Alvin_Toffler

{{POV|date=December 2007}}

'''Alvin Toffler''' (born [[October 3]], [[1928]]) is an [[United States|American]] [[writer]] and [[futures studies|futurist]], known for his works discussing the [[digital revolution]], [[communications revolution]], [[corporate revolution]] and [[technological singularity]]. A former associate editor of ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'' magazine, his early work focused on technology and its impact (through effects like [[information overload]]). Then he moved to examining the reaction of and [[Social change|changes in society]]. His later focus has been on the increasing power of 21st century military hardware, weapons and technology proliferation, and [[capitalism]]. He is married to Heidi Toffler, also a writer and futurist. They live in [[Los Angeles]]. They wrote the books credited to "Alvin Toffler" together.

[[Accenture]], the management consultancy, has dubbed him the third most influential voice among business leaders, after [[Bill Gates]] and [[Peter Drucker]]. He has also been described in the ''[[Financial Times]]'' as the "world's most famous [[futurologist]]".
[[People's Daily]] classes him among the 50 foreigners that shaped modern China.<ref name="PeoplesDaily">[http://english.people.com.cn/200608/03/eng20060803_289510.html 50 foreigners shaping China's modern development], 30 August 2006. [http://www.alvintoffler.net/?fa=china_top50 Coverage at the Tofflers' site]</ref>

==His ideas==
Toffler explains, "Society needs people who take care of the elderly and who know how to be compassionate and honest. Society needs people who work in hospitals. Society needs all kinds of skill that are not just cognitive; they're emotional, they're affectional. You can't run the society on data and computers alone."<ref>[http://www.abc.net.au/rn/talks/lm/stories/s10440.htm Alvin Toffler interviewed by Norman Swann], Australian Broadcasting Corporation Radio National, "Life Matters", 5 March 1998.</ref>

In his book ''The Third Wave'' Toffler describes three types of societies, based on the concept of 'waves' - each wave pushes the older societies and cultures aside.
*'''First Wave''' is the society after [[Neolithic Revolution|agrarian revolution]] and replaced the first [[hunter-gatherer]] cultures.
*'''Second Wave''' is the society during the [[Industrial Revolution]] (ca. late 1600s through the mid-1900s). The main components of the Second Wave society are [[nuclear family]], factory-type education system and the [[corporation]]. Toffler writes: "The Second Wave Society is industrial and based on [[mass production]], [[mass distribution]], [[mass consumption]], [[mass education]], [[mass media]], [[mass recreation]], [[mass entertainment]], and [[weapons of mass destruction]]. You combine those things with [[standardization]], [[centralization]], concentration, and synchronization, and you wind up with a style of [[organization]] we call [[bureaucracy]]."
*'''Third Wave''' is the [[post-industrial society]]. Toffler would also add that since late 1950s most countries are moving away from a Second Wave Society into what he would call a Third Wave Society. He coined lots of words to describe it and mentions names invented by him ([[super-industrial society]]) and other people (like the [[Information Age]], [[Space Age]], [[Electronic Era]], [[Global Village]], [[technetronic age]], [[scientific-technological revolution]]), which to various degrees predicted demassification, diversity, knowledge-based production, and the acceleration of change (one of Toffler’s key maxims is "change is non-linear and can go backwards, forwards and sideways").

In this [[post-industrial]] society, there is a lot of diversity in [[lifestyle]]s ("subcults").
[[Adhocracy|Adhocracies]] (fluid organizations) adapt quickly to [[change]]s.
[[Information]] can substitute most of the material resources (see [[ersatz]]) and becomes the main material for workers ([[cognitarian]]s instead of [[proletarian]]s), who are loosely affiliated.
[[Mass customization]] offers the possibility of cheap, personalized, production catering to small niches (see [[Just In Time (business)|Just In Time]] production).
The gap between producer and consumer is bridged by technology using a so called [[configuration system]].
"[[Prosumer]]s" can fill their own needs (see [[open source]], [[assembly kit]], [[freelance]] work). This was the notion that new technologies are enabling the radical fusion of the producer and consumer into the ''prosumer''. In some cases ''prosuming'' entails a “third job” where the corporation “outsources” its labor not to other countries, but to the unpaid consumer, such as when we do our own banking through an [[Automated teller machine|ATM]] instead of a teller that the bank must employ, or trace our own postal packages on the internet instead of relying on a paid clerk.

