13 What is Scientology?

The "Church of Scientology," which was founded in 1953 in the USA by the science fiction author Lafayette Ronald Hubbard (1911-1986), is an international organization headquartered in the USA. It sells personality growth as well as organization and management technology worldwide. It has adopted the organization and marketing form of a commercial educational company in the market for advanced training, but runs itself as a so-called new religion. Its activities have come into conflict with democratic societies around the world and continue to do so. After an in-depth examination, an Investigative Commission titled "So-called Sects and Psycho-Groups" set up by the German Bundestag (Parliament) described the organization in its final report as an anti-constitutional movement with a criminogenic structure. This evaluation is in agreement with that of the German forces of order. Behind the cloak of a new religion, this organization described as a psycho-group and not as a religious community by the Investigative Commission was able to skilfully hide its salient structural traits until recently, namely organization and logistics of a commercial corporation; expansionist strategies of an aggressively functioning structural distribution system (marketing of franchises by forming chains of subsidiary companies); hard-selling of human leadership and change in the form of social engineering. In other words, ruthless of psychological and social techniques borrowed from behavioral psychology in order to recruit workers, customers and members; use of totalitarian organization techniques to thoroughly discipline and instrumentalize its workers by constant control in terms of time and space.

2. The behavioral foundations of Hubbard's social techniques

In a special chapter in the final report of the Investigative Commission, the Scientology organization as a commercial provider of services on the psychology market was classified under the heading "Mind Machines and New Learning." Characteristic of this new type of service sector is an attempt to permanently modify a person's outer and inner behavior in a learning laboratory using techniques drawn from behavioral psychology, i.e., by programmed learning and conditioning. This environmentally-oriented area of psychology and pedagogy is known as behaviorism. Researchers in the field of learning with a behaviorist focus (Watson, Pavlov, Skinner) have tried since the beginning of the 20th century to formulate generalized laws about learning by carrying out experiments on animals and people in a learning laboratory. From this they developed training programs (instructional technology) that could modify human behavior. This procedure of human technology, which involves organisms' ability to be impacted by reacting to certain stimuli and then modifying their behavior, i.e. learning, is called conditioning when new behavioral patterns are embedded in such a manner, that they can be called forth by giving a key signal. Teaching this type of stimulus-response scheme is performed using a complex system of reward and punishment the so-called feedback system and other methods of behavioral modification. The feedback system functions on the principle of reconnecting or looping back data on a system's behavior such as the human organism into the system so that it will thereafter influence the system. Even human cognitive abilities can be influenced by conditioning (cognitive behaviorism). These learning techniques in many cases are reminiscent of conditioning. In spite of their remarkable successes, these technological instructional procedures soon drew criticism, since they were not only used to benefit people but also to harm them (e.g. causing so-called experimental neuroses such as a cat phobia in a child in an experiment conducted by Watson.) Furthermore, the experiments performed in behavioral psychology also revealed that the strategy of modifying behavior could also be used to alter the will and convictions of a person according to the will of the person conducting the experiments by means of a systematic control of information and communication, and that using a paradoxical language (e.g. "pain is pleasure") could even give rise to mental problems. Whenever such procedures are purposely used to manipulate and harm a person (see "Newspeak" in Orwell's 1984), the science of psychology looses its quality as a therapeutic and pedagogical means of assistance and becomes nothing more than an insidious weapon. The most spectacular instance of the effectiveness of the behavioral methods is when the political or philosophical convictions of a prisoner are altered to suit the program of a torturer applying torture that leaves no physical traces on the body (so-called psycho-torture). This is how American POWs in the Korean War were "converted" to Communist ideology, and how Stalin's supporters who had fallen from grace were made to publicly confess their enmity towards the state which was non-existent in reality and to declare their guilt. But even people who are not being coerced can be subjected to methods borrowed from behavioral psychology and have their will sapped or even their personality destroyed. This was demonstrated by the campaign against dissidence waged by the Stasi (the former East German secret police), who used a scientific program developed by behavioral psychologists to "disintegrate the psyche." The victims of these methods of psychological torture suffer of the consequences to this day. It has been proven that Scientology uses similar procedures ("techniques") on the one hand to make individuals pliable and to discipline its members, and on the other hand to attack its critics, who are seen as enemies, in order to silence them and obstruct them in their activities against the organization. The damage caused by such methods which is being investigated by human and social scientists under the heading of "mobbing" has already made itself felt in the world of business. What is particularly worrisome, as it is incompatible with the democratic world order, is the fact that management trainers who believe in a Darwinistic corporate and social philosophy teach these methods to their customers in courses in order to turn them into "battle managers" ready for the "business war." If a candidate is not informed as to he main or side effects of strategies that modify behavior, or, as is the case with Scientology, purposely deceived about those effects, he or she will as a rule find it hard to differentiate between normal instructional techniques and "forced instruction" or brainwashing. It is especially reprehensible when repressive techniques are purposely applied by the user to cause harm or accept harm as an outcome, and are disguised as "healing measures". After gathering the necessary evidence, the Investigative Commission determined that members of Scientology's elite Sea Org unit who had make mistakes are pressured into reeducation using classic brainwashing techniques in so-called reeducation camps known as the "Rehabilitation Project Force" (RPF). Hubbard's definition of "brainwashing" in the management dictionary he himself compiled reveal that he had excellent knowledge of the psychological application of brainwashing techniques. He understood Pavlovian conditioning procedures in terms of brainwashing and described how Pavlov was able to generate psychoses in experiments with animals using his conditioning technology. In a lecture held in 1951, Hubbard discussed how he could make people sick using his techniques. He called these methods "Black Dianetics". Human scientists have long been perfectly aware that conditioning and dressage neuroses and psychoses can be brought about by conditioning.

