Alvin Toffler (1928 - )
Biography
Alvin Toffler (born October 3, 1928) is an American writer and futurist, known for his works discussing the digital revolution, communications revolution, corporate revolution and technological singularity. A former associate editor of Fortune magazine, his early work focused on technology and its impact (through effects like information overload). Then he moved to examining the reaction of and changes in society. His later focus has been on the increasing power of 21st century military hardware, weapons and technology proliferation, and capitalism. He is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alvin_Toffler [Apr 2005]Techno rebels
The Techno Rebels are, whether they recognize it or not, agents of the Third Wave. They will not vanish but multiply in the years ahead. For they are as much part of the advance to a new stage of civilisation as our missions to Venus, our amazing computers, our biological discoveries, or our explorations of the oceanic depths.
--Alvin Toffler: The Third Wave (1980)
Third Wave
Alvin Toffler's book The Third Wave, published in 1980, used a historical perspective to argue that the transition from an industrial society (the Second Wave) to an information society (the Third Wave) can be best understood by looking back in time to the transition from the agricultural society (the First Wave) to the industrial society. Since then, many writers and futurists have joined in the study of the transition from the manufacturing-orientation of industrial society to the information- and knowledge-orientation of the Third Wave.Computer [...]
“Recently, the computer has touched off a storm of fresh ideas about man as an interacting part of larger systems, about his physiology, the way he learns, the way he remembers, the way he makes decisions. Virtually every intellectual discipline … has been hit by a wave of imaginative hypotheses triggered by the invention and diffusion of the computer--and the full impact has not yet struck. And so the innovative cycle, feeding on itself, speeds up.” --A. Toffler, Future Shock - 1970Juan Atkins
Juan Atkins and 3070 called themselves Cybotron, a futuristic name in line with the ideas they had taken from science fiction, P-Funk, Kraftwerk, and Alvin Toffler's The Third Wave. "We had always been into futurism. We had a whole load of concepts for Cybotron: a whole techno-speak dictionary, an overall idea which we called the Grid. It was like a video game which you entered on different levels." By 1984-85, they had racked up some of the finest electronic records ever, produced in their home studio in Ypsilanti: tough, otherworldly yet warm cuts like "Clear," "R-9", and the song that launched the style, "Techno City."
Future Shock (1970) - Alvin Toffler
Future Shock (1970) - Alvin Toffler [Amazon.com] [FR] [DE] [UK]
Future Shock is a controversial book written by the sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970. It has sold over 6 million copies and has been widely translated.
Future shock is also a term for certain psychological state of individuals and entire societies, introduced by Toffler in his book of the same name.
Toffler argues that society is undergoing an enormous structural change, a revolution from an industrial society to a "super-industrial society". This change will overwhelm people, the accelerated rate of technological and social change will leave them disconnected, suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation" - future shocked. Toffler stated that the majority of social problems were symptoms of the future shock.
His analysis of that phenomenon is continued in his later publications, especially The Third Wave and Powershift. --http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Future_Shock [Apr 2005]
The Third Wave (1980) - Alvin Toffler
Alvin Toffler's book The Third Wave, published in 1980, used a historical perspective to argue that the transition from an industrial society (the Second Wave) to an information society (the Third Wave) can be best understood by looking back in time to the transition from the agricultural society (the First Wave) to the industrial society. Since then, many writers and futurists have joined in the study of the transition from the manufacturing-orientation of industrial society to the information- and knowledge-orientation of the Third Wave.