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 leaving them disconnected and suffering from "shattering stress and disorientation" – future shocked. Toffler stated that the majority of social problems were symptoms of the future shock. In his discussion of the components of such shock, he also coined the term information overload.
Published in 1970 -- based on a 1965 article -- and still timely today.
Some consider The Prince a political satire, although Wikipedia calls it a "political treatise"; my own feeling is that it is a serious study of power politics. Even as a satire, it's a very subtle satire when compared with Swift's Modest Proposal.
Speaking of satirical modest proposals, Joe Haldeman wrote a nice little short story in a somewhat Swiftian vein: To Howard Hughes: a Modest Proposal. I'll spare you the spoilers, other than to say it's a tongue-in-cheek solution to the threat of nuclear war.
The term "machiavellian" is a cruel and unjust slander.
Niccolò Machiavelli was a profoundly moral man, well acquainted with -- and appalled by -- the amoral power politics of his age. When he wrote that a Prince should prefer to be feared, rather than loved, Machiavelli was not advancing a personal ideal: he was simply reporting how Princes actually behave in the real world.
I'm reminded of the IWW ("Wobblies") when I read "Maybe one day the workers in China will get together and form a national union to ensure workers' rights."
How did that work out of for the Wobblies? Long story short: not so good.
Biology might provide useful metaphors -- in particular, I wonder if the parasite/host relationships might provide insights into attacker/defender models.
Parasites evolve in response to defense mechanisms of their hosts. Examples of host defenses include the toxins produced by plants to deter parasitic fungi and bacteria, the complex vertebrate immune system, which can target parasites through contact with bodily fluids, and behavioral defenses. An example of the latter is the avoidance by sheep of open pastures during spring, when roundworm eggs accumulated over the previous year hatch en masse. As a result of these and other host defenses, some parasites evolve adaptations that are specific to a particular host taxon and specialize to the point where they infect only a single species. Such narrow host specificity can be costly over evolutionary time, however, if the host species becomes extinct. Thus, many parasites are capable of infecting a variety of host species that are more or less closely related, with varying success.
Host defenses also evolve in response to attacks by parasites. Theoretically, parasites may have an advantage in this evolutionary arms race because of their more rapid generation time. Hosts reproduce less quickly than parasites, and therefore have fewer chances to adapt than their parasites do over a given span of time.
When I was about five years old, I happened to find my grandfather's copy of How to Sex Chicks. I didn't know much about the reproductive act, but I knew that there was something provocative about the phrase "sex chicks", although the book itself, on close examination, seemed innocent enough (how to tell if a baby chicken is a boy chicken or a girl chicken).
Blank sheet music if you're ambitious. Or just pretend you're looking at blank sheet music, and silently think to yourself, "I'm listening to music now."
John Brunner predicted this in Stand on Zanzibar (1968) -- consumers use do-it-yourself kits to paint like Jackson Pollock, compose like John Cage, etc:
...my old hobby of vicarious music... I don't have the talent to go through a Cage score on my own jets, and I do love the feeling of actually creating the sounds with my fingers.
"If a narrow definition of genocide is used, as favoured by the international courts, then during the Srebrenica massacre between 8,000 and 9,000 men and boys were murdered and the remainder of the population (between 25,000-30,000, women, children and elderly people) was forced to leave the area. If a wider definition is used, then the number is much larger....."
Larry Niven wrote that "A man who can make fire burn backwards is mighty wizard indeed", or words to that effect. One of his short stories, I forget which.
I would probably call it "radiation", and not bother with "electromagnetic energy". I have no problem with radiation, as such. I'm just saying (in my original post) that it's a hot-button word for some people -- not me or you, but some people.
Slashdot Mirror
Fill in the blank:
"Cyber-" is to technology
as "Green" is to __________
I agree with your assessment that Toffler got it wrong when forecasting shifts in labor.
But I believe he was right about "information overload" -- too much, too fast -- and the accelerating rate of technological and social change.
See Future Shock by Alvin Toffler:
Published in 1970 -- based on a 1965 article -- and still timely today.
Good point, thanks.
Some consider The Prince a political satire, although Wikipedia calls it a "political treatise"; my own feeling is that it is a serious study of power politics. Even as a satire, it's a very subtle satire when compared with Swift's Modest Proposal.
Speaking of satirical modest proposals, Joe Haldeman wrote a nice little short story in a somewhat Swiftian vein: To Howard Hughes: a Modest Proposal. I'll spare you the spoilers, other than to say it's a tongue-in-cheek solution to the threat of nuclear war.
Maybe so.
He paid a high price for his legacy: when he fell from favor, he was tortured and then spent years imprisoned in a dungeon.
The term "machiavellian" is a cruel and unjust slander.
Niccolò Machiavelli was a profoundly moral man, well acquainted with -- and appalled by -- the amoral power politics of his age. When he wrote that a Prince should prefer to be feared, rather than loved, Machiavelli was not advancing a personal ideal: he was simply reporting how Princes actually behave in the real world.
People with allergies say ragweed pollen makes them sneeze.
Dead child brains?
Advanced medical research?
Idea-stealing profiteers and soulless lawyers, deserving of comeuppance?
I smell zombies!
How about killing the bullies? Before they have a chance to reproduce, of course. Clean up the gene pool! No bullies allowed!
I'm reminded of the IWW ("Wobblies") when I read "Maybe one day the workers in China will get together and form a national union to ensure workers' rights."
How did that work out of for the Wobblies? Long story short: not so good.
Cell phones with pheromone detector chips, so Homeland Security can determine the level of fear gripping America.
Furthermore, a man "carries the reminders of every glove that laid him down, or cut him 'til he cried out in his anger and his shame ..."
I know I do, anyway ... and I'm not even a fighter.
But sociopaths are another matter -- they don't give a shit about shame. Anger, yes. But not shame.
When I was about five years old, I happened to find my grandfather's copy of How to Sex Chicks. I didn't know much about the reproductive act, but I knew that there was something provocative about the phrase "sex chicks", although the book itself, on close examination, seemed innocent enough (how to tell if a baby chicken is a boy chicken or a girl chicken).
Ah, young love. "Google 'fell in love with what they were doing to make that transition easier.'
Nothing like falling in love to heat up the corporate personhood debate.
Blank sheet music if you're ambitious. Or just pretend you're looking at blank sheet music, and silently think to yourself, "I'm listening to music now."
John Brunner predicted this in Stand on Zanzibar (1968) -- consumers use do-it-yourself kits to paint like Jackson Pollock, compose like John Cage, etc:
If I wanted to get sober faster, I would drink less, and quit sooner, during any given drinking session.
"If a narrow definition of genocide is used, as favoured by the international courts, then during the Srebrenica massacre between 8,000 and 9,000 men and boys were murdered and the remainder of the population (between 25,000-30,000, women, children and elderly people) was forced to leave the area. If a wider definition is used, then the number is much larger ....."
- Bosnian Genocide
As it happens, my mother is dead. I watched it happen. You should try it sometime.
Can someone please express "600 million metric tons of water ice" in terms of "an iceberg the size of [insert nation or state or island here]" ...?
"BOOM! HEADSHOT."
http://xkcd.com/654/
Larry Niven wrote that "A man who can make fire burn backwards is mighty wizard indeed", or words to that effect. One of his short stories, I forget which.
I would probably call it "radiation", and not bother with "electromagnetic energy". I have no problem with radiation, as such. I'm just saying (in my original post) that it's a hot-button word for some people -- not me or you, but some people.