Then again, this hasn't been the first time the states have moved ahead of the federal administration - happened during Trump's first term too. Maybe they'll do it successfully again.
I agree with you in that technocracy has a lot of potential and definitely sounds appealing, but I think it'd almost have to be socialist - both to atleast somewhat prevent the plutocratic devolution you speak of, as well as halting anti-intellectualism ('you don't need an education') and post-truth (like you see with American social media now).
Then again, not having a free market would also require new guardrails (how do you ensure proper distribution beyond the formal mathematics?), which makes it more complicated.
This is not a technocracy: it's not about expertise in a given area that decides leadership, but about plutocratic autocracy. I wouldn't say 'the rich' are naturally the experts.
Not near-future science fiction alone, every time of sci-fi but the true far-future science fiction seems to be able to discuss this (if we take near-future to mean within decades), think for example of 2312 or the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Here's the link that takes you straight to the archived version of the report for those that only want the report:
https://web.archive.org/web/20250629071704/https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/#home-modal-1
Then again, this hasn't been the first time the states have moved ahead of the federal administration - happened during Trump's first term too. Maybe they'll do it successfully again.
Wouldn't it, essentially, become a giant sand bank of sorts?
I agree with you in that technocracy has a lot of potential and definitely sounds appealing, but I think it'd almost have to be socialist - both to atleast somewhat prevent the plutocratic devolution you speak of, as well as halting anti-intellectualism ('you don't need an education') and post-truth (like you see with American social media now).
Then again, not having a free market would also require new guardrails (how do you ensure proper distribution beyond the formal mathematics?), which makes it more complicated.
Always better than a monarchy though.
This is not a technocracy: it's not about expertise in a given area that decides leadership, but about plutocratic autocracy. I wouldn't say 'the rich' are naturally the experts.
Not near-future science fiction alone, every time of sci-fi but the true far-future science fiction seems to be able to discuss this (if we take near-future to mean within decades), think for example of 2312 or the Mars Trilogy by Kim Stanley Robinson.