Name: Future Shock
ISBN: 9780553101508

Alvin Toffler

This is a book about what happens to people when they are overwhelmed by change. It is about the ways in which we adapt - or fail to adapt - to the future.

Future Shock

Cal Desmond‐Pearson

Read it back in 1975 or so, when I was a teenager. It knocked me out then and still has a power. I re-read it every so often

Eleanor Martin

This was a fascinating mix of really interesting ideas, and some complete nonsense. The generalisations about the future were actually surprisingly accurate, and a number of the predictions were close (even if the timescale was out by 20-30 years). Some of the fixation on sex probes and living underwater made it harder to pick out the interesting parts though - too easy to scoff and stop taking is seriously.

Maria

странное впечатление от книги: с одной стороны, ничего принципиально нового (половина описанного уже сбылась, про другую половину постоянно везде говорят), с другой стороны, идеи кажутся настолько фунтаментальными и важными, что не возникает сомнений, что читать надо

меня, как работника ИТ-индустрии, конечно же, волнует идея непоспевания этики за технологиями - и того, что на это по-прежнему всем наплевать. тоффлер пишет: "решения о развитии технологий - политические, поэтому их больше не должны принимать инженеры". но, как мы знаем, инженеры не просто продолжают рулить - они захлебываются собственным интеллектуальным превосходством над "гуманитариями", и не просто не приблизились к осознанию последствий своих действий, а придумали кучу причин, почему этого делать не нужно

это видно везде - и то, как сложно инженерам рассказывать про функционал собственных приложений, особенно отвечая на вопрос "зачем это нужно пользователю", и то, как задорно в ИТ-сообществе травят "иных" - уровень расизма, сексизма, гомофобии, ксенофобии в индустрии чрезвычайно высок, при этом уровень рефлексии недалеко ушел от депутатов государственной думы, а уровень эмпатии - от жителей третьего рейха. почему я связываю это с развитием технологий? потому что они на полном серьезе говорят we're making the world a better place, представляя технологическое решение, и на полном же серьезе считают, что это оправдывает сексуальные домогательства на работе 

конечно, мы как индустрия тоже в это вложились. развели культуру детских садов для программистов - вот тебе гамак, вот тебе качели, вот тебе игрушки, первое, второе и компот, только приходи к нам писать код. в итоге вырастили поколение тридцатилетних инфантилов, которые устраивают истерику, что их не предупредили, что бесплатная корпоративная футболка полиняет, если её постирать на 60 градусах. ожидать от таких людей, что они задумаются, как миру навредит бигдата? увольте

короче, антиутопия сбывается, а всё потому, что мы мало читаем тоффлера

John Balek

2020 marks 50 years since Future Shock was first published. As a book about the future and how to adapt to its inevitable change it was an interesting time to read it. Due to the fact that I am 50 years removed from the world in which it was written in I am given a very different mindset to read it in. My enjoyment of the book comes partially from looking back with 2020 hindsight and partially from finding its original message still relevant today. 

The introductory chapters of this book explain just how fast our society started moving in the 20th century. Compared to today this rate of advancement has only increased in acceleration. 1970 marks one of the earliest generations to notice how fast information moves and how quick things can change. I can only imagine how intense this period must have been as no other period of human history progress at the pace of the first 70 years of the 20th century, at that point.

A lot of the first half of the book discusses many of the trends of 1970. Toffler projects how changes that happened in the prior half of the 20th century will affect the years after. It was great to see what was seen as revolutionary or points of interest to a person of this time. As someone who finds the 20th century to be one of the most interesting points of history to study, a lot of this book was a pleasure to read. 

There is a wide variety of subjects covered in this book. Because of this some chapters might interest certain readers more than others. By covering all of these trends the book can feel like it is part history, sociology, philosophy, anthropology, futurist, and business. As a business school graduate some of the chapters on consumer trends were great insight into marketing knowledge of the day, even if some of the information is rudimentary today.

Toffler makes many speculations about the future and surprisingly a lot of them turn out to have become true. Granted there are a few subjects he misses on but they are still fun to read about, they just feel more sci-fi than realistic.

The overall message of Future Shock is to address the trend of rapid change that forces human beings obsolete if they don't know how to adapt with the changes and learn current information. He offers so many great insights and the fact that they are still relevant really shows how this book is still useful to read today. That being said, reading this 50 years on and realizing not that much has changed is a depressing thought. If more people had read this book back then and incorporated its message into their lives maybe we'd have solve more of societies issues. 

Its also ironic that many of the people who would have been youth at the point of publishing this book are now the elder, ruling class, failing to adapt to our current world, holding us back. Maybe this is just part of the human condition and it is inevitable that we will fail future generations.

Overall I would recommend anyone looking for insight into life during 1970 as well as a better way of looking at the future to read this book. It is well worth it.

Future Shock

Reviews

Highlights