SCIENCE NEWS Vol. 99, No. 26, p. 430 Saturday, June 26, 1971 SOCIOCYBERNEERING REDSIGNING A CULTURE Marshall McLuhan, Buckminster Fuller and, more recently, Ralph Nader have campaigned to better the quality of human life. Their main contention is that humanistic ideals must take precedence over or be combined with technology to update and modify the values that dominate society. In an attempt to do this, a new organization in Miami headed by Dr. Jacque Fresco plans to build a city which will "superimpose a humanistically oriented society over a rapidly decaying culture." Sociocyberneering, Inc., the name of the group, means "the application of the most sophisticated forms of computer technology in the management of human affairs." By applying cybernetics they plan to build a circular city provided with conveyor systems for people and goods as opposed to cars, trucks or other forms of transportation. The city would be surrounded by an agricultural belt where food would be grown organically and hydroponically without the use of pesticides. All garbage and waste would be recycled and processed for fertilizer, building materials or raw materials. Universities and cultural centers would be provided free. "We are not preparing to construct a utopia or a Brave New World," says Dr. Fresco. "We are attempting to plant a seed for the development of a sane society in a decaying culture." |