to mine a ton of coal. This brings us face to face with the problem of how we shall measure the amount of human time required to do a particular thing. One of the measures of human time commonly employed is that of the 'man-day.' A man- day would represent one man working one day. Thus, five men working 3 days each would be employed for 15 man-days. The Man-Hour. The objection to the man-day as a unit of human employment rests upon the fact that different man-days are not ordinarily of the same length. There have been times, both in this country and in England, when men worked 16 hours per day. At that time a man-day would have been one man work- ing 16 hours. At the present time a man-day consists ordinarily of one man working 8 hours. Thus, a man-day with a man working 8 hours is only one-half as long as when the man works 16 hours. It is this inconstancy of the man-day that makes it unsuit- able as a measure of human employment. In order to accurately measure anything, one requires a unit of measurement which re- mains essentially the same. A far more suitable unit of measure- ment of human employment, therefore, is the man-hour. A man-hour of human employment represents one man work- ing one hour. Now consider how many man-hours of human employment it must have taken, say 100 years ago, to mine a ton of coal. By considering the methods of coal mining then in use, we can arrive at some estimate of what this must have been. At that time practically all the coal mining in the United States was done entirely by hand methods — digging with pick and shovel, and hoisting with a rope and pulley or windlass. Coal mining was in its infancy, and only the most shallow seams were worked. If it had been possible by these methods to work the deeper seams such as are now worked with power machinery in the Pennsyl- vania anthracite fields, as well as the bituminous fields of the Middle West, the number of man-hours required per ton would have been enormously greater. MORE ABOUT GROWTH CURVES 115 The best available data indicate that 100 years ago, one man could not mine on the average more than a ton of coal in one day of 12 hours ; in other words, it took 12 man-hours to mine one ton. In the industrial growth that followed, the coal mining indus- try, as we have already seen, increased enormously until by 1918 we produced 670 million tons of coal in one year. During all this period, slowly at first, and then more rapidly as the production grew in size, we improved our coal mining technique. First, steam pumps and power hoists were introduced; then blowing engines for the ventilation of the mines ; explosives were used for breaking the coal and rendering more easy its extraction. Later, coal- cutting machines and automatic loaders were introduced. More recently, large-scale strip mining methods have been employed where giant electric shovels of 30 and 40 tons per bucketful strip off the overlying rock to depths of 50 or 60 feet. These are fol- lowed by smaller shovels which scoop up the coal seam thus un- covered and dump it directly into waiting railroad cars. Figured on the basis of coal mined, the average rate of pro- duction of all the coal mined in the United States is approximately 6 tons per man per 8-hour day. Stated in terms of man-hours, this means that it now takes 8 man-hours on the average to mine 6 tons of coal, whereas, 100 years ago it required 12 man-hours to mine 1 ton of coal. Thus, the man-hours required per ton of coal mined have declined since 1830 from 12 to 1.33 man-hours per ton. If we had considered only the best modern practice, such as is represented in completely mechanized underground mines, or in the strip mines, a much greater drop would have been found. The strip mines average about 15 tons per man per 8 hours. This rep- resents approximately one-half man-hour per ton. If complete data were available to plot a graph of the number of man-hours required to mine 1 ton of coal from the year 1830 to the present, one would find that the number, instead of getting larger with time, grows continuously smaller. In order to reduce the number of man-hours required to mine 1 ton of coal below the figures that have been reached already, it is not even neces- sary to invent any new machinery. One needs only to install modern labor-saving equipment in those mines which have not been so equipped; and by so doing, it will be possible to reduce 116 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the number of man-hours required to mine a ton of coal much below the figure that we now have reached. In order to obtain an idea of the rate at which this mechani- zation of the coal mines is taking place, it is interesting to note that in the year 1923, 1,880,000 tons of bituminous coal were pro- duced by mechanized mines; by 1931, the bituminous coal pro- duced by mechanized mining had reached 47,562,000 tons, a growth of 25-fold in 8 years. This latter figure represents somewhat less than 10 percent of the total coal mined, so that there remains still to be mechanized approximately 90 percent of our bituminous coal mines. The process of mechanization in this field is continuing almost unabated right through the present depression. This will result in a continuous decline of the man-hours required to mine 1 ton of coal. A trend similar to that in coal mining has been taking place in every industrial field. The number of man-hours required to produce a bushel of wheat, a pair of shoes, a yard of cloth, a ton of iron, or to transport a ton-mile of freight, was greater 100 years ago than it has been any time since. A curve plotted in any one of these fields would show that the man-hours required to produce one unit of product have been, and still are, getting fewer. Mechanization of Industry. Technocracy has previously called attention to some of the more spectacular instances of recent mechanization of industry, such as the A. O. Smith Com- pany's plant in Milwaukee which produced, while running, 10,000 automobile chassis frames per day with a crew of 208 men, and similar instances. While it is true that industry as a whole has not attained the level reached in its own best practices, the trend in every field is in that direction. Every time a new plant is built, or a new piece of equipment designed that replaces older equipment which has become obsolete, this new equipment runs faster and requires fewer man-hours of human attention per unit of production than its predecessor. Another example of such a decline curve which has already been mentioned briefly in a previous lesson is that of the size of the equipment required for a given rate of production. The faster equipment is made to operate, the smaller it will be in proportion MORE ABOUT GROWTH CURVES 117 to its output. A similar relation holds good in office floor space. With the old-fashioned method of having bookkeepers work over hand-written ledgers, a much greater amount of office floor space was required to keep the books of a given volume of business than is now required with modern high-speed bookkeeping machinery. That this process is going on unabated is shown by computa- tions made from the Federal Reserve Board indices of production and employment in the manufacturing industries. Computation from these indices based on some 69,000 industrial establishments shows that the productivity per man-hour during the period from 1920 until June 1933, almost exactly doubled. One-half of this increase occurred since 1930. In other words, mechanization pro- ceeds more rapidly during depressions than otherwise. On the whole, mechanization of industry in this country, far from being near completion, has just begun. We are now in the transition from the period characterized by the hand-operated machine into that characterized by the almost completely auto- matic technological mechanism. Instances such as the A. O. Smith plant and the Owens bottle machine are but forerunners of the general industrial development of the near future. Decline of Man-Hours. Figure 7 represents schematically these two types of growth curves over the same time-period but plotted to different scales vertically. The curve of production used here is essentially that of the growth of total energy. The declin- ing curve is a composite curve based upon such fragmentary data as are available. The man-hours per unit in the early stages de- clined but slowly, and then more and more rapidly as industry expanded and became more mechanized. A third curve is also shown which is derived by computation from the first two. It is a matter of simple arithmetic to com- pute the number of man-hours required to produce a given num- ber of units if we know the number of man-hours required to produce one unit. Thus, the total man-hours of employment in productive industry for any given time is equal to the product of the number of units produced in that time, multiplied by the aver- age number of man-hours required to produce one unit. Curve HI was obtained by multiplying at successive times 118 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the production by the man-hours per unit. Assuming that Curves I and // are a correct picture, then Curve HI would represent the industrial employment for this period in total man-hours. In the early stages of industrial growth, the man-hours per unit were decreasing but slowly, consequently employment grew at approximately the same rate as industrial production. Then during the period of most rapid industrial growth, the increased use of labor-saving machinery with the consequent decline in the number of man-hours per unit produced tended to retard the rate of growth of industrial employment. During this period, new jobs were still being created due to the expansion of industry, faster than the old ones were being eliminated due to its mechani- zation. Finally, as industrial production began to level off with no corresponding slackening in the increase of mechanization, there came a time when jobs were eliminated by labor-saving machinery faster than they were created by expansion of old, or the creation of new industries. (5 Z O «- u a io f 5 (/) • « 4 2 D O Z z U O w ^-1 IOU RS PER UK IT i 2 PROI XJCT ION \ PHY SIC/ L P ROD JCT ION 5. h a ( :ur\ E - No.2 Q (CUF VE Nb'i 1^ z u m^m ««< m^' -£ — •^ | 2 -> •>. X- a 5 > \ \ V _i CC tf / V V cr II JDU »TR! 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V f •• ••••f -»•• innnn ... . i j i j. ..... .nj • — r -r --y— -*• -i ! n nn fii, Figure 8 226 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Due to the fact that no Functional Sequence is independent of other Functional Sequences, there is a considerable amount of arbitrariness in the location of the boundaries between adjacent Functional Sequences. Consequently it is not possible to state a priori exactly what the number of Functional Sequences will be, because this number is itself arbitrary. It is possible to make each Sequence large, with a consequent decrease in the number re- quired to embrace the whole social mechanism. On the other hand, if the Sequences are divided into smaller units, the number will be correspondingly greater. It appears likely that the total num- ber actually used will lie somewhere between 50 and 100. In an earlier layout the social mechanism was blocked into about 90 Functional Sequences, though future revision will probably change this number somewhat, plus or minus. The schematic relationship showing how these various Func- tional Sequences pyramid to a head and are there coordinated is illustrated in Figure 8. At the bottom of the chart on either side are shown schematically several Functional Sequences. In the lower left-hand corner there are shown five of the Industrial Se- quences, and in the lower right-hand corner are five of the Service Sequences. In neither of these groups does the size of the chart allow all of the Functional Sequences to be shown. On a larger chart the additional Functional Sequences would be shown later- ally in the same manner as those shown here. Likewise each of the Functional Sequences would spread downward with its own internal organization chart, but that is an elaboration which does not concern us here. Special Sequences. There are five other Sequences in this organization which are not in the class with the ordinary Func- tional Sequences that we have described. Among these is the Continental Research. The staffs described heretofore are pri- marily operating and maintenance staffs, whose jobs are primarily the maintaining of operation in the currently approved manner. In every separate Sequence, however, Service Sequences as well as Industrial Sequences, it is necessary, in order that stagnation may not develop, to maintain an alert and active research for the development of new processes, equipment, and products. Also TECHNOCRACY: THE DESIGN 227 there must be continuous research in the fundamental sciences — physics, chemistry, geology, biology, etc. There must likewise be continuous analysis of data and resources pertaining to the Con- tinent as a whole, both for the purposes of coordinating current activity, and of determining long-time policies as regards probable growth curves in conjunction with resource limitation and the like. The requirements of this job render it necessary that all re- search in whatever field be under the jurisdiction of a single research body so that all research data are at all times available to all research investigators wishing to use them. This special relationship is shown graphically in the organization chart. The chief executive of this body, the Director of Kesearch, is at the same time a member of the Continental Control, and also a mem- ber of the staff of the Continental Director. On the other hand, branches of the Continental Research par- allel laterally every Functional Sequence in the social mechanism. These bodies have the unique privilege of determining when and where any innovation in current methods shall be used. They have also the authority to cut in on any operating flow line for experimental purposes when necessary. In case new developments originate in the operating division, they still have to receive the approval of the Continental Research before they can be installed. In any Sequence a man with research capabilities may at any time be transferred from the operating staff to the research staff and vice versa. Another all-pervading Sequence which is related to the remain- der of the organization in a manner similar to that of Research is the Sequence of Social Relations. The nearest present counterpart is that of the judiciary. That is, its chief duty is looking after the 'law and order/ or seeing to it that everything as regards indi- vidual human relationships functions smoothly. While the function of Social Relations is quite similar to that of the present judiciary, its methods are entirely different. None of the outworn devices of the present legal profession, such as the sparring between scheming lawyers, or the conventional passing of judgment by 'twelve good men and true' would be allowed. Questions to be settled by this body would be investigated by the 228 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE most impersonal and scientific methods available. As will be seen later, most of the activities engaging the present legal profession, namely litigation over property rights, will already have been eliminated. Another of these special Sequences is the Armed Forces. The Armed Forces, as the name implies, embraces the ordinary mili- tary land, water, and air forces, but most important of all, it also includes the entire internal police force of the Continent, the Con- tinental Constabulary. This latter organization has no precedent at the present time. At present the internal police force consists of the familiar hodge-podge of local municipal police, county sheriffs, state troopers, and various denominations of federal agents, most of the former being controlled by local political ma- chines and racketeers. This Continental Constabulary, by way of contrast, is a single, disciplined organization under one single jurisdiction. Every member of the Constabulary is subject to transfer from any part of the country to any other part on short notice. While the Continental Constabulary is under the discipline of the Armed Forces, it receives its instructions and authorization for specific action from the Social Relations and Area Control. This Sequence — the Area Control — is the coordinating body for the various Functional Sequences and social units operating in any one geographical area of one or more Regional Divisions. It operates directly under the Continental Control. The Foreign Relations occupies a similar position, except that its concern is entirely with international relations. All matters pertaining to the relation of the North American Continent with the rest of the world are its domain. The personnel of all Functional Sequences will pyramid on the basis of ability to the head of each department within the Sequence, and the resultant general staff of each Sequence will be a part of the Continental Control. A government of function ! The Continental Control. The Continental Director, as the name implies, is the chief executive of the entire social mechanism. On his immediate staff are the Directors of the Armed Forces, the TECHNOCRACY: THE DESIGN 229 Foreign Relations, the Continental Research, the Social Relations, and Area Control. Next downward in the sequence comes the Continental Con- trol, composed of the Directors of the Armed Forces, Foreign Re- lations, Continental Research, Social Relations, and Area Con- trol, and also of each of the Functional Sequences. This super- structure has the last word in any matters pertaining to the social system of the North American Continent. It not only makes whatever decisions pertaining to the whole social mechanism that have to be made, but it also has to execute them, each Director in his own Sequence. This latter necessity, by way of contrast with present political legislative bodies, offers a serious curb upon foolish decisions. So far nothing has been said specifically as to how vacancies are filled in each of these positions. It was intimated earlier that within the ranks of the various Functional Sequences jobs would be filled or vacated by appointment from above. This still holds true for the position of Sequence Director. A vacancy in the post of Sequence Director must be filled by a member of the Sequence in which the vacancy occurs. The candidates to fill such position are nominated by the officers of the Sequence next in rank below the Sequence Director. The vacancy is filled by appointment by the Continental Control from among the men nominated. The only exception to this procedure of appointment from above occurs in the case of the Continental Director due to the fact that there is no one higher. The Continental Director is chosen from among the members of the Continental Control by the Continental Control. Due to the fact that this Control is composed of only some 100 or so members, all of whom know each other well, there is no one better fitted to make this choice than they. The tenure of office of every individual continues until retire- ment or death, unless ended by transfer to another position. The Continental Director is subject to recall on the basis of preferred charges by a two-thirds decision of the Continental Control. Aside from this, he continues in office until the normal age of retirement. Similarly in matters of general policy he is the chief executive in fact as well as in title. His decisions can be vetoed only by two- thirds majority of the Continental Control. 