Wilson, WOTAN and the white heat of technocracy

By Danny Nicol
University of Westminster

 

The period during which Doctor Who has been broadcast has been characterised by a “rise of the unelected” – the growth of appointed commissions, banks and courts which decide political policy without the worry of having to stand for re-election.  In this context politics is seen as a technocratic “fix”.   It has little to do with class interests: rather, it’s all a complicated matter of detailed, technical policy.  With their special knowledge the experts can be trusted to solve the country’s problems.

Technocracy came to the fore modestly in the early days of Doctor Who when Harold Wilson’s Labour government eschewed socialism in favour of managing “the white heat of technology” through a National Economic Development Council.  Since then, unelected bodies have been doing a roaring trade: the European Commission, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England, the Office of Budget Responsibility, the little-known panels of the World Trade Organisation, the Eurozone troika with its preference for technocratic national governments…   For some, technocracy is a matter of pride, with Tony Blair in 1997 promising a “government without ideology”.

The Doctor (William Hartnell) encounters WOTAN

The rise of the unelected is presaged by two early Doctor Who adventures which imagine computers running the world.  In “The War Machines” (1966) the government builds a powerful computer called WOTAN (Will Operating Thought ANalogue) in what is now the British Telecom Tower.  A senior civil servant Sir Charles Summer asserts that “no one operates WOTAN…the computer is merely a brain which thinks logically without any political ends.  It is pure thought…it is our servant.”  In the end, WOTAN hypnotises the staff operating it, and goes about trying to eliminate humans from the planet. 

“The Ice Warriors” (1967) introduces a species of Martians whom we meet several times in subsequent adventures.  But the beauty of the story is that the monsters are not the real enemy: the world is run by a Great World Computer.  The humans in the story are led by Leader Clent who says “you know how efficient our civilisation is, thanks to the direction of the Great World Computer.”  Yet we’re told that the Computer’s guidance has reduced the number of plants on the planet so that land can be used for house-building.  No plants, no carbon dioxide, no spring.  A new Ice Age has established itself.  Clent’s robotic deference towards the Computer is startling in its disconnect and denial: the World Computer has destroyed the Earth’s climate, yet is praised as the font of an efficient civilisation! 

 



Leader Clent and his assistant Miss Garrett
 defer to the Great Computer

We’re told that the Computer’s principle is that all decisions, all actions must be impartial and must conform to the common good – again, familiar technocratic rhetoric.  Opponents of the Computer’s rule are regarded as “scavengers” and are deported.  One critical voice is the rebel scientist Penley, who argues that the Computer isn’t designed to take risks, but that risk-taking is the basis of man’s progress.  The humans eventually come to realise that the World Computer’s top priority it is own survival.

In today’s world technocracy is alive and well, as shown by the likelihood that the TTIP (Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership) will enable corporations to challenge the policies of democratically-elected governments in secret courts.   Doctor Who deserves credit for using the computer metaphor to challenge uncritical claims that technocracy is an impartial form of governance dedicated to the common good.