Future Shock

FUTURE SHOCK

Simply it talks about change and rate of change in our life. Change will mean new rules and new roles for people, and he calls it a disease, future shock. It is basically about change, and he analyses it in almost every aspect. The book was written 40 years ago, discussing how change and technological developments are shaping the future and influencing our lives. Something is going to change and it will change in the fastest way it could!

He revolves his discussion of change around three pillars: transience, novelty, and diversity. 1) Different aspects of life are becoming less permanent and more temporary (or transient), from the disposable products we use to the increased need for moving from city to city (for education or work), to changing the organizations where we work. This leads us to breaking up old relationships and creating new ones, moving from our old houses to new ones. And so on. 2) Novelty increases unfamiliarity and hinders our ability to use past experience to judge the new situations we face. 3) The diversity of choice is expanding to the extent of over choice. Toffler suggests that people follow certain lifestyles as a means to cope with the over choice problem (I personally found this discussion very interesting and eye opening to people's behaviour.)

Toffler emphasizes the urge to think about the future and to think differently. People (governments, educationalists, businesses, societies, parents.) tend to face new problems with old mentalities. Toffler argues that bureaucracy is slowly being replaced with ad-hocracy, standardization with customization; the individual is losing his attachment to his organization (work place) and replacing it with an attachment to his profession. And, in my opinion, the most critical discussion is how people's values change as they cope with change. For anybody, and nation to survive they have to understand and cope with the change.

What really...