(24) -1-

Professor Burris - een psycholoog, zie p. 141 - krijgt twee ex-militairen op bezoek. Aan één van hen - Rogers - gaf hij ooit les, Jamnik kent hij verder niet. Die herinnert hem aan vroegere opmerkingen over een utopische gemeenschap en aan een man Frazier die zo'n gemeenschap ook werkelijk in praktijk bracht.

"There are a lot of things about the way we’re all living now that are completely insane—as you used to say.”"(28)

"I know what you mean,” I said, and I meant it. As the war had come to an end, I looked forward to a quick return to my old life, but a year of questionable peace had seen no great change. () My new interest in social problems and my good will appeared to have exactly no effect whatsoever upon society. I could not see that they were of the slightest value to anyone."(28)

Fraziers adres blijkt Walden Two, R. D. I, Canton, naar Thoreau's Walden. Frazier reageert op een bericht van Burris. Walden Two bestaat na zo'n tien jaar nog steeds. Hij nodigt hem uit om hem te bezoeken met de twee jongeren. Burris voelt zich wat ongemakkelijk bij het hele idee om weer in contact te komen met Frazier.

(34) -2-

Hij praat er met Augustine Castle, een collega, over en die is zeer geïnteresseerd en wil ook graag mee. Rogers komt met een vriendin Barbara Macklin aanzetten en Jamnik met zijn vriendin Mary Grove.

"Rogers had searched the library for a copy of Frazier’s old article, and he read it to us. It set forth the argument Rogers had outlined three days before. Political action was of no use in building a better world, and men of good will had better turn to other measures as soon as possible. Any group of people could secure economic self-sufficiency with the help of modern technology, and the psychological problems of group living could be solved with available principles of “behavioral engineering.”"(38)

Een paar dagen later gaan ze met zijn allen op pad. Frazier is op de afgesproken plaats bij de bushalte.

"We left the main highway immediately and drove north along the creek, at the bottom of a small ravine. We then slowly climbed the east bank and emerged in the midst of some prosperous farm land, which could not have been seen from the river level. There were a few farmhouses and barns dotted about, and ahead and far up the sloping field to the right, a series of buildings of another sort. They were earth-colored and seemed to be built of stone or concrete, in a simple functional design. There were several wings and extensions which gave the impression of not having been built at the same time or according to a single plan. They were arranged in several levels or tiers, following the rise of the land. Frazier allowed us to survey them in silence."(41)

"We unloaded our baggage, and Frazier turned the station wagon over to a young man who had apparently been waiting for it. We carried our bags into a hallway, and Frazier showed us to our rooms. They were all alike—rather small, but with large windows looking out over the very pleasant countryside across which we had just driven. We were assigned to the rooms in pairs, the two girls in one, Rogers and Jamnik in another, and Castle and I in a third." [mijn nadruk] (43)

"For lack of something better to do, Castle and I stretched out on our bunks. I took the upper deck and was glad to find that the mattress was quite comfortable. I had feared that some sort of Spartan asceticism would be demanded of us."(44)

(44) -3-

Dan begint de rondleiding.

"We soon had a pleasanter demonstration, for a group of six or eight young people who had been following us at a distance arrived at the pond. They changed into bathing suits in a thicket which seemed to have been especially trimmed for the purpose, and then ran abreast to the landing and plunged in with a single splash, their brightly colored suits gleaming beneath the surface as they glided outward." [mijn nadruk] (49)

[Wat braaf allemaal. De meisjes samen op een kamer, jongens die zich achter de bosjes omkleden in zwemkleding. En Burris blijkt erg verlegen te worden van de vriendelijke aantrekkelijke vrouwen van Walden Two. Zie p.57-58. Dat zit hem hoog, zie p. 64. ]

Allerlei zaken van Walden Two worden door Frazier toegelicht totdat de dag voorbij is. Teveel om op te noemen.

"The main buildings, of course, we put up ourselves. The material, Burris, is rammed earth, although a few walls are made of stone from that old quarry you see above the buildings on Stone Hill. The cost was fantastically low when you consider either the cubic footage, as our architects do, or, what seems to me more important, the amount of living that goes on inside. Our community now has nearly a thousand members. If we were not living in the buildings you see before you, we should be occupying some two hundred and fifty dwelling houses and working in a hundred offices, shops, stores and warehouses. It’s an enormous simplification and a great saving of time and money.”"(51)

"All our entertainments, social functions, dinners, and other personal engagements take place as planned. We never have to go out of doors at all.”"(53)

(56) -4-

Burris komt per ongeluk terecht in allerlei artistieke activiteiten.

"Suddenly I found myself surrounded by a group of men and women who were joining a party on two of the stages. Someone, mistaking me for one of them, took my arm and passed me along to a charming young woman who made a place beside her on a bench against a flower box. I began to stammer a protest but she smiled reassuringly and I sat down in silence. She made some remark—I remember only that it was friendly and rather clever—and I could respond only by staring at her." [mijn nadruk] (57)

Hij holt verlegen weg.

"I found Frazier and the others somewhat more than halfway up the Ladder. They had stopped at an alcove in which an attractive woman of perhaps thirty-five had apparently been waiting for us. She was remarkably well-dressed, but in great simplicity of style. Her dark hair was drawn tightly against her head."(58)

Dat is Mrs. Meyerson die gaat over de kleding van vrouwen en andere vrouwenzaken. Frazier:

"The main thing is, we encourage our people to view every habit and custom with an eye to possible improvement. A constantly experimental attitude toward everything—that’s all we need. Solutions to problems of every sort follow almost miraculously.”" [mijn nadruk] (60)

(64) -5-

Burris mekkert maar door over de schoonheid van de vrouwen daar.

"I can understand why a builder of Utopias would choose to have only beautiful women about him,” I said to Frazier when we had settled ourselves with our tea, “but I’m amazed at your success.”
Frazier looked at me very seriously. “I assure you there was no deliberate choice,” he said earnestly."(64)

Het gaat ook een tijdje over de kleding die er gedragen wordt.

"We simply chose the kind of clothes which suffer the slowest change—suits, sweaters and skirts, or blouses and skirts, and so on. You won’t find half a dozen ‘party dresses’ among us—and those aren’t from the community supply. Yet each of us has something that would be in good taste except at very formal functions."(68)

Wat betreft kleding volgt men geen verspillende steeds weer veranderende modes. Men denkt meer in termen van functioneel. Hoewel hier ook ruimte is voor versiering en optutten en zo meer. Castle is een ongelovige Thomas en de hele tijd ontzettend sceptisch.

"“I’m surprised that a Utopia has anything but lounging pajamas,” said Castle glumly.() “But isn’t dressing up precisely the sort of unnecessary trouble that a Utopia should dispense with?” said Castle. “I’m sure there was no dressing for the occasion at Walden One.”"(69)

"Men are less dependent upon clothes, even here. For this time of day a jacket or sweater or perhaps a leather coat in cooler weather will suffice. And no tie. Definitely no tie."(71)

"You are thinking of a world in which a fine suit is a mark of wealth, as well as a means to wealth. A shabby suit is a sign of poverty or a protest against the whole confounded system. Either is unthinkable here.”"(71)

Ze komen tijdens de rondleiding uiteraard ook kinderen tegen.

"The children were of various ages—some as young as seven or eight, others at least thirteen or fourteen. They were all shining clean, in gay and well-fitted but utilitarian clothes. There seemed to be no adults with them, but they were well-behaved. They spoke quietly and moved quickly along. Many of them greeted Mrs. Meyerson and Frazier and smiled pleasantly at all of us."(70)

"Mrs. Meyerson’s children,” Frazier explained, nodding after them. “Delightful! Like all our children! Deborah is seven today and is ‘coming out’ in the main dining room. The younger children take their meals in their own building until their seventh birthday. It’s quite an event when they move up. Perhaps we can catch a glimpse of Deborah later in her big moment.”"(71)

(71) -6-

Tijdens de rondleiding wordt ook gewezen op de indeling in ruimtes en wat daar allemaal gebeurt.

