April 2, 95I just finished reading “Creating a New Civilization – The Politics of the Third Wave” by Alvin and Heidi Toffler. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay I found it in the bookstore last week and I think it's just out. It has a foreword by Newt Gingrich and he brandished it in front of the US Congress, insisting that everyone read it, from what I understand, which in itself should be enough to make it a bestseller. -seller. I'm not really a Republican and I don't have a favorable impression of Newt Gingrich, but this is forcing me to re-evaluate my opinion a bit. This is actually quite a subversive and revolutionary book, predicting a total change in society as we know it and the collapse of most traditional power structures, to be replaced by something new. Toffler has written about what he calls the “Third Wave.” » before, and this is only a more in-depth elaboration. But it’s about placing it in a context that makes it very well understood. The first wave was the agricultural society. The second wave was the industrial revolution. The third wave is the information society. The Second Wave is symbolized by the factory model. Everything is mass produced by centralized, hierarchical and bureaucratic institutions. Most of our known ways of making things, of education, of finance, and of government, are based on Second Wave principles. We have centralized governments that try to make rules for everything and run things from one place. We send our children to learning factories where they are all treated the same and considered standardized products. The third wave is inevitably upon us. This is partly due to the increased speed of everything, increased interconnectivity and large amounts of information. Information is becoming more and more important than physical assets. Second wave institutions are failing to keep pace with third wave society. Governments, centralized mega-corporations, educational institutions and the media are largely unable to keep up with the pace at which things are changing. And it is to this extent that they fail. The third wave is represented by smaller teams, flexibility and capacity for change, reduction of overhead costs and just-in-time principles. Second wave institutions will not voluntarily relinquish control, even if they fail to deliver what is needed. So there is a struggle between 2nd and 3rd wave institutions, which the 3rd wave will inevitably win in the end. In 2nd wave politics, there was the idea of ​​the “majority”. If we let the majority choose representatives and let them establish rules that apply to the majority, then things will remain fairly well organized and acceptable. During the 3rd wave, there will no longer be a significant “majority”. Society is increasingly divided into special interest groups. There are a large number of minorities rather than a majority. And almost no one really likes what governments do. 2nd wave politicians are trying to undo the change and turn back the clock. If we can all have good, decent family values, if we can protect the country's production facilities, and if we spend more money on education, then everything will be fine. The media are less and less capable of showing what is happening.