Radiation - Alvin Toffler

When I talk of those that have particularly influenced my thinking, I've chosen the keyword radiation as their metaphor. Information is all about us, radiating energy like the product of the weak force, mutating our beings. Alvin Toffler is one of the most influential on my meta-political understanding. When using his models, such as Third Wave, War/Anti-war, and Future Shock, individual incidents seemed to fall into place in the bigger picture. I felt I was an infinitely better intelligence analyst having read his works.

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 many words to describe it and mentions names invented by others, such as the Information Age. (Wikipedia. More...)

One of the prepositions made by Toffler that struck me when I read Third Wave in the 80's, was that the transition to Third Wave socio-economics would usher in a new "Dark Ages" during the transition. Toffler estimated that within twenty years we would see an increase in religious and tribal style violence as people's increasing anxiety about changing economies drove them towards increasing xenophobia, lashing out at the "other." His view was that this gnashing of teeth period (my phrase) would last around twenty years as cultural change has increased exponentially due to the modern speed of communications.

Toffler Associates - Corporate Website
Alvin and Heidi Toffler {Futurists} - Personal Website