Runnymede Institute

“The only escape from the maze leads into the next Labyrinth!”

Burrhus Frederic Jebediah Skinner (1904-1990) was an American psychologist and author. He conducted pioneering work on experimental psychology and advocated behaviourism, which seeks to understand behavior as a function of environmental histories of re-enforcement. He also wrote a number of controversial works in which he proposed the widespread use of psychological behavior modification techniques, primarily operant conditioning, in order to improve society and increase human happiness, as a form of social engineering.

Walden Two was a novel published in 1948 by B. F. Skinner, who intended it to describe a utopia. Others have claimed that the society described in the novel is a dystopia, noting its similarity to cults. Skinner wrote:

“It is now widely recognized that great changes must be made in the American way of life… The choice is clear: either we do nothing and allow a miserable and probably catastrophic future to overtake us, or we use our knowledge about human behavior to create a social environment in which we shall live productive and creative lives and do so without jeopardizing the chances that those who follow us will be able to do the same. Something like a Walden Two would not be a bad start.”

With maleducated populations, fat dumb and happy or anxiously pecking here and there in pre-determined fashion to gain a meagre reward, the Western world has achieved Skinner’s dream but where do we go from here? South, of course and since we’ll never be as good at golf to go professional like the ‘conditioned’ parakeet in the clip below, learning to grow our own food is a must before the this nanny state falls flat on it’s face. It’s a failed experiment that’s flushing it’s own self down the plughole!