Technocracy movement

The Technocracy movement, founded in 1918 as "The Technical Alliance" and incorporated in 1933 as "Technocracy Incorporated" was (and, surpisingly enough, still is) a weird movement which flourished briefly during the Great Depression, advocating the merger of all of North and Central America into one nation, the "North American Technate," to be ruled by scientists and engineers replacing politicians. Existing currencies were to be replaced by the "erg", the centimeter-gram-second (CGS) unit of energy.

The movement's founder was Howard Scott, an engineer who was later accused of exaggerating his academic credentials. Marion King Hubbert, later known for his geoscience work for Shell Oil and his Hubbert's Peak Theory, was an early supporter and the main author of its study course.

The movement's fondness for matching red and grey uniforms and militaristic fleets of grey vehicles brought it under great suspicion given what was going on in Europe, and interest in the movement faltered. Many of Scott's predictions of economic doom failed to materialize and membership dropped after 1948 during much internal dissent. The movement survived, a shadow of its former self, and Technocracy Inc. still exists today with a small presence on the Internet, promoting itself as "Functional Governance for North America."