230 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE It will be noted that the above is the design of a strong or- ganization with complete authority to act. All philosophic con- cepts of human equality, democracy, and political economy have upon examination been found totally lacking and unable to con- tribute any factors of design for a Continental technological con- trol. The purpose of the organization is to operate the social mechanism of the North American Continent. It is designed along the lines that are incorporated into all functional organizations that exist at the present time. Its membership comprises the entire population of the North American Continent. Its physical assets with which to operate consist of all the resources and equipment of the same Area. Regional Divisions. It will be recognized that such an organ- ization as we have outlined is not only functional in its vertical alignment, but is geographical in its extent. Some one or more of the Functional Sequences operates in every part of the Contin- ent. This brings us to the matter of blocking off the Continent into administrative areas. For this purpose various methods of geographical division are available. One would be to take the map of North America and amuse oneself by drawing irregularly shaped areas of all shapes and sizes, and then giving these names. The result would be equivalent to our present political subdivisions into nations, states or provinces, counties, townships, precincts, school districts, and the like — a completely unintelligible hodge- podge. A second method, somewhat more rational than the first, Avould be to subdivide the Continent on the basis of natural geo- graphical boundaries such as rivers, mountain ranges, etc., or else to use industrial boundaries such as mining regions, agricultural regions, etc. Both of these methods are objectionable because of the irregularity of the boundaries that would result, and also be- cause there are no clean-cut natural or industrial boundaries in existence. The end-product, again, would be confusion. A third choice remains, that of adopting some completely arbitrary rational system of subdivisions such that all boundaries can be defined in a few words and that every subdivision can be designated by a number for purposes of simplicity of administra- TECHNOCRACY : THE DESIGN 231 tion and of record keeping. For this purpose no better system than our scientific system of universal latitude and longitude has ever been devised. Any point on the face of the earth can be ac- curately and unambiguously defined by two simple numbers, the latitude and longitude. Just as simply, areas can be blocked off by consecutive parallels of latitude and consecutive meridians. It is the latter system of subdividing the Continent on the basis of latitude and longitude that we shall adopt. By this system we shall define a Regional Division to be a quadrangle bounded by two successive degrees of longitude and two successive degrees of latitude. The number assigned to each Regional Division will be that of the combined longitude and lati- tude of the point at the southeast corner of the quadrangle. Thus the Regional Division in which New York City is located is 7340 ; Cleveland, 8141; St. Louis, 9038; Chicago, 8741; Los Angeles, 11834; Mexico City, 9919; Edmonton, 11353, etc. In this manner all the present political boundaries are dis- pensed with. The whole area is blocked off into a completely rational and simple system of Regional Divisions the number for each of which not only designates it but also locates it. It is these Regional Divisions that form the connecting link between the present provisional organization of Technocracy and the proposed operating one depicted in the foregoing chart. In the process of starting an organization the membership of a par- ticular unit is much more likely to be united by geographic prox- imity than as members of any particular functional sequence. Accordingly, the provisional organization is of necessity, in the formative period, built and administered on a straight-line basis where the individual administrative units are blocked off according to the Regional Divisions in which they happen to occur. As the Organization evolves, the transition over into the functional form that we have outlined occurs spontaneously. Already the activities of the organization embrace education, publication, and public speaking, as well as research. As time goes on not only will these activities expand but other functions will be added. As fast as the membership in the Functional Sequences will allow, Sequences of Public Health, Transportation, Communication, etc., will be instituted. Even in this formative period a network of amateur 232 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE short-wave radio stations between the various Regional Divisions is being built. None of these occurs overnight, but as the organi- zation evolves there will be an orderly transition over to adminis- tration along the functional lines as indicated. Requirements. Now that we have sketched in outline the essential features of the social organization, there remains the problem of distribution of goods and services. Production will be maintained with a minimum of oscillation, or at a high load factor. The last stage in any industrial flow line is use or consumption. If in any industrial flow line an obstruction is allowed to develop at one point, it will slow down, and, if uncorrected, eventually shut down that entire flow line. This is no less true of the con- sumption stage than of any other stage. Present industrial shut down, for instance, has resulted entirely from a blocking of the flow line at the consumption end. If the production is to be non- oscillatory and maintained at a high level so as to provide a high standard of living, it follows that consumption must be kept equal to production, and that a system of distribution must be designed which will allow this. This system of distribution must do the following things : (1) Register on a continuous 24 hour-per-day basis the total net conversion of energy, which would determine (a) the availability of energy for Continental plant con- struction and maintainance, (b) the amount of physical wealth available in the form of consumable goods and services for consumption by the total population during the balanced- load period. (2) By means of the registration of energy converted and consumed, make possible a balanced load. ( 3 ) Provide a continuous inventory of all production and consumption. (4) Provide a specific registration of the type, kind, etc., of all goods and services, where produced, and where used. (5) Provide specific registration of the consumption of each individual, plus a record and description of the individ- ual. TECHNOCRACY: TEE DESIGN 233 ( 6 ) Allow the citizen the widest latitude of choice in con- suming his individual share of Continental physical wealth. (7) Distribute goods and services to every member of the population. On the basis of these requirements, it is interesting to consider money as a possible medium of distribution. But before doing this, let us bear in mind precisely what the properties of money are. In the first place, money relationships are all based upon 'value,' which in turn is a function of scarcity. Hence, as we have pointed out previously, money is not a 'measure' of anything. Secondly, money is a debt claim against society and is valid in the hands of any bearer. In other words, it is negotiable; it can be traded, stolen, given, or gambled away. Thirdly, money can be saved. Fourthly, money circulates, and is not destroyed or cancelled out upon being spent. On each of these counts money fails to meet our requirements as our medium of distribution. Suppose, for instance, that we attempted to distribute by means of money the goods and services produced. Suppose that it were decided that 200 billion dollars worth of goods and services were to be produced in a given year, and suppose further that 200 billion dollars were distributed to the population during that time with which to purchase these goods and services. Immediately the foregoing properties of money would create trouble. Due to the fact that money is not a physical measure of goods and services, there is no assurance that prices would not change during the year, and that 200 billion dollars at the end of the year would be adequate to purchase the goods and services it was supposed to purchase. Due to the fact that money can be saved, there is no assurance that the 200 billion dollars issued for use in a given year would be used in that year, and if it were not used this would immediately begin to curtail production and to start oscillations. Due to the fact that money is negotiable, and that certain human beings, by hook or crook, have a facility for getting it away from other human beings, this would defeat the requirement that dis- tribution must reach all human beings. A further consequence of the negotiability of money is that it can be used very effectively for purposes of bribery. Hence the most successful accumulators 234 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE of money would be able eventually not only to disrupt the flow line, but also to buy a controlling interest in the social mechanism it- self, which brings us right back to where we started from. Due to the fact that money is a species of debt, and hence cumulative, the amount would have to be continuously increased, which, in con- junction with its property of being negotiable, would lead inevit- ably to concentration of control in a few hands, and to general disruption of the distribution system which was supposed to be maintained. Thus, money in any form whatsoever is completely inadequate as a medium of distribution in an economy of abundance. Any social system employing commodity evaluation (commodity valua- tions are the basis of all money) is a Price System. Hence it is not possible to maintain an adequate distribution system in an economy of abundance with a Price System control. The Mechanism of Distribution. We have already enumer- ated the operating characteristics that a satisfactory mechanism of distribution must possess, and we have found that a monetary mechanism fails signally on every count. A mechanism possessing the properties we have enumerated, however, is to be found in the physical cost of production — the energy degraded in the produc- tion of goods and services. In earlier lessons we discussed in some detail the properties of energy, together with the thermodynamic laws in accordance with which energy transformations take place. We found that for every movement of matter on the face of the earth a unidirec- tional degradation of energy takes place, and that it was this energy -loss incurred in the production of goods and services that, in the last analysis, constitutes physical cost of production. This energy, as we have seen, can be stated in invariable units of measurements — units of work such as the erg or the kilowatt-hour, or units of heat such as the kilogram-calorie or the British thermal unit. It is therefore possible to measure with a high degree of precision the energy cost of any given industrial process, or for that matter the energy cost of operating a human being. This energy cost is not only a common denominator of all goods and TECHNOCRACY : THE DESIGN 235 services, but a physical measure as well, and it has no value con- notations whatsoever. The energy cost of producing a given item can be changed only by changing the process. Thus, the energy cost of propelling a Ford car a distance of 15 miles is approximately the energy con- tained in 1 gallon of gasoline. If the motor is in excellent condi- tion somewhat less than a gallon of gasoline will suffice, hence the energy cost is lower. On the other hand, if the valves become worn and the pistons become loose, somewhat more than a gallon of gasoline may be required and the energy cost increases. A gallon of gasoline of the same grade always contains the same amount of energy. In an exactly similar manner energy derived from coal or water power is required to drive factories, hence the energy cost of the product would be the total amount of energy consumed in a given time divided by the total number of products produced in that time. Energy, likewise, is required to operate the railroads, telephones, telegraphs, and radio. It is required to drive agricul- tural machinery and to produce the food that we consume. Every- thing that moves does so only with a corresponding transformation of energy. Now suppose that the Continental Control, after taking into due account the amount of equipment on hand, the amount of new construction of roads, plant, etc., required for the needs of the population, and the availability of energy resources, decides that for the next two years the social mechanism can afford to expend a certain maximum amount of energy (equivalent to that con- tained in a given number of millions of tons of coal ) . This energy can be allocated according to the uses to which it is to be put. The amount required for new plant, including roads, houses, hospitals, schools, etc., and for local transportation and communication will be deducted from the total as a sort of overhead and not chargeable to individuals. After all of these deductions are made, including that required for the education and care of children and the main- tenance of hospitals and public institutions generally, the re- mainder will be devoted to the production of goods and services to be consumed by the adult public-at-large. Suppose, next, that a system of record-keeping be instituted 236 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE whereby a consuming power be granted to this adult public-at- large in an amount exactly equal to this net remainder of energy available for the producing of goods and services to be consumed by this group. This equality can only be accomplished by stating the consuming power itself in denominations of energy. Thus, if there be available the means of producing goods and services at an expenditure of 100,000 kilogram-calories per each person per day, each person would be granted an income, or consuming power, at a rate of 100,000 kilogram-calories per day. Income. Further details must be added to satisfy the require- ments we have laid down. First, let us remember that this income is usable for the obtaining of consumers' goods and services, and not for the purchase of articles of value. That being the case, there is a fairly definite limit to how many goods and services a single individual can consume, bearing in mind the fact that he lives only 24 