"Frazier called our attention to various common rooms, arranged on either side of the corridor. On our right were reading rooms, libraries, and small lounges with chairs and tables grouped for conversation or games. These rooms looked out upon the Walden Two landscape from which we had seen the building during the afternoon. They were all occupied."(73)

"On our left were rather more businesslike rooms, with large skylights but no windows. Some were furnished for music, with pianos, phonographs, and shelves of music and records. Others appeared to be group studios. Various works of art in progress stood about, but the rooms were serving now for informal meetings. The dining rooms were on this side of the corridor, near the Ladder."(74)

(81) -7-

Over de eetruimtes. Het eten is niet saai.

"Frazier called our attention to the poster and explained that new dishes from all parts of the world were constantly being tried out and included in the Walden Two menus according to demand."(83)

"On the other side of the window through which we had pushed our trays, a very pretty girl, who seemed to be on excellent terms with Frazier, received each tray, removed inedible objects, and flipped it upside down on a chain carrier." [mijn nadruk] (86)

[Opvallend hoe dat steeds weer naar voren komt, die uiterlijke schoonheid van vrouwen.]

(88) -8-

Dit grote hoofdstuk gaat het over werk en hoe dat beloond wordt.

"“Labor-credits?” I said.
“I’m sorry. I had forgotten. Labor-credits are a sort of money. But they’re not coins or bills—just entries in a ledger. All goods and services are free, as you saw in the dining room this evening. Each of us pays for what he uses with twelve hundred labor-credits each year—say, four credits for each workday. We change the value according to the needs of the community. At two hours of work per credit—an eight-hour day—we could operate at a handsome profit. We’re satisfied to keep just a shade beyond breaking even. The profit system is bad even when the worker gets the profits, because the strain of overwork isn’t relieved by even a large reward. All we ask is to make expenses, with a slight margin of safety; we adjust the value of the labor-credit accordingly. At present it’s about one hour of work per credit.”
Your members work only four hours a day?” I said. There was an overtone of outraged virtue in my voice, as if I had asked if they were all adulterous.
“On the average,” Frazier replied casually. In spite of our obvious interest he went on at once to another point. “A credit system also makes it possible to evaluate a job in terms of the willingness of the members to undertake it. After all, a man isn’t doing more or less than his share because of the time he puts in; it’s what he’s doing that counts. So we simply assign different credit values to different kinds of work, and adjust them from time to time on the basis of demand. Bellamy suggested the principle in Looking Backward.”
“An unpleasant job like cleaning sewers has a high value, I suppose,” I said.
“Exactly. Somewhere around one and a half credits per hour. The sewer man works a little over two hours a day. Pleasanter jobs have lower values—say point seven or point eight. That means five hours a day, or even more. Working in the flower gardens has a very low value—point one. No one makes a living at it, but many people like to spend a little time that way, and we give them credit. In the long run, when the values have been adjusted, all kinds of work are equally desirable. If they weren’t, there would be a demand for the more desirable, and the credit value would be changed. Once in a while we manipulate a preference, if some job seems to be avoided without cause.”"(88-90)

"“Then you don’t offer complete personal freedom, do you?” said Castle, with ill-concealed excitement. “You haven’t really resolved the conflict between a laissez-faire and a planned society.”
“I think we have. Yes. But you must know more about our educational system before I can show you how." [mijn nadruk] (92)

In dit verhaal ook informatie over hoe Walden Two bestuurd wordt.

"“Our only government is a Board of Planners,(...)
“How do you choose your Planners?” said Rodge.
“The Board selects a replacement from a pair of names supplied by the Managers.”(...)
What are Managers?” I said hastily.
“What the name implies: specialists in charge of the divisions and services of Walden Two. There are Managers of Food, Health, Play, Arts, Dentistry, Dairy, various industries, Supply, Labor, Nursery School, Advanced Education, and dozens of others. They requisition labor according to their needs, and their job is the managerial function which survives after they’ve assigned as much as possible to others. They’re the hardest workers among us. It’s an exceptional person who seeks and finds a place as Manager. He must have ability and a real concern for the welfare of the community.”(...)
“Then the members have no voice whatsoever,” said Castle in a carefully controlled voice, as if he were filing the point away for future use.
“Nor do they wish to have,” said Frazier flatly.(93-95)"

[Je kunt je afvragen hoe belangrijk het hebben van een stem in allerlei beslissingen is voor mensen. Zo wordt democratie meestal gezien. En kijk eens waar dat toe geleid heeft: totale irrationaliteit en domheid. ]

"“Then you distinguish only Planners, Managers, and Workers,” I said to prevent what threatened to be a major distraction.
“And Scientists. The community supports a certain amount of research. Experiments are in progress in plant and animal breeding, the control of infant behavior, educational processes of several sorts, and the use of some of our raw materials. Scientists receive the same labor-credits as Managers—two or three per day depending upon the work.”"(96)

"“Let me remind you that not all Americans capable of working are now employed,” said Frazier. “We’re really comparing eight hours a day on the part of some with four hours on the part of practically all. In Walden Two we have no leisure class, no prematurely aged or occupationally disabled, no drunkenness, no criminals, far fewer sick. We have no unemployment due to bad planning. No one is paid to sit idle for the sake of maintaining labor standards. Our children work at an early age—moderately, but happily."(103)

"“It’s true, we enjoy a high standard of living,” said Frazier. “But our personal wealth is actually very small. The goods we consume don’t come to much in dollars and cents. We practice the Thoreauvian principle of avoiding unnecessary possessions.(...)
There’s little or no spoilage or waste in distribution or storage, and none due to miscalculated needs. The same is true of other staples. We don’t feel the pressure of promotional devices which stimulate unnecessary consumption." [mijn nadruk] (108)

[Ik vind dat een van de belangrijkere dingen. Dat is de fundamentele kritiek op het kapitalisme en zijn verspilling. ]

(111) -9-

De dag erna is Burris vroeg wakker net als Mary Grove. Ze gaan samen ontbijten.

[Weer die opmerkingen over vrouwen. Alsof Burris dat een stuk belangrijker vindt dan de economie van Walden Two bijvoorbeeld.]

"I was quite pleased with myself. In the short space of five or ten minutes I had overcome a stubborn barrier between myself and this attractive young lady. She was no longer in awe of the professor. Not that we would now speak the same language — God forbid that anyone else should speak the bastard tongue of the academy with which I was damned — but we were no longer on different personal levels." [mijn nadruk] (115)

Hij is aan het flirten, maar dat werkt niet bij Mary. Ze werken een paar uur zoals van hen verwacht wordt, dan wordt de rondleiding vervolgd met opnieuw allerlei uitleg.

(122) -10-

Meer over de economische aanpak en de productie.

"Utopias usually spring from a rejection of modern life. Our point of view here isn’t atavistic, however. We look ahead, not backwards, for a better version.(...) We haven’t gone back in the course of technical progress. No one is more interested in saving labor than we. No industrialist ever strove harder to get rid of an unnecessary worker. The difference is, we get rid of the work, not the worker.” (...) There’s nothing wrong with hard work and we aren’t concerned to avoid it. We simply avoid uncreative and uninteresting work.(123)"

[Mooie uitspraak :-) Goede benadering. ]

"What we ask is that a man’s work shall not tax his strength or threaten his happiness. Our energies can then be turned toward art, science, play, the exercise of skills, the satisfaction of curiosities, the conquest of nature, the conquest of man—the conquest of man himself, but never of other men. We have created leisure without slavery, a society which neither sponges nor makes war. But we can’t stop there. We must live up to our responsibility. Can we build another Golden Age?"(124)

"“This building,” he said, “is divided into three parts. When the farmers come to work, they take off their clothes in the first room. They then walk through to the third room and dress for work. On their return, they remove their work clothes, take a shower in the middle room, and replace their regular clothes.”(...) “I should explain,” said Frazier in great haste, “that there are two series of rooms, one for each sex.”" [mijn nadruk] (128)

[Nog meer preutsheid. Vooral dat "in great haste" is typisch. Frazier wil blijkbaar absoluut niet de indruk wekken dat dat er onoirbare dingen gebeuren in Walden Two. Naaktheid van mannen en vrouwen bij elkaar is nog steeds een taboe. ]

"The community was not, of course, completely self-sufficient It needed certain materials and equipment and had to buy power and pay taxes. Hence it had to create “foreign exchange.” At the moment this was apparently not satisfactory. The community had not yet made the best use of its supply of skilled labor. But several small industries were already well established and others were being worked out. The community was paying its way, but Frazier felt that it could be done more efficiently."(129)

"Mrs. Meyerson broke in to speak to the girls and, without a word to Frazier, led them away to another building. Frazier watched them in silence and did not return to his sentence."(131)

[Terwijl de mannen verder gaan met het bekijken van de werkplaatsen, worden de twee vrouwelijke bezoekers Mary en Barbara door Mrs. Meyerson meegnomen naar vrouwenzaken: kleren maken, baby's. Die typische rolverdeling wordt blijkbaar als natuurlijk gezien.]

