Australian General Semantics Society Inc.

 

 

Comm15            

Seminar Summary - Sunday 19th August 2018

 

Sunday 19 August          
   "Future Shock"

Should we live in fear of Alvin Toffler’s predictions,
or can we equip ourselves for the unknown?
Some of us seem to thrive on change and crest its waves joyfully. 
Others resist it or seek flight from it. It is about our capacity to adapt.
It is about the future and the shock that its arrival brings.
Western society for the past 300 years has been caught up in a fire storm of change.
Does general semantics offer tools to assist us in coping with all this?
Presented by Robert James

Our seminar
at "Cifftop View" Bonnet Bay in Sydney was graciously hosted as usual by Pauline and Gavan - Thank you both!
 

"Catching-Up"

Sharing of triumphs and tragedies and miscellaneous yarns.


GS Diary
In the spirit of "applying general semantics principles" to our lives, as opposed to dwelling in theory, we considered members' accounts of observations and applications relating to the principles and formulations of our discipline.


Today's Proceedings

1. Reflections

We recalled some recent AGS seminars, particularly in relation to "Mindfulness" -
and the work of contemporary management studies revealing that:
"Mindfulness, Compasson and Selflessness are the three great virtues of leadership".  The writing on this:
https://www.managementtoday.co.uk/3-virtues-great-leadership/leadership-lessons/article/1461825 

2. Consideration of Homework

Then we moved on to review of our homework considered in preparation for the rigours of today's discussions ... I wanted to
*** look ahead *** to avoid future shock on Sunday by considering some questions for discussion, eg:

  * What changes over our decades have you found “shocking” –
        on a personal, family and global level?
  * What does it mean to you to be “shocked” -
        maybe your coffee was not up to scratch,
        or maybe 230 people killed by earthquake in Lombok ... ?
  * What “future shocks” might you reasonably anticipate -
        in the next year / ten years ?
  * What about "non-technological" changes -
        eg “climate change”, population pressures, demographic changes,
        personal circumstances etc?
  * What about "flipping into a new reality" -
        passing a tipping point – Something unforeseeable imposes on you?
  * How is your life different from your parents -
        environmental or by choice, eg family, career, housing, health, wealth ... ?
  * How can understanding application of general semantics principles be helpful -
        Is it just a matter of pasting the Structural Differential
        onto your Cornflakes packet for morning reflection ... ?

3. Alvin Toffler and the notion of "Future Shock"

Alvin Toffler (died 2016) was an American writer, futurist, and businessman known for his works discussing modern technologies, including the digital revolution and the communication revolution, with emphasis on their effects on cultures worldwide.

He was best nown for his book "Future Shock", written in 1975, selling over 6 million copies, which included proclaimations such as ...
  * The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write,
     but those who cannot learn, unlearn, and relearn.
  * Knowledge is the most democratic source of power.
  * You've got to think about big things while you're doing small things,
     so that all the small things go in the right direction.

Toffler was an enthusiastic student and advocate of general semantics, with its emphasis on scientific method, indexing and dating to accommodate and uncertain future, and the power of awareness of abstraction.

He and his wife Heidi Toffler, who collaborated with him for most of his writings, moved on to examining the reaction to changes in society with another best-selling book, The Third Wave in 1980. In it, he foresaw such technological advances as cloning, personal computers, the Internet, cable television and mobile communication. His later focus, via their other best-seller, Powershift, (1990), was on the increasing power of 21st-century military hardware and the proliferation of new technologies.

We considered a range of provocative materials, including:

  * Our personal experiences in gaining and losing friends, as
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TfpfmhrHM3E

  * Alvin Toffler's article from "ETC":
    "The Relevance of General Semantics"

  * The classic movie/documentary by Orson Welles:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkUwXenBokU

  * A more recent presentation "Beyond 2018"
    by Dr Michio Kaku on "The Future in the Next 5-10-20 Years."
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59Ejxp1tRss

We rather liked Scot Adams' contemporary portrayal of how quickly we can adapt to shocking material:




A few of the matters that we considered are from Toffler's "Future Shock" -
Contents", thus:

PART ONE: THE DEATH OF PERMANENCE 7

Chapter 1. THE 800th LIFETIME 9

The Unprepared Visitor 10
Break with the Past 12

Chapter 2. THE ACCELERATIVE THRUST 19

Time and Change 20
Subterranean Cities 22
The Technological Engine 25
Knowledge as Fuel 30
The Flow of Situations 32

Chapter 3. THE PACE OF LIFE 36

People of the Future 37
Durational Expectancy 42
The Concept of Transience 44

PART TWO: TRANSIENCE 49

Chapter 4. THINGS: THE THROW-AWAY SOCIETY 51

The Paper Wedding Gown 52
The Missing Supermarket 55
The Economics of Impermanence 56
The Portable Playground 58
The Modular "Fun Palace" 59
The Rental Revolution 63
Temporary Needs 67
The Fad Machine 71

Chapter 5. PLACES: THE NEW NOMADS 74

The 3,000,000-Mile Club 75
Flamenco in Sweden 77
Migration to the Future 80
Suicides and Hitch-hikers 83
The Mournful Movers 87
The Homing Instinct 89
The Demise of Geography 91