3. The cybernetic foundation of Hubbard's technology theory

The similar set of laws governing control, regulation and data transmission in both living organisms and machines (computers, robots) that the mathematician Norbert Wiener discovered at the end of the 1940s led to the rise of a new paradigm that converged the natural sciences and philosophy and led to the creation of the new umbrella scientific systems theory and cybernetics (the art of steering). Learning science based on biology was given new impetus. Attention was once again paid to the materialistic image of the human being dating back to the Enlightenment, "l'homme machine." (Artificial) intelligence and (artificial) life could be mechanically simulated using computers and automated robots. Intellectual and psychological processes were seen as functional features of a cybernetic system (cognitivism) according to the new science. Some scientists believe that this proves that the human brain is nothing more than a machine, a kind of electronic data processor. The technological theory to modify humans described by Hubbard in his basic opus "Dianetics" (1950) is not only connected to cognitive behaviorism but also directly to the communication and steering techniques of cybernetics. This is evidenced by the following points: Hubbard's concept of the human brain/mind as a data processing machine (cf. "Dianetics, the Evolution of a Science," 1959, 1972), his self-proclaimed qualification as an "engineer," the engineering jargon he used, recalling a machine code, the redefinition of human mental and social abilities using hundreds of special function terms borrowed from engineering, the recommendation that engineers be used as so-called "auditors" for the reprogramming of the human brain/mind, the psychometric measurement and evaluation methodology (cf. Management Series, Vol. 1-3), the use of feedback processes when applying a lie detector ("Electrometer" or "E-meter" for short), the belief in the "programmability" and "produceability" of the New Person in a learning laboratory ("valuable final product"). Hubbard also defined the use of his technology as the application of natural educational principles ("The logics of Dianetics are the science of education. These are the axioms of education." Management Lexicon, Axioms of Education). Even the methods of Dianetics and Scientology ("technology"), which seem incomprehensible at first glance, can be given a plausible explanation using the cybernetic paradigm. The "human machine" is subjected to numerous learning drills ("trainings") involving excruciating procedures often lasting hours and thereby conditioned like a re-programmable robot to allegedly act with what Hubbard considered greater precision in and with the outer world, i.e., programmed ("Objective Process"). The candidate ("Preclear" or "Pc") is also taught to obey all the commands of the trainer blindly, in other words, to act like a puppet. When the candidate has finally learnt this stimulus-response obedience, he or she is then examined internally for malfunctions by the application of excessive inquisitive questioning ("auditing"). Auditing, too, is linked to cybernetic theory. Ignoring inherited traits, Hubbard assumed that all psychological and physical dysfunctions were caused by "incorrect programming," namely in the storing of painful experiences by the recording of data ("engram") in the brain/mind ("reactive mind"), which is depicted as a database. An attempt is made to identify the possible "incorrect programming" in the memory by connecting the candidate to an E-meter during the examination, and then running through a set of standardized questions and playing a cleverly devised question-and-answer game along the so-called "time track." Suggestions for the presence of an "engram" is a jump in the needle of the E-meter. The candidate must then mentally relive the painful experience over and over again until the E-meter no longer registers and impulse ("null needle"). This method is reminiscent of deconditioning exercises through abreacting used in behavioral therapies. According to Hubbard's therapeutic theories, this will erase the engram which will then cease to have a deleterious effect on the person thus treated. Hubbard never provided proof that the health of the candidate would not be affected by the electrical (body) charge registered by the E-meter when the candidate recalled the painful events, or for that matter by the mental picture itself. The improvement in how the candidate feels after "discharging" the engram cannot be taken as evidence, since suggestion or a placebo effect could also bring about this state. When all engrams are erased, the so-called reactive mind is considered erased. This state is defined as "clear." Long before Hubbard revived the idea of penetrating consciousness and influencing it therapeutically using a biofeedback device, researchers in the field of psychology had already investigated it (psychometry, psychophysics). The impact and value of those methods are controversial and frequently criticized as a form of biological reductionism. Even if the human sciences cannot fully explain what happens to individuals who allow themselves to be treated by the Hubbard method, it can be assumed that "dianetic technology" is merely a plain verbal therapy or a symbolic game. Instead, we are dealing with highly efficient psychological and social techniques (operant conditioning, trance inducement, suggestion, control of social behavior using psycho- and sociometry and systemic group control) that will change the outward and inward behavior of the candidate in the long-term. The exercises that are aimed at the experience of so-called "exteriorization" ("OT" state) are especially problematic. The occurrence of this phenomenon which has been thoroughly researched by the human sciences during certain meditation exercises, is used by Hubbard to buttress his dualistic paranormal body-soul theory. He stated that the spirit, postulated as a field of energy ("Thetan"), can leave the "human machine." The alleged proof of this is a specific jump in the E-meter's needle ("Theta bop"). These exercises cause many customers to experience psychological peculiarities ranging all the way to mental distress that can be construed as illness. This leads to a desire for more training that resembles addiction and customers will go to any length (even financial) to get it. In its final report, the Investigative Commission confirmed that for people with a weaker constitution, auditing can lead to severe mental illnesses and even to suicidal tendencies. The Commission criticized the aggressive hard-sell methods used to induce customers to purchase these very costly trainings.

4. The engineering-cybernetics organization theory

At first glance, the organizational structure selected by Hubbard for Scientology in order to sell his tech-oriented personality growth and business management methods creates the impression that it is just another stringently led international corporation offering individuals a variety of services on the market for further training. (Narconon: "drug rehabilitation;" Criminon: "rehabilitation of criminals;" Applied Scholastics: "improved education;" The Way of Happiness foundation: "improvement of morality in society;" Citizen's Commission on Human Rights: "protection of patients from abuses of psychiatry.") Dyed-in-the-wool Scientologists point out, however, that the sale of these services is only a means to the end of "healing" everyone in order to "create a civilization without mental illness, without criminals and without war." They therefore consider Scientology a "social reform movement." Beyond its aim of acting as a therapy for individuals, which is supposed to be achieved by the First Dynamic Tech, Scientology claims to be in possession of a new technology for organization, administration and management to improve structures and functioning of all groups, organizations and officials. It calls it "Third Dynamic Technology."

a. Third Dynamic Technology

The organization sells this technology on a franchise basis to businesses and has them join the broad-based "World Institute of Scientology Enterprises" (WISE). The immediate objective of disseminating this management technology and binding clients from the business sector into WISE is the accumulation of economic power. The long-term strategy, however, is extending influence to society as a whole with the ultimate goal of taking power. This plan is quite easy to deduce from Scientology's program of social reform, which it describes as a "clear planet." The influence of Scientology on the economy in the United States is already so strong, that when entering into partnerships with German businesses, some larger US corporations refuse to accept contractual clauses protecting the German partner from the application of Hubbard technologies in their company. The "Third Dynamic Tech" and the way it is used were described by Hubbard in the three-volume "Management Series." To this day there have been no organization and sociological investigations as to the substance of these organization rules nor of the operational guidelines and the social and psychological effects of their potential implementation. This considerably impedes any discussion of the goals of the Scientological system and any appraisal of the potential hazards for its functionaries and customers on the one hand and for the state and society on the other. All that is currently possible at this point is a preliminary description and evaluation of the organization and social theory and its techniques. When described in full, the term "Third Dynamic Tech" from the Management Series really indicates a social theory of an engineer- and cybernetically-steered society in the form of a biotechnological system that can be compared to a superorganism. It also suggests the specific social techniques of technocratic social engineering necessary for the creation and maintenance of this type of system. And finally, it involves the disguised formulating of the general purpose of using these social techniques to create many little Scientological "superorganisms" and to ultimately drown the democracies in a global "superorganism" controlled by Scientology (cf. "The Ideal Org" in HCO pL, March 12, 1975). The social techniques proposed for use are linked to biotechnological steering and communications systems. The traits required from an ideal Scientology functionary in the new social system traits that must therefore be trained in the newcomer are those of the perfect technocrat, with absolutely blind obedience to the steering commands of the system, and with the ability to unrelentingly correct even the most minor deviations from the technical rules as well as exact total obedience from subalterns. The Scientological instructional goal for functionaries corresponds to the image of the authoritarian personality that T. W. Adorno and others noted in 1950 within the framework of clinical research into the inclination towards Fascistic-authoritarian ideologies.