"“Several rooms are being added to one of the personal halls,” Frazier said. “These young people will occupy them. There’s a certain satisfaction in building your own living quarters. A sort of nesting instinct. It has become part of the process of being in love in Walden Two." [mijn nadruk] (132)

(136) -11-

Ze praten ook over de aankondigingen van allerlei evenementen met annonces op een groot bord.

"Much more than you will realize until you’ve grown accustomed to small print. You must feel a certain lack of excitement in these announcements. No garish posters, no bright lights, none of the paraphernalia with which the entertainment industry whips up a jaded public. But in a day or so these simple notices will begin to take on all the excitement of the shimmering marquee. When there are no signs ten feet high, five feet will do. When there are none five feet high, one foot serves well enough. It isn’t the color or brightness or size of a poster which makes it exciting. It’s the experiences which have accompanied similar posters in the past. The excitement is a conditioned reflex. Our bulletin board is our Great White Way, and we’re dazzled by it."(137)

Het gesprek gaat ook over het vrijstellen van kunstenaars van allerlei taken.

"Right conditions, that’s all. Right conditions. All you need. (Pardon me.) All you need. Give them a chance, that’s all. Leisure. Opportunity. Appreciation.”"(148)

(150) -12-

Dit hoofdstuk gaat over de Lower Nursery: de afdeling waar de baby's collectief worden verzorgd totdat ze een jaar oud zijn. Dat is de afdeling die ze vandaag bezoeken.

Het gesprek gaat ook over dat de baby's alleen een luier aan hebben. De temperatuur wordt precies en wetenschappelijk geregeld.

"“But why don’t you put clothes on them?” said Barbara.
“What for? It would mean laundry for us and discomfort for the child. It’s the same with sheets and blankets. Our babies lie on a stretched plastic cloth which doesn’t soak up moisture and can be wiped clean in a moment.”(...)
“Clothing and blankets are really a great nuisance,” said Mrs. Nash. “They keep the baby from exercising, they force it into uncomfortable postures—”
“When a baby graduates from our Lower Nursery,” Frazier broke in, “it knows nothing of frustration, anxiety, or fear. It never cries except when sick, which is very seldom, and it has a lively interest in everything.”"(154)

Ook gaat het over of de baby's in zo'n collectief systeem geen moederliefde missen. Frazier wijst er fijntjes op dat de baby's heel veel liefde krijgen en niet alleen van moeders.

“And we supply it in liberal doses. But we don’t limit it to mothers. **We go in for father love, too—for everybody’s love—community love, if you wish.** Our children are treated with affection by everyone—and thoughtful affection too, which isn’t marred by fits of temper due to overwork or careless handling due to ignorance.”

(157) -13-

Daarna gaan ze naar de Upper Nursery voor kinderen van 1 tot 3. Ook die kinderen zijn grotendeels naakt.

"We followed Mrs. Nash to a large screened porch on the south side of the building, where several children were playing in sandboxes and on swings and climbing apparatuses. A few wore “training pants”; the rest were naked. Beyond the porch was a grassy play yard enclosed by closely trimmed hedges, where other children, similarly undressed, were at play. Some kind of marching game was in progress."(157)

De vraag of er geen jaloezie is tussen de kinderen wordt niet begrepen. Dus gaat het ook even over emoties.

"Frazier. “As to emotions—we aren’t free of them all, nor should we like to be. But the meaner and more annoying — the emotions which breed unhappiness — are almost unknown here, like unhappiness itself. We don’t need them any longer in our struggle for existence, and it’s easier on our circulatory system, and certainly pleasanter, to dispense with them.”(...)
“But emotions are—fun!” said Barbara. “Life wouldn’t be worth living without them.”
“Some of them, yes,” said Frazier. “The productive and strengthening emotions—joy and love. But sorrow and hate—and the high-voltage excitements of anger, fear, and rage—are out of proportion with the needs of modern life, and they’re wasteful and dangerous.(...)
when a particular emotion is no longer a useful part of a behavioral repertoire, we proceed to eliminate it.”
“Yes, but how?”
“It’s simply a matter of behavioral engineering,” said Frazier.
“Behavioral engineering?”
“You’re baiting me, Burris. You know perfectly well what I mean. The techniques have been available for centuries. We use them in education and in the psychological management of the community. But you’re forcing my hand,” he added. “I was saving that for this evening. But let’s strike while the iron is hot.”"(159-161)

(162) -14-

Kinderen moeten leren wat goed en verkeerd is. Daarvoor worden allerlei technieken uitgeprobeerd om gedrag te beïnvloeden. Dat is dus die 'behavioral engineering'.

"“All our ethical training is completed by the age of six,” said Frazier quietly."(167)

"That’s why we get our ethical training in early. Take this case. A group of children arrive home after a long walk tired and hungry. They’re expecting supper; they find, instead, that it’s time for a lesson in self-control: they must stand for five minutes in front of steaming bowls of soup."(169)

"We had to discover how often our lessons could be safely administered. But all our schedules are worked out experimentally. We watch for undesired consequences just as any scientist watches for disrupting factors in his experiments.
“After all, it’s a simple and sensible program,” he went on in a tone of appeasement. “We set up a system of gradually increasing annoyances and frustrations against a background of complete serenity. An easy environment is made more and more difficult as the children acquire the capacity to adjust.”
“But why?” said Castle. “Why these deliberate unpleasantnesses—to put it mildly? I must say I think you and your friend Simmons are really very subtle sadists.”"(173)

"The unhappinesses we deliberately impose are far milder than the normal unhappinesses from which we offer protection. Even at the height of our ethical training, the unhappiness is ridiculously trivial—to the well-trained child.(...)
For one thing, we don’t punish. We never administer an unpleasantness in the hope of repressing or eliminating undesirable behavior. But there’s another difference. In most cultures the child meets up with annoyances and reverses of uncontrolled magnitude."(176)

"We had to design a series of adversities, so that the child would develop the greatest possible self-control. Call it deliberate, if you like, and accuse us of sadism; there was no other course."(179)

"Ethical training belongs to the community. As for techniques, we took every suggestion we could find without prejudice as to the source. But not on faith. We disregarded all claims of revealed truth and put every principle to an experimental test. And by the way, I’ve very much misrepresented the whole system if you suppose that any of the practices I’ve described are fixed. We try out many different techniques. Gradually we work toward the best possible set."(180)

(180) -15-

Daarna gaan ze naar de vertrekken van de oudere kinderen.

"The control of the physical and social environment, of which Frazier had made so much, was progressively relaxed—or, to be more exact, the control was transferred from the authorities to the child himself and to the other members of his group.(...)
the three- or four-year-old was introduced to regular clothes and given the care of a small standard cot in a dormitory. The beds of the five- and six-year-olds were grouped by threes and fours in a series of alcoves furnished like rooms and treated as such by the children. Groups of three or four seven-year-olds occupied small rooms together, and this practice was continued, with frequent change of roommates, until the children were about thirteen, at which time they took temporary rooms in the adult building, usually in pairs. At marriage, or whenever the individual chose, he could participate in building a larger room for himself or refurnishing an old room which might be available. (181)"

Het educatieve systeem is ook gebaseerd op 'behavioral engineering' en bijzonder flexibel.

