What we did not know is that his Canadian grandfather, Joshua Haldeman, was an avid supporter of Technocracy, served as Research Director and ultimately became the the head of the Technocracy, Inc. party in Canada. For full details on modern Technocracy, the reader is advised to read Technocracy Rising: The Trojan Horse of Global Transformation by Patrick Wood. ? TN Editor

One of history's recurring themes is that technology sometimes outruns society, leaving politicians gasping to catch up with the consequences. So it was with the impact of the printing press, the steam engine and the computer. Arguably, so it is again today with gene editing, social media and artificial intelligence.

While technologists often rail that politicians just do not "get" technology, politicians counter that technologists all too rarely grasp politics.

One fascinating example of both sides of the debate was the history of the technocracy movement that briefly flourished in North America in the 1930s. The "revolt of the engineers", as it was called, holds some interesting lessons for today.