b. The engineering-cybernetics theory of control technology

Using a carefully devised control technology, all "production processes" of a Scientological organization ("Org") are supposed to be steered without interruption as a form of perfect total quality management, whereby it makes no difference whether in the process of controlling inorganic or organic parts of the system are carefully tested for smooth function. The workers at their respective "workplaces" are described as parts of a "live organization" by Hubbard, but are nevertheless strictly subjected to the production processes and controlling mechanisms without the slightest regard for personal needs and freedom. They are treated as parts of a machine (HCO PL, November 2, 1970, re-released October 10, 1980). This principle, borrowed from the cybernetic theory and technology of Norbert Wiener and translated into engineering was drawn up by Hubbard as an alleged "natural law" for all production, be that biological reproduction or production by human hands. It means that the guaranteeing of services in the area of Scientological "pedagogy" and "therapy" is considered a genuine production process and is therefore placed on equal footing with the production of wares. According to Hubbard's corporate philosophy and today's management of the organization, the Scientological "production organisms" manufacture the Scientologist as a "valuable final product." In the Management Series, Hubbard's "New Human" is not a person with self-determination, but rather an object, an organism that allegedly functions better after "processing" and has been incorporated into the Scientology superorganism as a system element. In order to draw the customers' attention away from this reality, they are promised the "acquisition of freedom" (HCO PL, January 24, 1969, revised and re-issued on October 10, 1985). Human intellect and spirit are totally left out in the Management Series. Even the "org's" "production organism" features are not treated from the intellectual standpoint, but from the purely technical-functional one. A "good Scientological org" according to Hubbard owes its existence and effectiveness to the proper interaction of the following three organizational factors: 1) "Ethics;" 2) "Tech;" 3) "Admin." The following "natural" principles are concurrent with these factors: Only after "ethics" have been introduced to a group is the practice of "Scientology Technology" possible (in other words, drill instruction, (cf. 4 c)); ethics here translates into everyday language as: Everyone must immediately obey all commands of the system without contradiction (cf. 4 d). This, in turn, is the precondition for enforcing organization regulations. It is based on the principle of strict orders and obedience as is the case with military commands. A "healthy," expanding organization is only possible when all three factors are functioning optimally (HCO PL, October 16, 1997). This "basic law" of the art of Scientological "management" was developed and consolidated using a cold, technocratic and often cynical language in hundreds of coordinated policy letters from Hubbard's communications office ("HCO PL"). Their aim is the establishment and expansion of Scientological organizations, the training of personnel, management of the organization internally and externally. Hubbard presented his organization and management model for the Scientology organization as the quintessential pattern for the development and leadership of all organizations in the future global society in all its sectors. Obviously, when it came to his concept of administration, Hubbard was convinced a conviction he raised to the rank of a "natural law" that by strictly applying his technologies, one could turn individuals and society into a premium product by subjecting them to a continuous process, like the engine of a sports car. The organization rules for the establishment and control of Scientological organizations naturally recall the blue prints and operating guidelines of engineers involved in communications and robot technology about to install a fully automated production line made up of robots and computers. The organizational regulations call on the one hand for workers as "terminals," i.e. starting and ending points for the transmission of news and controlling commands, and on the other hand for workers as "machines," who for their part should develop "machines" able to produce (HCO PL, October 29, 1970); and finally there is a multi-layered system of controlling and steering powers, who are continuously performing psychological and socio-technical measurements. In the Management Series, Hubbard considers his organization's services as true manufacturing. He accordingly classifies his customers and trainees as "raw material" ("raw meat," "raw public," "particles"). They are to be optimized into a "valuable final product" in a "mechanical" work process according to a prescribed model ("model session") and a prescribed technical processes that must be followed precisely and that recall the rules governing mechanical processes, i.e. algorithms. It's no coincidence that Hubbard speaks of "life repair" (HCO PL, August 20, 1979; HCO PL, September 21, 1980). This biotechnological concept of a homo sapiens that can be modified by the methods of social engineering, a concept promulgated in the Management Series, gives not the slightest evidence of a religious, philosophical or psychological human image. Hubbard's human model represents the total negation of the human image of both religions and also of democracies. According to the democratic values system, the human being is an individual, i.e. a self-determining subject with human dignity, and not an artificial object that must be tuned up for higher functioning in a learning laboratory like in Huxley's Brave New World, and that is then declared a useful "final product" after a final check by the laboratory manager within the framework of a total quality procedure.

c. Drilling the functionaries, learning the new language

The organization and controlling bylaw is minutely implemented by Scientology management. In order set the production organism of an "org" to work, "tech" that is, programmed learning and teaching drills is applied to the workers to make them function perfectly for the "processing," i.e. drilling of their clientele ("educating people with drills until they can think," HCO PL, April 26, 1970 R, re-examined on March 15, 1975; cf. the "Chinese school" drill method, HCO PL, May 13, 1972). Of particular importance here is the learning of Hubbard's "Newspeak," which was designed for his "human machines." In it, he reconstructed in engineering terms the physical communicative relationships of human communication according to cybernetic theory and technology. That is why this new language is reminiscent of the jargon of telegraph technicians, communications engineers and computer programmers (cf. "Communication Formula," HCBO, April 5, 1973). For outsiders without understanding of the engineering background, who take at face value the pseudo-religious ideology that wily Scientology PR professionals use to camouflage the system, this new language and the texts written in it will appear completely incomprehensible and will have no central significance. For the "terminals" and "production machines" working in his engineer-cybernetic operating system, Hubbard created a perfect machine code with his new language. His "human machines" can use it ("MEST")to communicate around the world and amongst themselves. They load "data" from their "database," their brain/consciousness (HCO PL, May 12, 1970) send it as a message to another "terminal" or have it reprogrammed through "false data stripping" (HCO PL, August 7, 1979) in case faults have been identified in their program or database during a check ("data series"). The Management Series is therefore very much rooted in engineering-cybernetics theory and technology, and are therefore in contradiction to the speculative Thetan teachings that he propounded in other writings.

