Ecb at 21:27, 15 June 2010

2010-06-15T21:27:45Z

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	In the 1980s, the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out that technological		In the 1980s, the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out that technological
	change sometimes caused radical shifts in culture and society. Such a		change sometimes caused radical shifts in culture and society. Such a

Ecb: Created page with 'In the 1980s, the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out that technological change sometimes caused radical shifts in culture and society. Such a change would sweep across the world …'

2010-06-14T13:24:47Z

Created page with 'In the 1980s, the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out that technological change sometimes caused radical shifts in culture and society. Such a change would sweep across the world …'

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In the 1980s, the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out that technological
change sometimes caused radical shifts in culture and society. Such a
change would sweep across the world like a “wave,” transforming institutions
and worldviews, bringing a new kind of civilization into existence in
a relatively short time. The results would be so significant that societies on
opposite sides of a Wave would literally be inhabiting different worlds.

Toffler spoke of three Waves. The '''First Wave''' was triggered by the discovery
of agriculture perhaps 10,000 years ago. The '''Second Wave''' corresponded
with the Industrial Revolution, which began about 1800. The
'''Third Wave''' that Toffler predicted was associated with the spread of digital
computers and information networks, beginning about 1960.
Toffler’s vision was correct in many specifics, mistaken in others –
but in 2100, people use the concept of “waves of change” in deadly
earnest. In the past century, two more such Waves have swept
across the world, further complicating the process of human
history.

The '''Fourth Wave''' involved the spread of genetic technology,
beginning with the sequencing of human DNA at
the beginning of the century, culminating with the “biogenesis
revolution” and the appearance of variant human
subspecies in the 2050s. Today’s futurists disagree about
what constitutes the '''Fifth Wave''', but almost all agree that its
early stages are already transforming the world. Candidates for
the central technology of the evolving Fifth Wave civilization
include nanotechnology, memetics and powerful artificial
intelligence.

Each Wave overlies the previous ones, but does not
replace them. The result is “future shock,” the collision of
unready human individuals with an utterly new form of society.
Today, the dizzying speed of technological change means
that all five Waves coexist on the same planet, subsistence
farmers living side by side with gengineered parahumans and
superhuman AI. The world is in a constant state of future
shock. This accounts for many of today’s cultural phenomena,
from reactionary Preservationists who desperately reject
change, to radical Transhumanists who embrace it.

Waves - Revision history

Ecb at 21:27, 15 June 2010

Ecb: Created page with 'In the 1980s, the futurist Alvin Toffler pointed out that technological change sometimes caused radical shifts in culture and society. Such a change would sweep across the world …'