[AFAIK]

If a resident of a Technate wanted to travel overseas how would they go about making arrangements?
Would their travels be funded by the state as they have no personal income?

How would prohibitions be imposed?
What's to stop someone bartering laptops for heroin with Mexican Cartels?

How do you prevent illegal immigrants, people's militias or state armies from looting local communities?

Given the level of economic interaction between the USA and Mexico (amongst others) where would the borders of a (North American) Technate be founded in order to ensure that it is functional?

Would countries be compensated for the removal of income from US consumers, tourists and investors?

[Figlio di Moros]

If a resident of a Technate wanted to travel overseas how would they go about making arrangements?
Would their travels be funded by the state as they have no personal income?

Assuming the other nation is not also technocratic, it's likely the state would organize a trade of sorts with the nation to compensate for their involvement in the travel. However, they would not lack personal income; rather, it'd effectively be unlimited

How would prohibitions be imposed?

There's this concept in place for an organized group of people who enforce rules against antisocial behavior. They're called police, I believe.

What's to stop someone bartering laptops for heroin with Mexican Cartels?

See above.

How do you prevent illegal immigrants, people's militias or state armies from looting local communities?

Given the level of economic interaction between the USA and Mexico (amongst others) where would the borders of a (North American) Technate be founded in order to ensure that it is functional?

The old proposals were to encompass the whole of North America, as well as northern South America and the Caribbean. However, such an expansive place is no longer required, we produce more than enough food and could continue to post-oil w/ aeroponic factories, which are energy and resource efficient (requiring far less water and minerals than fertilizers). A shift to algae oil would domesticated production of fuels and plastics, of which far less would be required of than currently as we move towards post-oil economies. What resources are necessary can be exchanged for American goods or production capital, in support of building post-scarcity economies elsewhere.

How we interact and trade w/ non-post-scarce nations is a question of realpolitik that would be dealt with as it arose, not something we can predict or debate previously. However, most likely w/ America being the world hegemon, our position would switch from upholding liberal-capitalism to supporting post-scarcity around the world; trade would likely involve either creating post-scarcity in other countries, or providing them such investment, production capital, technology, training, etc. to help improve their economy up to the point it becomes plausible.

Would countries be compensated for the removal of income from US consumers, tourists and investors?

That is their own problem. As I said above, we've have a pragmatic trade policy that would assist building post-scarcity around the world, or at least improve their economy as much as possible. If, say, Europe stubbornly chooses to stick to liberal-capitalism and austerity politics, we have no reason to compensate them for their own foolish decisions; if they are harmed by their own choice, and refuse whatever assistance we offer, than they will have to live with the ramifications. However, while resistance is likely at first, especially in the more affluent nations, they would eventually choose to join post-scarcity society; whether this is immediately or whether they need to feel the pain of increasing irrelevance is their own decision.

[AFAIK]

How would prohibitions be imposed?

There's this concept in place for an organized group of people who enforce rules against antisocial behavior. They're called police, I believe.

What's to stop someone bartering laptops for heroin with Mexican Cartels?

See above.

So it's a police state with absolute levels of surveillance?
Given the current levels of corruption within Mexico's law enforcement institutions this could be a significant logistical challenge, not to mention deeply unpopular.

What's to stop residents from growing their own weed and opium?

Consuming cigarettes and alcohol are considered to be anti-social behaviours by many but society takes a nuanced and pragmatic position on their use.

[Figlio di Moros]

What point is there for any of us to respond to you if you're attempting to imply such ridiculous accusations? First you ask repetitively how we'd enforce basic laws, as if police would simply disappear, and then leap to the assumption of a "police state" when it's pointed out a means of dealing with criminals already exists. Or is it you simply assume any ideology which recognizes the necessity of a police force is a police state?

[AFAIK]

Currently states attempt to deter and ration unsavory behavior through taxation. This would be impossible in a post scarcity technate as goods are either freely provided or banned outright.

I don't consider prohibition to be a basic law as it is (to date) logistically impossible to enforce. People currently make use of prescription drugs recreationally, some even steal certain opiates and sell them on the black market. Not to mention that people can produce these drugs independently of the state.

This ideology is nearing 100 years in age. What was the attitude towards tobacco and alcohol by it's founders?

[AFAIK]

According to The Venus Project there will be no police in this society.
Their proposal is a global system so there would be no "internationalism".

How can the use of Laws be eliminated?

Today we try to control human behavior by enacting laws or signing treaties without changing the physical conditions responsible for aberrant behavior. When Earth's resources are seen as the common heritage of all people, irrelevant laws and social contracts will vanish.

In a resource-based economy, social responsibility would not be a function of artificial laws or force. Safeguards against abuse could be designed into the environment. An example of this is the proposed design of cities where people have free access to resources without debt. This would eliminate theft. Such measures are not a matter of passing and enforcing laws to prevent and punish abuse. Rather, they are a means of designing the flaws out of any social venture, thus eliminating the need for many laws.

We are proposing doing away with the systems that cause corruption and human suffering in the first place. In a city with safe, clean, mass transportation, we do not need police to monitor drivers' speed, behavior at stop signs, or proper papers.

Other examples are the air and the water. Although both are necessary to our well-being and survival, there are no laws regulating how many breaths are taken per hour because we have such abundance at this time. No one monitors a gushing spring to see how much water is taken from it, although fresh water is absolutely necessary for the support of life. If it is abundant, no one monitors it.
[......]

On the topic of drug use-

What about the use of drugs in the future?