d. Unlearning feelings

As a code for the representation of the physical world, Hubbard's cybernetic Newspeak possesses not a single expression for feelings or spiritual stimuli. Sympathy is even considered a fault in the Scientological value system. According to Hubbard, "sympathy" lowers the "potential for survival." In his Tone Scale, a table of values for emotions consisting of 40 levels, which is used in tests to measure survivability, sympathy has been given a value of 0.9, in other words, it is totally devalued. Hubbard accordingly rejected charity and the welfare state. Nor is it astonishing that Hubbard came up with trainings that aim at systematically suppressing the expression of feelings: the stimulus process called "bullbaiting," for example, in which the candidate is supposed to learn to maintain equanimity under torture; or the mechanical drilling of a puppet-like body language for mimicry, eye contact, movements of the arms and legs, for the body in relation to closeness to and orientation towards other persons, for the manner of speaking regarding vocal emphasis, speed and vocal melody. These various non-verbal communication exercises that are aimed at the acquisition of an artificial body language ("TRs") are reminiscent of acting classes but belong to the field of conditioned instruction. The constant use of a technical language derived from engineering and the artificial non-verbal communications culture in social life no doubt gradually freezes up the emotional life of many functionaries and long-standing customers and with the moral sensitivities connected to an emotional life. For the candidates this could result in the evolution to the "one-dimensional person," a new technoid personality type described and criticized by H. Marcuse in his 1964 studies on the ideology of the late industrial society. For the ultimately trained top management and the Sea Org members, the "aristocracy" of the organization, a far more appropriate categorization is that of the related technological functional and battle person described by E. Jünger in "Der Arbeiter" (The Worker; 1932) as a further evolutionary step of technologizing mankind (cf. 5b). At the end of the 1940s, T. W. Adorno and his assistants carried out a study on the "authoritarian personality" in Berkley. Sociological research today can safely say that the materializing of the spiritual and a technologizing of interpersonal relations one of the conscious aims of Scientological training represent significant conditions for the shaping of this personality type. When fully unfolded, the authoritarian personality manifests the following features: Reacts to commands in totalitarian systems: the authoritarian personality gives orders to perform inhuman measures without feeling any scruples, or will carry such measures out on being ordered to do so for the maintenance or expansion of the system's power. As a rule, he does not care whether these measures violate human rights or moral laws. He is satisfied to justify his actions by stating that they serve the system or are sanctioned by it. The authoritarian image of the human being is therefore in fundamental contradiction to the democratic one. Even long after leaving the organization, some of the former members who served as functionaries or were customers of the organization for many years complain of feeling cold inside and of lacking feelings. Relatives of Scientologists already note a change in their relatives' personalities shortly after they came in contact with the organization. They describe their behavior as "coldly calculating," "robotlike," "mechanical," or complain of "cynical" or even "sadistic" personal behavior. And even after leaving the organization similar behavior has been reported. Whether this attitude is the result of a neurotic illness still needs to be investigated. The phenomenon that most former functionaries and long-standing members have the hardest time explaining is why during their membership they considered critics of the system as true enemies, even if they were their closest relatives, and why they tried by all means to silence them as troublemakers. This cannot only be deduced from the development of an authoritarian personality structure. Some former members pointed out that in keeping with the system's doctrine, they considered their own welfare, "survival," would be in jeopardy if they broke off ties with the organization in obeyance to the wishes of their relatives. Creating this attitude is one of the manipulative strategies of the system, which thereby immunizes its members against incoming criticism. It's actually a well-tried social technique repeatedly used by totalitarian regimes. The idea is to make a dogma of close ties to the regime and of its continued existence as a vital commodity necessary for survival in order to recruit champions and soldiers for the defense and expansion of the system.

e. Relentless pressure to perform by permanent measuring of the productivity of the "human machine" and its "aggregates"

After setting up a "production org," customers are brought into the "org" and "processed" by means of the methods laid out in No. 3. At this point, the educational shaping process of the workers is by no means ended. The performance of the workers, who come make contact with the customers according to fixed technical regulations in the manner of conveyor belt workers, are continuously and fastidiously measured as the basis for controlling and steering the individual and the "org." The measurement of this "outflow" serves both to evaluate the productivity of the individual worker, indirectly, however, management's as well. Hubbard furthermore raised statistics to the rank of a biological healing science. Through figures, the "survival potential" of individual workers and of the "org" can be measured. Statistics become the pivot of the entire Scientology system. They alone decide the fate, good or bad, of the both the lowliest functionary and the highest-ranking manager. Thanks to statistical results, each single worker, the top managers, indeed even the organizations are classified according to an evaluation system divided up into twelve steps, so-called ethics conditions ("confusion, treason, enemy, doubt, liability, non-existence, danger, emergency, normal, affluence, power change, power"), which determine the workers' value and standing within the "org" or vis-à-vis other "orgs." If the statistical results are poor (e.g. "non-existence"), the toughest punishment is meted out to improve personal productivity. Illness is no excuse here. Because perfectly trained Scientologists cannot fall ill after training. Poor statistics because of illness one particular reason for adopting "improvement measures," i.e., for hard training. According to reports by former members, statistics are abused for the ruthless disciplining and exploitation of employees, in order to urge them on to "production," which is the basis of the system's expansion. Measurements of expansion on a time-space graph is the indication of an "org's" strength (HCO PL, December 4, 1966).

f. Potential for survival of the "human machine" and its "aggregates"

Hubbard defines the term "survival potential" as a vitality function to be gauged according to production statistics (HCO PL, July 6, 1976). Application of his "technology" is intended to escalate this vitality function meaning the entire human functional capacity in the physical, intellectual and spiritual areas to the point of being superhuman level, whereby all functional defects including all psychosomatic illnesses, are to be eradicated on the "Bridge," a long, incredibly expensive course of training. Organizations are also given assurances of survival potential. Hence, Hubbard's biological view of the superhuman with perfect functionality and the greatest possible biological "power" is neither religious in the occidental sense of the word, nor, as the organization itself alleges, is it to be found in Buddhism. Rather, it stems from a biological theory of nature upon which has been added a fantasy superstructure (utopian scientism). The condition of "power," as mentioned above, is the highest level and consequently represents the highest value in the graded "ethics system." Hubbard considers the condition to be nothing other than the highest productivity in the work process, be that for the individual or in an organization. But he also means highest power in terms of a biological superhuman state that is to be guided to breakthrough for all of mankind by "will-power." In Scientology: 0-8: The Book of Basics, Hubbard explicitly mentions Nietzsche as a source for Scientology. The biological concept of power and the human machine model, which reduces the human being to a functional value, demonstrate that Hubbard intended to make good on Nietzsche's philosophy. Nietzsche's human-technological demands for a kind of social engineering that violates human dignity are no different from Hubbard's cynicism: "The task is to make people as useful as possible, and to make bring them closer to being machines, insofar as is possible: For this purpose, he must be furnished with the virtues of a machine ( he must learn to experience the states in which he works as a useful machine as being of the highest value: And that will mean that others will possibly hold it against him, will possibly think him dangerous and disreputable" (unpublished works, Volume III (Collected Works), p. 630). The first axiom in Hubbard's "survive!" theory cannot be seen as a philosophical expression but rather as a biological one conceived as a biological theory that can be classified under the heading of social Darwinism. When conducting a philosophical debate with Scientology, one often overlooks the fact that the bulk of Scientological terms stem from a materialistic, i.e. biotechnical base upon which Hubbard built up his "technology." Hubbard, therefore, was never interested in possessing spiritual power, only biological power in the sense given by M. Foucault, the analyst of power.

