I have been thinking about this post for a few days and was surprised
that there haven't been many comments about it yet. I found it disturbing
and wonder whether maybe some others do, too. I need to preface my
comments by saying that I haven't read Toffler's work and am pretty
ignorant of economic theory. I hope someone more knowledgable in that
field will comment. I am commenting on what I read in the post, rather
than what I (don't) know of Toffler.
That said, why did I find it disturbing?
1. That the writer who "didn't have a favourable opinion" of Newt Gingrich
would be "reevaluating" on the basis of his promotion of this book. (Was
it also published by his pal Rupert Murdock?)
2. I am always sceptical about predictions of the future whether it is
Nostradamus, Criswell, or Walt Disney. (Actually, Jules Verne was pretty
close, but he was writing fiction). Most of these predictions look silly
in due time, like "future-world" of Disneyland or 1950's cheap sci-fi
movies with people living on the moon in 1990.
3. The idea that the world will be an "information society", in that we can
replace agriculture or production of goods with information. Perhaps I am
misunderstanding this, but even if one person is selling information,
someone has to be a farmer, make clothes and even computers. This idea
that an economy is information-based seems to deny our reliance on
natural resources. We will still need food, shelter, clothing, etc. and
information cannot provide these.
4. The "information society" concept also seems to divorce our bodies
from what is going on in our heads, with the mind being of supreme
importance. I don't believe this is a healthy viewpoint for innumerable
reasons.
5. Although I am all in favor of the idea of change, I am suspicious of
the direction of this change. I'm not sure that we are becoming
decentralized and diversified-we all seem to go to the same movies, and
watch the same tv, read or listen to the same news. In fact it is my
understanding that one of the biggest exports of the US is culture
(movies, tv, music, etc.). I also wonder what a "virtual organization" is
and how it replaces bureaucracy.
My apologies to our non-US members for a very American oriented post.
Michelle