"We don’t need ‘grades.’ Everyone knows that talents and abilities don’t develop at the same rate in different children. A fourth-grade reader may be a sixth-grade mathematician. The grade is an administrative device which does violence to the nature of the developmental process. Here the child advances as rapidly as he likes in any field. No time is wasted in forcing him to participate in, or be bored by, activities he has outgrown. And the backward child can be handled more efficiently too.
“We also don’t require all our children to develop the same abilities or skills. We don’t insist upon a certain set of courses. I don’t suppose we have a single child who has had a ‘secondary school education,’ whatever that means. But they’ve all developed as rapidly as advisable, and they’re well educated in many useful respects.(...)
we don’t need to teach ‘subjects’ at all. We teach only the techniques of learning and thinking. As for geography, literature, the sciences—we give our children opportunity and guidance, and they learn them for themselves."(185)

"We give them new techniques of acquiring knowledge and thinking. In spite of the beliefs of most educators, our children are taught to think. We give them an excellent survey of the methods and techniques of thinking, taken from logic, statistics, scientific method, psychology, and mathematics. That’s all the ‘college education’ they need. They get the rest by themselves in our libraries and laboratories.”"(188)

"In Walden Two education goes on forever. It’s part of our culture. We can acquire a technique whenever we need it."(190)

"We appeal to the curiosity which is characteristic of the unrestrained child, as well as the alert and inquiring adult. We appeal to that drive to control the environment which makes a baby continue to crumple a piece of noisy paper and the scientist continue to press forward with his predictive analyses of nature. We don’t need to motivate anyone by creating spurious needs."(194)

"What do you do about differences among your children in intellect and talent? And what do you do to avoid producing a lot of completely standardized young people? Which question should I ask, and what’s your answer?”(...)
Our ten-year-olds have all had the same environment since birth, but the range of their IQ’s is almost as great as in the population at large. This seems to be true of other abilities and skills as well.”
“And of physical prowess, of course,” said Castle."(198)

"“But we don’t go in for personal rivalry; individuals are seldom compared. We never develop a taste much beyond a talent. Our parents have little reason to misrepresent their children’s abilities to themselves or others. It’s easy for our children to accept their limitations—exactly as they have always accepted the gross differences which Mr. Castle called physical prowess. At the same time our gifted children aren’t held back by organized mediocrity. We don’t throw our geniuses off balance. The brilliant but unstable type is unfamiliar here. Genius can express itself.”"(199)

[En geweldige onderwijsvisie, vind ik. We zien er iets van in het Montessori- en Daltonsyteem. Ik vraag me af of het standaard systeem inmiddels flexibeler is geworden door digitale mogelijkheden. ]

(200) -16-

Mensen hebben er jong seks en kinderen.

"Just south of the flower gardens, on a blanket spread out upon the warm grass, lay a naked baby nine or ten months old. A boy and girl were trying to make her crawl toward a rubber doll. We stopped for a moment on our way to the common rooms to enjoy her grotesquely unavailing efforts.
When we resumed our walk, Frazier said casually, “Their first child.”
“Good heavens!” I cried. “Do you mean to say those children are the parents of that baby?”
“Why, of course. And a very fine baby it is, too.”
“But they can’t be more than sixteen or seventeen years old!”
“Probably not.”
“But isn’t that rather remarkable? It’s not the usual thing, I hope.” My voice trailed off doubtfully.
“It’s not at all unusual with us,” Frazier said. “The average age of the Walden Two mother is eighteen at the birth of her first child, and we hope to bring the figure down still further. The war interfered a bit there. I believe the girl you saw was sixteen when her baby was born.”
“But why do you encourage that?” Barbara said.
“There are a dozen good reasons. There is no excuse for the usual delay in getting married or the still greater delay in bearing children—But shall we save this for luncheon? How about one o’clock in the serving room?”" [mijn nadruk] (200)

"I need scarcely point out, however, that there’s no economic obstacle to marriage at any age in Walden Two. The young couple will live quite as well whether married or unmarried. Children are cared for in the same way regardless of the age, experience, or earning power of their parents.
“Certainly most girls are ready for childbearing at fifteen or sixteen. We like to ridicule ‘puppy love.’ We say it won’t last, and judge its depth accordingly. Well, of course it doesn’t last! A thousand forces conspire against it. And they are not the forces of nature, either, but of a badly organized society. The boy and girl are ready for love. They will never have the same capacity for love again. And they are ready for marriage and childbearing. It’s all part of the same thing. But society never lets them prove it.”
“Instead, society makes it into a sex problem,” I said.
“Of course!” said Frazier. “Sex is no problem in itself. Here the adolescent finds an immediate and satisfactory expression of his natural impulses. It’s a solution which is productive, honorable, and viewed by the community with admiration and pride. How very different from the secrecy and shame which most of us recall in connection with sex at some time or other! Adolescence is seldom pleasant to remember, it’s full of unnecessary problems, unnecessary delays. It should be brief and painless, and we make it so in Walden Two.
“All your schemes to keep the adolescent out of trouble—your ‘wholesome’ substitutes for sex!” Frazier continued. “What is unwholesome about sex? Why must there be a substitute? What’s wrong with love, or marriage, or parenthood? You don’t solve anything by delay—you make things worse. The more or less pathological aberrations which follow are easily recognized, but there is a great deal more. A normal sexual adjustment is often prevented. And the sportive element in sex is played up—every person of the opposite sex becomes a challenge to seduction. That’s a bothersome cultural trait that we’re glad to avoid. Promiscuous aggression is no more natural than quarrelsomeness, or an inclination to tease, or jovial backslapping. But if you insist on making sex into a game or hunt before you let it become serious, how can you expect a sane attitude later on?”" [mijn nadruk] (203-205)

"“How long does she go on having babies?”
“As long as she likes, but generally no longer than usual. If she wants four children, say, she will be finished with childbearing by the time she’s twenty-two or -three. That’s not too fast, because she is freed of the heavy labor of child care, even though she will probably work in the nursery for her daily stint, and because she gets top medical attention. At twenty-three she will find herself as young in body and spirit as if she had spent the same years unmarried. Her adult life opens up to her with many interesting prospects. For one thing, she is then quite on a par with men. She has made the special contribution which is either the duty or the privilege of woman, and can take her place without distinction of sex. You may have noticed the complete equality of men and women among us. There are scarcely any types of work which are not shared equally.”" [mijn nadruk] (205-206)

"“But isn’t there one trouble?” said Barbara. “Do young people really know what kind of person they want to live with for the rest of their lives?”
“They seem to think so,” said Frazier.
“But young people grow apart.”
“Is that really true?”
“The figures,” said Barbara, with obvious pride in talking in Frazier’s terms, “show that early marriages tend to be unhappy.”
“Because husband and wife grow apart, or because our economic system penalizes early marriage?”
“I don’t know.”
“Economic hardships could make people grow apart,” said Frazier.
“All I know is, the boys I fell for when I was younger wouldn’t interest me now,” said Barbara, giving up the figures with relief. “I can’t imagine what I saw in them.”
“I wonder if that wouldn’t be true at any age. We grow apart when we live apart.”
“I think there may be something in what Miss Macklin says,” said Castle. “We are less likely to have fallen into our final life pattern at that age. We’re still trying to find ourselves.”
“Very well, then. Let that point stand—though I can’t see that it makes any difference, since people in Walden Two never stop changing. But at least we can offer some compensating advantages. We can be sure that husband and wife will come from the same economic level, from the same culture, and have the same sort of education. What do the figures show about that?”
Barbara tried to think. “As I remember it, those things are important, too,” she said at last.
“Then we are even,” said Frazier. “Our boys and girls know each other very well, too. There are no hasty marriages among us.”
“The very fact of early marriage itself ought to prevent marriages due to sexual infatuation,” I said, “unless you feel I’m spoiling your sympathetic picture of puppy love.”
“You aren’t spoiling it at all. Puppy love tends not to be overtly sexual at all. It’s usually highly idealistic. I wasn’t talking about the excitement which springs from the thwarting of natural impulses, but a love which arises spontaneously and with the least possible hindrance and which is therefore its own surest guarantee of success.”
“Very romantic and unscientific,” I said.
“Then let me add a scientific touch. When a young couple become engaged, they go to our Manager of Marriages. Their interests, school records, and health are examined. If there’s any great discrepancy in intellectual ability or temperament they are advised against marrying. The marriage is at least postponed, and that usually means it’s abandoned.”
“As easy as all that?” I said."(207-209)

"Whatever their age, young members of Walden Two don’t marry before they are mature. They have much better control of themselves than youngsters of the same age elsewhere, and they are much less likely to misunderstand their own emotions or the motives of others."(211)

(213) -17-

Meer over het samenleven van getrouwde mannen en vrouwen, over trouw zijn, en zo meer.