g. "Production" pressure by application of "ethics"

The functional logic of the totalitarian organization and production theory of the system involves not only technocratic rules for organization set-up ("admin") and for training workers ("tech"), but also, as already mentioned above, rules for the management of workers ("ethics"). These regulations are also marked by the principle of total behavioral control using methods of compulsive instruction. The slightest deviation from a functionary's role regulations drilled for the purpose of "production" (ideal scene, HCO PL, July 5, 1970) are picked up in the "org" by a carefully worked out control and punishment system ("ethics"). The system knows no intimate sphere here. All means are permitted when it comes to examining member, in other words, turning them into "glass persons." The purpose of "ethics" control is to identify a functionary's "counter-intentions" or "other intendedness," and then to wipe out these intentions by using compulsive education. In order to identify potentially deviating intentions, so-called "knowledge reports" are sent to the so-called ethics officer when mistakes are made by workers that violate operational objectives. Self-denunciations are also to be written. All "knowledge reports" are collected in so-called "ethics files" to be used to increase the punishment level of a functionary's disciplining in the event of repeated failure on his or her part. For the "evaluation," the employee files and statistics are also taken into account, as is the previous "ethics condition." Since Scientological ethics is oriented towards worker performance that serves production and hence expansion , it comes as no surprise that Hubbard pardons workers with high statistics, generally, too, crimes, i.e. immoral conduct (the so-called Khan-Khan Doctrine, HCO PL, September 1, 1965 VIII). For all intents and purposes, the system still operates according to this amoral, utilitarian ethical code of convenience to this day when it comes to systematically suppressing justifiable criticism, disseminating false propaganda, carrying out "lie drills" for workers, attacking critics by means of psychological terror, or cowering former members by threatening to publish their auditing data. Scientology applies a dual moral standard which operates according to the tenet "the end justifies the means." Furthermore, by carrying out so-called "security checks" consisting of relentless, inquisitorial questioning using a list of questions and a lie detector ("E-meter"), the system continuously ensures the loyalty of its workers. Customers, too, are subjected to those types of checks in order to determine the presence of any possible "counter-" or "foreign" intentions. Alleged deviations registered by the needle of the E-meter are immediately "repaired." One of the main "repair measures" is term clarification. The aim of this is to re-consolidate the new language in the deviant by practicing the system-specific definitions, and at the same time to restore his ideological conviction. No explanation is given as to the aim and effect of this program of linguistic conditioning. The fact that penal camp re-education is part and parcel of this repressive educational technique seems in tune with the logic of the system. Hubbard's role model for the "RPF" is obviously the "camp education" of the Communist and Fascist dictatorships. Individuals who hinder the manufacturing of the New Person from within the system or from the outside, are subjected to an especially palpable educational treatment by Scientology's technological instructional machinery. These troublemakers, who suppress "production" ("Suppressive Persons," HCO LP, October 16, 1967) are "dealt with" using the most painful "educational measures" until they no longer represent a hindrance to the machine. The PTS/SP course "How to confront and smash suppression" (HCO PL, December 23, 1965, revised on September 10, 1983), comprises a precise regulation with material and procedural rules for the definition of "suppressive actions" and how to stop them. Rejection of Scientology, for example, is considered a so-called major crime. Public statements against Scientology or Scientologists are prohibited. This set of rules confirms the point made that Scientology's social order is a system of total behavioral control using the harshest repression. It also demonstrates that Scientology stands and acts outside the democratic values system. Because of the inhumanly hard measures used by management to control behavior, workers are constantly under extremely high pressure to perform. This gives rise to the feeling of constantly having a bad conscience, of not having done enough. On the one hand, this will induce the workers to buy more expensive training sessions in order to increase their "productive power," and on the other hand to lure new customers into the system, which will improve their statistics. At the heart of the system, then, lies an inhumane strategy of exploitation consciously aimed at enslaving both the workers and the customers. In one of his earlier command directives on the subject of "group health," Hubbard wrote about having to "use" people. Any other view of society is rejected as being "psychotic." (HCO PL, December 14, 1970).

5. Scientology, the total cybernetic power of psychological diagnosis

a. "Dianometry"

Besides tough operational regulations, the system applies a vast testing battery of reciprocally coordinated and hierarchically gradated psychometrical and sociometrical measurement methods to constantly gauge the productivity of the "human machine." It seems that Hubbard realized early on the actual power his "psychodiagnostic" measurement and controlling process gave him over people. In 1951, he elaborately boosted his new idea of measurement called "Dianometry - Your Ability and State of Mind," whereby he did not even shrink from comparing himself to Adolf Hitler. He expressed admiration for the inventor Thomas A. Edison and for Adolf Hitler. Both men had been "intelligent, very able, brilliant, very successful." But there was more to it than just intelligence and energy. Hubbard then developed his cybernetic view of the human being and the respective testing methods (Technical Bulletins 1950-1953, p. 67). The system's fixation with permanent control via behavioral tests is also manifest in the extensive treatment of this topic in the Management Series. Under the entries "evaluation" and "evaluator" are over 350 references to relevant text passages. According to this, every "auditing" session is simultaneously a performance test. By the same token, all activities of a worker are constantly being subjected to testing. The manner of observation, analysis, registration and evaluation of behavior recalls the procedures used by engineers of the TÜV (Germany's technical watchdog association) in their testing laboratories. The implication, however, is that no one can penetrate to the actual core of the Scientology system which involves permanent testing and programmed learning by purely philosophical and ideological discussion. That is also why Scientologists do not believe in philosophical or religious dogmas, they believe in their "optimizability" by way of tests they feel function and in the applied "technology." The task of a democratic legal state must therefore be to point out these methods, to reveal the threat they pose and to set up a defense. For the moment, however, the democratic legal state is insufficiently armed for this.

b. On the way to a society of tests

Over the course of the past decades, the dichotomy between philosophical experience of the world and scientific discoveries has continuously increased, more and more areas of our mind are being deciphered scientifically and can therefore be controlled technically (W. Ch. Zimmerli, 1989). Society's diagnostic power to measure the productivity of its citizens, their needs and attitudes by way of tests, and then based on those tests to judge them on their usability for certain tasks in society, has therefore continuously grown. There is an unending number of tests that are constantly being sold on the services market. People especially in the workforce, whether simple employees or top managers, are always encountering tests in the process of further training, tests upon which their continuing professional paths depend. Applying and evaluating these tests is making increased use of the analytical capabilities of computers these days. Human resources development programs supported electronically function partly as teaching and learning aids for workers, but are also used as diagnostic instruments for the measurement of productivity. Cleverly designed organization software has been developed as a management tool for the optimizing of corporate output. With its assistance, corporate managers today are able to examine each individual worker via his or her "data shadow," which his or her work has left behind in the networked IT system of the company, thus making the worker a "glass person." This type of diagnosis collecting, linking and processing personnel data in expert systems, or "data mining" is prohibited (§ 206 Penal Code, § 43 BDSG). Nevertheless, in order to prevent damage to their totally networked and hence very fault-sensitive information systems, more and more companies are making use of such diagnostic methods. With the excuse of searching for black sheep, performance profiles are increasingly being drawn up for workers for the purpose of a total quality management (Kaltenborn, 1999).

