The Future is no longer Shocked

[catsmate]

Alvin Toffler author of the seminal books Future Shock and The Third Wave died on Monday. He was 87.
Obit.

 

[Crossbow]

Alvin Toffler author of the seminal books Future Shock and The Third Wave died on Monday. He was 87.
Obit.

I saw his movie Future Shock in 1974 (I think) which was narrated by Orson Wells and about the only prediction that he got right was gay marriage.

 

[fagin]

Working from a rather old and fragile memory, I don't think the movie resembled the book much.

 

[RobRoy]

I saw his movie Future Shock in 1974 (I think) which was narrated by Orson Wells and about the only prediction that he got right was gay marriage.

I haven't read the book, but the summary on Wikipedia seems to be hit-and-miss (although it may have been tailored to do so):

• Many goods have become disposable as the cost of manual repair or cleaning has become greater than the cost of making new goods due to mass production. Examples of disposable goods include ballpoint pens, lighters, plastic bottles, and paper towels.
• The design of goods becomes outdated quickly. (And so, for example, a second generation of computers appears before the end of the expected period of usability of the first generation). It is possible to rent almost everything (from a ladder to a wedding dress), thus eliminating the need for ownership.
• Whole branches of industry die off and new branches of industry arise. This impacts unskilled workers who are compelled to change their residence to find new jobs. The constant change in the market also poses a problem for advertisers who must deal with moving targets.
• People of post-industrial society change their profession and their workplace often. People have to change professions because professions quickly become outdated. People of post-industrial society thus have many careers in a lifetime. The knowledge of an engineer becomes outdated in ten years. People look more and more for temporary jobs.
• To follow transient jobs, people have become nomads. For example, immigrants from Algeria, Turkey and other countries go to Europe to find work. Transient people are forced to change residence, phone number, school, friends, car license, and contact with family often. As a result, relationships tend to be superficial with a large number of people, instead of being intimate or close relationships that are more stable. Evidence for this is tourist travel and holiday romances.
• The driver's license, received at age 16, has become the teenager's admission to the world of adults, because it symbolizes the ability to move independently.