"“A community must solve the problem of the family by revising certain established practices. That’s absolutely inevitable. The family is an ancient form of community, and the customs and habits which have been set up to perpetuate it are out of place in a society which isn’t based on blood ties. Walden Two replaces the family, not only as an economic unit, but to some extent as a social and psychological unit as well. What survives is an experimental question.”" [mijn nadruk] (213)

"A few experimental questions have been answered to our satisfaction.”
“Such as?”
“Oh, the advisability of separate rooms for husband and wife, for example. We don’t insist on it, but in the long run there’s a more satisfactory relation when a single room isn’t shared." [mijn nadruk] (214)

"Most of our married couples have now changed to separate rooms. It’s difficult to explain the advantages to the newly married, and I suspect it will become a sort of tradition to room together until the period of childbearing is over. But the later advantages in point of health, convenience, and personal freedom are too great to be overlooked.(215)"

"“The simple fact is, there’s no more promiscuity in Walden Two than in society at large. There’s probably less. For one thing, we encourage simple friendship between the sexes. The world at large all but forbids it. What might have been a satisfying friendship must become a clandestine affair. Here we give friendship every support. We don’t practice ‘free love,’ but we have a great deal of ‘free affection.’ And that goes a long way toward satisfying the needs which lead to promiscuity elsewhere. We have successfully established the principle of ‘Seduction not expected.’ When a man strikes up an acquaintanceship with a woman, he does not worry about failing to make advances, and the woman isn’t hurt if advances aren’t made. We recognize that sort of sexual play for what it is—a sign, not of potency, but of malaise or instability.
“I don’t mean that no one in Walden Two has fallen in love ‘illicitly,’” Frazier continued, “but I’m sure there has been a minimum of mere sex without love. We don’t regard extramarital love as wholly justifiable or without its difficulties. The problem of the deserted mate always remains. But we’ve done all we can to avoid unhappiness. It’s part of the Walden Two Code to avoid gossip about personal ties, and a slight disturbance often works itself out quietly. Our vastly extended opportunities for affection also help. No one really feels very much deserted. There’s not much wounded pride." [mijn nadruk] (215-217)

[De benadering lijkt dus nog steeds die van een monogaam exclusief huwelijk. Maar omvatten die vriendschappen dan wel seks? Wat betekent die zin *We don’t practice ‘free love,’ but we have a great deal of ‘free affection.’* en alles erna?]

"We make a great deal of the ‘engagement.’ In the world at large this is a statement of intention and a period of trial. It’s that with us. The young couple receive medical and psychological counsel during this period. Long engagements are not encouraged and, of course, are unnecessary for economic reasons. Our marriage ceremony is unambiguous, and I’m sure it’s entered into in good faith. If in the course of time extramarital friendships weaken the original tie, we try to avoid an open break. A disinterested person, usually one of our psychologists, gives immediate counsel and guidance. Frequently the matter straightens itself out, and the original tie is preserved. But if the old affection is quite dead and the new one genuine, a divorce is carried through."(218)

"Group care is better than parental care."(219)

"Home is not the place to raise children.() we avoid a strong personal dependency. Our goal is to have every adult member of Walden Two regard all our children as his own, and to have every child think of every adult as his parent."(220)

"“Think what this means to the child who has no mother or father! There is no occasion to envy companions who are not so deprived, because there is little or no practical difference. It’s true he may not call anyone ‘Mother’ or ‘Father,’ but we discourage this anyway, in favor of given names. And he frequently receives presents and attentions from many adults and may find among them one or more for whom he will develop deep affection.
“And think what it means, too, for the childless! They can express their natural affection toward children in spite of the biological or social accident which deprived them of parenthood. No sensible person will suppose that love or affection has anything to do with blood. One’s love for one’s wife is required by law to be free of a close blood connection. Foster children and stepchildren are loved as dearly as one’s own. Love and affection are psychological and cultural, and blood relationships can be happily forgotten.”"(221)

"Many parents are glad to be relieved of the awful responsibility of being a child’s only source of affection and help. Here it’s impossible to be an inadequate or unskillful parent, and the vigorous, happy growth of our children is enough to remove any last suspicion that we have been deprived of anything."(222)

"“When divorce cannot be avoided, the children are not embarrassed by severe changes in their way of life or their behavior toward their parents. It’s also easy to induce the unfit or unwell to forego parenthood."(222)

"“I was thinking more of the women,” Castle said, “the wives and mothers. Don’t they feel that they are less necessary to their families?”
“Of course they do, and they ought to. You are talking about a tradition of slavery, and of the sentiments which have preserved it for thousands of years. The world has made some progress in the emancipation of women, but equality is still a long way off. There are few cultures today in which the rights of women are respected at all. America is one of perhaps three or four nations in which some progress has been made. Yet very few American women have the economic independence and cultural freedom of American men.
“Feelings of insecurity!” Frazier continued with increasing warmth. “The marriage system trades on them! What does the ordinary middle-class marriage amount to? Well, it’s agreed that the husband will provide shelter, clothing, food, and perhaps some amusement, while the wife will work as a cook and cleaning woman and bear and raise children. The man is reasonably free to select or change his work; the woman has no choice, except between accepting and neglecting her lot. She has a legal claim for support, he has a claim for a certain type of labor."(226)

"“The community, as a revised family, has changed the place of women more radically than that of men. Some women feel momentarily insecure for that reason. But their new position is more dignified, more enjoyable, and more healthful, and the whole question of security eventually vanishes. In a world of complete economic equality, you get and keep the affections you deserve. You can’t buy love with gifts or favors, you can’t hold love by raising an inadequate child, and you can’t be secure in love by serving as a good scrub woman or a good provider.”"(228)

(229) -18-

De bezoekers praten onderling over Frazier en alles wat ze tegengekomen zijn.

"“The trouble is, not everybody has been through the same thing. A lot of people still don’t see the way things are. The old life seems all right. They really aren’t hurting anybody, at least anybody they know. And it doesn’t seem to matter to them whether it’s a kind of life that can go on very much longer.” Rodge threw another log into place.
“I take it one of ‘them’ is—”
“Barbara. Yes.”
“Walden Two isn’t for her?”
“God, no! She ‘loathes’ it! Can’t see any reason for being so—queer. It’s funny, sir. She’s an intelligent girl, too, I think. I used to think so, anyway. But she’s so blind about some things. You called it a social conscience. Well, she hasn’t got any.”() “It just isn’t her line. She wants a home and children. And a maid, of course. She wants to entertain her friends. And have a car.”"(233)

(234) -19-

Het gaat over de geschiedenis van dit soort utopische gemeenschappen.

"But how do you explain the invariable failure of communities in the past?”()
“I find it difficult,” he said at last, with exaggerated control, “to answer a question of that sort with equanimity. Why should I be asked to explain it?”"(237)

"“I have the greatest respect for them, as I believe them to have been. But I know nothing about them, really, except for their literary remains, and most of them were rather uncommunicative souls. What I am perhaps not altogether unemotional about is the assumption that the historical account has the status of a body of facts, from which we can make predictions about the success of a contemporary venture.”()
But prediction in the field of the social sciences is very doubtful even when we know what we are talking about, and we know scarcely anything about the actual conditions in these so-called experiments. Most of them were economically successful. Some of them broke up because the members couldn’t resist the temptation to divide the loot, and a few still survive. But the crucial thing is the psychological management, and of this we know very little. A few facts, yes, but an adequate picture, no.”()
The community wasn’t set up as a real experiment, but to put certain principles into practice. These principles, when not revealed by God, flowed from a philosophy of perfectionism. Generally the plan was to get away from government and to allow the natural virtue of man to assert itself. What more can you ask for as an explanation of failure?”**" [mijn nadruk] (237-240)

(240) -20-

Nu wordt er gepraat over wat het Goede Leven is.