hours a day, one-third of which he sleeps, and a consider- able part of the remainder of which he works, loafs, plays, or indulges in other pursuits many of which do not involve a great physical consumption of goods. Let us recall that every individual in the society must be sup- plied, young and old alike. Since it is possible to set arbitrarily the rate of production at a quite high figure, it is entirely likely that the average potential consuming power per adult can be set higher than the average adult's rate of physical consumption. Since this is so, there is no point in introducing a differentiation in adult incomes in a manner characteristic of economies of scar- city. From the point of view of simplicity of record-keeping, more- over, enormous simplification can be effected by making all adult incomes, male and female alike, equal. Thus, all adults above the age of 25 years would receive a large income, quite probably larger than they would find it convenient to spend. This income would continue without interruption until the death of the recipient. The working period, however, after the period of transition would probably not need to exceed the 20 years from the age of 25 to 45, on the part of each individual. Still further properties that must be incorporated into this energy income received by individuals are that it must be non- TECHNOCRACY: THE DESIGN 387 negotiable and non-saveable. That is, it must be valid only in the hands of the person to whom issued and in no circumstances trans- ferable to any other individual. Likewise, since it is issued on the basis of a budget expenditure covering two years, it must only be valid for that two-year period, and null and void thereafter. Other- wise it would be saved in part, and serve to completely upset the balance in the operating load in future periods. On the other hand, there is no need for saving, because an income and social security are already guaranteed independently to each individual until death. The reason for taking two years as the balanced-load period of operation of the social mechanism is a technological one. The complete industrial cycle for the whole North American Continent, including the growing period of tropical plants, such as Cuban sugar cane, is somewhat more than one year. Hence a two-year period is taken as the next integral number of years to this industrial cycle. All operating plans and budgets would thus be made on a two-year basis, and at the end of that time the books would be balanced and closed for that period. No debts would be possible, and the current habit of mortgaging the future to pay for present activities would be completely eliminated. If, as is quite likely, the public find it inconvenient to con- sume all their allotted energy for that time-period, the unspent portion of their allotment will merely be cancelled at the end of the period. The saving will be effected by society rather than by the individual, and the energy thus saved, or the goods and services not consumed, will be carried over into the next balanced-load period. This will not, as will be amplified later, throw the pro- ductive system into oscillation, because production will always be geared to the rate of consumption, and not to the total energy allotment. In other words, if for a given balanced-load period the total energy allotment be equivalent to that contained in, say four billion tons of coal, this merely means that we are prepared if need be to burn four billion tons of coal, and distribute the resultant goods and services during that time-period. This merely sets a maximum beyond which consumption for that time-period will not be allowed to go. If the public, however, finds it inconvenient to consume that amount of goods and services, and actually con- 238 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE siimes only an amount requiring three billion tons of coal to pro- duce, production will be curtailed by that amount, and the extra billion tons of coal will not be used, but will remain in the ground until needed. Energy Certificates. There are a large number of different bookkeeping devices whereby the distribution to, and records of rate of consumption of the entire population can be kept. Under a technological administration of abundance there is only one efficient method — that employing a system of Energy Certificates. By this system all books and records pertaining to consump- tion are kept by the Distribution Sequence of the social mechan- ism. The income is granted to the public in the form of Energy Certificates. These certificates are merely pieces of paper containing cer- tain printed matter. They are issued individually to every adult of the entire population. The certificates issued to an individual may be thought of as possessing some of the properties both of a bank check and of a traveller's check. They would resemble a bank check in that they carry no face denomination. They receive their denomination only when being spent. They resemble a traveller's check in that they possess some means of ready identi- fication, such as counter-signature, photograph, or some similar device, so as to establish easy identification by the person to whom issued, and at the same time remain absolutely useless in the hands of anyone else. The record of one's income and its rate of expenditure is kept by the Distribution Sequence, so that it is a simple matter at any time for the Distribution Sequence to ascertain the state of a given customer's balance. This is somewhat analogous to a combination bank and department store wherein all the customers of the store also keep bank accounts at the store bank. In such a case the customer's credit at the department store is as good as his bank account, and the state of this account is available to the store at all times. Besides the properties enumerated above, our Energy Certifi- cates also contain the following additional information about the person to whom issued : TECHNOCRACY : THE DESIGN 239 The background color of the certificate records whether he has not yet begun his period of service, is now performing service, or is retired, a different color being used for each of these categories. A diagonal stripe in one direction records that the purchaser is of the male sex; a corresponding diagonal in the other direction signifies the female sex. In the background across the face of the certificate is printed or water-marked the two-year balanced-load period, say 1936-37, during which the particular certificate is valid. Also printed on the certificate are additional data about the re- cipient, including the geographical area in which he resides, and a catalogue number, signifying the specific Functional Sequence and job at which he works. When making purchases of either goods or services an indi- vidual surrenders the Energy Certificates properly identified and signed. These surrendered certificates are then perforated with catalogue numbers of the specific item and amount purchased, and also its energy cost. These cancelled certificates then clear through the record-keeping apparatus of the Distribution Sequence. The significance of this, from the point of view of knowledge of what is going on in the social system, and of social control, can best be appreciated when one surveys the whole system in per- spective. First, one single organization is manning and operating the whole social mechanism. This same organization not only produces but distributes all goods and services. Hence a uniform system of record-keeping exists for the entire social operation, and all records of production and distribution clear to one central headquarters. Tabulation of the information contained on the cancelled Energy Certificates day by day provides a complete record of distribution, or of the public rate of consumption by com- modity, by sex, by Regional Division, by occupation, and by age group. With this information clearing continuously to a central headquarters we have a case exactly analogous to the control panel of a power plant, or the bridge of an ocean liner, or the meter panel of a modern airplane. In the case of a steam plant the meter panel records continuously the steam pressure of the boilers, the fuel record, the voltage and kilowatt output of the generators, and all other similar pertinent data. In the case of operating an 240 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE entire social mechanism the data required are more voluminous in detail, but not otherwise essentially different from that pro- vided by the instrument panel in the steam plant. The clearing of the Energy Certificates, tabulated in all the various ways we have indicated, gives precise information at all times on the state of consumption of every kind of commodity or service in all parts of the country. In addition to this there is also corresponding information on stocks of materials and rates of operation in every stage of every industrial flow line. There is, likewise, a complete record on all hospitals, on the educational system, amusements, and others on the more purely social services. This information makes it possible to know exactly what to do at all times in order to maintain the operation of the social me- chanism at the highest possible load factor and efficiency. A Technocracy. The end-products attained by a high-energy social mechanism on the North American Continent will be: (a) A high physical standard of living, (b) a high standard of public health, (c) a minimum of unnecessary labor, ( d ) a minimum of wastage of nonreplaceable resources, (e) an educational system to train the entire younger gen- eration indiscriminately as regards all considerations other than inherent ability — a Continental system of human condi- tioning. The achievement of these ends will result from a centralized control with a social organization built along functional lines, similar to that of the operating force of any large functional unit of the present such as the telephone system or the power system. Non-oscillatory operation at high load factor demands not only functional organization of society but a mechanism of dis- tribution that will : (a) Insure a continuous distribution of goods and serv- ices to every member of the population ; ( b ) enable all goods and services to be measured in a common physical denomina- tor; ( c ) allow the standard of living for the whole of society to TECHNOCRACY: THE DESIGN 241 be arbitrarily set as an independent variable, and ( d ) insure continuous balance between production and consumption. Such a mechanism is to be found in the physical cost of pro- duction, namely, the energy degradation in the production of goods and services. Incomes can be granted in denominations of energy in such a manner that they cannot be lost, saved, stolen or given away. All adult incomes are to be made equal, though probably larger than the average ability to consume. Such an organization has no precedence in any of the political forms. It is neither a democracy, an aristocracy, a plutocracy, a dictatorship, nor any of the other familiar political forms, all of which are completely inadequate and incompetent to handle the job. It is, instead, a Technocracy, being built along the tech- nological lines of the job in hand. For further discussion of distribution refer to the official pamphlet, The Energy Certificate. Lesson 22 INDUSTRIAL DESIGN AND OPERATING CHARACTERISTICS It appears to be little realized by those who prate about human liberty that social freedom of action is to a much greater extent determined by the industrial system in which the individual finds himself than by all the legal- istic restrictions combined. The freedom of action of a pioneer was determined principally by his available mode of travel which was chiefly afoot, by rowboat, horseback, or by animal-drawn vehicles. His freedom of communica- tion was similarly circumscribed. His activities in gen- eral were accordingly restricted to a relatively small area and to a moderately narrow variety. These restrictions were technological rather than legal. The pioneer could travel only a limited number of miles per day, not because there was a law against travelling more than that, but because the technological factors under which he oper- ated did not allow it. It is seldom appreciated to what extent these same technological factors determine the activities of human beings at the present time. In New York City, for ex- ample, thousands of people cross the Hudson River daily at 125th Street, and almost no one crosses the river at 116th Street. There is no law requiring the individual to cross the river at 125th Street and forbidding him to cross it at 116th Street. It merely happens that there is a ferry at the former place which operates continuously, and none at the latter. It is possible to get across the river at 116th Street, but under the existing technological con- trols the great majority of the members of the human species find the passageway at 125th Street the more con- venient. This gives us a clue to the most fundamental social control technique that exists. No other single item exerts more than a small percentage of the influence exerted by the immediate physical environment upon the activities 242 DESIGN AND OPERATION 243 of human beings. Leave the physical environment un- altered, or the industrial rates of operation unchanged, and any effort to alter the fundamental modes of behavior of human beings is doomed largely to failure; alter the im- mediate physical environment of human beings, and their modes of behavior change automatically. The human animal accepts his physical environment almost without question. He rarely decides to do a particular thing, and then finds himself obstructed by physical barriers. In- stead, he first determines the barriers and then directs his activities into those paths where insurmountable bar- riers do not exist. It is these considerations that render the matter of technological design and operation of equip- ment of the most fundamental significance. There are standards of design and operation that are wasteful of resources and injurious to the public health. There are other standards of design and operation that are con- ducive to the general social well-being and lacking in the socially objectionable elements. In an earlier lesson we laid down the social end- products that will inevitably result from technological operation of the social mechanism. Among these end- products were : a high standard of public health, a mini- mum of unnecessary drudgery, a high physical standard of living, and a minimum wastage of nonreplaceable natural resources. A high standard of health will result if all human beings are properly fed, clothed, housed, and have all their other biological needs adequately cared for. A minimum of drudgery will be achieved with all routine tasks eliminated or performed as automatically as pos- sible. Natural resources will be utilized with a minimum of wastage if all industrial processes have the highest physical efficiency, and all products will give the greatest amount of service per unit of physical cost. It will be recognized that it is precisely these criteria that are implicit in a control of industrial operation based upon a minimum degradation of physical energy, as con- trasted with our present Price System criterion of in- dustrial control based upon a maximum of profit. It is into these two fundamentally opposed control techniques that all the thousand and one present day paradoxes are resolved. Social end-products are a dependent function of the industrial mode of operation. The criterion deter- 244 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE mining the mode of operation happens at the present time to be a maximum of profit under a Price System control technique. Granted the continuance of the latter, all gestures at altering the former are futile. It is our purpose now to review several of our major industrial fields, and to point out the change in design and operating characteristics that would be instituted under the criterion of a minimum of energy cost per unit of use or service produced. Load Factor. One of the first things to be considered in this connection is the matter of operating load factors. A load factor of any piece of productive equipment may be defined as the ratio of its actual output over a given time-period to the out- put that would have resulted in the same time-period had the equipment been operated at full load throughout the time. If an engine, for instance, which develops 100 h.p., operates at full load for 24 hours it will produce 2,400 h.p.-hours of work. Sup- pose, however, that the engine is operated only intermittently during that time and actually produces but 600 h.p.