c. Insufficient personal defense against the "testing powers"

He who tests has power; by the test, the tested person is being delivered into the hands of the diagnostic power of the tester. If the tested person cannot check what kind of test is being applied and whether it was correctly applied, he or she may well become a pawn in the examiner's game. Even though personality tests penetrate deep into the citizen's right to self-determination where information is concerned, the state has to this date failed to set up proper defense mechanisms to protect its citizens from abuse. Hence, the Scientology system can continue selling its personality tests ("OCA test") to the business world unimpeded. The inflated claim of possessing total diagnostic knowledge is further underlined with the fact that for years now Scientology has been disseminating tons of propaganda material in Germany and thereby libelously attacked the forces of psychological diagnosis, psychiatry and classical psychology who are pledged to uphold the values system of the Basic Law. The democratic legal state, however, is not without a defense against this. In its document No. E/CN/4/1116 dated January 23, 1973, p. 71 ff., the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations described the dangers stemming from the abusive application of tests and drew up a series of recommendations for the "protection of the private sphere in the light of modern psychological and physiological methods to extract information." In Germany, these recommendations have not been implemented into law as of yet:

(1) The states will be asked to legally regulate the use of psychological testing procedures outside consultations and therapy.

(2) The use of psychological tests should be primarily oriented towards the claim to protection of the individual and only carried out by knowledgeable and expert personnel.

(3) Special clauses should regulate the possibility of refusing test investigations without disadvantageous consequences and of appealing consequences derived from the test results.

(4) The only testing procedures to be used in the area of vocational training and work are those that can be proven to have a direct relationship to the demands on hand.

(5) Use, confidentiality and dissemination of test results will require legal regulation

(6) The use of personality tests that permit conclusions on unconscious and inner psychological processes must be subjected to especially severe legal regulations in order to guarantee the protection of human rights. To protect the right to self-determination over information, psychological diagnosis via tests must be regulated as soon as possible. Systematic abuse of diagnostic power by Scientology could be hindered in this manner.

6. From the manufacturing of the "human machine" to the cybernetic dictatorship

This begs the question as to why individual workers and long-standing customers do not rebel against this humiliating compulsive control. The explanation lies in the following: The candidates are so profoundly impressed by the training experience they received in a trance, an experience that blew up their empirical view of the world, that they actually believe the promises of the organization suggesting they can help all of mankind by using their techniques. The fact that sacrifices must be made for the vision of a "new civilization," namely maintaining iron discipline, subjection to total control, permanent and excessive deployment of personal energy for work and one's own financial means, are all accepted as a necessary evil under these circumstances. They fail to see that they have been baited by behavioral tricks and are being held prisoner in a closed system by means of cybernetic control techniques. Because the candidate will not be enlightened to the fact that he or she was hypnotized during the decisive trainings. On the contrary, the organization always insists it does not use hypnosis. The bio-cybernetic controlling techniques cannot be identified by the customer, because Scientology does not divulge the fact of their use, in fact it even consciously deceives people about the use of these methods. In order to bind, Scientology abuses the social rules of games. Through and during games, the players can be made controllable and pliable, that is, they can be instrumentalized and enslaved. In systemic-cybernetic anthropology, playing games is seen as the primal adaptation of the human species and higher organisms to the environment and is therefore considered a special type of learning. Playing on and with the material and intellectual model of reality should serve to acquire and practice certain abilities. Using game theory, which differentiates between determinant, non-determinant, strategic and non-strategic games, cybernetics tries to explain the modifications in the behavior of people and groups (Flechtner, 1970). The network of interactions of a group's members is in itself seen as a game, and the totality of these interactions (the moves) is defined as a social system (F. B. Simon, 1995). Picking up on systems theory, Scientology sees itself as a network (HCO PL, December 4, 1966) and as a game system (HCO PL, December 4, 1966), for which new players must be found by means of special moves. Scientology gives the appearance of being an open system, in which a person can decide by himself when to begin and end a game. In truth, however, the system is set up to permanently maintain a hold on the other players, i.e., to turn them into integral elements of the system's structure. Systems bearing this characteristic are called "enslaving" in systems theory. When a system of this kind expands, the enslaved elements enhance the expansive force of the system like an avalanche within the context of a so-called synergy effect (H. Haken, 1981). Scientological management acts according to this systemic concept; this is what determines Scientology's expansion strategy.