"We all know what’s good, until we stop to think about it. For example, is there any doubt that health is better than sickness?"(241)

"Secondly, can anyone doubt that an absolute minimum of unpleasant labor is part of the Good Life?()
When we’re not being imposed on, when we choose our work freely, then we want to work.(242)"

"The Good Life also means a chance to exercise talents and abilities. And we have let it be so."(243)

"And we need intimate and satisfying personal contacts."(244)

"Last of all, the Good Life means relaxation and rest."(244)

"This is the Good Life. We know it. It’s a fact, not a theory. It has an experimental justification, not a rational one."(245)

"In force! Now there’s an illuminating expression! You can’t enforce happiness. You can’t in the long run enforce anything. We don’t use force! All we need is adequate behavioral engineering.”"(246)

[De vraag is alleen of die gedragssturing niet net zo dwingend is. ]

"Each member agrees to abide by the Code when he accepts membership. That’s what he gives in return for his constitutional guarantee of a share in the wealth and life of the community. The Code acts as a memory aid until good behavior becomes habitual.”"(247)

"“As to disagreement, anyone may examine the evidence upon which a rule was introduced into the Code. He may argue against its inclusion and may present his own evidence. If the Managers refuse to change the rule, he may appeal to the Planners. But in no case must he argue about the Code with the members at large. There’s a rule against that.”
“I would certainly argue against the inclusion of that rule,” said Castle. “Simple democracy requires public discussion of so fundamental a matter as a code.”
“You won’t find very much ‘simple democracy’ here,” said Frazier casually."(250)

"That’s the point. Society already possesses the psychological techniques needed to obtain universal observance of a code—a code which would guarantee the success of a community or state. The difficulty is that these techniques are in the hands of the wrong people—or, rather, there aren’t any right people. Our government won’t accept the responsibility of building the sort of behavior needed for a happy state. In Walden Two we have merely created an agency to get these things done.”"(252)

"But what about the highly intelligent few who must have distant and magnificent goals? In what sense would we interfere with their dreams?”"(255)

"“What does ‘making a name for himself mean?” asked Frazier. “Do you mean making a fortune? We have no need for fortunes, and until you can show me how a fortune can be made without making a few paupers in the bargain, it’s one goal we’re glad to do without.”
“I suppose I was thinking more of fame than fortune,” said Castle.
“Fame is also won at the expense of others. Even the well-deserved honors of the scientist or man of learning are unfair to many persons of equal achievement who get none. When one man gets a place in the sun, others are put in a denser shade. From the point of view of the whole group there’s no gain whatsoever, and perhaps a loss.”()
We are opposed to personal competition. We don’t encourage competitive games, for example, with the exception of tennis or chess, where the exercise of skill is as important as the outcome of the game; and we never have tournaments, even so.()
A triumph over another man is never a laudable act. Our decision to eliminate personal aggrandizement arose quite naturally from the fact that we were thinking about the whole group. We could not see how the group could gain from individual glory.”"(256-257)

"Things run more smoothly if we don’t hand out tokens of gratitude and if we conceal personal contributions.”()
Eliminate expressions of personal gratitude altogether. After all, the community paid for the morphine and the training which enabled the doctor to administer it.”
“You accept medical care without so much as a ‘thank you’?” I said.
“Particularly without a ‘thank you,’” said Frazier. ‘The deliberate expression of thanks is prohibited by the Code."(260)

"“You use the word ‘experiment’ a great deal,” I said, “but do you really experiment at all? Isn’t one feature of good scientific practice missing from all the cases you have described?”
“You mean the ‘control,’” said Frazier.
To go to all the trouble of running controls would be to make a fetish of scientific method. Even in the exact sciences we frequently don’t ask for controls."(268)

(273) -21-

Ze zitten weer na te praten met elkaar.

"“I don’t think you know what this means,” said Mary. “Do you know what we’ve got to go back to in the city?”
“I’ve a pretty good idea, I think.”
“We couldn’t get married till Steve got a job. And it wouldn’t be much of a job. And we’d get a couple of rooms somewhere across the tracks. And our babies would be born at home and they would grow up like all the other kids over there—in the streets most of the time. And the school—Steve and I both went there—the kids get knocked around, and they fight. They pick on the Jews or the Irish or the Italians. It’s awful.”"(276)

(279) -22-

Ze praten met artsen.

"“My colleagues and I are responsible for the health of Walden Two,” he continued as we moved slowly down a central hallway, “and we couldn’t accept that rare responsibility without asking for extraordinary powers. We can place the whole community in quarantine with respect to the outside world, for example. And we can ask for personal examinations of the members as often as we like, and I’m delighted to say we can get them. We can control their diet, in collaboration with our very good dietitians, and of course, we supervise all sanitation. Our patients automatically get regular exercise, fresh air, sunshine, and rest as part of their lives at Walden Two. It’s a beautiful situation from the point of view of preventive medicine.”"(285)

(288) -23-

"No, I’m referring to a detail which distinguishes Walden Two from all the imaginary Utopias ever dreamed of. And a very simple thing, too.” He continued to look at us, but we were completely at sea.
“Why, the fact that it exists right here and now!” he announced at last. “In the very midst of modern civilization!” He watched for the effect upon us, but it could not have been very marked.
“The Utopias have tended to be a bit out of things,” said Castle at last, a little doubtfully, but beginning to get the point.“Out of things! I should say! Why, ‘Utopia’ is Greek for ‘nowhere,' and Butler spelled ‘nowhere’ backwards! Bacon chose a lost Atlantis, and Shangri-La is cut off by the highest mountains in the world. Bellamy and Morris felt it necessary to get away by a century or two in the dimension of time. Out of things, indeed! It’s the first rule of the Utopian romance: ‘Get away from life as we know it, either in space or time, or no one will believe you!’
“The one fact that I would cry from every housetop is this: the Good Life is waiting for us—here and now!” he continued." [mijn nadruk] (289)

"It’s not a problem of government and politics at all. That’s the first plank in the Walden Two platform. You can’t make progress toward the Good Life by political action! Not under any current form of government! You must operate upon another level entirely. What you need is a sort of Nonpolitical Action Committee: keep out of politics and away from government except for practical and temporary purposes. It’s not the place for men of good will or vision." [mijn nadruk] (290)

"Governments which use force are based upon bad principles of human engineering. Nor are they able to improve upon these principles, or discover their inadequacy, because they aren’t able to accumulate any body of knowledge approaching a science. All that can ever be done by way of ‘Improvement’ is to wrest power from one group and transfer it to another. It’s never possible to plan and carry out experiments to investigate the better use of power or how to dispense with it altogether. That would be fatal. Governments must always be right—they can’t experiment because they can’t admit doubt or question." [mijn nadruk] (291)

"We want a government based upon a science of human behavior. Nothing short of that will produce a permanent social structure. For the first time in history we’re ready for it, because we can now deal with human behavior in accordance with simple scientific principles."(293)

"“I have none at all,” said Frazier bluntly, “if you mean that men are naturally good or naturally prepared to get along with each other. We have no truck with philosophies of innate goodness—or evil, either, for that matter. But we do have faith in our power to change human behavior. We can make men adequate for group living—to the satisfaction of everybody. That was our faith, but it’s now a fact.”"(294)

Binnen de met name lokale politiek moet Walden II veel moeite doen om de corrupte verhalen over hun samenleving te bestrijden.

"“The forces of corruption,” said Castle, “wouldn’t be so straightforward as to go to the legislature. They would be spreading stories of free love or multiple marriages or atheism at Walden Two.”
“Don’t think we haven’t thought of that! And we’re not just sitting around waiting for it to happen, either. Our Manager of Public Relations sees that the surrounding areas get a good report of us. Some of his present practices I don’t approve of, because I’m opposed to anything beyond the truth by way of propaganda, but I’ve been overruled by the rest of the Planners and we now stretch a point, particularly in regard to religion. It’s a sort of anticipatory counterpropaganda.”()
Walden Two isn’t a religious community. It differs in that respect from all other reasonably permanent communities of the past. We don’t give our children any religious training, though parents are free to do so if they wish. Our conception of man is not taken from theology but from a scientific examination of man himself. And we recognize no revealed truths about good or evil or the laws or codes of a successful society.()
I’m not sure I could explain, how religious faith becomes irrelevant when the fears which nourish it are allayed and the hopes fulfilled—here on earth. We have no need for formal religion, either as ritual or philosophy. But I think we’re a devout people in the best sense of that word, and we’re far better behaved than any thousand church members taken at random.
“We’ve borrowed some of the practices of organized religion—to inspire group loyalty and strengthen the observance of the Code. I believe I’ve mentioned our Sunday meetings. There’s usually some sort of music, sometimes religious. And a philosophical, poetic, or religious work is read or acted out. We like the effect of this upon the speech of the community. It gives us a common stock of literary allusions. Then there’s a brief ‘lesson’—of the utmost importance in maintaining an observance of the Code." [mijn nadruk] (297-299)