-hours of work in 24 hours. The load factor for that period would then be 600/2,400, or 25 percent. The load factor would have been zero had the engine not operated at all, or 100 percent had it operated at full load throughout. There is a fundamental relationship among production, oper- ating load factors, and the capacity of productive equipment. A load factor of 10 percent merely means that the equipment is producing one-tenth of its productive capacity. Now if this same productive capacity were maintained and the load factor raised to 50 percent, production with the same equipment would be 5 times as great as with a load factor of 10 percent. If the load factor were 100 percent the production would be 10 times as great. If we consider the converse aspect of the same thing, suppose that there is no need of increasing the production of a given kind of product. In this case let us suppose that the load factor is 10 percent, and that load factor is again raised to 50 percent. If pro- duction is not increased we can achieve this result only by junking four-fifths of the plants engaged in that particular kind of pro- duction. DESIGN AND OPERATION 245 Hence it follows that a high load factor, no matter whether used for increasing production or for reducing the amount of plant required for a given production, results always in a diminution in the amount of productive equipment per unit produced, and results correspondingly in a reduction of the energy cost per unit produced. Quality of Product. Still another factor of comparable im- portance to that of the operating load factor is the quality of the product. All products are produced for the purpose of rendering some sort of use or service. The total energy cost of this use or serv- ice is the energy cost of producing and maintaining the product. Take an automobile tire for example. The use of the auto- mobile tire is the delivery of so many miles of service. The energy cost of this service per 1,000 miles is the energy cost of manufac- turing an automobile tire divided by the number of 1,000 miles of service it renders. Now, suppose that the energy cost of making an automobile tire that will give 20,000 miles of service is some arbitrary figure, say 100. The cost per 1,000 miles would be 5. Consider another automobile tire which will deliver 30,000 miles of service, but costs 120 to produce. The cost per 1,000 miles of service of this latter tire is only 4. Hence it is a better tire than the former because its cost per 1,000 miles of service is less. Sup- pose, however, that it were possible to make a tire that would last 100,000 miles, but that the cost of producing this tire were 600. Then the cost per 1,000 miles would be 6. This tire, there- fore, though longer lived, is actually a more costly tire than either of the other two because the cost per 1,000 miles of service is greater. It is always possible to find an optimum quality of product for which the cost per unit of use or service is a minimum, and it is this quality which, according to our energy criterion, is the best. Products either longer lived or shorter lived can be built, but they have the disadvantage that the service which they render is more costly than that rendered by the product of optimum quality. It is interesting to apply these two criteria, the load factor and the quality of product, to present day industrial operations. 246 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Probably the highest load factor of any of our industrial equip- ment is that of the central power stations. It is only rarely in heavy industrial districts that the load factors of the central power stations are greater than 40 percent. Much more commonly the figure is somewhere around 30 percent. Another of our more con- tinuously operated sets of equipment is the telephone. The busiest lines in the telephone system are the 'long haul,' long-distance trunk lines, that is, lines such as those from New York to Chicago, and comparable or greater distances. The load factor on these lines for a complete two-way conversation is only 4 hours of opera- tion out of each 24, or a load factor of 16 2/3 percent. In our less continuously operated equipment, such as factories of all denom- inations, mines, and agricultural equipment, production is inter- mittent, and the load factor of the equipment is even lower. Few agricultural implements are in use more than a few weeks per year for 8 or 10 hours per day. Few factories run 24 hours per day except for brief rush periods. Most of the remainder of the time they are on one 8-hour shift for a limited number of days per week or else completely shut down. In the field of automotive transportation the service rendered is passenger miles of transportation. The average passenger capac- ity of automobiles is about 5. The average number of passengers carried is considerably less than this. The average time of oper- ation per automobile is approximately 1 hour out of each 24, giving an operation load factor of only 4 or 5 percent, or a pas- senger-mile load factor of probably not more than half of this amount. If the operating load factor of automobiles could be stepped up to 50 percent on a 24-hour per day basis, the passenger miles would be 10 times that of the present for the same number of automobiles, or else there would be required only a fraction as many cars as we now have. Considering the quality of products the results are equally bad. Consider razor blades. Suppose that 30 million people shave once per day with safety razor blades, and suppose that these blades give 3 shaves each. This would require a razor blade pro- duction of 10 million blades per day, which is the right order of magnitude for the United States. Thus, our razor blade factories may be thought of as producing shaves at the rate of 30 million DESIGN AND OPERATION 247 per day at current load factors. Now suppose that we introduce the energy criterion requiring that razor blades be manufactured on the basis of a minimum energy cost per shave. Then the blades, instead of lasting 3 days, would be more likely to last 3 years or longer. Suppose they lasted 3 years. What effect would this have upon our productive capacity in shaves? Technically it is just as easy to manufacture a good blade as a poor one. Thus the productive capacity at the current load factor would be 10 million good blades instead of 10 million poor ones per day. But 10 million good blades at a life of 3 years each are equivalent to 1,095,000,000 shaves per day, instead of the 30 million now produced by the same equipment. Since the number of shaves per day is not likely to be materially increased, with the longer lived blade what would happen would be a junking of approxi- mately 99 percent of the present razor factories, thereby eliminat- ing enormous wastage of natural resources. Low load factors arise from various causes under Price Sys- tem control. Perhaps the chief cause of low-load factors is the uncertainty of future demand. The individual plant, as we have noted, runs or shuts down in accordance with the orders for goods which it receives. The total purchasing power is sufficient to buy only a small fraction of the goods that would be produced were the existing plant operated wide open. Consequently the exist- ing plant spends the greater part of its time shut down or else idling at only a small fraction of full load. This defect is inherent in the Price System, and is a direct consequence of the use of money itself. The Calendar. Another prevailing cause of poor load factors is the calendar. With our present calendar practically everybody works on the same days, and is off on the same days. This intro- duces traffic jams and small periods of peak loads on our trans- portation system, and on our places of recreation, as well as on the industrial equipment. In order to improve the load factor on traffic and on the amusement places, it is necessary for these peaks to be eliminated so that the traffic on one day is the same as that on any other, and for the traffic in any hour of the day to be so adjusted that no extreme peak loads occur. 248 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE The technological control that we have postulated removes the element of over-building in productive equipment. A revision of the calendar smooths out the most offensive of the remaining irregularities. The day and the year are major astronomical pe- riods, the significance of which cannot be ignored. The week and the month have no such significance. It is true the month is nomi- nally the period of the moon. Actually, however, our months vary in length from 28 to 31 days, with an average length of 30 and a fraction days. The time elapsed from new moon to new moon is 29 and a fraction days, so that the phases of the moon shift about a third of a month in the course of one year. So little cog- nizance is now taken of the moon's period that the greater part of the population, if asked at any particular time to give the phase of the moon, would have to look it up in an almanac. Con- sequently, the only astronomical periods that need be considered are those of the day and the year. Technocracy's calendar is, accordingly, based on the day and the year. The year consists of 365.2422 mean solar days. The Technocracy calendar, therefore, would consist in numbering these days consecutively, starting on the vernal equinox from 1 to 364 days, plus 1 zero day ( 2 zero days for leap years ) . The work period would run for 4 consecutive days for each individual, followed by 3 days off. Not taking into consideration the vacation period, every day is a day off for three-sevenths of the working popula- tion— all adults between the ages of 25 and 45. In Figure 9 this is shown diagrammatically for 16 consecutive days chosen arbitrarily during the year. The working population is divided into 7 groups, each of which has a different sequence of working days and of days off. The working days of each group are indicated by the circular spaces and the days off by the blank squares. On a basis of 660 annual work-hours and 4-hour daily shifts we arrive at 165 working days, or 41 as the nearest whole number of periods of working days and days off — a total of 287 days. There remain, then, 78 successive days as a yearly vacation period for each individual. Within each group there will be different shifts, the number of shifts depending upon the number of hours worked per day by each individual. If, for instance, the working day were 8 hours, DESIGN AND OPERATION 249 there would be three 8-hour shifts. If the working day were 6 hours, there would be 4 shifts of 6 hours each, and if the working day were 4 hours, there would be 6 shifts of 4 hours each. There will be a transitional period involving large-scale reconstruction during which a longer working day of 6 or possibly 8 hours will be retained. Once this period is over, however, there is little doubt but that the working day can be cut to 4 hours. Numerous questions immediately arise regarding what could be done if two people, husband and wife, for instance, belonged to separate groups, and had their days off on separate days. This need cause no apprehension, because it is a mere administrative detail to transfer a person from one group to another, and since the circumstances under which each group works are identical, there will be in general just as many people wishing to be trans- ferred from Group II to Group I as from Group I to Group II, so that such transfers automatically balance in the end. TECHNOCRACY CALENDAR Day of Year Group I 181182 mm 83184185186 ©!®bb 87 D 88189190191 ®|®!®j© 92 D 93 a 94I95I96 □l@l® Group II .... .D!®i®i®!®iao □i@i©i®i© D DIP® Group III ... . oin@i®i©!®nDn®i©i©i® ana Group IV ... . oDO®i®i©i®oon® ©©l©OD Group V .... - i®nDO®i®i®i®Doa®i©i©i®n Group VI .. . i©;®nDO©t®i®i©oon® ®i®i® Group VII - - i®i®i©Don©;®©!©iao □l@©l® Figure 9 In the matter of shifts, however, this is not quite the case, so that in order to make them equal it will probably be found nec- essary to rotate each individual in such a manner that he works an equal amount of time on each shift during the course of the year. The effect of this calendar on the load factors of the in- dustrial mechanism would be tremendous. It means that almost 250 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE the same amount of activity would be going on every hour of the 24. The traffic would be about the same every day and every hour of the day. Each day would be a working day for four- sevenths of the working population, and a day off for the remain- ing three-sevenths. Consequently, centers of recreation would not be deserted, as they now are during week days and then jammed beyond capacity the remainder of the time. Instead, ample recreation facilities could be provided so that at no time would the playgrounds, swimming beaches, parks, theaters, or other places of recreation be overcrowded. Consider also what this means to the central power system. In this case there is a daily cycle of lightness and darkness which is unavoidable. This results in a big load being thrown on the power plants at night due to the necessity of lighting. A large part of this load, of course, goes off during the day. If lighting were the only function of a central power system, such oscillation would remain. However, a large part of the function of a central power system is to provide the motive power for industrial equip- ment. Certain industrial equipment may be intermittent in its operation, slow freight haulage for example. Now if these inter- mittent industrial operations are so arranged that they go into operation only during the off-peak load of the power plant, this will enable the maintenance of the load of the power plant at almost 100 percent. Transportation. Consider transportation under such a mode of control. Transportation falls naturally into two major classes, passenger and freight. Passenger transportation requires, in gen- eral, speed, safety and comfort. Freight transportation may be either fast or slow, depending on the nature of the goods being transported. For passenger transportation the principal modes of conveyance are rail, water, highway, or air. For freight trans- portation there may be added to the above modes of conveyance a fifth, pipe line, and perhaps a sixth, wire. The transmission of energy over a high tension power line and the shipment of coal by freight car are both different aspects of the same thing, namely, the transportation of energy. In freight transportation, as in all other fields, one of the DESIGN AND OPERATION 251 great problems that would have to be solved is that of which mode of transportation involves the least energy cost per ton-mile. Take the shipment of coal, for instance. Is it more economical of energy to ship the energy contained in coal by freight car, or to hydro- genate the coal and transfer it by pipe line or to build the power plants near the coal mines and ship the energy by high tension transmission lines? There is another major problem in freight handling, and that is the matter of freight classification and individual consign- ments. At the present time all freight is shipped to individual consignees, with the great bulk of it in small lots. Most of this would be eliminated. The supplies for a city, for instance, would all be shipped in bulk quantities to the warehouses of the Distri- bution Sequence, all goods of a single kind going together. The freight-handling terminals and the design of the cars themselves could be made such that the loading and unloading of freight could be handled with the greatest dispatch by automatic methods. From these major freight terminals, goods would be moved locally to the various centres of distribution, from which they would be distributed to the population of the immediate vicinity. In the matter of passenger transportation the same criteria would be used in the design and operation of passenger equipment as elsewhere. Trains involving the least energy cost per passenger mile would be operated. It goes without saying that such trains would be the lightest, the most streamlined, and the most efficiently powered that could be built. Whether Diesel-electric power units mounted on the trains themselves, or whether power derived from stationary central power plants will prove to be the most efficient and hence the preferred mode of propulsion, is still to be deter- mined. Since by far the greater number of passenger miles of trans- portation are delivered by automobiles operating on public high- ways, particular significance attaches to this mode of transporta- tion. To appreciate the importance of automobiles in our national economy, one needs only to consider that in 1923 passenger auto- mobiles in the United States had an installed horsepower capacity of approximately 453,000,000 h.p. All the other prime movers combined at that time were only 231,000,000 h.p., giving a grand 252 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE total of 684,000,000 h.p. of prime movers. By 1929 this grand total reached over 1,000,000,000 of installed horsepower, with auto- mobiles occupying as great if not greater proportion as in 1923. In 1923 the h.p. capacity of passenger automobiles was 66 percent of the total of all the prime movers in the country. In that year the number of passenger automobiles was about 13,000,000. By 1929 this had reached 23,000,000, with the horsepower per auto- mobile increasing simultaneously. Now, getting back to load factors, we have already remarked that the average load factor of all automobiles is only