A Strong Reminder

In a powerful new essay titled Blueprints for a Human Zoo: Reading ‘Walden Two’ Against the Grain, Dr. Jaime Hoerricks revisits B. F. Skinner’s Walden Two and argues it was never just fiction, but “a blueprint for control,” a utopian design that normalizes surveillance and behavioral management. Dr. Hoerricks traces how that logic echoes into modern practice, warning of a “human zoo” metaphor where compliance is prized over autonomy and thriving.

The essay is a strong reminder of why we do what we do at ICDL. Our mission points in the opposite direction from what BF Skinner outlines. We exist “to make a positive impact in people’s lives by promoting and championing transdisciplinary, developmental, relationship-based, respectful, and effective approaches to human development and learning.” That is more than a statement of values; it is a commitment to practices that honor agency, relationships, connections, and the rich individuality of each person. 

What struck me most in Dr. Hoerricks’s piece is the clarity about what gets lost when systems prioritize external control: curiosity, initiative, and the felt experience of being known. When “control” becomes the organizing idea, we risk reducing people to targets of intervention. When relationship becomes the organizing idea, development becomes a shared journey. inside out and bottom up, where affect, sensory processing, movement, communication, cognition, behavior, etc. all integrate through warm, attuned human connection.

DIR® and DIRFloortime® (Floortime™) operationalizes that relational stance. Rather than shaping behavior from the outside, we join the person where they are, follow their interests, co-create “just-right challenges,” and build capacities for engagement, shared problem solving, and reflective thinking. This is how we align with neurodiversity-affirming practice: not by denying support, but by offering support that protects dignity, autonomy, and authentic communication. It’s also why our advocacy explicitly embraces neurodiversity and access to respectful, developmental and relationship-based approaches. 

If Walden Two imagines flourishing through engineered environments, ICDL imagines flourishing through relationships. Dr. Hoerricks helps us name the stakes: whenever we are tempted to measure success by surface compliance, we should ask whether we are building a community or a cage. The answer, for us, begins and ends with relationships, because relationships fuel development.

Read Dr. Hoerricks’s full article here: Blueprints for a Human Zoo: Reading ‘Walden Two’ Against the Grain.