"“So much for our services. No ritual, no dalliance with the supernatural. Just an enjoyable experience, in part aesthetic, in part intellectual. Now, what else does organized religion provide? Aid to the sick and needy? I shan’t insult you by pointing out our practices in that respect there. Comfort in time of loss? But why a professional comforter? Isn’t that something we’ve outgrown, like professional mourners? Here, we offer genuine comfort—the sympathy and affection of many friends. Hope for a better world in the future? We like it well enough here on earth. We don’t ask to be consoled for a vale of tears by promises of heaven.”"(300)

"“But after all,” said Castle, “the national government isn’t exactly unimportant. It’s protecting you from invaders who would destroy every trace of Walden Two if they could get at it, as well as from aggression by citizens of your own country. Incidentally, isn’t that something you forgot when you were talking about self-sufficiency?”
“Not at all. We pay for these services exactly like other taxpayers. We make only a partial use of the services we pay for, in fact. We ask no help for unemployed, for example.”
“But you do seem to avoid thinking of yourselves as part of the nation, I think,” said Castle.
“Quite so. We have a much better conception of government than the politicians and have, therefore, no interest in what they’re doing. The very threats of invasion you were just talking about are only due to governments throwing their weight about.”"(304)

(306) -24-

Over de invloed van de buitenwereld.

"“But is that enough? Do you mean to say your bright young fifteen-year-olds aren’t impressed by the movie palaces in the city or by night clubs or fancy restaurants? Can they drive along the wealthiest street in town without experiencing a bit of envy or wondering whether Walden Two is really the best world after all? You can’t very well keep them ignorant of such things, can you? You have movies here, for I saw one announced on the bulletin board. Your children must know about the outside world. How can you avoid the ravages of envy or doubt?”
“Of course our children know about the outside world! We simply make sure they know the whole truth! Nothing more is needed. We take them to the city from time to time, and they see the movie palaces, the churches, the museums, the fine residences. But they also see the other side of the tracks–the city hospital, the missions, the home for indigents, the saloons, the jails. We can usually find someone in the slums who will let us pass through her filthy flat in return for the price of a drink. That in itself would be enough."(308)

"“Why don’t you indoctrinate, though?” I said. ‘Wouldn’t that be the safest way of assuring the success of the community?”
“It would be the safest way of assuring failure,” said Frazier with some warmth. “It would be a fatal mistake. Nothing but the truth, that’s our rule."(309)

(315) -25-

"I was constantly amazed by the pleasant atmosphere which prevailed in Walden Two.()
Might there not be some side of Walden Two that we had not been allowed to see? I decided to mingle among the members at tea time and make an impartial sampling of their behavior."(315)

Burris loopt rond, maar kan niets vinden dat dat tegenspreekt.

(323) -26-

Burris zoekt dus naar zwakheden in het systeem.

"But there was a possibility that the weak point in the whole venture might be too much leisure. The arts and crafts and sports which Frazier had reviewed would supply avocations for many members, particularly those of talent. But what about a typical middle-class housewife? What would she do with eight or ten hours of leisure every day? Would she not be bored? Or restless and ill at ease?"(324)

"What extraordinary cynicism—this view that nothing but hard labor could prevent boredom! What did we actually know about happiness anyway? Had there ever been enough of it in the world in any one spot and at any one time to suffice for a decent experiment?"(328)

(328) -27-

"“The advance guard of Walden Six,” said Frazier with calculated casualness. “Here to spend Sunday.”B “You mean there’s another—Is there a Walden Six?” I said, with all the confusion Frazier could have desired.
“Not a full-fledged community yet,” said Frazier. “But it will be, shortly. Walden Two has grown too big, and we’re about to undergo fission.”
“But ‘Six’—do you mean you’ve already subdivided several times?”"(329)

"“Won’t you be seriously undermanned after subdividing?” I said.
“We may be spread a little thin for a time, but new people will be coming in.”
“How fast can you assimilate them?” I said. “Two young people like Steve and Mary will soon be observing the Code like anybody else, but suppose you take in a large crowd at once. What then? Suppose you’ve just subdivided so that your influence is attenuated. Can you educate and convert fast enough, or will the whole cultural structure slip?”
“That’s an experimental question,” said Frazier. “We shan’t risk the whole venture by trying any large-scale additions—not just yet."(334)

"One man can’t pass along the technical information and skill needed in all our departments. As the science of behavioral engineering advances, less and less is left to personal judgment. More training and apprenticeship are needed. At present we must proceed carefully and train a complete crew of competent managers for each new Walden.”"(340)

"We have every intention of stepping into democratic politics for purposes of that sort as soon as possible. By reorganizing the local township and county governments we could reduce taxes, recover our own taxes in salaries by putting our own people in office, and at the same time raise the county to our own standards. The school system would naturally fall into our hands, and we might be able to adapt some of the schools to our own use and hence avoid the double taxation of private education. Who could object to that?”
“Almost anyone,” said Castle, with unabating excitement. “And the fact that they’d object in vain proves how vicious the system is.”
“It’s the will of the majority, though,” said Frazier. “And while I recognize that that’s a form of despotism, we must use it temporarily to achieve a better government for all.”" [mijn nadruk] (344)

"What you are complaining about is our undemocratic procedure outside the community, and I agree with you that it’s despicable. I wish it were possible to act toward the world as we act toward each other. But the world insists that things be done in a different way.”"(345)

"“A dominant figure in Walden Two is quite unthinkable,” said Frazier. “The culture which has emerged from our experiments doesn’t require strong personal leadership. On the contrary, it contains several checks and guarantees against it.()
The founding of Walden Two is never recalled publicly by anyone who took part in it. No distinction of seniority is recognized. It’s very bad taste to refer to oneself as an ‘early member.’"(349)

"“No, Mr. Castle. A society which functions for the good of all cannot tolerate the emergence of individual figures. The leader principle has always failed in the long run. On the other hand, a society without heroes has an almost fabulous strength. It’s high time that somebody gave it a try.”()
“We value skill and strength. But we don’t value, and we certainly don’t emphasize, personal triumph. That’s not only unnecessary in a cooperative culture, it’s dangerous. Our leaders aren’t the men who can defeat the rest of us in battle, and we don’t encourage that pattern elsewhere.()
But we discourage hero worship as much as possible. It’s a bad motive because it usually means an unwise choice of goals.”"(352)

"“Race, family, ancestor worship—these are the handmaidens of history, and we should have learned to beware of them by now. What we give our young people in Walden Two is a grasp of the current forces which a culture must deal with. None of your myths, none of your heroes—no history, no destiny—simply the Now! The present is the thing. It’s the only thing we can deal with, anyway, in a scientific way."(356)

(370) -29-

"“Mr. Castle,” said Frazier very earnestly, “let me ask you a question. I warn you, it will be the most terrifying question of your life. What would you do if you found yourself in possession of an effective science of behavior? Suppose you suddenly found it possible to control the behavior of men as you wished. What would you do?”()
“What would I do?” said Castle thoughtfully. “I think I would dump your science of behavior in the ocean.”
“And deny men all the help you could otherwise give them?”
“And give them the freedom they would otherwise lose forever!”
“How could you give them freedom?”
“By refusing to control them!”
“But you would only be leaving the control in other hands.”
“Whose?”
“The charlatan, the demagogue, the salesman, the ward heeler, the bully, the cheat, the educator, the priest—all who are now in possession of the techniques of behavioral engineering." [mijn nadruk] (378)

"“Isn’t it time we talked about freedom?” I said. “We parted a day or so ago on an agreement to let the question of freedom ring. It’s time to answer, don’t you think?”
“My answer is simple enough,” said Frazier. “I deny that freedom exists at all. I must deny it—or my program would be absurd. You can’t have a science about a subject matter which hops capriciously about. Perhaps we can never prove that man isn’t free; it’s an assumption. But the increasing success of a science of behavior makes it more and more plausible.”" [mijn nadruk] (380)

"“Good! That’s an excellent start. Let us classify the kinds of determiners of human behavior. One class, as you suggest, is physical restraint—handcuffs, iron bars, forcible coercion. These are ways in which we shape human behavior according to our wishes. They’re crude, and they sacrifice the affection of the controllee, but they often work. Now, what other ways are there of limiting freedom?” "(382)