Ageing societies will be using new (medical) technologies from self-diagnosis to instant [[Japanese toilet|toilet]] [[urinalysis]] to self-administered therapies delivered by [[nanotechnology]] to do for themselves what doctors used to do. This will change the way the whole [[health industry]] works.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}

Since the 1960s, people have been trying to make sense out of the impact of new technologies and social change. Toffler's writings have been influential beyond the confines of scientific, economic and public policy discussions. [[Techno music]] pioneer [[Juan Atkins]] cites Toffler's phrase "techno rebels" in ''Future Shock'' as inspiring him to use the word "techno" to describe the [[musical genre|musical style]] he helped to create.

Toffler's works and ideas have been subject to various criticisms, usually with the same argumentation used against [[future studies|futurology]]: that foreseeing the future is nigh impossible. In the 1990s, his ideas were publicly lauded by [[Newt Gingrich]].

In 1996 Alvin and Heidi Toffler founded Toffler Associates, an executive advisory firm committed to helping commercial firms and government agencies adjust to the changes described in the Tofflers' works.

The development Toffler believes may go down as this era's greatest turning point is the creation of wealth in [[outer space]]. Wealth today, he argues, is created everywhere ([[globalisation]]), nowhere ([[cyberspace]]), and out there (outer space). [[Global positioning satellites]] are key to synchronising precision time and data streams for everything from [[cellphone]] calls to [[Automated teller machine|ATM]] withdrawals. They allow [[Just In Time (business)|Just In Time]] [[productivity]] because of precise tracking. GPS is also becoming central to [[air-traffic control]]. And satellites increase agricultural productivity through tracking [[weather]], enabling more accurate [[weather prediction|forecast]]s.

Two major predictions of Toffler's - the [[paperless office]] and [[human cloning]] - have yet to be realized, not due to technological barriers but to sociological and politico-religious conditions.

Also influenced [[Timothy Leary]] (see Info-Psychology; New Falcon Press, 2004)

==Books==
Alvin Toffler co-wrote his books with his wife Heidi. A few of their well-known works are:
*''[[Future Shock]]'' (1970) Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-27737-5
*''[[The Eco-Spasm Report]]'' (1975) Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-14474-X
*''[[The Third Wave (book)|The Third Wave]]'' (1980) Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-24698-4
*''[[Previews & Premises]]'' (1983)
*''[[Powershift: Knowledge, Wealth and Violence at the Edge of the 21st Century]]'' (1990) Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-29215-3
*''[[War and Anti-War]]'' (1995) Warner Books ISBN 0-446-60259-0
*''[[Revolutionary Wealth]]'' (2006) Knopf ISBN 0-375-40174-1

==List of political leaders tutored by Alvin and Heidi Toffler==
*[[Mikhail Gorbachev]], the last leader of the [[Soviet Union]], in 1986 as he was formulating [[perestroika]].
*[[Zhao Ziyang]], the reformist Chinese premier in 1988.
*Most of the Japanese leaders from [[Hirofumi Nakasone]] to [[Junichiro Koizumi]]. In Japan, he is highly respected by both politicians and business leaders alike.
*Dr. [[Mahathir bin Mohamad]], former prime minister of [[Malaysia]]
*[[Abdul Kalam]], former President of [[India]]
*[[Kim Dae Jung]], former [[South Korea]]n president and the 2000 [[Nobel Peace Prize]] recipient
*[[Newt Gingrich]], former [[Speaker of the United States House of Representatives]]
*[[Richard Danzig]], former [[Secretary of the Navy]]

==See also==
*[[Daniel Bell]]
*[[Norman Swan]]
*[[Human nature]]

==References==
<References/>

==External links==
{{wikiquote}}

*[http://www.alvintoffler.net Official Site]
*[http://www.toffler.com Toffler Associates®], the executive advisory firm formed by Alvin and Heidi Toffler.
*[http://www.booktv.org/ram/AfterWords/0606/arc_btv060406_4.ram After Words: Alvin Toffler interviewed by Newt Gingrich (Real Audio format)]
*[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DWj-G-VZEQ Alvin Toffler interview on The Gregory Mantell Show]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Toffler, Alvin}}
[[Category:1928 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American non-fiction writers]]
[[Category:American science fiction writers]]
[[Category:American technology writers]]
[[Category:Digital Revolution]]
[[Category:Futurologists]]
[[Category:American Jews]]

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