When I was ten years old, I read the book ‘Future Shock’ by Alvin Toffler.
As a kid, I was a science fiction fan, but this book wasn’t SF. It was cultural commentary, and it would inform my thinking for decades to come.
Culture shock is the idea that humans can suffer from the disorienting experience of being far from home, unaware of how to cope in a foreign land.
Future shock, as defined by Toffler, is “too much change in too short a period of time” , resulting in a person feeling displaced within their own culture because their world has changed so rapidly that they can no longer recognize it.
We live in the future, but we are pursued by the past. Toffler is an ancient source in our internet dominated world, but even so, the idea that no matter how hard you try, the future will emerge, faster than ever, faster than you can understand is more true than ever. This remains a foundation stone of my intellectual life.
In this blog, I’m pursuing the mirage, tryng to understand the future as it happens to us.
Our best explanations are merely good enough, barely acceptable for today, and will be replaced almost immediately as we travel into the future, day by day.
Please join me in my journey. The future is an exciting place, but it’s hard work to keep up and understand it. I’m looking forward to finding the people who will join me in that task.