Cyberspace as American Culture

THE ENGINEERS AND ANTIMASONISM
Engineers have always been distinctive as a social group on account of their level of education, widespread social networks, and highly evolved body of esoteric knowledge. And in a religious society, these attributes took ideological and institutional form largely through Freemasonry. Although the Masons began as a medieval guild of itinerant stonemasons, speculative Masonry began as an aristocratic movement in Britain in the early eighteenth century. Noble (1997, 73-82) has pointed to the involvement of Masons in the founding of numerous scientific and technical institutions, starting with the Royal Society and the Ecole Polytechnique. Founding Fathers such as Benjamin Franklin and George Washington were Masons. With their network of lodges, the Masons established themselves as the intellectual elites of the new country (Fuller, 1995, 85; Goodman, 1988, 9-17; see generally Bullock, 1996).