Chapter 6. PEOPLE: THE MODULAR MAN 95

The Cost of Involvement 96
The Duration of Human Relationships 99
The Hurry-up Welcome 102
Friendships in the Future 107
Monday-to-Friday Friends 108
Recruits and Defectors 111
Rent-a-Person 114
How to Lose Friends 116
How Many Friends? 119
Training Children for Turnover 121

Chapter 7. ORGANIZATION: THE COMING AD-HOCRACY 124

Catholics, Cliques and Coffee Breaks 126
The Organizational Upheaval 128
The New Ad-hocracy 132
The Collapse of Hierarchy 137
Beyond Bureaucracy 142

Chapter 8. INFORMATION: THE KINETIC IMAGE 152

Twiggy and the K-Mesons 155
The Freudian Wave 158
A Blizzard of Best Sellers 161
The Engineered Message 162
Mozart on the Run 166
The Semi-literate Shakespeare 169
Art: Cubists and Kineticists 173
The Neural Investment 177

PART THREE: NOVELTY 183

Chapter 9. THE SCIENTIFIC TRAJECTORY 185

The New Atlantis 188
Sunlight and Personality 191
The Voice of the Dolphin 193
The Biological Factory 194
The Pre-designed Body 197
The Transient Organ 205
The Cyborgs among Us 209
The Denial of Change 215

Chapter 10. THE EXPERIENCE MAKERS 219

The Psychic Cake-Mix 221
"Serving Wenches" in the Sky 224
Experiential Industries 226
Simulated Environments 228
Live Environments 230
The Economics of Sanity 234

Chapter 11. THE FRACTURED FAMILY 238

The Mystique of Motherhood 239
The Streamlined Family 241
Bio-Parents and Pro-Parents 243
Communes and Homosexual Daddies 245
The Odds Against Love 249
Temporary Marriage 251
Marriage Trajectories 253
The Demands of Freedom 256

PART FOUR: DIVERSITY 261

Chapter 12. THE ORIGINS OF OVERCHOICE 263

Design-a-Mustang 264
Computers and Classrooms 270
"Drag Queen" Movies 276

Chapter 13. A SURFEIT Of SUBCULTS 284

Scientists and Stockbrokers 286
The Fun Specialists 288
The Youth Ghetto 290
Marital Tribes 293
Hippies, Incorporated 294
Tribal Turnover 296
The Ignoble Savage 299

Chapter 14. A DIVERSITY OF LIFE STYLES 303

Motorcyclists and Intellectuals 305
Style-Setters and Mini-Heroes 308
Life-Style Factories 309
The Power of Style 312
A Superabundance of Selves 316
The Free Society 321

PART FIVE: THE LIMITS OF ADAPTABILITY 323

Chapter 15. FUTURE SHOCK: THE PHYSICAL DIMENSION 325

Life Change and Illness 327
Response to Novelty 334
The Adaptive Reaction 337

Chapter 16. FUTURE SHOCK: THE PSYCHOLOGICAL DIMENSION 343

The Overstimulated Individual 344
Bombardment of the Senses 348
Information Overload 350
Decision Stress 355
Victims of Future Shock 358
The Future-shocked Society 365

PART SIX: STRATEGIES FOR SURVIVAL 369

Chapter 17. COPING WITH TOMORROW 371

Direct Coping 374
Personal Stability Zones 377
Situational Grouping 383
Crisis Counseling 385
Half-way Houses 388
Enclaves of the Past 390
Enclaves of the Future 392
Global Space Pageants 393

Chapter 18. EDUCATION IN THE FUTURE TENSE 398

The Industrial Era School 399
The New Educational Revolution 402
The Organizational Attack 405
Yesterday's Curriculum Today 409
A Diversity of Data 411
A System of Skills 413
The Strategy of Futureness 418

Chapter 19. TAMING TECHNOLOGY 428

Technological Backlash 430
Selecting Cultural Styles 432
Transistors and Sex 437
A Technology Ombudsman 440
The Environmental Screen 443

Chapter 20. THE STRATEGY OF SOCIAL FUTURISM 446

The Death of Technocracy 447
The Humanization of the Planner 452
Time Horizons 458
Anticipatory Democracy 470
                       
*** Some of our deliberations were too shocking for publication, ***
*** But you might like to come to our next seminar to enquire .... *** 

~ 0 ~ 


Business Meeting

We reflected on the year past and planned for the year ahead, in our usual style.


Next Meeting:

Sunday 28 October:
"Habits for Highly Effective People"
Time binding off “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, “The Managerial Grid”, “Getting to Yes”, “I’m OK, You’re OK” and many other books on interpersonal relationships and Korzybski’s works, we will look at how to improve one's effectiveness and interpersonal relationships.
Presented by David Hewson
.
 


Disclaimer: This "summary" is a collection of notes derived from our discussion by a number of means.  It is by no means a scholarly dissertation on the subject as presented.  It does not purport to be the "policy of AGS".  Comment and criticism (constructive or otherwise) is welcome.  If anyone has been misquoted, copyrights infringed or confidences betrayed, please Contact us.

 

 

Updated by RJ 27th August 2018

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