The Golden Age of Tech

Many a time I have sat in a Scientology course room trying to make sense of the jumble of bulletins that made up the course pack, wishing all the while that the course could be made as orderly as some of the computer technical courses I have taken. In fact, the only real structure available on any Scientology course, that I have seen, comes from the checksheet. The Golden Age of Tech is a laudable effort to update courses, improve metering, increase production of auditors and their results.

It only fails in its' differentiation from Standard Tech. It is NOT Standard Tech. At best it is a program to implement Standard Tech - but in the best tradition of being "based on the works of L. Ron Hubbard", it fails to be positioned and promoted as a tool of Standard Tech - but rather as an embracing embodiment of Standard Tech. The Golden Age of Tech is Ray Mitoffs effort to streamline the delivery and implementation of Standard Tech. It is a PR blunder to have positioned it as a superset of Standard Tech. It leaves the impression of superceding or improving upon Scientology Technology. This offends the more conservative elements which are generally held mute by the practical monopoly the current leadership enjoys on the delivery of Scientology in general, but in particular, by the monopoly held on the advanced materials.

Church leadership lacks perceptiveness as well as humility in this and another area.

The other area is the insidious results of modifying Scientology materials. The "insidious" result is that a fair number of Scientologists just don't trust the Church leadership anymore. (I know, generality, Ok, I don't trust you anymore). There are two areas of undocumented changes being made to basic Scientology, with no accounting of the changes and no accountability of the changers.

The first is that with each copyright expiration, RTC is modifying the basic material in order to qualify for a new copyright. It is a requirement that you can only copyright new material. So, basically, in order to comply with U.S. copyright law, and maintain a monopoly on Scientology materials, RTC is gradually modifying materials and continuing to call it Standard Tech. What will the materials look like in a hundred years? A thousand years? Whatever it looks like it will NOT look like Standard Tech.

The second area of copyright modification is, apparently, in the area of political correctness. Some newer editions of books and CDs have had some minor deletions documented on the web. Sanitizing LRH's basic works is behavior that can most kindly be described as self destructive. At best a few might be slightly less offended. At worst a fair number of adherent are having their trust sorely taxed. The net effect is more like a Dark Age of Tech than a Golden Age. It feels more like hearing rats gnaw on the wires and waiting for the lights to go out.

Updated June 6 2003