about 5 percent. This means then that at the present we have approxi- mately 800,000,000 installed horsepower in passenger automobiles alone which are operating only about 5 percent of the time. Or it means that if we could step this load factor up to 50 percent, or 10 times what it now is, we could obtain the same number of passenger miles with one-tenth of the automobiles now in opera- tion. There is a corresponding problem involved in the design and servicing of automotive vehicles. Today there are about two dozen separate makes of automobiles being built in the United States. This means that as many different factories have to operate, and that a corresponding number of complete systems of garages and service stations must be maintained. The factors that are uppermost in present day automotive de- sign are those of flashy appearance and other superficialities that make for ready sales, while it is as carefully seen to that the wearing qualities are kept low enough to insure a quick turnover because of the short life of the product. To this end all sorts of fake devices are used, the latest of which is fake streamlining. In the matter of fuel efficiency, by far the most efficient type of internal combustion engine is the Diesel which operates on fuel oil or distillate. Although automobile and airplane Diesels have long since been proven to be entirely practicable, they have for a number of years past been carefully withheld from use in automobiles. There is, however, a limit to the extent to which so fundamental an advance as Diesel engines can be withheld, and now, at last, the dam has broken. In trucks, tractors, and buses Diesels have been coming in at a very rapid and accelerating DESIGN AND OPERATION 253 rate during the past two years, and now one manufacturer an- nounces a Diesel motor as an optional choice in an automobile. While it is true that a part of the phenomenally low cost of Diesel operation at present is the low cost of fuel oil, and that as the demand for this increases, the monetary price will rise, the fact still remains, however, that Diesels do the same work for fewer gallons of fuel than any other engines in existence. Under an energy criterion it follows that all automotive ve- hicles would be powered with the most efficient prime movers that could be designed — high-speed Diesels, unless and until something better can be devised. The same considerations would apply to all the various trick devices for insuring rapid obsolescence and turnover in vogue to- day. To care for these and other defects of the function of auto- motive transportation necessitates a complete revision from the ground up. Consequently, to improve the load factor it will be nec- essary to put all automobiles under a unified control system whereby they are manufactured, serviced, and superintended by the Automotive Branch of the Transportation Sequence. This means, in the first place, that there would be only one basic design of automobile. That is, all automobiles that were built would have interchangeable parts, such as motors, wheels, chassis, springs, etc., except insofar as they differed in those elements of design fitting them for different uses. In these minor differences there would be as many different varieties as there were uses, such as two-passenger and five-passenger capacity, light trucks and similar variations. It goes without saying that, in accordance with our criterion of least energy cost, the cars would be really streamlined, which would require that the engine be placed in the rear, rather than in the front ; they would be powered with the most efficient power unit that could be devised. As regards use of the automobiles, the change of administra- tion would be even more profound. Whereas, at the present time, one buys an expensive automobile, and leaves it parked the greater part of the time in front of his house as evidence of conspicuous consumption, the automobiles that we are speaking of would have to be kept in operation. This would be accomplished by instituting what would resemble a national 'drive it yourself system. The 254 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Automotive Branch of Transportation would provide a network of garages at convenient places all over the country from which automobiles could be had at any hour of the night or day. No automobiles would be privately owned. When one wished to use an automobile he would merely call at the garage, present his driver's license, and a car of the type needed would be assigned to him. When he was through with the car he would return it either to the same garage, or to any other garage that happened to be convenient, and surrender his Energy Certificates in pay- ment for the cost incurred while he was using it. The details of this cost accounting for automotive transporta- tion are significant. The individual no longer pays for the upkeep of the car, or for its fueling or servicing. All this is done by the Automotive Branch of the Division of Transportation. In this manner a complete performance and cost record of every automo- tive vehicle is kept from the time it leaves the factory until the time when it is finally scrapped, and the metal that it contains is returned to the factory for refabrication. Thus the exact energy cost per car-mile for the automotive transportation of the entire country is known at all times. Similar information is avail- able on the length of life of automobiles and of tires. With such information in the hands of the research staff, it becomes very definite as to which of various designs is the superior or the in- ferior in terms of physical cost per car-mile. The total cost of automotive transportation includes, of course, the cost of manufacturing the automobile. If, for instance, the average life of an automobile were 300,000 miles, the total cost for this 300,000 miles would be the cost of manufacturing the automobile plus its total cost of operation and maintenance during its period of service. The average cost per mile, therefore, would be this total cost including the cost of manufacture, divided by the total distance travelled, in this case 300,000 miles. Where there are millions of automobiles involved the same type of computation is used. In this case the average cost per mile would be the average cost for the millions of cars instead of for only one. This would be the total cost of manufacture, opera- tion, and maintenance of all automobiles of a given kind divided by the total miles of service rendered by these cars. Since auto- DESIGN AND OPERATION 255 motive costs can best be kept low by maintaining high operating load factors, it becomes necessary that all automobiles be kept in as continuous operation as is practicable. In other words, automobiles when away from the garages should be in operation and not parked ostentatiously in front of somebody's house. This can be taken care of rather effectively by charging the individual for the use of the automobile on a mileage-time basis as follows : (1) If while the automobile is out its operation has been main- tained at a rate equal to or greater than the national load factor for all automobiles, charge is made on a mileage basis only; (2) if the load factor of the car while out is not kept equal to the average load factor, the charge is made on the basis of the number of miles that the car would have travelled during that time had it operated at a rate equal to the average national load factor for automobiles. Suppose, for instance, that the average national load factor for all automobiles were such that each car travelled on the aver- age 240 miles each 24 hours, or an average of 10 miles per hour. Now if a person had an automobile out and he used it an average of 10 miles or more per hour, he would be charged for mileage only. If, however, he kept the car 24 hours, and drove it only 30 miles, he would be charged for 240 miles, for that is the distance the car should have travelled in 24 hours. This simple proviso has the dual effect of improving the load factor of all automobiles, and at the same time reducing the aver- age cost per mile, by making the delinquents pay for keeping auto- mobiles out of service. Communication. The field of communication includes mail, telegraph, telephone, radio and television. All of these forms of communication plus any others that may be developed are in the domain of the Communication Sequence. Under an energy criter- ion the same question arises here as elsewhere. Namely, of two equally effective modes of communication which has the least energy cost per unit? The unit in this case is a given number of words transmitted a given distance. Technically there is no question that all communication of the entire Continent could be conducted by telephone if the energy 256 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE cost indicates that this is not too expensive. It is equally possible to do the same thing by telegraph. Facsimiles, or photographs so accurate as to be scarcely detectable from the originals, are now being sent by wire as a matter of daily newspaper routine. Whether the energy cost of handling the entire communications by telephone or by telegraph is less than by mail, available data are not sufficient to decide. They indicate, however, that the cost by wire would be at least as small as by mail, if not smaller. Suppose that the mails be maintained even if at a consider- ably reduced volume. One of the great technological improve- ments awaiting introduction into this branch of activity is that of automatic sorting. Few more drudgerous jobs exist at the present than those of the postal clerks who spend year after year poking letters into pigeon-holes. Technically it is possible to de- vise a mail system whereby a letter will be transmitted from one side of the Continent to the other virtually untouched by human hands. One way whereby this could be done would be by uniformly sized envelopes bearing code addresses of black and white spaces, a different combination corresponding to every different mail distribution center. This would permit sorting by photo-electric cells. In the matter of radio the same unification of equipment would be effected. Instead of having dozens of different kinds of radio sets, there would only be one kind for each specific pur- pose. That kind, needless to say, within the physical limitations set, would be the best that could be built. The individual radio set would be a part of the Eadio Branch of the Communications Sequence, just as the individual telephone is now a part of the telephone company and not the property of the user. Agriculture. Just as far-reaching implications are met when one applies the same criteria to agriculture. Agriculture is the nearest to the primary source of energy, the sun, of all our indus- tries. Agriculture is fundamentally a chemical industry wherein matter from the soil and the atmosphere are combined with the help of solar and other energy into various use products. Only now are we beginning to appreciate the latitude of usefulness to which agricultural products can be put. From time immemorial DESIGN AND OPERATION 257 products of the soil have been the source of human food and cloth- ing. But many more products from the soil have been wantonly wasted — wheat straw, corncobs, and numerous other products are normally burned or otherwise destroyed. From a technological point of view, agriculture is still prob- ably our most primitive and backward industry. Land is cultivated in small patches by people whose knowledge is largely of a handi- craft type handed down from father to son. Soils are allowed to waste away by erosion or by lack of fertilization ; farm implements are used for the most part for only a few weeks per year each, and more often than not left standing exposed to the weather the remainder of the time. While it is true that agriculture as it is practiced on most of our farms today is largely in a handicraft stage only slightly dif- ferent from that of the ancients, the same cannot be said of the scientific knowledge of agrobiology. Modern agrobiologists look upon plants merely as mechanisms for converting certain inor- ganic substances — principally phosphates, potash and nitrogen — known as plant foods into forms useful both as foods and as raw materials for industrial uses. Soil, as such, is of no importance except as a container of plant foods and as a support for the growing plant. It follows, of course, that an}^ other container for properly proportioned plant foods, used in conjunction with a suitable support for the groAving plant, would constitute an alternative to an agriculture based upon tilling of the soil. Consider, however, that the soil still be used as the agricul- tural base. In this case all soils contain an initial amount of usually improperly proportioned plant foods, and will, without other attention than primitive tilling, produce a modicum of various kinds of crops. Since each crop grown extracts a part of the supply of plant food initially present in the soil, it follows that if succeeding crops are produced without a corresponding amount of plant food being added, the soil will gradually be exhausted of its initial supply and become 'run down' or worn out. Such a soil can be rejuvenated by merely adding the plant foods in which it has become deficient. Hence it follows that over any long time- period there must be maintained an equilibrium between the plant 258 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE foods added to the soil and those taken out, if continued producing power without soil exhaustion is to be maintained. This brings us to the question of yields to be expected per acre. Modern agrobiologists have determined that where soil is utilized as the medium of crop culture, and where crops are grown under ordinary out-of-door conditions, there is a theoretical maxi- mum yield per acre which any crop may be made to approach, but none to exceed. This maximum is determined by the amount of nitrogen that may be extracted from the soil per acre. The maxi- mum of nitrogen extraction that may not be exceeded by any one crop in a given cycle of growth is approximately 320 pounds per acre. In order that 320 pounds of nitrogen be withdrawn it is re- quired that there be present 2,230 pounds of nitrogen per acre. By knowing the amount of nitrogen withdrawn from the soil to produce one bushel of corn, of wheat, or of potatoes, one ton of sugar cane, or one bale of cotton, one has merely to divide this amount into 320 pounds of nitrogen per acre in order to determine the maximum possible yield of the crop considered. These maxi- mum possible or perultimate yields, together with yields that have already been achieved, are given by O. W. Willcox as follows : TABLE 9* CALCULATED KNOWN YIELDING POWER KIND OF CROP PERULTIMATE YIELDING IN PERCENT YIELD POWER OF PERULTIMATB Corn 225 bu. 225.0 bu. 100.0 Wheat 171 " 122.5 " 71.6 Oats 395 « 245.7 * 62.2 Barley 308 " 122.5 " 39.7 Rye 198 " 54.4 " 27.4 Potatoes 1330 " 1156.0 " 86.8 Sugar beets 53 tons 42.3 tons 80.0 Sugar cane 185 " 180.0 " 97.2 Cotton 4.6 bales 3.5 bales 76.1 •Reshaping Agriculture, O. W. Willcox (1934), p. 66. As compared with the above maxima, Willcox gives the aver- age crop yields per acre for the United States as follows : DESIGN AND OPERATION 259 TABLE 10* Average yields of crops in the United States compared with the possible maxima : AVER. ACRE PERCENT OP PERCENT OP KIND OP CROP YIELD, U.S. PERtTLTIMATE KNOWN MAX. Corn 25.5 bu. 10.8 10.8 Wheat 14.4 u 8.4 11.7 Oats 30.4 M 7.7 12.3 Barley 24.1 « 7.8 19.6 Rye 12.8 " 6.4 23.5 Potatoes 114.9 " 8.6 9.0 Sugar beets 11.1 tons 20.9 26.1 Sugar cane 16.4 " 9.1 22.4 Cotton 0.32 bales 6.9 9.1 •Reshaping Agriculture, O. W. Willcox (1934), p. 66. The significance of these facts is that our American agricul- ture is operating at an extremely low efficiency — less than 10 per- cent of the theoretical maximum and only about 15 percent of actual best performance under field conditions. Furthermore, in the light of present technical knowledge in the field of agrobiology, it would be no difficulty at all to step this production up to at least 50 percent of the perultimate maximum. Even today almost every year that passes sees new records broken in actual crop yields per acre. An average agricultural efficiency of 50 percent means that the same agricultural production as at present can be achieved on one-fifth of the land area now in cultivation, with one-fifth or less of the man-hours now required. An even more fundamental and technological approach to agricultural production is to be found in those cases where the soil is no longer considered necessary as a container for plant food or as a supporter of the growing plant. Such an example is to be found in the case of the process currently in use in California and elsewhere. In this process the plant food is dissolved in water which is contained in a long shallow trough. Above the water, and supported by wire netting, is a bed of excelsior in which the seeds are planted. The roots extend downward to the water. The 260 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE excelsior and wire netting