a. Auditing: playing with puppets

In his theory of games conditions dated December 1, 1950 (PAB No. 101), Hubbard writes: "The most suitable answer to the riddle of life is play." (Quote re-translated from the German). He defines "auditing" as a "game" ("We audit the 'Preclear' in all phases, as if playing a game"). (Quote re-translated from the German). In "Preconditions for auditing" dated June 12, 1956 (PAB No. 88), Hubbard explains that during auditing one should avoid turning to the subjective self, the mind, as much as possible, and instead try to teach the "Preclear" the ability to "play a game," at the end of which he can "win." This technique of setting up games, namely by having the players aim for a win, is the reason that many customers and workers can no longer leave the Scientology system. The games of Scientology, which, as we have just shown, are based on the model of quasi-mechanical interaction, can be classified under the rubric control games, which leave the player without the slightest freedom. The player becomes a puppet, an object that can only be modified by the trainer alone. Hubbard's axiomatic concept stating that all trainings on the "Bridge" are pedagogical-therapeutic instructional games throws a light onto the reason and motive for the hundreds of mysterious trainings (e.g., practicing with an ashtray or learning "control" by the repeated stereotypical performance of a walking movement in the form of "start, change and stop"). The "auditor" plays a training game with the "human machine" that recalls a children's game, so that "it" should learn in the future to move about the world with the precision of a robot, to conceive of the world as a physical instrument and to control it with ever greater assurance. The American film Matrix, apparently a cult film for the higher-level Scientologists, provides a very vivid illustration of this fantastical cybernetic anthropology. The sheer banality of Scientological games is so extreme in the case of the so-called Objective Processes, that the practitioners obviously develop an urge to over-spice them semantically, i.e. to mystify them in order to achieve the verbal experience of gain. The fact that the exercises merely have a technical and operative purpose, namely learning to perform with precision certain movement sequences on command, is seldom realized by the candidates. The aim of the "processing" is at first playful interaction as such. As with infant games, the idea here is not to supply a certain meaning, as would be the case with a symbols game, but rather just plain doing (sensor-motoric functional game). Because these "meaningless" games can be interpreted in many ways, the candidate is always free to find a winning "cognition," with which every game ends, by way of auto-suggestion; in the process, the functional game is obviously elevated to the rank of a game of symbols. This is facilitated by the fact that the candidates are often been induced into a trance by the stereotypical exercises that sometimes go on for hours and so the experience of the trance becomes the aim of the exercise. This trick of having the player reinterpret a meaningless action to be a meaningful event appears to be very effective. Thanks to their "winning experience," which they have to protocol after each game, the customers are drawn deeper and deeper into the overall game of Scientology. The incentive to continue is the promise of the constant increase of the "winning" while passing through the many courses on the "bridge." The use of this method in advertising is called incentive technique. The fact that ever greater financial and personal sacrifices must be performed, is taken into account by the customers and functionaries, who have apparently become addicted to playing. As an unscrupulous salesman and manipulator of his own functionaries, Hubbard points out in his "Marketing Series" how important it is not to enlighten the public as to the mysterious experience they have just had in order to facilitate selling them more courses (HCO PL, June 25, 1978, rereleased August 31, 1979). The customers become puppets in the hands of the trainers, who in turn are puppets of the system. Customers and trainers often fail to notice that as opposed to what Scientological propaganda says, they are not progressing along a spiritual path, but instead have been trained to become perfectly functioning "human machines" for a system that is in the process of expanding. As with chain letters, they are being used as bait to lure new players. The pressure from the machinery is so strong that even functionaries who have seen through the aggressive sales techniques (hard sell) allow themselves to be convinced over and over again to purchase more trainings, even if they are at the edge of financial ruin. The ideological conditioning seems to break down all natural forces of resistance.

b. The strategy behind expansion plans and activities

Of particular significance in cybernetic game theory are those games involving competition and battles and therefore focus on a conflict that one wants to decide in one's own favor by the application of a winning strategy. (G. Klaus, 1969; Flechtner, 1970). In the Management Series, the Scientology system and all its organizations is explicitly described with implicit reference to the cybernetic theory of strategic games as a player of a strategic game. It is depicted as playing against the rest of the world (HCO PL, December 4, 1966, February 2, 1970). In order to win this game, the players are drilled for "battle plans" (HCO PL, August 22, 1982) and in "strategic planning" (HCO PL, January 5, 1983). Typically, the table of contents of the Management Series has about 40 references to the topic "war" and about 15 references to "battle." Therefore, the Management Series could as a whole be interpreted as a handbook for logistics and cybernetic strategy for the global take-over Scientological management is striving for. The use of strategic and military terminology as well as the fact that the Scientology system has in fact armed itself for its expansion as if going into battle show that this is not just an overreaction. In its core area it has adopted a military form of organization. The Sea Org, whose members wear uniforms, thinks of itself as a military order whose task is to clear away obstacles in crisis areas, when expansion has ceased. The secret service called OSA, which "is to provide a secure environment for expansion," acts as a paramilitary group. Its agents and those of the Sea Org management are given hands-on special training for their "missions" and "operations" drawn mostly from the book of strategic theory written by the Chinese author Sun Tsu (500 BC). This work is a guideline for fighting and espionage techniques that stand beyond any moral or legal considerations. The other source of strategy is the "Manual of Justice," in which Hubbard prescribed how to efficiently silence opponents using dirty methods. Evidently, these teachings have already been put into action against critics of the organization worldwide. By formulating a strategic goal and applying the organizational models provided by the military, Hubbard made good use of the social bonding forces that weld together a commando group in the midst of a mission. This gives rise to an adapting of perceptions, to a common world view and perspective on action (J. Ruesch/G. Bateson, 1995). As a clever social pedagogue, Hubbard provided the commando he created with no lesser a motivation to fight than the securing of "the survival of all mankind." This, too, is another psychological trick from the arsenal of totalitarian propagandists and incentive specialists, who use it to stage sales campaigns and also social movements. Scientology's coordinated rules and regulations of organizing, of education and of systematic control leads to a puppet-like instrumentalization and ultimately enslavement of both workers and customers. It can be traced to an abuse of the know-how derived from systems theory, information theory and control theory. The eventuality of that kind of abuse has long been discussed in scientific theory, but the actualization of the danger was always assumed to be improbable (H. Stachowiak, 1989). This is surprising, because ever since N. Wiener's discovery of cybernetic principles, the then East Bloc in particular concentrated on intense research into, and practical applications of, this new scientific theory and technique. Obviously the powers that be were hoping to use the new technology to optimize the system of planned economies. Research into cybernetics was even written into the party programs of the USSR and the GDR (G. Klaus/H.Liebscher, 1970). In cybernetic theory and practice, the Marxist-Leninist ideologues even saw scientific proof for the correctness of dialectical materialism (G. Klaus/M. Buhr, 1964, 1972). In spite of worldwide application of the concepts and techniques of systems, information and control theories even in the economies of democratic societies, Scientology's ordinary cybernetic approach to theory and practice and the abuse associated with this new knowledge of administration and control remained unknown to this day. One significant reason for this is probably the fact that the radical aspect of this technocratic approach, which suggests that a social system can be set up solely on the basis of engineering and cybernetic theory and practice and that humans can be degraded to the level of robots, simply defies the normal power of imagination. What has also been overlooked until now is that the term "Thetan" in the Management Series refers to an independently ordering control unit that controls another system (HCO PL, December 4, 1966). A similar idea can be found in serious cybernetics (Haken, 1981). The engineer-like stringency of the Management Series does raise the suspicion that this opus does not even stem from Hubbard's quill, but rather was the work of ice-cold technocrats who used the sci-fi author and fantasist Hubbard in order to disguise their cynical power games. If the Management Series was in fact written by Hubbard, one might then believe that he only drew up his Thetan myth as a "mystery sandwich" (HCO PL, June 25, 1978) in order to facilitate luring the public into his exploitative machinery. The key to explaining the totalitarian system of Scientology and its bonding power is not necessarily to be found in the pseudo-religious superstructure that many of the lower Scientologists believe in but hardly the authors and executives of the Management Series regulations. Rather, it lies in the ability to use behavioral and systemic-cybernetic knowledge of domination, to steer, instrumentalize and enslave people and to unscrupulously apply this know-how without regard for human dignity and human rights. Amongst the techniques cumulatively used are:

(1) Motivation of customers and workers through constant use of so-called incentive techniques in advertising and in courses by promising a winning, happiness or success; manipulative stimulation of a feeling of happiness while under hypnosis or by systematic over-stimulation of the organism (e.g. by excessive rounds in the sauna during the so-called Purification Rundown); reflecting ideal goals to disguise the totalitarian claim to power and the build-up of an anti-democratic position of power

(2) acclimatization of a new engineering language with the purpose of operationally restructuring thought and deed; unlearning of natural body language.