"Not being a good behaviorist—or a good Christian, for that matter—you have no feeling for a tremendous power of a different sort.”
“What’s that?”
“I shall have to be technical,” said Frazier. “But only for a moment. It’s what the science of behavior calls ‘reinforcement theory.’ The things that can happen to us fall into three classes. To some things we are indifferent. Other things we like—we want them to happen, and we take steps to make them happen again. Still other things we don’t like—we don’t want them to happen and we take steps to get rid of them or keep them from happening again.
“Now,” Frazier continued earnestly, “if it’s in our power to create any of the situations which a person likes or to remove any situation he doesn’t like, we can control his behavior. When he behaves as we want him to behave, we simply create a situation he likes, or remove one he doesn’t like. As a result, the probability that he will behave that way again goes up, which is what we want. Technically it’s called ‘positive reinforcement.’()
What is emerging at this critical stage in the evolution of society is a behavioral and cultural technology based on positive reinforcement alone. We are gradually discovering—at an untold cost in human suffering—that in the long run punishment doesn’t reduce the probability that an act will occur."(384)

"“But what has all this got to do with freedom?” I said hastily.
Frazier took time to reorganize his behavior. He looked steadily toward the window, against which the rain was beating heavily.
“Now that we know how positive reinforcement works and why negative doesn’t,” he said at last, “we can be more deliberate, and hence more successful, in our cultural design. We can achieve a sort of control under which the controlled, though they are following a code much more scrupulously than was ever the case under the old system, nevertheless feel free. They are doing what they want to do, not what they are forced to do. That’s the source of the tremendous power of positive reinforcement—there’s no restraint and no revolt. By a careful cultural design, we control not the final behavior, but the inclination to behave—the motives, the desires, the wishes."(388)

"“The question is: Can men live in freedom and peace? And the answer is: Yes, if we can build a social structure which will satisfy the needs of everyone and in which everyone will want to observe the supporting code. But so far this has been achieved only in Walden Two. Your ruthless accusations to the contrary, Mr. Castle, this is the freest place on earth. And it is free precisely because we make no use of force or the threat of force. Every bit of our research, from the nursery through the psychological management of our adult membership, is directed toward that end—to exploit every alternative to forcible control. By skillful planning, by a wise choice of techniques we increase the feeling of freedom.()
“No, Mr. Castle, when a science of behavior has once been achieved, there’s no alternative to a planned society. We can’t leave mankind to an accidental or biased control. But by using the principle of positive reinforcement—carefully avoiding force or the threat of force—we can preserve a personal sense of freedom.”"(390)

"Let’s assume that the will of the people can be ascertained. What then?”
“I should ask you that. What then, indeed? Are the people skilled governors? No. And they become less and less skilled, relatively speaking, as the science of government advances. It’s the same point I raised in our discussion of the group nursery: when we’ve once acquired a behavioral technology, we can’t leave the control of behavior to the unskilled. Your answer is to deny that the technology exists—a very feeble answer, it seems to me."(394)

"The people are in no position to evaluate experts. And elected experts are never able to act as they think best. They can’t experiment. The amateur doesn’t appreciate the need for experimentation. He wants his expert to know. And he’s utterly incapable of sustaining the period of doubt during which an experiment works itself out. The experts must either disguise their experiments and pretend to know the outcome in advance or stop experimenting altogether and struggle to maintain the status quo.”"(395)

"“Can’t I make you understand?” he said, holding out his hands in a gesture of appeal. “I don’t like despotism either! I don’t like the despotism of ignorance. I don’t like the despotism of neglect, of irresponsibility, the despotism of accident, even. And I don’t like the despotism of democracy!”"(396)

"Most of the people in Walden Two take no active part in running the government. And they don’t want an active part. The urge to have a say in how the country should be run is a recent thing. It was not part of early democracy.() Nowadays, everybody fancies himself an expert in government and wants to have a say. Let’s hope it’s a temporary cultural pattern."(399)

"“In Walden Two no one worries about the government except the few to whom that worry has been assigned. To suggest that everyone should take an interest would seem as fantastic as to suggest that everyone should become familiar with our Diesel engines. Even the constitutional rights of the members are seldom thought about, I’m sure. The only thing that matters is one’s day-to-day happiness and a secure future. Any infringement there would undoubtedly ‘arouse the electorate.’”"(399)

"Let’s not stop with democracy. It isn’t, and can’t be, the best form of government, because it’s based on a scientifically invalid conception of man. It fails to take account of the fact that in the long run man is determined by the state. A laissez-faire philosophy which trusts to the inherent goodness and wisdom of the common man is incompatible with the observed fact that men are made good or bad and wise or foolish by the environment in which they grow.”"(404)

"“I can see only four things wrong with Russia,” Frazier said, clearly enjoying the condescension. “As originally conceived, it was a good try. It sprang from humanitarian impulses which are a commonplace in Walden Two. But it quickly developed certain weaknesses. There are four of them, and they were inevitable. They were inevitable just because the attempt was made at the level of power politics.”()
“The first,” he said, as soon as I had done so, “is a decline in the experimental spirit. Many promising experiments have simply been dropped. The group care of children, the altered structure of the family, the abandonment of religion, new kinds of personal incentives—all these problems were ‘solved’ by dropping back to practices which have prevailed in capitalistic societies for centuries. It was the old difficulty. A government in power can’t experiment. It must know the answers or at least pretend to know them. Today the Russians contend that an optimal cultural pattern has been achieved, if not yet fully implemented. They dare not admit to any serious need for improvement. Revolutionary experimentation is dead."(407)

"But most important of all, the Russian experiment was based on power. You may argue that the seizure of power was also a temporary expedient, since the people who held it were intolerant and oppressive. But you can hardly defend the continued use of power in that way. The Russians are still a long way from a culture in which people behave as they want to behave, for their mutual good. In order to get its people to act as the communist pattern demands, the Russian government has had to use the techniques of capitalism. On the one hand it resorts to extravagant and uneven rewards. But an unequal distribution of wealth destroys more incentives than it creates. It obviously can’t operate for the common good. On the other hand, the government also uses punishment or the threat of it. What kind of behavioral engineering do you call that?”"(409)

(417) -32-

"“What remains to be done?” he said, his eyes flashing. “Well, what do you say to the design of personalities? Would that interest you? The control of temperament? Give me the specifications, and I’ll give you the man! What do you say to the control of motivation, building the interests which will make men most productive and most successful? Does that seem to you fantastic? Yet some of the techniques are available, and more can be worked out experimentally. Think of the possibilities! A society in which there is no failure, no boredom, no duplication of effort!()
“My hunch is—and when I feel this way about a hunch, it’s never wrong—that we shall eventually find out, not only what makes a child mathematical, but how to make better mathematicians! If we can’t solve a problem, we can create men who can! And better artists! And better craftsmen!” He laughed and added quietly, “And better behaviorists, I suppose!"(430)

(432) -33-

"“No, really. The parallel is quite fascinating. Our friend Castle is worried about the conflict between long-range dictatorship and freedom. Doesn’t he know he’s merely raising the old question of predestination and free will? All that happens is contained in an original plan, yet at every stage the individual seems to be making choices and determining the outcome. The same is true of Walden Two. Our members are practically always doing what they want to do—what they ‘choose’ to do—but we see to it that they will want to do precisely the things which are best for themselves and the community. Their behavior is determined, yet they’re free."(436)

(444) -35-

"That was the Thoreauvian side of Frazier, and I liked it. Why fight the government? Why try to change it? Why not let it alone? Unlike Thoreau, Frazier would pay his taxes and compromise wherever necessary. But he had found a way to build a world to his taste without trying to change the world of others, and I was sure he could carry on in peace unless the government took some monstrously despotic turn."(450)

"The techniques of controlling human behavior were obvious enough. The trouble was, they were in the hands of the wrong people—or of feeble repairmen."(450)

"As I let the paper fall to the ground I relinquished my hold on my unrewarding past. It was all too clear that nothing could be made of it. I would go back to Walden Two. I do not remember actually reaching a decision. I simply knew at last that only one course of action lay before me. The matter had probably been determined for days—from the beginning of time, Frazier would have said—but suddenly I was aware of it. I knew what I was going to do."(458)