Future Shock just turned 40 years old and Alvin and Heidi Toffler gave some new forecasts at a recent dinner in their honor:
Many of the new Tofflerian predictions are merely predictable: China will rise; cities will grow; Social Security will cease to exist, and Iran’s leaders will remain irrational. Oh, and “work will continue to expand to fill whatever time and space is available.” We should have known.
Other scenarios are the breathlessly blue-sky, cornucopian forecasts you’d expect from the Tofflers and their acolytes: nanotech factories; quantum computing; resource wars giving way to limitless fresh water and clean energy, and bio-implants further blurring the line between man and machine. The Singularity may not be near, but it’s coming. The remainder bears testimony to the opportunities and vulnerabilities of a relentlessly networked world.
Fast Compay: Future Shock at 40: The Tofflers Stir Up “Cyberdust” With New Scenarios
(via John Robb)
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