(3) Instruction in how to hold controlling power over other people by

a. learning drills

b. programmed learning

c. operative conditioning by reinforcing desired behavior and suppressing unwanted behavior

d. permanent, systematic group control

(4) Indoctrination using a false anthropology (in part by alleging the possibility of total control over mind and psyche by measuring the body's electricity, and in part by using instructional technology)

(5) Awakening a kind of addiction in customers and workers to constantly participate in the "prize game" of Scientology

(6) Exploitation of this addiction

a. by usurious pricing of courses

b. by exploiting workers

(7) Systematic abuse of scientific, social and cultural knowledge and of the values it provides for a human treatment of body, mind and soul in the preparation for business, in trainings, in managing workers and in the discussion with critics The strategic approach as it appears in the Management Series allows the following assessment of Scientology's manner in conducting business: Under the guise of friendliness and social reform, it enslaves workers and customers in a technologically steered society of control (cybernetic dictatorship) and tries to propagate and advance the transformation of the democratic social order into a cybernetic dictatorship.

7. Techno-totalitarianism, a threat to the democratic values system in the 21st Century

Both Scientology's agenda and its method of approach represent a new type of totalitarianism. In order to subjugate people and its own organizations, the system uses behavioral and cybernetic controlling and steering mechanisms (techno-totalitarianism or cyber-fascism). Hubbard probably borrowed his vision of making society shed its "aggressions" by means of behavioral instructional technology from B. F. Skinner. In his 1948 book Walden Two, Skinner propounded a similar program of reeducation for society to Hubbard's. However, as opposed to Hubbard, Skinner made clear that for his proposed attempt at education, individuals would have to waive freedom and dignity. In spite of the fact that the anthropological theory of unlimited human pliability through instructional technology has long been disproved, the realm of further training (management training) is increasingly using such techniques for the alleged optimization of the individual. Hubbard's human-technological concept of "optimizing" is completely in tune with the tradition of "Scientific Management" devised by the engineer F. W. Taylor. At the beginning of the 20th century, Taylor used engineering means evaluated the work performance and behavior of American factory workers, divided them up into individual functions and created new rhythms, i.e., mechanized and dehumanized them (Taylorism), with the aim of optimizing performance. Max Weber felt that this technique of disciplining people outwardly and inwardly using scientific methods was a typical form of domination in modern times (cf. here The New Human Being: A 20th-Century Obsession, exhibition at the German Museum of Hygiene in Dresden, 1999). The actual potential danger emanating from Scientific Management, namely the possibility of abuse for totalitarian aims, was described by the Russian engineer and author Yevgeny Zamiatin in a manner that is still valid to this day. In 1920 already, at the time Max Weber was expressing his criticism of Taylorism, he explained the ability of the Bolsheviks to collectivize Russia's society and to enslave the individual by excessive use of the methods of Scientific Management. In his satirical utopian novel We, in which Zamiatin ripped apart Bolshevism, people are controlled as "numbers" according to the Taylor method, in other words on the basis of mathematical laws. The price for their perfect technical operation is the loss of their souls. The strategy of a complete technologizing of personal and social conditions (social engineering) that Zamiatin created as a characteristic of totalitarianism is also used indisputably by Scientology. Typically, when describing their method of modification for the individual and society, the organization does not use such terms as "ideology" or "psychology," but rather "technology." In the special report written by four experts on the Investigative Commission, Scientology is referred to in terms of the scientific orientation of its theories and practice, but the system is not classified as a creed under the heading religion but rather in the postmodern realm of science and technology as ideology (scientism). Quite obviously, Scientology is part of the new cultural currents that the American sociologist N. Postman described and critiqued as "Technopol" (1991), while his colleague G. Ritzer did the same, speaking of the "McDonaldization" of society (1993). Postman fears that society is being debilitated by the power of technology; Ritzer foresees the danger of an "iron cage" for society if technological advances continue as they are. The American computer scientist J. Weizenbaum sees the same threat and warns against a unilateral orientation of society towards cybernetic scientism and its unfettered progress (1976). The control and steering mechanisms and the psychometric measurement and evaluation procedures used on individuals reveal Scientology to be a typical representative of the "Technopol." The cultural criticism expressed by the American scientists quoted above might appear exaggerated, but it nevertheless appropriately describes our society's increasing tendency towards a biological-technological orientation, and it certainly applies to the practical methods of Scientology. German future scientists also see similar dangers as the American writers. The Frauenhofer Institut for Labor and Organization (JAO) in Stuttgart has developed three possible future scenarios for the 21st century. Two optimistic models are contrasted with the "Metropolis" model, which consists of a dismal variation of Postman's "Technopol." The Bavarian-Saxon Commission for the Future also feels that without adopting the appropriate countermeasures, a development in the "Metropolis" direction cannot be entirely excluded. Our society has hardly taken note of the risks that an unbridled cybernetic technologizing of our social life sources (cybersociety) might imply, especially, however of the methods of Scientific Management in the shape of cybernetic corporate organization and control that are applied in a part of our economic life. Scientology is an extremist representative of this trend towards increasing technologizing. Even if the Scientology organization has been under surveillance by the Office for Protection of the Constitution as an anti-constitutional movement, and even if numerous member of the organization have left it as a result of the government's educational campaign, there can be no relaxing of vigilance. To defend from the dangers emanating from excessive use of instructional technology of behavioral slant and from cybernetic controlling techniques, ethical and legal standards of behavior ought to be decreed as soon as possible for the protection of the individual. Therefore, legal regulation of the commercial psychology and further training market must be introduced soon, as the Investigative Commission recommended, and the diagnosis of personalities by testing must also be addressed.

Diagram of the techniques used by Scientology for behavioral control

Note:

The aim of using tech is the „re-programming“ of a so-called „new person,“ a „new organization“ and a „new civilization“ to function as a machine (Clear Planet). The final objective striven for by the Scientology organization through its coercive pedagogy utopia is the subjection of everyone under the Third Dynamic Tech. The practice of the First Dynamic Tech is only a means to an end here. By selling (franchising) Third Dynamic Tech to organizations – mainly to business companies through WISE – the Scientology organization is extending its control across all boundaries and is thereby accumulating power. Scientology represents a new form of totalitarianism (technototalitarianism or cyberfascism) that is based on the notion of the biological individual (behaviorism, cybernetics).

________

"Scientology", "Dianetics", "WISE" ("World Institute of Scientology Enterprises"), "Narconon" ("drug rehabilitation"), "Criminon" ("rehabilitation of criminals"), "Applied Scholastics" ("improved education"), "The Way to Happiness foundation" ("improvement of morality in society") are trademarks of the Scientology Enterprises.

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