support the plants. In this manner opti- mum conditions can be constantly maintained and almost phenom- enal production results. Further technological control of environmental factors and the speeding up of growth rates and shortening the period re- quired to mature a crop are as yet little touched, but offer broad domains for the technologist in agrobiology in the future. Kegardless of whether the agriculture of the future ultimately remains predominantly in the out-of-doors farming stage or comes to resemble an agricultural factory, the fact remains that the ap- plication of the technological methods will revolutionize it to where present methods are truly primitive in comparison. Suppose that out-of-doors agriculture remains predominant. Large-scale operations require large tracts of land worked by ma- chinery gigantic in size as compared with any that present day farmers are able to employ. Land-breaking to depths of two to three feet is not at all impracticable with equipment designed for that purpose. Such deep plowing in conjunction with run-off con- trol of the water supply would practically eliminate drought hazards. Proper fertilization and tilling would do the rest. Only the best land and agricultural climates need be utilized because with such yields as could be obtained by those methods little more land than is contained in the state of Illinois would be required for all agricultural produce for the United States. Needless to say, all present farms and land divisions would be eliminated. Agriculture would be only one division of a vast chemical industry which would convert the raw materials of the land into use products and in turn supply to the land its require- ments in fertilizers and plant food. Tracts of probably tens of miles square would be worked as a unit. Equipment would oper- ate 24 hours per day, and be rotated in such a manner that each piece of equipment would be in as continual operation as possible throughout the year. The farm population would live in conveniently situated towns from which they would commute to the fields. They would thus combine the advantages of healthful out-of-doors work with those of urban life with its social and educational facilities. This would, of course, leave vast domains to be reconverted DESIGN AND OPERATION 261 either to grazing or forest lands. Forests, national parks and play- grounds could then be instituted on a scale never known since the country was in its virgin state as found by the original pioneers. Housing. So great is the effect of habit on the human animal that it becomes almost impossible for one to detach himself suffi- ciently to take an objective view of the subject of housing. Our houses, and our buildings and structures generally, resemble our clothing in that they attain a certain convention and thereafter we tend to accept them without further question. It never occurs to us to ask whether the prevailing convention is better or worse than other possible styles. The training of our architects is such as to tend to perpetuate this state of affairs. Aside from drafts- manship and a small amount of elementary training in strength of materials and other structural details, our students of architec- ture spend most of their time studying the architectural details of the ceremonial buildings of the past — temples, cathedrals, palaces and the like. This accounts for the fact that power plants are seen with Corinthian columns, banks with Gothic windows, and libra- ries resembling Greek temples. The problem of designing buildings in accordance with the functions they are to perform seems rarely to have occurred to architects. The successful architect of today is either one who has devel- oped an architectural firm that receives commissions for designing large and expensive buildings, such as skyscrapers, hospitals, courthouses, and the like, or else an individual practitioner who knows sufficiently well the pecuniary canons of good taste to re- ceive commissions for the design of residences in the expensive residential sections of our cities and their suburbs. If an architect wishes to be really 'modern,' he then proceeds to do something 'different.' He designs houses made completely of glass or metal, and hung from a post. The two basic questions that seem never to occur in connection with these endeavors are : 'What is the building for'? and 'Would it be practicable to house the inhabitants of an entire continent in such structures'? This brings us to the technological foundation of the whole subject of housing, namely, what are the buildings for? What do 262 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE we have to build them with? What does it cost physically to main- tain them? And how long will they last? The physical cost in this field is arrived at in the same manner as is the physical cost in any other field. The physical cost of housing 150,000,000 people is the physical cost of constructing, operating and maintaining the habitations for 150,000,000 people. The cost per inhabitant per year is the total cost per year divided by the number of inhabitants. If housing is to be adequate for 150,000,000 people, and at the same time physical cost of housing is to be kept at a minimum, there is necessitated a complete revision of design, construction, and maintenance in the whole field of housing. It requires that the construction of houses be kept at a minimum cost, that the life of each house be a maximum, and that the cost of maintaining each house, including heating and lighting, be a minimum. It requires, furthermore, that the materials used be those of which there is an ample supply for the construction and maintenance of approx- imately 50,000,000 dwellings. This immediately rules out the whole array of 'modern' designs of metal houses, where the metal involved is chromium and other similar rare metals which are indispensable as alloys of steel and other metals for industrial uses. The requirements of low cost construction would necessitate that the housing be of factory fabricated types, where the indi- vidual units can be turned out on a quantity production schedule ready for assembly, just as automobiles are now turned out by automobile factories. There would be a limited number of models, depending upon the type of locality in which they were to be used, their size and the type of climate. Any of these different models, however, could be assembled from the same units — wall units, doors, windows, bathroom, kitchen equipment — as any other model; the difference being that these standard units are merely assembled in different combinations. Instead of thousands of separate individual architects design- ing houses, there would be only a few basic designs, and these designs would be made by the best technical brains that could be had for the purpose. The building would be designed for use, for long life, and for minimum cost of construction and maintenance. Incorporated into the design of the house would be the design of DESIGN AND OPERATION 263 the furniture as an integral part. The houses would not only be heated in winter, but cooled in summer, and air-conditioned throughout the year. The lighting would be indirect, and with intensity control for the best physiological effects. While there is a wide variety of possible materials, the funda- mental conditions that must be fulfilled are abundance, low energy cost of fabrication, and high degree of heatproofing and sound- proofing qualities, as well as a structural framework rendering it vibration-proof against such impacts as occur in the ordinary ac- tivities taking place inside a dwelling. In other words, one should be able to make all the noise he pleased, or do acrobatic flip-flops, in such a house without a person in the next room being able to detect it. The building should be proof against not only the leak- age of heat from the inside out, or vice versa, but also completely fireproof. The method of heating in such a structure also would be radi- cally different from those now employed. It is quite likely that a thermodynamic type of heating, based on essentially the same principle as our present gas flame refrigerators, would prove to be the most efficient. In this case, however, when the house is to be heated instead of cooled, the cold end of the mechanism would be placed outside the house — probably buried in the ground — and the warm end placed inside the house. The fuel, instead of being used to heat the house directly as is done now, would merely be used to operate the refrigerating mechanism which would pump heat into the house from the outside. By such a method, theoretical considerations indicate that a house can be heated at only a small fraction of the energy cost of the most efficient of the direct heat- ing methods obtainable. This method of heating has the additional advantage that by changing only a few valves the system could be made to run back- wards, that is, to pump heat from inside to outside of buildings, and thus act as a cooling device during warm weather, which would be analogous co our present refrigerator, only on a larger scale. Design. The end-products of design are radically different, if one lays out the whole scheme of a given function in advance and then works down to the details, from v/hat they would be if 264 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE one started on the details and worked from them to the more general complex. For example, the steamship Normandie has been able to break world speed records and to exhibit other points of functional excellence merely because these high points of per- formance were written into the specifications before a single minor detail was ever decided upon. The design of a ship to meet these broader specifications automatically determines that the minor details be of one sort rather than a number of others. The specifica- tion that the Normandie was to be the fastest steamship ever built automatically determined the shape of the hull, the power of the engines, and numerous other smaller details. Suppose the procedure had been in reverse order. Suppose that some one person decided independently upon the shape of the hull; suppose that a second designed the engines, determining what power and speeds they should have. Let a third design the control apparatus, etc. It is a foregone conclusion that a ship de- signed in any such manner, if she remained afloat or ran at all, would not break any records. For any single functional unit the design specifications for the performance of the whole must be written, and then the details worked out afterwards in such a manner that the performance of the whole will equal the original specifications laid down. The trouble with design in a social mechanism heretofore has been that neither the specifications nor the design has ever gone beyond the stage of minute details. We have designed houses by the thousands, but no one has ever designed a system of housing on a continental scale. We have designed individual boats, auto- mobiles, locomotives, railway cars, and even articulated stream- lined trains and individual airplanes, but no one has ever designed a continental system of transportation. Even these latter units are only individual details in the design of a whole operating social mechanism. Even a design that embraced whole functional se- quences would be inadequate unless it in turn was guided by the super-design of the entire social mechanism. So far we have only been suggesting some of the details of the type that would result from such a shift of viewpoint and of ad- ministration as would be entailed in a transfer from the present politico-economic Price System mode of social administration over DESIGN AND OPERATION 265 to the functional technological type that we have outlined. In such a change no single detail, big or small, would be left untouched. There would be a whole re-allocation of our industries. Our pres- ent centers of trade and commerce, as such, would dwindle into insignificance for the simple reason that trade and commerce would cease to exist. Centers of industry might or might not come to occupy the same places. The entire array of man-made buildings and equipment of the whole North American Continent would have to be junked and replaced by more efficient and better functioning structures and equipment. Along with redistribu- tion of industry would come a redistribution of population. It is not improbable that New York City and other similar localities would be mined for the metal they contain. New towns and cities would have to be designed as operat- ing units from the ground up, and these designs would again be only details of the super-design for the whole mechanism. There are a number of essential design elements that must be taken into account in the design of a town or a city : 1. There must be adequate housing and recreation facil- ities for the population. 2. There must be an adequate distribution system for the supplies that will be consumed by the city, both by the populace individually and by the city itself. 3. There must be an adequate system of waste dis- posal, sewage, garbage and the like. 4. There must be adequate facilities for local traffic, pedestrian, vehicular, etc. 5. There must be adequate facilities for local communi- cation. 6. There must be a system of water supply, of heat, gas and electric power. 7. There must be trunk connections for traffic, supplies, water, energy, and so on, between the city and the world outside. 8. The design must be such as to allow for any prob- able expansion in the population with a minimum of read- justment. 266 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE Standardization. In the field of more general design, stand- ardization of more essential parts will be carried as nearly as possible to perfection. Outside of industrial circles it is little realized what standardization means. In the maintenance of even the present rate of industrial operation, suppose, for example, that every separate manufacturer of electric light sockets pro- duced a different size. If these sizes were as many as a few dozen almost hopeless confusion would result. Suppose likewise that every different state in the Union used a different sized railway gauge, as is the case in Australia. This would mean that all trains would have to stop at the state lines and transfer freight and passengers, because a train from Illinois would not be able to run on the Indiana tracks. These examples are taken merely to show the importance of such progress in standardization as has already been made. Few people realize that our present quantity production in automobiles is rendered possible entirely by the standardization of machine parts. Many automobile parts have to fit with an accuracy of one ten-thousandth part of one inch. In order that all such parts in a quantity production flow line turning out thousands of units per day may be mutually interchangeable, it is imperative that all these parts be standardized with that degree of accuracy. Most of the difference in cost between a Rolls-Royce and a Packard is due to the fact that the Packard is produced by standardized quantity-production methods, whereas the Rolls-Royce is pro- duced by handicraft methods where every individual bearing is fitted separately and, in general, parts are not mutually inter- changeable. If the Fackard of today were built by the same hand methods employed in the Rolls-Royce, it would be no whit better than it is now, but it would have to sell for a price comparable to that of the Rolls-Royce, and for the same reasons. Most of our industrial progress up to the present time has been rendered possible through standardization. The trouble is that standardization has not been carried nearly far enough as yet. There are too many different arbitrary sizes and varieties of what is functionally the same commodity. Take a simple product like soap. Chemically there are only a small number of separate DESIGN AND OPERATION 267 basic formulas for soap. The number of brands of soap on the market, however, runs into the thousands. Not only has the achievement of standardization made pos- sible our quantity production methods, but the lack of standardi- zation has at the same time been in no small part responsible for our low industrial load factors. In many fields, particularly in those of clothing and automobiles, the lack of standardization has been promoted as a highly remunerative racket — the style racket. If styles can be manipulated properly it is possible to increase the consumption of goods by rendering the styles of the old goods obsolete long before the goods themselves are worn out. Thus clothing, which might last two years, is discarded at the end of a single season because it is out of style. Last year's automobile is traded in on this year's new extra-fancy model. The effect of all this upon the load factors of the industry concerned is to cause it to run with a short spurt at peak pro- duction while getting out the new model or the latest style, and then idling or remaining completely shut down for the rest of the year. In men's clothing, for example, with a relatively small variety of stabilized styles and an ample variety of materials and color combinations, clothing could be manufactured, If need be, for a year or even two years in advance, and thus completely even out the peaks and troughs resulting from seasonal demands for different kinds of clothing. Overcoats, for example, could be manu- factured the year round with a high load factor, but at a rate just sufficient for the annual output to be equal to a single winter's needs. Unnecessary Activities. As yet little emphasis has been placed on the fact that by far the greater part of all employees are engaged in one kind or another of financial accounting or other similar socially unnecessary activities. Even in so industrial a unit as a flour mill it is common for the number of employees engaged in the purely business operations of the plant to be con- siderably greater than the number required to operate the flour mill. In our electric light and power systems the bulk of the em- ployees are the office clerks, the meter readers and repair men. Only a small percentage of the total staff is required for the 268 TECHNOCRACY STUDY COURSE socially necessary industrial function of operating and maintain- ing the power system. All this is aside from the unnecessary duplication that exists. One single store, for instance, could supply all the distribution services required by a population of 10,000, or so, with only a matter of a couple of dozen employees, whereas in actuality there were in 1929, 683,751 retail stores employing 3,081,000 people (in- cluding the proprietors) serving a population of 48,000,000 in all the cities of the United States of populations over 30,000.