There is a tremendous incentive today for the selling of drugs and making people addicted as it is very profitable. Yes during the transition there will be problems because people need and require drugs. They will be able to attain them. But there will be more information out in regards to the negative and positive effects of taking various drugs. There will also be a tremendous amount of help for those who want to get off of them but today they can not afford the facilities today. There will be no moral judgments with the rehabilitation from drugs but the main concern is health both physically and mentally.

We ultimately hope to provide an environment that is interesting and challenging enough that very few people will have a need for drugs. Through education and a much less stressful atmosphere the need will be surpassed. People will be equipped with a healthier mental outlook or better tools for handling situations that confront them.

Who makes the decisions in a resource based economy?

No one does. The process of arriving at decisions in this economy would not be based upon the opinions of politicians, corporate, or national interests but rather all decisions would be arrived at based upon the introduction of newer technologies and Earth's carrying capacity. Computers could provide this information with electronic sensors throughout the entire industrial, physical complex to arrive at more appropriate decisions.

I only discovered this website today but it appears to be more active than other sources.

[Figlio di Moros]

None of us represent the Venus Project, and, while we intend to push the limits of human capacity, none of us are so foolish or Utopian. As for drugs, it is another non-question; while I understand the dilemma it appears to present, prohibition, legalization, rehabilitation, etc. are all legitimate options. Because so many solutions already exist and could continue to be used post-scarcity, w/ only taxation being dismissed, this is a discussion of pragmatism.

[AFAIK]

The police will also be unable to impose fines for misdemeanor offenses. They will have to use different methods of sanctioning people.

I imagine policy think tanks will do studies and suggest courses of action based upon their research. There is growing evidence that decriminalisation and harm reduction are more productive than criminalisation.

[Figlio di Moros]

We also have this place we put people who do bad things; it's called prison. Then there's this other place for people who do bad things, but not really bad things, called jail. Usually you send people to the second place for less than a year and to the first for over.

[AFAIK]

I was wondering if Technocrats had considered different institutions or methods of implementing law and order. No need to be so patronising.
I'm sure lots of people will volunteer to work in police forces and prisons dedicated to punishing litter bugs and noisy neighbors.

My understanding is that jail is for the accused who are awaiting trial and prison is for convicts who have been found guilty, btw.

[Figlio di Moros]

Only in felony cases; misdemeanor offenses are punished by up to a year in county jail, and often bail is set so low you don't need to worry about sitting in county awaiting trial for them unless you just want to get time served out the way. There are other possible institutions as well, such as rehabilitation, psychiatric wards, AA, driving school or equivalent, etc. but none of these are particularly unique approaches. There is the point that a number of crimes committed out of necessity or greed would disappear, which is true to an extent, and certainly we accept and embrace a more scientific debate over the most appropriate approaches to certain crimes or behaviors (for instance, heroin use), but outside that I'm not sure we could argue wholly new approaches, merely better application of them.

[TechnocracyTNAT]

"QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

Q. What would happen to a man who committed a crime and tried to hide out and escape the authorities?

A. A man wouldn't be able to go very far because we could follow him by his purchases. Provided you are an identical twin, working at the same occupation, then you might have a chance in four billion of beating us. We don't have to worry about counterfeiting, because there are no checks. The certificates are non-negotiable. You can't save it and you can't give it away. You are not compelled to spend it, but if you don't, the load is cancelled out. The moment a man tries to hide out and buys anything on this continent, we would have him. The moment that any one individual bought, say, 30 pairs of shoes in a month, the wards would have him for examination. We would have a check on venereal diseases and any other diseases, also.

Q. Would we have the privilege to travel to a foreign country, and what would be our purchasing power?

A. You could go to the Bureau of Foreign Exchange and exchange your certificate for the amount of foreign money desired. You could enjoy yourself, but you could only return and go on an American ship carrying an American flag. There would be no company building ships abroad for this country. You could spend your certificate abroad."

- PUBLIC LECTURE, HOWARD SCOTT APPLETON, WISCONSIN 8-27-37
archive.org/details/TheWordsAndWisdomOfHowardScott

"No person will be penalized for commission of a statutory offense."

- PUBLIC LECTURE, HOWARD SCOTT EDMONTON, ALBERTA, CANADA December 1935
archive.org/details/TheWordsAndWisdomOfHowardScott

"Now, we're not trying to do the same attitude as people now that is punitive to make you steal. We're saying, "Brother, if you can beat it, we'll reward you." Just as Technocracy long ago has pointed out how to stop the dope racket. Establish a federal clinic, fingerprint, photograph, and examination, and you get free—bear in mind that any racket can operate so long as it distributes 80% of its take—80 cents out of every dollar, but the moment it can only distribute 20 cents out of every dollar, there isn't sufficient take to "keep the boys in line." The moment that you have narcotics free, there isn't arty "take." Who's against it? Your churches, your medical profession. Like the other day, they were going to put a caesarean birth operation on TV—when your Catholic church objected, they have withdrawn it. Something born by caesarean isn't a natural birth—it hasn't any soul, I guess."

- HOWARD SCOTT, CHICAGO 3-15-56
archive.org/details/TheWordsAndWisdomOfHowardScott

"Another of these special Sequences is the Armed Forces, Sequence of. The Armed Forces, as the name implies, embraces the ordinary military land, water and air forces, but most important of all, it also includes the entire internal police force of the Continent, the Continental Constabulary. This latter organization has no precedent at the present time. At the 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 machines 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."

http://archive.org/details/TechnocracyS ... Unabridged