* This means that in the cities of over 30,000 in the United States there was at that time one retail store employing on the average 4% people full time for every 70 members of the population, or one employee in a retail store for every 15.5 members of the popula- tion. In 1930 there were over six million people in the United States engaged exclusively in trade. This is, of course, in addition to the employees already mentioned whose jobs are largely financial, rather than industrial. There were over four million clerical posi- tions, consisting of bookkeepers, accountants, and the like in the United States in 1930. The point of all this is that, with a re-design of our social mechanism along the lines indicated, there will be a much larger number of jobs which will cease to exist than of new jobs which will be created. This would not imply then, as it does now, that there would be unemployment. It merely signifies, on the one hand, that we are assured of an ample supply of human services for all possible contingencies while operating the mechanism at the highest output per capita ever achieved. It means, in addition that all this will be accomplished simultaneously with a shorten- ing, rather than with a lengthening of the working day. • 15th Census of the U. S., 1930, Retail Distribution; and U. S. Statistical Abstracts. References : Reshaping Agriculture, Willcox ABC of Agrobiology, Willcox APPLJNDIX The following eight Tables are reprinted from Tech- nocracy magazine A-19, published July 1940. In this issue Howard Scott, Director-in-Chief, Technocracy Inc., de- lineated the geographical area of the Technate of America from the standpoint of defense and operational necessity. Table I lists the countries, colonies, and islands which to- day comprise the North American Continental Area. The map on the cover of this book illustrates this Area. The remainder of the Tables clearly depict the tremendous physical wealth and productive capacity of the Technate as compared to the rest of the world. Explanatory notes and the sources of each Table are found on pages 278, 279. 269 TABLE I The Eminent Domain of the New Social Order — See Map THE TECHNATE OF AMERICA POPULATIONS1 PRESENT COUNTRIES AREAS' 63,000 Alaska 586,400 31,000 Bermuda 19 337,000 British Guiana 89,480 57,000 British Honduras 8,598 1,778,000 British West Indies* 10,251 11,209,000 Canada 3,694,863 8,600,000 Colombia8 441,651 623,000 Costa Rica 23,000 4,200,000 Cuba 44,164 95,000 Curacao 403 1,587,000 Dominican Republic 19,332 31,000 French Guiana 4,053 3,045,000 Guatemala 42,353 17,000 Greenland 837,620 171,000 Dutch Guiana 54,291 2,600,000 Haiti 11,069 384,000 Hawaii 6,407 1,000,000 Honduras 44,275 5,000 Labrador 112,400 565,000 Martinique and Gaudeloupe 1,073 19,479,000 Mexico 760,200 289,000 Newfoundland 42,734 900,000 Nicaragua 51,660 548.000 Panama 29,065 42,000 Panama Canal Zone 554 1,806,000 Puerto Rico 3,435 1,704,000 Salvador 13,176 10,000 Samoa 76 4,000 St. Pierre and Miquelon 93 456,000 Trinidad and Tobago 1,976 3,530,000 Venezuela5 352,051 22,000 Virgin Islands 133 130,215,000 United States 3,026,789 195,403,000 Technate Totals 10,313,644 2,125,000,000 World Totals 55,000,000* Technate, Percentage of World Population 9 Technate, Percentage of World Land Area 19 Technate. People per Square Mile * 19 Rest of the World, People per Square Mile 43 ST1 TABLE II PRODUCTION OF MINERALS, 1937 (Metric Tons, 000's Omitted) THE AMERICAN MINERAL TECHNATE Aluminum 174 Arsenic 27 Asbestos 383 Asphalt* 6,023 Antimony 11 Cadmium1 2,526 Cement 21,581 Chromite 101 Coal 462,866 Copper (mine) 1,072 Cryolite8 13 Feldspar 292 Fluorspar 174 Natural Gas3* c 68,816,000 Gold4 10,564 Gypsum 3,819 Lead 828 Magnesium 2 Manganese (ore) 175 Mercury 1 Mica 24 Molybdenum 14 Nickel 102 Petroleum (crude)5 .. 1,551,620 Phosphate Rock 4,020 Pig Iron 38,836 Platinum6 310 Potash 441 Pyrites (gross wt.) ... 702 Salt 9,206 Silver7 184,174 Steelc 52,805 Sulphur (native)3 2,742 Superphosphates8' d ... 4,800 Tin9 (.5) Tungsten" 3 Vanadium (.5) Zinc (smelter) 686 TECHNATE REST PERCENT OF THE TOTAL OF TOTAL WORLD WORLD WORLD 307 481 36 29 56* 48 101 484 79 2,343 8,366 72 26 37 29 1,674 4,200 60 61,459 83,040 26 1,249 l,350b 7 1,077,134 1,540,000 30 1,258 2,330 46 4 17 79 130 422 69 291 465* 37 5,489,000 74,305,000 92 25,246 35,810 30 6,481 10,300 37 858 1,686 49 20 22t 9 5,812 5,987 3 4 5b 15 18 42 56 1 15 95 13 115 89 490,095 2,041,715 76 6,054 10,074 40 64,914 103,750 37 161 471 66 19,963 20,404 2 4,485 5,187 14 16,729 25,935 36 92,571 276,745 66 82,195 135,000 39 380 3,122 88 12,415 17,215* 28 209 210 (.25) 32 35 10 1 2 28 933 1,619 42 272 TABLE III INDUSTRY A Few Manufactured Quantities, 1937* (U. S. Only) Bakery products 6,328,000 tons Butter and cheese 1,216,000 ** Condensed and evaporated milk 1,330,000 '* Breakfast foods 623,000 «* Prepared flour 444,000 " Chocolate and cocoa 332,000 " Confectionary 897,000 " Wheat flour 10,527,000 u Meat, meat products, and poultry 7,816,000 " Bone black, and carbon black 276,000 " Acetic acid 66,000 " Hydrochloric acid 121,000 ** Nitric acid 175,000 ** Ammonia 112,000 " Soda ash 3,037,000 w Calcium carbide 193,000 ** Glycerine 73,000 " Sodium Hydroxide 969,000 » Salt cake 269,000 * Chlorine 446,000 ** Fertilizers 9,682,000 " Ink 120,000 ** Linseed oil, cake, and meal 906,000 " Lime 3,659,000 " Manufactured ice 34,069,000 " Carbonated beverages 354,478,000 cases Canned vegetables and soups 200,092,000 " Canned fruits and juices 63,764,000 " Ice Cream 252,299,000 gals. Whiskey 153,985,000 u Books, pamphlets, and maps 518,074,000 Boots, and shoes, (pairs) 425,000,000 Bricks 4,278,189,000 Tumblers, glass 541,059,000 Tablewear, glass 578,817,000 Bottles 7,808,290,000 Tin cans 16,215,913,000 Safety razor blades 1,759,933,000 Clocks and watches 32,235,000 Lamp bulbs 788,555,000 Cigarettes 169,946,440,000 Matches 411,150,190,000 New prime movers added in 1937 19,973,000 h. p. Total metal working machines! 1,341,942 273 TABLE IV MORE INDUSTRY THE TECHNATE ALSO MANUFACTURES— 35 percent of the world's alcohol1 , 78 " tt " automobiles2 32 « « " « beer1 29 * " " a benzol 19 " " " nitrogen 53 " " a " paper & paper bd. . 28 33 rayon soap 43 " « " - shoes8 (leather) ... 30 " « « « sulphuric acid 71 " tt - « tires* 46 K w « « wood pulp These items are but a few for which world totals are available, and which are not mentioned in other tables herewith. See Table III for additional U. S. manufactures. REST AMERICAN OF THE WORLD TECHNATE WORLD TOTAL 9,463 17,394 26,857 5,016 1,366 6,382 73,935 154,065 228,000 402 968 1,370 519 2,211 2,730 15,630 13,880 29,510 153 391 544 1,655 3,345 5,000 429,134 565,817 994,951 4,762 11,338 16,100 55,710 22,790 78,500 10,953 13,307 24,260 TABLE V FUEL CONSUMPTION TOTAL IN UNITED STATES- CANADA. 1937* Coal (short tons) 457,941,314 Petroleum (bbl.) 1,051,292,250 Natural gas (cu.ft.) 2,433,332,438,000 Hydroelectricity (kw.-hr.) 72,954,723,000 UNITED STATES INDUSTRY. 1937 Anthracite coal 6,561,820 tons Bituminous coal 162,960,976 ** Coke 42,194,064 u Fuel oil 136,255,044 bbl. Gas 2,825,973,829 M cu.ft. Electricity 45,924,221,144 Kw-hr. 274 TABLE VI SOME EQUIPMENT AND RESOURCESt ITEM AMERICAN TECHNATE Automobiles1 31,221,000 Telephones' 21,679,000 Radio Sets3 42,535,000 Railroads (miles)5 335,000 Merchant ships (tons)6 14,403,000 Telephone wire (miles)2 . 99,630,000 Telegraph wire (miles)2 ..... 2,849,000 Highways (miles)7 3,594,000 Spindles' 31,674,000 Looms8 725,000 Navigable rivers (miles)9 .... 46,000 Fresh water (sq. mi.)i0 132.000 Irrigated land (ac.)u 26,834,000 Forest reserves (ac.)*13 1,796,000 Cattle" 93,272,000 Sheep13 51,604,000 Swine" 50,545,000 REST OF THE WORLD 12,077,000 19,411,000 42,265,000 485,000 51,883,000 74,918,000 3,881,000 6,093,000 117,944,000 2,345,000 166,000 128,000 173,751,000 5,691,000 535,728,000 541,396,000 204,455,000 TECHNATE PERCENT WORLD OF WORLD TOTAL TOTAL 43,298,000 41,090,000 84,800,000 840,000 66,286,000 174,584,000 6,730,000 9,687,000 149,618,000 3,070,000 212,000 260,000 200,585,000 7,487,000 629,000,000 593,000,000 255,000,000 72 53 50 42 21 58 42 37 21 24 22 51 13 24 15 9 20 273 TABLE VII WORLD AGRICULTURE PRODUCTION 1937 PRODUCT Wheat Rye Barley Oats Corn Rice Potatoes Beans Cane-sugar (refined) Beet-sugar (refined) . Grapes Olives Citrus fruits* Citrus fruits** Cacao Tea Coffee Tobacco Hops Soya beans Ground-nuts Sesame Linseed Cotton-seed Ginned cotton Rubber1 Eggsa Butter2 Cheese2 Milk9 Meat2 *** Fish2* WooF TECHNATE REST PERCENT AMERICAN OF THE WORLD OF WORLD TECHNATE WORLD TOTAL TOTAL 291,210 1,188,190 1,479,400 20 14,123 211,777 225,900t 6 66,830 260,870 327,700t 20 210,007 265,793 475,8001 44 700,000 449,000 l,149,000f 61 14,600 925,400 940,000 1.5 131,401 1,728,599 l,860,000t 7 11,570 25,430 37,000 33 54,260 119,640 173,900 31 12,230 89,570 101,800 12 25,580 309,420 335,000 8 254 33,726 33,980 .7 12,711 63,789 76,500 17 3,430 5,370 8,800 39 792 6,218 7,010 11 4,600 4,600 6,220 18,660 24,880 24 8,170 16,230 24,400 33 206 432 638 32 12,321 55,379 67,700 18 6,101 59,299 65,400 9 268 6,832 7,100 4 2,030 23,370 25,400t 8 78,050 89,350 167,400 47 41,876 40,524 82,400 51 3,799 1,212,721 1,216,520 .3 40,325 37,883 78,208 51 1,128 2,132 3,350 33 455 1,645 2,100 22 541.973 1,408,027 1,950,000 28 8,059 12,180 20,239 40 2,250 10,550 12,800 18 220 1,553 1,773 12 FERTILIZER PRODUCTION 1937 Natural Phosphates2 Superphosphates of Lime2 Potash (K20)2 Cyanamide of Calcium2 . , Sulphate of ammonia2 . . . Sulphur3 Sulphate of copper2 4,432 11,033 15,465 28 4,079 12,021 16,100 25 258 2,902 3,160 8 .147 1,358 1,505 10 781 5,019 5,800 13 2,803 587 3,390 82 43 354 397 11 276 Ipf B- 3 WO B 5>CB ft *— ' S >— ' CM 3 © 2: H' ?cTfep>?rssri S w • £,«> ^ s £ s « 2.2. £b ft ft M*. O "O co a © b er£- E? ft B 3" •Q S. < ff O £■3 8 g s 2 * CD A A 5 S ST.** ?3 *-£ o ~ en ST" 5,627. 13. 62,000. 'ceo ,823,01 ,706,01 ,000,01 en o io CO o N© CO 00 Ox -»J it* to O W W tfl M M H |4 rfk p en to CO II 00 ooyio~j-jwicno\'*-* t— ' 00000>WOO*4W ©\ jSOOOCOOOOOCO o ft 5 ►* J? "o © o o o o © oo © o jS o oooooooooo o oooooooooo en to 00 ON Ul to It*. -j co en so £i* ^°^ IO vo bw 2 © O o B CfQ It O £* 5-3 § 32 SO CO o\ to en to O O 1} co ^ 3 00 CO o 0) 8 2 K G- **»'■*»■*» 2 3.S-3 ST««« S g 3 g-- 3 2 *< ft c* ft g-0- 8 ft jr1 33 33s K.EL» SL2. » fl« g _ 65 »> CO O^ >-• ft as 5 °- E? 8 «B H 5 c/5 i „ B ^ft ft 5 CO ft O WOOWMl^»M„HM OOO«Ji(kfl0O^00*O O O © O f— i to CO *«. CO -J 4*. © © © © O N* ^ H-i tO CO 1-i OOOOOU1H9\»V)^ OOOOOH^CAdOM 277 REFERENCES TO TABLES TABLE I 1. Source: Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1938/39. 2. Source: Rand McNally Commercial Atlas, Seventieth Edition, 1939. Square miles. 3. Total earth's area: 197,000,000, square miles of which 142,000,000 square miles are water. 4. British West Indies includes: Bahamas, Barbadoes, Windward Islands, Leeward Islands, and Jamaica. 5. Totals will be amended slightly owing to the fact that only the geographical portions of Colombia and Venezuela necessary to this Continent would be included. TABLE II Quantities: 000 omitted from all totals. Nearest round figure given. Percentage calculations on the basis of the complete figure. Units: All figures unless otherwise indicated are in metric tons. (A metric ton is 2,204.6 avoirdupois pounds.) Other units are designated as follows: 1, kilograms; 2, long tons; 3, cubic meters; 4, fine ounces; 5, barrels; 6, troy ounces; 7, fine ounces; 8, short tons. Sources: The source of all figures in the production columns is the Minerals Year- book, 1939, (U. S.), unless otherwise indicated. Other sources are designated as follows: a, The Asphalt Institute; b, G. A. Roush, Mineral Supplies; c, Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1938/39: d, National Fertilizer Association. ♦1936 1 1938 estimates TABLE III *Biennial Census of Manufactures, 1937. t American Machinist. TABLE IV Quantities: 000 omitted from all quantities. Units: All figures unless otherwise indicated are in metric tons. Other units are 1, hectoliters ; 2, number ; 3, pairs. Sources: Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1938/39; automobiles are from the Automobile Manufacturers Association; shoes are from Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. Date: 1937 except shoes which is 1938. TABLE V *Biennial Census of Manufactures, 1937. Canada Yearbook, Statistical Abstract of the United States. Petroleum consumption of Canada estimated. TABLE VI Sources: 1, Automobile Facts and Figures, 1939; 2, American Telephone and Telegraph Company; 3, United States Department of Commerce; 5, Encyclopedia 278 279 Britannica; 6, Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1938/39; 7, Automobile Facts and Figures, 1938; 8, Encyclopedia Britannica; 9, Estimated from data supplied by Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce. America's percentage would be enor- mously increased by full utilization of its rivers. See Technocracy, A-17; 10, Lakes of over 2,000 square miles; 11, Encyclopedia Britannica; 12, Forest Resources of the World, by Zon and Sparhavvk; 13, Statesman's Yearbook, Encyclopedia Britannica, Statistical Abstracts of U. S. ♦000 omitted. Technate total includes some 424 million acres tropical hardwoods or 12 percent of world's total tropical hardwoods. 1 1937 where obtainable ; in some cases earlier years. TABLE VII Quantities: 000 omitted from all totals (a, eggs, 000,000 omitted.) Units: All quantities unless otherwise indicated are in quintals. (A quintal is a metric unit of weight equalling 220.46 avoirdupois pounds.) Other units are designated as follows: 1, kilograms; 2, metric tons; 3, hectoliters. Sources: Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1938/39; and International Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics, 1938/39. t Excluding Soviet Russia, data unavailable. % 1935. * Oranges, mandarines, grapefruit. ** Lemons and limes. *** Beef, veal, mutton, goat, pork. TABLE VIII 1. United States data from Technological Trends and National Policy, 1937. Na- tional Resources Committee. Canadian figures estimated from data in Canada Year- book on the basis of power factors given in Technological Trends. (Additions since 1935 plus prime movers in the rest of the Technate would raise total to at least 1,600,000,000 h.p.— by far the largest share of the world's total ) 2. Data from Statistical Yearbook of the League of Nations, 1938/39 and from United States Department of Commerce. 3. Coal data from T. A. Hendricks, Geological Survey, U. S. Department of the Interior. Coal reserves of the United States will last approximately 2,000 years at maximum rate of consumption. United States reserves are 4 billion 231 million tons; Canadian reserves 1 billion 360 million tons. Petroleum data by Garfias and Whetsel, Proven Oil Reserves. This gives United States reserves as 10 billion barrels; other estimates range from 5 to more than 15 billion barrels. World gas figures are not known, but R. E. Davis in a paper presented to Am. Gas Assoc, 1935, estimated natural gas reserves of United States at 62 trillion cu. ft. Other estimates range to 100 trillion. * Estimate. 4. Data from Geological Survey, U. S. Department of the Interior, May, 1939. Developed power is based on installed capacity of constructed plants of 100 h.p. or more. Potential power is based on ordinary minimum flow (flow for 95 percent of the time) and 100 percent efficiency; also on existing flow and does not take storage into consideration. This will vastly increase America's potential. (The bulk of the world's potential waterpower is in Africa which is credited with 274 million horsepower.) BIBLIOGRAPHY The books herein listed are on two separate levels of technicality, elementary and advanced. Those on the elementary level may be read by people not already familiar with mathematics, physics and chemistry. Those on the advanced level are primarily for technically trained people who have a moderately advanced knowledge of mathematics, physics, and chemistry. In no case have cheap popularizations been included, and in all cases the books presented are among the best that exist in the English language. In certain instances we are unable to recommend more than a certain number of chapters in a given book, and such is stated where the book is listed. As better books become available this bibliography will be changed so as to include them. Mattes and Enemy Elementary : Mott-Smith, Morton: This Mechanical World, pp. 232, D. Appleton- Century Co., New York, 1931. $2.00. Heat and Its Workings, pp. 239, D. Appleton-Century Co., New York, 1933. $2.00. The Story of Energy, pp. 305, D. Appleton-Century Co., New York, 1934. $2.00. Andrade, E. N. da C. : An Hour of Physics, pp. 170, J. B. Lippincott Co., Philadelphia, 1930. $1.00. Timm, John Arrend: An Introduction to Chemistry, pp. 561, McGraw- Hill Book Co., New York, 1938. $3.50. Findlay, Alexander: The Spirit of Chemistry, pp. 510, Longmans, Green & Co, New York, 1934. $4.00. Guye, Ch. Eug. : Physico-Chemical Evolution, pp. 172, E. P. Dutton & Co, New York, 1926. $2.40. The second essay (pp. 30-117) especially recommended. Advanced: Grimsehl, E. : A Textbook of Physics; Vol. I, Mechanics, pp. 433, Blackie & Son Ltd, London, 1932. 281 289 Vol. II, Heat and Sound, pp. 312, Blackie & Son Ltd., London and Glasgow, 1933. Planck, Max : Treatise on Thermodynamics, 3rd edition, pp. 297, Long- mans, Green & Co., London, 1927. Nernst, Walter: Theoretical Chemistry, From the Standpoint of Avogadro's Rule & Thermodynamics, pp. 922, MacMillan & Co. Ltd., London, 1923. The Earth Elementary: Branson, E. B. and Tarr, W. A.: Introduction to Geology, pp. 470, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1935. National Research Council Bulletin 79 : Physics oj the Earth III Meteor- °i°gy> PP- 2$9> iwi. Clarke, F. W.: Data oj Geochemistry, pp. 841, U.S. Geological Sur- vey Bulletin 770, 1927. $1.00. Schuchert, Charles and Dunbar, Carl O. : Outlines oj Historical Geology, 3rd Edition, pp. 241, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1937. Romer, Alfred S. : Man and the Vertebrates, pp. 427, University of Chicago Press, 1933. Organisms Elementary: Sherman, Henry C. : Chemistry oj Food and Nutrition, pp. 640, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1937, Fifth Edition. $3.25. Newburgh, L. H. and Johnston, Marguerite W. : The Exchange oj Energy between Man and His Environment, pp. 104, Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, 111., 1930. $2.00. Hill, A. V. : Living Machinery, pp. 256, Harcourt Brace & Co., New York, 1933. Allee, W. C. : Animal Life and Social Growth, pp. 160, Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore, Md., 1932. $1.00. Pearl, Raymond: The Biology oj Population Growth, pp. 288, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1930. $4.50. Darwin, Charles: Origin oj Species, pp. 557, MacMillan Co., New York, 1927. Thompson, W. S. & Whelpton, P. K. : Population Trends in the United States, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1933. $4.00. Advanced: Spohr, H. A.: Photosynthesis, pp. 393, Chemical Catalogue Co., New York, 1926. 283 Lusk, Wm. Graham: The Science o) Nutrition, pp. 844, W. B. Saunders Co., Philadelphia, 1928. $7.00. Lotka, Alfred J.: Elements of Physical Biology, pp. 460, Williams & Wilkins, Baltimore, Md., 1925. $2.50. The Rise of the Human Species Rickard, T. A. : Man and Metals, 2 Vols., pp. 1061, McGraw-Hill Book Co., New York, 1932. $10.00. Harvey-Gibson, R. J.: Two Thousand Years of Science, pp. 346, A. & C. Black, Ltd., London, 1929. Usher, Abbott P. : History of Mechanical Inventions, pp. 401, McGraw- Hill Book Co., New York, 1929. $5.00. Hodgins, Eric, and Magoun, F. A.: Behemoth, The Story of Power, pp. 354, Garden City 'Star Books' Edition, New York, 1932. $1.00. Dantzig, Tobias: Number, pp. 262, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1933. $2.50. Cajori, F. : A History of Physics in its Elementary Branches, pp. 424, The MacMillan Co., New York, 1929. $4.00. Resources Tryon, F. G. and Eckel, E. C. : Mineral Economics, pp. 311, McGraw- Hill, New York, 1932. $2.50. Voskuil, W. H. : Minerals in Modern Industry, pp. 350, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1930. $3.75. Leith, C. K. : World Minerals and World Politics, pp. 213, McGraw- Hill, New York, 1931. $2.00. U.S. Bureau of Mines (Foreign Minerals Div.) : Mineral Raw Materials, pp. 342, McGraw-Hill, New York. $5.00. Willcox, O. W. : Reshaping Agriculture, pp. 157, W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1934. $2.00. Willcox, O. W.: ABC of Agrobiology, pp. 317, W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1937. $2.75. Price System Rules of the Came Woodward, D. B. and Rose, M. A.: A Primer of Money, pp. 322, McGraw-Hill, New York, 1935. $2.50. Foster, W. T. and Catchings, Waddill : Profits, pp. 465, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 1925. $2.00. Veblen, Thorstein: The Theory of the Leisure Class, pp. 400, The Random House (Modern Library), New York, 1932. $.95. Veblen, Thornstein: The Theory of Business Enterprise, pp. 400, Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1936. $2.00. 284 Soddy, Frederick: Wealth, Virtual Wealth and Debt, pp. 320, E. P. Dutton & Co., New York, 1933 (Revised). $2.50. First five chapters recommended. Flynn, John T. : Security Speculation, pp. 319, Harcourt Brace & Co., New York, 1934. $3.00. Recommend all except the last chapters where a synthesis is attempted. Veblen, Thorstein: The Engineers and the Price System, The Viking Press, New York, 1936. $1.50. Henderson, Fred: The Economic Consequences of Power Production, pp. 220, Reynal and Hitchcock Inc., New York, 1933. $2.00. Arms and the Man, pamphlet reprint from Fortune, March, 1934, Doubleday-Doran & Co., New York. $ .10. Myer, Gustavus: History of Great American Fortunes, pp. 730, Modern Library, New York, 1937. $1.25. Josephson, Mathew: The Robber Barons, pp. 453, Harcourt Brace & Co., New York, 1934. $1.49. Nature of the Human Animal Sumner, W. G. : Folkways, pp. 692, Ginn and Co., New York, 1933. $5.00. Pavlov, Ivan: Conditioned Reflexes, pp. 430, Oxford University Press, New York, 1927. $8.50. Allen, Edgar: Sex and the Internal Secretions, pp. 951, Williams & Wilkins Co., Baltimore, 1932. $10.00. Cannon, Walter B. : Bodily Changes in Pain, Hunger, Fear and Rage, pp. 404, D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1929. Cannon, Walter B. : The Wisdom of the Body, pp. 312, W. W. Norton & Co., New York, 1932. $3.50. Statistical Data U. S. Government Publications: U. S. Minerals Yearbook, U.S. Bureau of Mines. Statistical Abstract of the U.S. (Issued annually). U. S. Yearbook of Agriculture, Dept. of Agriculture. U. S. Commerce Yearbook, Dept. of Commerce. Statistics of Railways in the U.S., Interstate Commerce Commission (issued annually). Monthly Labor Review, U.S. Dept. of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics (issued monthly). Bulletin of the Federal Reserve Board (issued monthly). Bulletins of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Dept. of Labor. Statistics of Income, U.S. Treasury Dept. (issued annually). 285 Technological Trends and National Policy, National Resources Com- mittee, June, 1937, House Document No. 360. All U.S. Government Publications may be obtained from the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Canadian Government Publication: Canada Year Book, Dominion Bureau of Statistics, Ottawa (other publications may be obtained from the same source). Miscellaneous : Leven, Maurice, Warburton, C, and Moulton, H. G. : America's Capacity to Consume, The Brookings Institution, Washington, D.C., 1934. $3.00. Hogben, Lancelot: Mathematics for the Million, 682 pp., W. W. Norton & Co., Inc., New York, 1940. $3.75. Hogben, Lancelot: Science for the Citizen, 1,083 pp., Alfred P. Knopf, New York, 1938. $6.00. INDEX Absolute scale of temperature, 36 Abundance, 126, 127 Acceleration, 23-26 Adrenaline, 199 Age of the earth, 181-183 Agricultural Adjustment Adminis- tration, 165 Agriculture, 256-260 Airplanes, 88 America's Capacity to Consume, 147 American Medical Association, 172 American Mercury, 178 Analytic purpose, 1, 11 Animal energy, 62, 79 Animals, domestication of, 74, 79 Appointment, 222, 228 Architecture, 261 Area, 23 Area Control, Sequence of, 228 Armed Forces, Sequence of, 228 Athens, 80 Atoms, 17 Automobiles, 88, 97, 111, 251-255 Balanced load, 232, 237 Banking, 133, 134 Barter, 125 Behavior, 200-209 Bell Telephone System, 221 Billings Hospital, 171 Biological growth curves, 99 Birth rate, 157 British Isles, 104 British thermal unit, 37 Brookings Institution, 144, 147, 149 Bureau of Standards in Washing- ton, 21 Bureau of Weights and Measures, 21 Business interference, 168 Calendar, 247-248 Carbohydrates, 56 Cawley, 84 Centigrade, 35 Centimeter, 22 Central power stations, 54, 246, 250 Certificate of debt, 127 Certificate of ownership, 131 Chemical change, 17, 41 Chlorophyl, 62 Cities, 265 Coal, 81, 101, 108, 114, 116, 170, 251 Coinage, 128 Colombia, 110 Combination, 18 Communications, 91, 255, 256 Compound interest, 101, 136 Compounds, 17 Compton, Karl T., 119 Conditioned reflexes, 188 Confirmation of fact, 3 Conscience, 194 Conservation of energy, 39 Continental Constabulary, 228 Continental Control, 227, 228 Continental Director, 227, 228 Continental Research, 226, 227 Control of behavior, 193-196 Conversion factors, 23, 28, 29, 37 Copernicus, 180 Copper, 104, 109 Corliss, 85 Corporations, 131, 146 Cortex, 192 Cost of production, 150 Credit, 133, 134 Crime, 174 Crops, 256 Curtailment, 165, 215 Customs, 206 Cycles, 120 287 INDEX Da Vinci, Leonardo, 181 Death rate, 157 Debt, 127, 130, 144, 145 Debt certificates, 128, 130 Debt creation, 133, 135, 136, 153- 155 Decisions, 223 Declaration of Independence, 204 Decomposition, 18 Defining words, 5-8 De Laval, 85 Democratic procedures, 222, 223, 229, 241 Depressions, 93 Design, 242, 261, 263 Diesel, 87, 251, 252 Distribution, 126, 217 232-239, 265 Distribution Sequence, 238, 251 Divine creation, 183 Dog, 186 Duplication, 267 Dynamic equilibrium, 67, 70, 73 Dyne, 26 Earth, 16, 22, 181-183 Economists, 100 Education, 171, 206 Efficiency, 47, 52, 54, 58, 259 Elections, 176 Elements, 15, 16 Employment, 118, 119, 150, 153 Encyclopedia Britannica, 6 Endocrine glands, 198 Energy, 33, 34, 38, 39-44, 48-50, 57, 60-66, 70-83, 95, 106, 121, 216, 239, 234-236 Energy Certificates, 238-240 Energy cost, 234, 254 Engineering, 13 Engines, 51, 52, 54, 55, 60, 84, 85 English System 21, 22 Entropy, 44-47 Environment, 211 Erg, 27 Ergometer, 58 Ericson, John, 87 Evaporation, 40, 230-239, 243 Exchange, 125, 128 Expansion of industry, 100, 104, 137, 154, 159 Experiment, 223 Extraneous energy, 72, 79, 80, 106 Fact, 2, 12 Fahrenheit, 36 Fats, 56 Female hormone, 199 Ferro-alloys, 110 Financial structure, 145, 221 Fire, 71, 79 Fitch, John, 87 Flow of energy, 61, 65, 66 Flow of goods, 110, 138, 139, 230 Flow of money, 138 Fluorspar, 170 Folkways, 206 Foods, 56, 75, 79 Foot, 22 Foot-pounds, 27 Force, 25, 26 Ford car, 185 Foreign Relations, Sequence of, 228 Foreign trade, 105, 144, 164 Fossil fuels, 81 Frank, Lawrence T., 124 Freedom, 240 Friction, 38, 39 Fuels, 52, 54, 56, 81 Functional organization, 221-223 Functional priority, 204 Functional Sequence, 224-226 Galileo, 180 Garfias, 109 Gases, 15 Gillette razor, 163 Glands, 196-202 Gram, 22 Gram calorie, 37 Gravity, 21, 26, 27 Growth curves, 92-104, 113, 136, 137, 142, 154, 156 Guinea pig, 199 Gunpowder, 82, 83 Hancock, 88 Health, 171 Heat, 34-37, 46, 56, 58, 65 Hell Gate Station, 86 INDEX 289 Hormones, 198 Horsepower, 28 Horsepower-hour, 28 Hour, 22 Hours of work, 236, 248 Housing, 167, 261-263 Human engine, 56, 185, 210, 214 Hutton, John, 182 Hydroponics, 257 Illinois Geological Survey, 170 Inch, 22 Incomes, 147-153, 232-238 Indestructibility of energy, 42 Indestructibility of matter, 18 Industrial Revolution, 88 Industrial Sequences, 224-226 Inferior goods, 160 Inflation, 154 Inflection point, 96, 143 Inhibitions, 191, 195 Initiative, 220 Installment buying, 145 Interest curve, 101, 136, 154 Interference, 167-176 Inter'n't'l Bureau of Standards, 7 International Geological Congress, 108 Investment, 141, 145 Involuntary process, 192 Iron, 81, 92, 109 Irreversible process, 48 Isolated system, 48 Joule, 27 Kilogram, 22, 27 Kilogram-calorie, 37 Kilometer, 22 Kilowatt, 28 Kilowatt-hour, 28, 32, 215 Langley, 88 Language, 189 Laurium, 76 Legal interference, 174 Length, 19-21 Liquids, 15 Liverpool and Manchester, 87 Load factor, 143, 165, 244-249, 264 Lumber, 101 Lyell, Charles, 184 Male hormone, 198 Man-hours, 114-120, 150, 215, 216, 217 Manufacturing industries, 152 Mass, 19, 22, 23 Matter, 15-18 Mayer, Robert, 184 McLeod, H. D., 134, 136 Measurement, 2, 19-32, 35 Mechanization, 116, 118 Metals, 76 Meter, 7, 21 Metric System, 21-23, 27 Micron, 22 Millikan, R. A., 119 Millimeter, 22 Mind, 9, 14, 186 Mineral resources, 106-111 Mining, 76, 77, 83, 115, 116, 170 Minute, 22 Mixtures, 17 Molecules, 15 Money, 128, 138, 139, 145, 233 Moralistic approach, 207 Mormons, 4 Newcomen, 84 New industries, 119, 151 New York Central, 168 Niagara, 43 Nickel, 110, 111 Normandie, 264 North American Continent, 75, 110- 112, 122, 214-217, 220, 222, 224, 228-230, 237, 240, 261, 265 North Atlantic 215 Nye Committee, 165 Objective viewpoint, 185 Observation, 2 Office of the Exchequer, 22 Ohm's Law, 223 Origin of Species, 184 Oscillations, 93, 214 Ovaries, 198 Ownership, 123, 124, 131, 215 Parsons, Sir Charles, 85 Pavlov, Ivan, 186-193 Peak of employment, 119, '53 290 INDEX Pearl, Raymond, 99 Peck-rights, 202, 220 Peek, George W., 144 Perpetual motion, 46 Personnel, 219, 220 Petroleum. 62, 81, 102, 108, 109, 170, 175 Pig iron, 92 Pituitary gland, 199 Plant energy, 62 Plants, domestication of, 74 Point of inflection, 96 Police, 174 Political interference, 176 Population growth, 68, 70, 80, 99, 104, 156-159, 216, 217 Population, Indians, 75 Postulates, 8-10 Potash, 108, 111 Pound, 23, 27 ^ower, 28, 30, 31, 76 Prediction, 11, 12 Price, 6, 129 Price System, 103, 121, 129, 136, 139, 142, 150, 155, 156, 161, 164-169, 180, 210, 234, 243, m 247, 264 Prime movers, 52, 89 Productivity, 117, 214 Profit, 149 Propaganda, 177, 190 Property, 123 Proteins, 56 Protests, 208 Pump priming, 155 Pumps, 77, 83 Purchasing power, 142, 143, 147, 149, 217, 234 Quadrant of the earth, 22 Quality of product, 245 Quantity of heat, 37 Rabbits, 68 Radiation, 65 Radio, 98 Railroads, 86, 87, 95, 106, 168, 250 Razor blades, 160, 246 Record-keeping 235, 239 Reflexes, 187 Regional Divisions, 230, 231 Registration, 231 Relief, 156 Research, 223 Research, Sequence of Continental, 226, 227 Resources, 111, 121 Response, 185, 186. 187 Retail stores, 268 Reversible processes, 48 Revolt of the Masses, 205 Rome, 80 Saturday Evening Post, 178 Savannah, S. S., 87 Savery, Thomas, 84 Saving, 141, 235 Scarcity, 6, 127, 166 Schulmeister, Karl, 5 Science, 4, 10-12 Scientific Monthly, 119 Scott, Howard, 156, 210 Second, 22 Sequence Director, 229 Service functioning, 220 Service Sequences, 224-226 Short-wave radiation, 65 Size of equipment 103, 116, 167 Slaves, 80 Smith, A. O., Company, 116 Social change, 209, 212, 213, 261 Social control, 219, 241, 242 Social customs, 206 Social organization, 218, 224 Social Relations, Sequence of, 227 Social system, 103, 122, 216-220, 241 Soil, 257 Solar radiation, 64, 65, 66 Solar system, 180 Solids, 15 Special Sequences, 226-229 Speed, 23 S-shape growth curves, 96, 113 Standardization, 266 Standards of measurement, 21 Steamboat, 87 Steam engine, 84 Stevenson, George, 86 INDEX 291 Stimulus, 186 St. Lawrence Waterway, 168 Stock Exchange, 146 Stockton and Darlington, 87 Styles, 264 Sunshine, 63, 64 Supernaturalism, 184 Swanson, John, 207 Synthetic purpose, 1, 11 Technocracy, 1, 2, 11, 116, 213, 219, 231, 240, 241, 248 Technology, 149, 214-219 Temperature, 35, 36, 48 Testes, 199 Textile inventions, 91 Thermodynamic heating, 263 Thermodynamics, Laws of, 29, 41, 42,47, 50,60, 102, 112,210 Thinking, 189 Thyroxin, 199 Time, 20, 22 Trade, 125, 126 Trade balance, 105, 164 Transportation, air, 88, 90, 250 Transportation, land, 86. 90, 250-253 Transportation, water, 86, 90, 250 Trevethick. 86 Turbine, 85 Turkeys, 201 Ultimate truth, 10 Unidirectional progression, 49 Union Pacific Railroad, 207 United States Bureau of Standards, 176 University of Chicago, 171 Unnecessary activities, 267 Value, 6, 127, 128, 132 Veblen, Thorstein, 173 Vector, 24 Velocity, 23, 24 ranezuela, 110 Volume, 23 Wages and salaries, 150 War, 165, 177, 190, 196 Waterpower, 61, 79, 101 Watt, 28 Watt, James, 28, 85 Wealth, 132 Weight, 19, 27 Willcox, O. W., 256 Williamson, F. E., 168 Wind, 79 Work, 27, 30, 31, 37, 46, 58 Working period, 236, 248 World state, 112 World trade, 144 Wright brothers, 88 Writing 189 Yard, 22 Yields, 258, 259